David: Cathy went to 'Splash' today with Marie. 'Splash' is a waterpark on the north side of Brisbane. Last time we went there, we followed Marie and Steven. We were almost there when Marie's car broke down in the middle lane of a busy road. Cathy and I stopped somewhere in the middle of the traffic that had been blocked by Marie's car, and I walked up and helped Steven push her car off the road. It ended up that both of them had to wait for the RACQ to turn up, and then for the car to be towed. By the time they met us at 'Splash', Cathy and I had spent most of the day swimming and going on the slides, and the day was over. Hopefully Marie has a better time today.

As for me, I've been stuck inside with the budgies all day trying to get something meaningful down for a paper that has to be finished for my previous job. They are going to submit the paper to a large international management conference, and it needs to be ready by early January. We've written about 9,000 words so far, so we can't really afford to write much more, but I don't feel good about it. It is a reflective paper about the experience of researching a particular topic. It covers ten years, and aside from one project that I've worked on extensively and another that was mostly my own, I was not part of many of the projects being discussed. This makes it difficult to write reflectively about them, but I that isn't my main problem. The main issue is that I don't feel the different sections are addressing my idea of the main topic of the paper. My original conceptualisation of what we were going to do was that we would discuss problems of accessing the organisations, the research (or lack thereof) that resulted, and then the ways in which the organisations responded (including not responding). The problem is that many of the experiences that have been written about by the other authors don't really fit with this conceptualisation, so I'm having some problems turning the paper into a piece of writing with an obvious point. I'm reading it, and re-reading it. The paper is full of interesting topics, but it has come together in a way that doesn't seem to me to be consistently arguing main themes. Because of this, I have wasted a lot of my own time.

I have a terrible habit of not charging employers for time that I don't consider productive, and this means that I won't charge the uni for much of the time that I have spent on this project today. I don't feel right about charging them for time when I have just been looking through the text trying to find a coherent theme. I only charge for time that I spend writing once I have found that theme. What this means is that, on occasions, I will work on a project for hours and only charge them for a couple. I know that I should perhaps be more mercenary about it, and that the time that I am spending reading through other people's writing is still 'work time', but I still tend to have the 'piece rate' mentality of my former manual labour days.

From about 20 to 24 years old, I used to work as a machinist at a newspaper in the little country town where I lived. The machine that I worked on made the types of magazines that you find in newsagents. There was always the expectation that I would have the machine running at a certain pace, and that a certain number of magazines would be made each hour (usually in the thousands). I think that this mentality has carried into my current work, where I feel that I have to get a certain 'amount' of work done within a certain amount of time (e.g., X number of pages written). I realise that I need to work on recognising the value of intellectual capital as well as the products that are produced by my hands: the number of pages I write.

My new job is a totally different environment though, with different expectations. I think that part of the problem I am having with this paper is that I am eager to engage my energies in my new job, and am not very enthused about still doing work from my previous position. The thing is, I don't really need the money from the work for the uni now that I have this new position, but I want to help out the people there who have been so good to me. This paper is important for them, and I don't want to let them down. I will come back to the paper early in the morning with a fresh mind and see what I can do with it then. I'll spend the rest of today reading some of documentation I have been given for my new job.

Here is the next entry in the UK Journal:

Friday 11/06/93 Near Sherwood Forest/Nottingham. 9:04 pm.

We had a hard time finding a camping site last night. When we eventually did, it was late and dark so we slept in the car. It has rained heavily for the past two or three days, on and off though. We seem to be having a spell from it at the moment.

Yesterday we visited mostly very old buildings as we went through the Lake District, on the most frightening narrow roads you can imagine. The area was very mountainous and a lot of the time you have a stone wall right on the edge of the road. There is just enough room for two cars to fit through with an ant's dicks distance between them. Sometimes one car will have to reverse back to a slightly wider spot to allow the other to fit through, and to top it off the roads are extremely windy. As if this isn't bad enough, English drivers drive at insane speeds. I'm starting to get very irritated with the drivers over here actually. It seems that 30 MPH means 50 MPH, 40 means 60, and 60 MPH which is the highway limit means "Let's see what this baby will do!". This is not just on freeways but also on every road, even in the rain.

Anyhow enough bitchin'; I'll get back to the story.

We visited a stone circle called Castlerigg Stone Circle. Most of the stone circles (and there are heaps in the UK) were built between 2500 BC and 1300 BC. This one was most memorable because of the mountain backdrop. Hardnott Roman Fort was perched on the side of one of the highest mountains in this area. It was built in the reign of Hadrian about 118-138 AD.

We decided to follow a small stream up the side of one of the higher mountains. We found the source coming out of the peat moss about one third of the way up, and Monique stopped there while I went to the top.

The whole side of the mountain is rock and fields of spongy peat moss. The sheep are more abundant near the top than anywhere else. The view from the top was of ranges of green, rocky mountains in all directions. Near the top the atmosphere became considerably warmer and my ears popped twice on the walk down, so it must have been reasonably high. Got a photo from the top through the mist.

We visited Ravenglass Roman Bath House (130 AD). This was not much more than a group of ruined buildings, so we went to look for a caravan park. As I said before we had quite a bit of trouble finding one. On the way we stopped at a parking lot and fed a couple of ducks that ate out of our hands.

Now on to today before I run out of sun.

We visited Conisborough Castle (1179 AD) and Roche Abbey (1147 AD through to 1537 AD) but they were mostly ruins, though the large white circular keep of the castle was able to be climbed to the top and was quite interesting.

The best stop of the day was at Bolsover Castle. Two of the buildings were hollow shells but what they called the small castle, that was within it's own walls with it's own garden, was almost in perfect condition. The interior was in the style of a manor with the most beautiful paint work I have seen. The ceilings and walls of the second story (three stories and a basement kitchen) were painted with scenes ranging from 'The Labors of Hercules' to varied religious paintings, Christian and ancient Greek. A wonderful place.

We are in a caravan park next to a pond full of ducks, geese, giant fish and a fighting swan; which, after chasing away the geese, had a bit of a fight with me. He ended up giving up. Ah victory!

10:04 pm

David: For once, today was a quiet one, just a trip to the gym, and a quick visit to Cathy's sister and her boyfriend.

Like I've said before, I don't usually write in this blog about things outside my sphere of experience, but I feel like commenting on the media's reporting of the tragedy occurring in Iran. On Wednesday, October 29, 2003, CNN reported the New York death toll from the September 11 attacks to be 2,752 (see http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/10/29/wtc.deaths/). I just heard on the ABC a few minutes ago that the death toll in Iran is currently estimated to be about 40,000. I remember on September 11 that the media was holding around-the-clock reports. I just had a look at the ABC News Online website (Sunday, December 28, 2003 8:19pm AEDT), and the Iranian tragedy only takes up about six full lines of text on the main page (although it is the lead story), with one other statement saying "Cultural disaster Iran's devastating earthquake has wiped out one of the most perfectly preserved cities of the ancient world." Also, not one single television or radio station (including the ABC radio national) are devoting much additional air time to the tragedy.

Now how does it work that the death of 2,752 Americans (including a few people from other countries [including Australia]) deserves around the clock media coverage while 40,000 Iranians dying does not deserve much additional time or print space at all? I would like someone to explain this to me! Whether people die by terrorist attack or natural disaster they are still just as dead; families will suffer just as much. Does the media consider death by terrorism to be more worthy of attention, or is it perhaps that our media does not value the lives of non-Westerners to the same degree?

Anyhow, here is the next UK journal entry:

Wednesday 09/06/93 Annen (raining) 6:28 pm.

We got attacked by midges last night, and Monique had to eventually go and get some insect repellent from the car. Midges are so small that they can get through the fly screened vents of the tent. There were heaps of them lining the inside walls of the tent when we woke up.

The fog was thick and eerie when we woke this morning; you could only see a couple of meters of the loch water.

We saw Loch Lomond today, and it dwarfs Loch Ness. I can't see that any prehistoric creature could live in Loch Ness and not be seen. Even if it is very deep it's not very wide and not overly long. With all the tourists there, people would see it all the time I'm sure.

As we were driving through the mountains we saw men playing bagpipes in the parking stops on the side of the road. It turns out that they're busking, and as we were watching one some air force jets flew through the mountains past us, very fast and very low. There were two of them a few minutes apart.

We visited Drumlonnig Castl,e which was great to see as we drove in as the road heads straight at the front of this giant mansion. We found it was closed which was good in a way because we didn't have to decide whether or not to pay �4 each to get in. That's pretty high when you consider �1 equals 2.2 Australian dollars.

We visited a sports center and found out all you really need to be a gym instructor in the UK is a first aid certificate but there are not many gyms around. But that was just in Glasgow.

6:50 pm.

David: With the Christmas period being so busy, I haven't had time to make an entry for four days. We have been very busy catching up with people and trying to make the most of the Christmas experience.

We had a going-away dinner for Eileen at our place on Tuesday night. We made the bread and desert, and Eileen cooked up a pasta dish for the main course. It was sad at the end of the night because we thought that we wouldn't see Eileen before she left for Germany, and I don't think that Eileen really wanted to go home.

It was very quiet at work (my new job) Christmas Eve. There were about six people in our section of the office, and all but two of us left after the 1pm Christmas nibblies upstairs. I decided to stay in order to finish filing all the documents that were on my desk. There was an enormous amount of paperwork on my desk when I first started the job, and I have spent most of my time during the first week (well, the first three days really because I started just before Christmas) sorting out this paperwork that appears to have accumulated over many years. I finished filing these at 3pm and used some of my accrued time to go home early, leaving only my supervisor in the office.

Cathy and I went to dinner that night with Celeste, Ross, Amanda, and Fiecra (I'm pretty sure that I haven't spelt his name properly) at a bar/restaurant called 'The Glen'. Many years ago, I went to an excellent Medieval murder-mystery night at 'The Glen'.

Cathy and I ended up rising at 5:30am Christmas day. We gave each other one present each, and then budgies ended up getting theirs (a stand with perches, a swing, etc. [click here and here for photos]). All in all, I gave Cathy a Donna Hay's cooking book (she loves them), the Delta Goodrem CD 'Innocent Eyes', and a foot massager, while she got me Gold Class tickets to 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King' (the best present ever!), a tiger calendar, a 'MindTrap II' board game, a pair of shorts, some nice shirts, and a Tupperware drink bottle for gymnastics and trampolining.

We spent most of the day and evening at Cathy's grandmother and uncle's place with her parents and sister. There were plenty of presents to go around, and everyone appeared to have an excellent time. Unfortunately, I was sick most of the day. I had aches in my legs and arms, and a strange headache. It came on in the morning (although I think that it had been threatening to hit me for a few days though), but only lasted until about 4pm. I rested on a chair under the house for a bit of time in the afternoon, and this did me the world of good. I felt a little bit guilty, as I wasn't good company, but I think that everyone understood.

Yesterday, Boxing Day, Cathy and I went into the bus/rail terminal in the city to see Eileen off. She was catching a bus and then a train to Sydney, and will be flying back home to Germany from there. It was sad to see her off, but we were all glad that we decided to turn up. We finished the day by watching the Jennifer Lopez movie 'Enough', which was quite good.

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Tuesday 08/06/93 Loch Ness near Fort Augustus. 6:05 pm.

Again we spent a lot of the day driving until we came to Carnieshalloch Gorge. The gorge is 200 feet deep with a waterfall falling 150 feet into it. There was a suspension bridge over the falls, and that was an interesting experience as the bridge would wobble from side to side as you walked across it.

The other interesting thing we came across today was Eilean Donan Castle. We spotted it as we drove into Donie and decided to take some photos of it as it looked so spectacular perched on an island in a loch called Loch Duich with the mountains behind it. After taking the photos we decided to go and see if we could get in. There were a lot of people parked there so we knew it was probably possible to get in. After crossing the large walking bridge and paying �1 to get in I discovered a postcard there showing scenes from the movie ' Highlander '. This was the actual castle used in the filming of the first scenes of the movie. It was a great little castle that is still owned by the original family: the McKrae Clan. It was originally built in the 1200's but was destroyed in 1719. The attackers couldn't destroy it with canon balls as the walls were too thick so once they took it they blew it up with gunpowder. It was rebuilt to the original plan in 1912 (click here for a photo).

Apart from the beautiful scenery and the snow on some of the mountains there is not much else to report today.
6:28 pm.

David: I had a good day at working at my new job. I didn't get to do much for my first day, but I learned quite a bit about the culture and the way things are done. I'd write more, but it is getting late and I don't want to be tired for work tomorrow.

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Monday 07/06/93 Achmelvich 8:42 pm.

We are at a campsite on the other side of Scotland now, almost right on the beach of a small bay. The town consists of about four houses and the caravan park.

We spent most of the day driving through some magnificent, rugged country. The Scottish Highlands are breathtaking. Monique doesn't like it here though because there are nearly no trees; the only ones that grow are in very protected valleys. The only things that grow are grass, a very short brownish purple shrub and peat moss. Oh yeah there is the occasional thistle. As I was saying Monique doesn't like it here; she thinks it's ugly and would like to get back to England I think. Personally I think it's very beautiful to see; but I wouldn't want to live here what with the cold and the strong winds that won't even let trees grow. The coast is amazing, riddled with cliffs, hidden beaches and grassy islands. The highland mountains are veined with streams flowing fast down the sides into lochs and larger rivers.

The roads are tiny. The main road leading from just past Thurso right around to here is one lane and I mean one lane: not one lane each way, but one narrow road with bulges out the side every so often, called passing places. They have passing places in England but not on the main highway. One of the larger towns we passed through had a population of 300-odd people, and that was quite considerably larger than most we saw. (We just had a small rain shower as I was writing)

Our only major stop today was at a place called Smoo Cave. It has the largest opening of any cave in Britain. It was low tide, and a fairly large boat was dry on the rocks within the cave. Walking into the cave, some of the smaller caves above are lit by floodlights. We walked over a small bridge and into another cave with a large waterfall at the rear of it.

We walked up the other side and along the cliffs to where there were no people and made our way down a small path to the clear waters below.

At one stage Monique stayed half way up the cliff on the path while I made my way around the bottom of the cliff and up to a gulls nest half way up the cliff. I got a good photo of the gull on the nest and of the egg in the nest.

From on the side of the cliff I could see something in the water below, sitting on the bottom. As I said before, the water was extremely clear, so I got Monique to watch out for sharks while I took a look at the light coloured object on the bottom.

Now I'm not one who feels the cold, as a matter of fact I feel the cold very little (no brain, no pain), but I'm sure that if I had spent more than a few minutes in that water I would have ended up with a wonderful case of hypothermia.

The water was deeper than I had thought, and by the time I reached the bottom of the little bay to make the wonderful discovery of a badly preserved chip packet (or at least I think it was a chip packet; at least it felt like one, the slime on it sort of hide the writing).

After returning to the surface, uttering a few obscenities, I returned to shore to find that the winds that are usually cold in Scotland had by some miracle turned warm, or perhaps this was just by comparison.

After I dried a little and got dressed we moved round the point to a blowhole. It was low tide and the water was very low so I walked into the entrance of the cave. The waves at the other end of the cave, unseen by me, made a noise not unlike what you would expect a dragon to make. Enough to make the bravest highlander lose bladder control.

Once again we had a day filled with rabbits but as we were driving to our campsite we saw a female deer on the side of the road.

9:46 pm.

David: I forgot to mention my marathon shopping session yesterday. I decided to go to a local shopping centre yesterday to do some Christmas shopping and to buy some new clothes for work. I got there about 8:45am, and easily found a parking spot. It seemed like no time at all before Cathy rang me and told me that she was finished with the volunteer work she was doing. That was at about 2:00pm. She came to the shopping centre, and we did some Christmas and grocery shopping together. By the time we'd finished it was about 4:00pm. I'd been wandering around that shopping centre for about seen hours!

We went for a drive around the local suburbs looking at Christmas lights last night. Some of the houses had incredible displays. Many of the photos I took didn't turn out though, as I really need to use a stand for these long exposure photos (click here to see a few of the better ones).

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Sunday 06/06/93 9:37 pm.

We left the tent early this morning to catch a ferry to the Orkney Islands. We departed on the ferry at John O'Groats (yes it is a town) and headed for Barwick on the island of South Ronaldsay. After a 45 minute ferry ride, we arrived to meet our coach in drizzling rain (that would last most of the rest of the day). The trip was a package deal we picked up for ?26 each, which included the ferry ride and the coach tour which lasted all day. This was not bad considering it was going to cost us ?25 each for the ferry ride and an extra ?36 to take our car on the car ferry. After meeting the coach, we went up through the islands via Churchill's Barriers, stone causeways built during WWII to stop German U boats from getting into the area of water within the islands (called Scapa Flow). We visited the capital city of the area called ??? (editing note: I must have forgotten the name when I was originally writing the journal), which is only a small fishing village really. One of the strangest things is to see shops like Woolworths in a town like this. We looked into a well that had once been used by Captain Cook to get water for his ship Discovery.

We then went to a prehistoric village called Skara Brae, after seeing the port of Stromness. Skara Brae was built around 5000 years ago and was lived in for about 650 years. It is the best preserved ruins of its kind in Europe. The whole place was buried under sand dunes, and after it was uncovered last century they discovered all the stone buildings as they were all those years ago. You can still see stone shelves and beds, fire pits, drains, grinding stones (worn) and the tunnels linking the many houses.

The next thing we visited was a stone circle and burial mounds from around the same era. The mounds where just that, mounds, and the standing ring of stones was really most interesting because of the graffiti carved into it. We found one dated 1914 but I'm sure there would be older ones if you looked for them. The ring was called The Ring of Brogar.

The best preserved open burial mound in Europe was our next destination. Maeshowe Burial Mound was erected in about 3000-2900 BC and was plundered by the Vikings in about 1200 AD. The passage into the burial chamber within the mound was about three feet high, and was quite some distance long, leading to a round chamber with three burial rooms that are open with the sealing rocks still near their openings. There are Viking runes inscribed in the walls saying that they had found treasure there and expected that there was more to the north. They called themselves 'Crusaders', and one had even written a girl's name from his home and proclaimed that she was beautiful (click here to see a some webcams that have been set up on the site).

An Italian church built by prisoners of war was next, before our trip home on the ferry during which we saw some seals.

10:26 pm.

David: We got home too late last night for me to make an entry in the blog. We took Eileen (our friend from trampolining) out to our favourite Thai restaurant. Afterwards, we drove to Kangaroo Point, walked down to the base of the cliffs, and strolled from there to Southbank (Click here for all the photos). The walk took us past the man-made beach, and then to the fountains at the north end, and the Nepalese Pagoda. This pagoda was where Cathy and I had our first kiss nearly two years ago!

We found a Ferris wheel at the north end of Southbank (click here to see a picture), and paid $10 for the three of us to get on for a ride. The fountains looked pretty from the wheel, with purple and yellow lights colouring the water (click here for a photo, and here for another one).

After dropping Eileen home, we didn't get home until about midnight.

Oh yeah, click here for another photo of Cathy with the budgies.

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Saturday 05/06/93 Thurso ( very windy and overcast )

We have made it to the top of Scotland and at the moment I'm sitting in the tent in a caravan park looking out through the door at the islands off the coast. The weather is bleak and very gusty. The fibreglass tent poles are bending so much at times that the walls are nearly touching me (and I'm sitting cross legged in the middle of the tent!). The tent instructions say that they are supposed to do that, but it still looks as if they must break; but they seem to be holding up OK.

We spent most of our time driving up here today, though we made a side trip to Loch Ness. It was windy there too and the wind was stirring rather large waves in the dark waters. There were people in boats and one guy on a jet ski showing off in front of the famous Urquhart Castle that sits beside the loch (click here for a photo of the loch and the castle).

A mist is rolling in from over the sea, and it looks like it might rain on us tonight. The weather here is cold ,and so far their summer here seems colder than Australia's winter and there are guys actually surfing down on the beach below us.

The sun goes down here at about 10:30 pm and rises about 5:00 am, so it makes it hard to sleep when the sun is still up.

We saw a little tower type building today. It had only one small surviving room, and a staircase inside thick walls, but it is over 2000 years old and is called Cairn Laith Broch.

We walked down onto the beach and found a cave there with engravings on the walls, some of which were very ornate and were dated in the 1800's (editing note: these were mainly people's names; I suppose that you could all it antique graffiti). I took a photo of one that was particularly artistic (editing note: the photo didn't turn out very well, so I didn't post it). We passed by some fishing boats in dry dock, and found an old church built in the 1200's that was in operation until the mid 1800's. It was a mass of graves, as it looks as if the ruins of the church had been used as a graveyard after the building was closed. It had no roof or timbers, and some of the graves are inside the actual church and are dated after the church closed.

We are pitched near a cliff that drops into the sea, and I can hear the waves crashing below, a nice sound to go to sleep to.

8:58 pm.

David: Cathy is getting better from her fall at trampolining the other night. She is recovering very quickly, but we thought that descretion was the better part of valour and decided not to go to gymnastics tonight. She says that she is never going to do 'that stupid skill' again.

We got a call from Eileen this afternoon. She is back from up north. She was working up there, helping with the protection of the turtles.

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Friday 04/06/93 Catlodge near Kingussie, just south of Inverness. 8:03 pm.

We are in the Grampian Mountains now, and some of the mountains around us have snow on them (though not much). We are in a caravan park, and I'm sitting in our new tent that we bought today (Monique's having a shower). We finally got a good one, a dome tent this time with lots of room and a little awning on the front. It cost us �55, but this is very cheap for this type of tent as it had been marked down from �70. As I was setting up the tent I had trouble putting the pegs in as they all would hit something hard a few inches underground. After a while I found I could push the pegs through; I suspect it may be permafrost below us.

We visited Edinburgh by bus from the caravan site today to save having to find a parking space in the city. We went to Edinburgh Castle where the famous Military Tattoo is held. The castle is perched on a volcanic atoll which makes for an impressive site from the city. We saw one of the canon being fired (which nearly defened us) and visited a giant war memorial for all the Scottish descendants that died in action from every Commonwealth country since 1914. We found a Nichol Manning in one of the 1914-1918 books. We saw the room in which Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her only child, the man who later united Britain by being asked to become king of England when no other heir could be found (James VI of Scotland and I of England) .

8:26 pm.

David: We had the gynastics/trampolining Christmas party tonight. It was a good night, with pizza and secret Santa. We spent much of the night talking travel with some of the others.

Speaking of travel, here's the next UK journal entry:

Thursday 03/06/93 Belsay Hall (Foggy) 9:02 am.

We are sitting here waiting for Belsay Hall to open as most of these places don't open till 10:00 am. This hall or more like a mansion is relatively new being completed in 1815 it has 30 acres of landscaped parks and gardens as well as some quarry gardens that are supposed to be famous. There is a well preserved 14th century castle and a ruined 17th century mansion on the property.

So far on our trip we've had quite a bit of equipment failure. First my backpack has one of the tie down straps beginning to tear, our army can openers bent, my torch broke, my boot lace broke, tent was no good, my pants button broke, Monique's pants button broke, my pants zipper broke, our travel pillows burst and the compass got a bubble in it and wouldn't work.

They just played a song on the radio by Enigma, I think and it contains some music with what sounds like monks singing, this really suited the atmosphere here and brought back memories of the abbey yesterday.

The land here is so green and this area is hilly with smooth green pastures and stone fences. Sheep, rabbits and pheasants are in abundance and Monique saw a squirrel again this morning.

The people here seem about twenty years behind in their lifestyles and dress. We've seen young women getting around in high clog type shoes. I'll make an attempt to draw them (editing note: In the book I did make an attempt to draw them) and the farmers still get around in the original garb and little woollen peak cap. 9:39 am.

Thursday 03/06/93 Just outside Edinburge near Tranent in Scotland (foggy over ocean, low light cloud) 8:56 pm.

We had an interesting day so far; our first stop at Belsay Hall was great. The hall itself is a two story structure built in the 19th century. It is in very good condition considering it is uninhabited. All the floors and windows are in good condition and even some things like the brass candleholders an the upstairs walkway are still there.

One of the things that most impressed me about this building was the five vast cellars for beer and wine. After entering the cellars it's easy to get confused as to where you are as all the hallways between the cellar rooms are painted white and looked alike. Each one of the cellar rooms would be about the size of a large Australian lounge room.

To get from the Hall to the old Manor and castle you have to walk through the quarry gardens after you pass the crochet lawn that is still used by the looks of it. The Quarry Gardens are the best gardens I think I have ever seen. The area is slightly wild but well tended with many beautiful flowers and trees in what looks like a fairly natural rocky gully (click here for a photo of the gardens).

We reached the castle on the other side of the gardens to find that the manor has been built on the side of the castle. The castle was what you would call a keep really, with many rooms and access to the turrets. All the floors still remained.

The manor was in ruins with no upstairs floors or roof. This is strange because the castle was built in the 14th century and the manor built in the 19th century like the Hall.

I found an unusual old human statue in one of the outer buildings. It had strange carvings in the pectoral areas and had no arms, legs or head, and was sitting in the corner of what looked like the old stables.

Binkbury Priory was next. The cross shaped church was in very good condition; as a matter of fact, you could still use it as a church now. All the stained glass windows are still in good condition. There are still some pews there, and the wooden pulpit is in perfect condition. An old style hand pump organ is still there, and there is a large statue of Jesus (carved out of one tree I think) that is hung on the wall of one of the transfixes. This church was started in the 14th century.

We stopped for lunch at Workworth Castle, which had a keep that was a maze of rooms and halls though the wooden floor, and roof of the top hall was gone. The outside walls were still fairly good too. This castle was in operation between the 12th century and the 16th century.

Barwick upon Tweed Barracks was a museum of the Kings own Scots Guards with a great assortment of different displays and very well done.

We walked along the walls that surround the town. The walls are very high and about 15 meters thick, with dirt covered in grass at the top.

We saw some kids racing around down in one of the corner bastions, so I found a way to climb down and they showed me a tunnel that led for about 70 meters under the wall to a gate that was locked. Once we got back to the bastion, I had to help a couple of them climb out of the bastion back on the walls. They would have been about 12-14 years old and I couldn't understand a lot they were saying because of their accents.

We made a couple of stops by the sea and were surprised to find very little sea life either on the rocks or the beaches. The sun is just starting to go down.

10:06 pm.

David: I went for a job today, and got it! The position is with a government department. It is full-time, but only temporary for six weeks. They lost the person who was previously in the position, and needed someone to fill in until a person is recruited permanently for the position. They won't be advertising the position again until the end of January 2004. The idea is that I will work in the position and then apply for the job permanently if I enjoy it. I bought myself a new mobile phone today as a reward for getting the job (a Siemens c60).

We went to trampolining tonight, the last session for the year. We were doing this new skill (well more of a muck around trick really), and Cathy landed on her head. I could tell that she had hurt herself because she was laughing. The more Cathy hurts herself the more she laughs! Her back is sore between the shoulder blades at the moment, and she is here laying on the floor with ice on her back.

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Wednesday 02/06/93 Somewhere near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland. The weather is very foggy and has been all day, and there's light rain. 9:01 pm.

The police woke us last night to ask us why we were parked there. We told them that we were lost and couldn't find anywhere to stay. They checked the rego and papers for the car and my passport then they said that they had no problem with us sleeping there. They just wanted to check the car. This was the last place I would have expected them to get us, in the middle of a really thick forest at 12:30 at night. We ended up sleeping there until about 9 am.

We visited Rievoulx Abbey and did another tape tour there. The place was one of the best we've seen. The main church of the Abbey itself makes the Saint Mary's Church in Warwick Australia (editing note: That is the church where Monique and I booked to get married) look tiny and plain. Even in it's ruined state, it's easy to see that it wouldn't be vastly outshone by Westminster or any other famous church we've seen. Going around listening to the tape, you get a good idea of the monks life, rising at 3am to pray, then again at 6 am to pray again after a frugal breakfast. They would attend to the business of the Abbey until 12 noon then pray again, work in the fields or tannery until 5 pm , eat a very small dinner, pray at 6 pm then again at 9 pm. It wasn't that bad though, because they did get a small lunch at noon (editing note: I'm pretty sure that I was being sarcastic).

The Abbey was built about 1300 AD, and prospered for about 400 years until it was closed and stripped by Henry VIII and left to rot. The churches in these medieval abbeys were built in the shape of a cross with the main alter at one end. There were still a lot of the old burial slabs in place on the floor. One of these is supposed to be that of the original founder of the abbey. In some places we could still see the original glazed floor tiles and the patterns on them.

Middleham Castle was our next stop. This was a compact little castle in fairly good condition, with a fairly high keep with a large hall.

Next was Aydon Castle, which was a fortified manor house built in 1266 AD and was lived in until 1966; so it was in pretty good condition.

Most of the old castles have none of the wood left, so the roof and floors are gone. Sometimes an occasional door or tower roof survives; or in the case of the likes of Aylon Castle, certain areas are in good condition with all fittings and roofs, floors etc., though some floors can be a little creaky under foot.

We visited Chesters Fort and Museum last. The museum part was interesting. This fort was Roman and was part of Hadrian's Wall, a Roman wall started around 100 AD. Many iron tools and weapons were on show, and even parts of two human skulls excavated from the site (including the jaw of one fellow). It's interesting to think and wonder what went through this person's mind and what they may have looked like.

The fort itself contained many different areas, and as you can probably imagine, as with most things this old the walls had crumbled fairly low and had been buried by time. There was even a Roman bath house in pretty good condition. The whole site was surprisingly well preserved. You could see the many barracks of the men and the commandant's quarters, and on one gate house we found the remains of two giant metal hinges near the ground. These are not conventional hinges but a pin that fits into a cylinder on the ground.

We had a near miss with the fuel gauge, but we made it on fumes and are staying in a caravan park at the moment.

9:58 pm.

David: The weekend must have tired me out. I feel wrecked. I've written about being tired a lot in the last couple of entries. It must be the budgies getting me up so early.

I know that when I started this blog I said that I was going to stick to topics from within the sphere of my experience, but I feel like contemplating Saddam. Have you seen his face as the army doctor prods and pokes him? What is going through his mind? Is he feeling regret, self-pity, maybe helplessness? I don't think that I could see any semblance of defiance left in his face or eyes. Does he wish for death? Does he think of the past, or wish he had a future? What must it be like to go from such absolute power to such complete powerlessness? It will be interesting to see whether he does an Amrosi as the trial begins, or whether he just sits back and accepts his fate. I, personally, have little doubt that they will kill him. I also have little doubt that killing him will make a difference to the world; if anything it will just make him more infamous. Perhaps the ultimate punishment would be complete removal from the human race. Maybe if someone commits an act or acts that is/are so heinous that society would give them death then a better alternative could be banishment from the human race. What I mean is, lock them away, provide them with no reminder of their former identity, remove all human contact, and let the memory if them still being alive fade from thought. Perhaps this is better than giving them a martyr's death?

Now that I've stepped down from my soapbox, here's the next UK journal entry:

Tuesday 01/06/1993 Kirkham 10:43 am.
Last evening, just before dark, we were driving along a tiny little road when we came across a giant four posted monument with steps leading up to a high central pillar. Engraved on the side was the inscription reading 'George Wm Frederick VII Earl of Carlile'. After passing this, we came across two medieval gate houses with walls. One of which was still lived in and had the lights on in the windows. We explored the first deserted one and as I entered one of the gate house towers a pigeon flew off over my head. This combined with the coming darkness made my heart skip a beat. Near this area was a massive mausoleum that we could see in the distance (click here for a photo).

This morning we visited the Wharram Percy Medieval Church and Village then Kirkham Priory, where I found an old tunnel under the ruins. But after crawling a way, up the tunnel it looked too dangerous (possibly ready to collapse) so I headed back. It looked like it went a long way and we found out later it was where the river used to flush the Priory's drains.

10:59am.

Tuesday 01/06/93 Castle Howard (It's raining again ) 1:03 pm.

Walked through a field to the massive Mausoleum I just mentioned. I had to climb over and up a large stone wall to get in. I found a ladder that went to the roof but I thought better of climbing it when I could see I was in full view and I was wearing a white tee shirt, and we were not sure whether we should be there or not ... probably not.

I could see through one bared window into a long circular room with a like window on the other side. From another window I could see what looked like an arch covered platform on which a body may have lain, or could have later been used by the people in the family.

We went to a strange, vaguely oriental looking, pyramid with a small entrance in the back. To our surprise (well sort of as I had a feeling it would be unlocked) there was no padlock. So I opened the door to see a extremely large bust of a man in Roman looking garb. As I explored behind him I found the floor partially collapsed and felt beneath it to find small tunnels, possibly rabbit warrens as there was a long dead mummified rabbit in there. On the front of the pyramid there was a strange inscription which I have written down and will write here later when I have more time. 1:19 pm.

Tuesday 01/06/93 near Rievaulx Abbey 8:32 pm.

The following is he inscription from the monument we found. We later found out was erected to one of the Howards from the nearby Castle Howard. He was the 6th Earl of Carlile. Whether his remains are there or not I don't know:

TO THEE O VENERABLE SHADE
WHO LONG HAST IN OBLIVION LAID
DEIGN TO ACCEPT THIS MEAN RETURN
PARDON THE LONG NEGLECT
TO THY LONG LABOURS TO THY CARE
THY SONS DECEASED THY PRESENT HEIR
THEIR GREAT POSSESSIONS OWE
SPIRIT DEVINE WHAT THANKS ARE DUE
THIS WILL THY MEMORY RENEW
(IT'S) ALL I CAN BESTOW.

The word in the brackets was hard to read due to a crack in the white stone that this was engraved on.

The monument was a large pyramid raised on about three feet of vertical wall. About twenty meters from each corner, forming a large square, are what looks like oriental style pillars that seem to be made to hold some sort of lamp. There are two of these in each corner. Monique took photos of the bust inside and the exterior looking across to the mausoleum we visited.

From there we went to Scarborough. The sea side here is like a carnival with casinos and donkey/pony rides on the beaches. The castle in Scarborough is large, but in bad condition. We came across a group of Norwegian high school kids going around with a guide, so we tagged along and listened. There was one story the guide told of a Scottish lord imprisoned there after Prince Charles's attack against England was crushed. His jailers starved him to death and there is a story that his ghost walks the walls at night.

In the graveyard near the castle is the grave of Ann Bronte. I took a photo of this. It says on the headstone that she was 28 when she died but in truth she was actually 29, somebody stuffed up.

We also visited Pickering Castle which was stared in 1180 AD.

I just found some notes that I made on Scarborough Castle. It was started about 1138 AD, though a Roman fort was there before that. It was seized by Sir Thomas Stafford for three days and was shot by German Cruisers on the 16th of December 1914.

The thick forest where we have parked for the night is starting to get dark so I'd better get some sleep.

9:17 pm.

David: We had an excellent day, but we are both absolutely wrecked! We spent the morning riding waves down the Gold Coast, and then met up with Chris and Marie at the Australia Fair shopping centre for lunch. Chris is my former martial arts instructor. He and Marie have only recently got together (after a long friendship), and it is great to see them both so happy.

After Chris and Marie headed back home, Cathy and I did some of our Christmas shopping. We then went and saw the movie 'Calendar Girls' at this cheap little movie theatre on the coast. They only charge $6.50 for a movie. We both enjoyed the movie. It appears that it is a true story.

Here's the next of the UK journal entries:

Monday 31/05/93 Bank Holiday. Just North of Lincoln. 12:30 pm.

We stayed at a caravan park last night and slept in the car so we could have a shower and clean up.

The first place we saw today was Sibsey Trader Windmill. It was closed and pretty dull. Then we visited Bolingbroke Castle, a reasonably interesting ruin. From there we went to Lincoln, where we visited a cathedral that cost ?2.50 to enter, so we didn't bother; and then we went to the castle, which was big but too touristy. In it I saw a Magna Carta document, containing 3,500 words, approximately. We then visited Bishops Palace, a fairly small damp ruin.

12:39 pm.

Monday 31/05/93 Gainsborough 2:48 pm.

The next visit was Gainsborough Old Hall, were we did another tape tour with walkmans and headphones supplied, like we did at Castle Acre Priory. This is a great way to visit these places as they have period music and noises played beneath the guides voice as you tour the area. It gives a great atmosphere. The tape even told us the story of the ghost of a lady in grey going through a blocked doorway. The great hall was once used to entertain the likes of Henry IV.

2:55 pm.

Monday 31/05/93 York 7:54 pm.

Cliffords Tower sits above us at the moment. It's basically a roundish tower on top of a high mound. From there we went to York Minster, a fantastic church that was hit by lightening fairly recently and one part rebuilt. On one wall is a line of statues of kings; this is very finely detailed. There was a grave of the ten-year-old Prince William, who died hundreds of years ago. As with many of these graves, it had an effigy on top in a reclined position. There was also the grave of a king.

We took a walk along the York Wall, and this wall that goes around York is in amazingly good condition. We walked along the edge and in front to get both views.

It looks like we'll spend another night in the car tonight somewhere on the way to Scarborough.

8:09 pm.

David: We got back too late last night for me to make my usual entry. We went to see the movie 'Mystic River' last night. We both thought that it was excellent, especially the performances of Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.

It seems that the host of my main website is being a bit unreliable at the moment. If it is playing up the you can get directly to this blog by using this URL: http://djmanning.blogspot.com/

Have you ever though why it is that some people send email forwards but don't take the time to write anything? I have a couple of friends that only ever send forwards, and even seem to reply to personal emails with forwards. I think that it may be worth examining why people send forwards in the first place. Is it perhaps that some people find these emails so entralling that they are driven to share them with as many people as possible? I don't think that this is likely to be the case most of the time, as many of the forwards I receive are pretty inane. Besides, the majority of the stuff in these emails is freely available on the web. It is my personal belief that forwards are often a way of people saying "Hey, I'm still here. Don't forget me", without actually needing to put the thought and effort into writing something. On the other hand, maybe there is some other reason why people send forwards rather than personal emails. I'd like to hear your opinions on forwards. If you have an opinion on this issue then please leave a it on our message board (click here to access it, or use the link on the index to the right).

Here's the next UK journal entry:

Sunday 29/05/93 Outside Diss. 4:37 pm.

We are parked in a little culvert, resting from a hard day. After Oxford Castle, we drove to Framlingham Castle. It is a large castle, but not overly interesting because it is mainly a wall with very little inside. There is a good walk along the wall, passing through most of the thirteen towers, which are very high. On the top of most of the towers is a decorated chimney, each one with a different design. The front gate is still working, and has what looks like the original doors in it. One of the doors (gates) has a smaller entrance door inside the larger one. There is also decorative carving in the stone around the gate.

4:50 pm.

Sunday 30/05/93 Castle Acre 1:23 pm.

We ended up sleeping in the car again last night, off on a little dirt road in the rain. The car is pretty comfortable, and we slept well as the seats go right back almost flat. From Thetford, after visiting some smaller ruins, we drove to Grives Graves. This is an area of flint mines that were in use from 2200 BC to 1650 BC. Most of the mines are all filled in, leaving a landscape of craters, but there is one you can go down and you can see all the little side tunnels and where flint has been chipped off. I took a photo of Monique standing in front of some of the side passages (click here for this photo).

We just saw Castle Acre Castle, a fortified house, then Castle Acre Priory, which was amazing. It's a 12th century priory with a ruined church in the shape of a cross, monks' quarters and a very well preserved prior's quarters. The whole place is massive, and the church would have been a very large beautiful building once.

The whole country here is all picture postcard English villages and countryside, some roads completely overhung with trees. The roads are very narrow and winding.

1:40 pm.

Sunday 30/05/93 Castle Rising Castle 3:09 pm.

This castle is mainly keep with no wall left, but the keep is in very good condition with four stories and many rooms. The front steps are impressive with original doors and a hole in the roof above the stairs to drop things on people called a murder hole (click here to see a picture of the front steps, with the arch containing the murder hole in the foreground). There is a hole in the kitchen to pour boiling oil on attackers.

Outside the landfill defences are two trees with old stone markers saying: "Planted BY HRH The Prince of Wales, Dec 28th 1363." It took us a while to work out what it said because of the age of the stones.

3:17 pm.

David: We had a nice dinner in the city with Marie, Steven, Anna and Russ. While we were there, one of the Citycat ferries had stopped and was shining a spotlight into the mangroves on the bank of the Brisbane River. A police boat came along not long afterwards. We could also see some torches through the trees. We didn't end up finding out what was going on.

We got a Christmas card from Monique and her husband Andrew today. They sent a couple of photos of their two children. They are growing up so fast!

Here's the next entry in the UK journal:

Saturday 29/05/93 Hadley, Essex. 5:30 am.

Went to the Tower of London yesterday (click here for a photo), They have massive armouries with swords and armour, the site of the scaffold where Henry VIII's wives were executed and many other interesting things. Inside the chapel there, buried near one alter, is the remains of one of Henry VIII's wives (Catherine I think), and a girl called Jane who was executed on the block thirty minutes after watching her husband lose his head on the same block. She was only sixteen years old.

We got our money back on the tent without any hassles.

We had an interesting time finding the place we rented the car from; we even missed our station once and had to go to Gatwick airport and back to East Croydon. We finally got the car and made our way back to the campsite with very little trouble at all. The car we got is a Honda Prelude, which is in pretty good condition, and even has an electric sunroof.

From our campsite we drove to Hadley Castle. We got there just on dark around 9:30 pm and had a look for a place to stay. As we were looking we found a small fair with rides near the sea. We ended up not finding any suitable accommodation, so we decided to sleep in the car. So we went back to Hadley Castle, but some kids (approximately sixteen I'd say) were having a party there, so we ended up having to sleep in a side street. It wasn't too bad, but I ended up waking up cold at 4:30 am as Monique had the sleeping bag (She's still asleep now). So I drove back to Hadley Castle and wandered over to have a look at it.

Hadley Castle was built in the 1200's and was owned by three of Henry the VIII's wives. It is fairly ruined now and has only one tower still standing (in which someone had killed a pigeon last night), but it has markers showing what everything is and it's still a very beautiful place, especially at dawn (click here for a picture of it at dawn). I went over to it by myself and left Monique to sleep in the car, and it was a wonderful place to watch the sun come up. The same place castle guards would have watched it come up all those years ago.

6:04 am.

Saturday 29/05/93 Oxford.

We had a little trouble with the blinkers on the car this morning, but we finally made it to Oxford Castle. There is only the keep left, but it is in really good condition. It has five floors all accessed by a small stone spiral staircase and another staircase leads to a small room. At the bottom of the keep is a well that we couldn't see the bottom of. Each floor contains private rooms that look like man made caves, some even have private bathrooms and toilet holes that exit the side of the keep (click here for what I think is a picture of Oxford Castle).

12:51 pm.

David: Between the birds getting me up at just before 5:00am this morning, work, and gymnastics, I'm absolutely stuffed. I think that I will just post the UK journal entry tonight:

Thursday 27/05/93 Essex, near London. 8:20 pm.

Our tent we bought in the US for $15.00 is a real lemon. We spent two nights in it. The first night it didn't rain, the second it did, and even though we put our ponchos over the top of it, it still leaked and Monique had a drip falling right on her face. The tent was also very poorly made, and very low to the ground, and water comes through the front door. So today we went to buy a new one that was better quality. So we went to a camping shop and bought what we thought was a new tent. I thought the bag looked a bit rough but when we tried to erect it we found that it was second hand, very second hand. So we have found out the consumer info over here, and we'll confront him with this in the morning, and if he doesn't give us our money back we'll report him; as a matter of fact we'll report him anyway (editing note 11 December 2003: I don't think that we every did report him; I was probably just angry when I wrote this).

8:35 pm.

Thursday 27/05/93 9:07 pm.

We have booked a car in London for �79 a week. We are going to pick it up tomorrow.

Yesterday we spent most of the day chasing up visas, and then after that we went to Hyde Park; which was nice, and had a horse riding track. From there we went to Harrods store, and this place was truly amazing. It's the biggest most unbelievable shop, with five floors, and everything you could possibly imagine, but very expensive.

On Tuesday we met a girl from Stanthorpe who knew Alicia Owens brother Ian at school. (editing note: Alicia is one of my previous girlfriends).

Today we went to Big Ben (click here for a picture [I'm really proud of this picture]), the horse guards (we think we saw Princess Margaret drive off from there) , 10 Downing street , Westminster Abbey , Jewel Tower , and Saint Paul's Cathedral.

Westminster Abbey was very interesting, with people entombed everywhere in the floor. We visited one room there called Pyx Chamber that was built in about 1000 AD, and a museum with a piece of masonry from about 100-400 AD from the Romans. There was an arrow there that is the oldest medieval arrow with a shaft in all of Europe.

Jewel Tower was OK, not much to see inside but interesting just for the buildings sake.

Saint Paul's Cathedral was just indescribable. The inside is massive and beautiful. They had an orchestra playing under the dome while we were there, and this set a mood for the place that could not have been better.

Down in the crypt people such as Sir Walter Raleigh are buried. There are many effigies of the people who are buried there making the place a hall of recumbent statues.

Three days in London and we have seen very little of it yet; in most cases one day in an American city and your sick of it. Of all the places I've been so far, London is the only city that I would fly to for its sake alone.

9:37 pm

David: I went to the uni administration today to get a letter to say that I'd finished my degree. Without this, I wouldn't have any proof that I'd finished until after graduation next year. The letter cost me $10, and I found out that they also charge $10 for a transcript of my result. Would you believe that they never supply you with a transcript unless you pay for it! After years of study and many thousands of dollars in uni fees, they won't even give away a piece of paper.

Tonight, I was sitting in the courtyard of the university campus where I did might first three years of study. I was there waiting for Cathy to finish in a seminar at 9:00pm. While I was sitting there, I realised that much of those three years was just a blur. There must be many little incidents that I cannot recall. I wish that I had kept a journal through those years so that I could remind myself.

Well I've finished posting the USA trip journal. From New York, we flew to London. I've posted the photos from the first UK trip (they can be seen here). Now for the first of the entries into the UK trip journal:

Tuesday 25/05/93 Chingford , London , England. 8:47 pm.

Monique and I managed to get a seat opposite each other on the isle so that wasn't too bad, as the flight only took six hours.

After arriving in London, we took the Train out to the Exodus office and sorted some things out there (editing note 10/12/03: this was the company we did our Africa trip with a few months later). We then went to the South African embassy in Trafalgar Square (click here and here for pictures), where we fed them a story that we needed our visas tomorrow because we are leaving London. This should get our visas back a lot quicker so that we can get the Kenyan and Tanzanian ones in the next four days we are here.

We saw a big commotion outside a church as we came out of the South African embassy. After waiting for a while we saw Prince Charles go in. We waited another tree quarters of an hour or so before we saw him come out again. We got some good photos of him I think (click here for one of the better photos).

We are both dead tired. We haven't slept in a bed for three nights, and have been wearing the same clothes for four days. We have been constantly travelling. I am sitting here in our tent airing my feet as they haven't been out of my boots for four days.

We bought this tent in the US for $15.00 and it's a bit crappy but with a bit of luck and a little TLC I'm hoping it will last for the time we are in the UK.

London is a great city, with none of the stress of the American cities, and the countryside is really green (click here and here for more photos of London). The city itself is almost completely old buildings.

9:07 pm.

David: Our birds have become alarm clocks; well Chloe has really. Jamie isn't as noisy. Each morning they hear the birds in the forest and join their tweeting. This usually starts at about 5:30am. There's not much chance of me sleeping in after they start.

We went to trapolining tonight, and a learned some new skills. I did my first backflip on the tramp, and a backdrop to front somersault. I also learned a front drop to somersault.

This is the last entry from the USA journal; the next entry was made in the UK:

Monday 24/05/93 Newark Airport, New York City. 5:58 pm.

We spent the day today walking around New York (click here to see a photo, and here). We went up the Empire State Building (click here to see a photo from the top) and went into Central Park where we watched some seals being fed. We walked through Tiffany's.

We drove through the Bronx and Harlem on the bus this morning. The Bronx is the worst place you can imagine, so ugly even from a distance and Harlem is just a little better. New York itself is not that bad. It's probably not as bad as San Francisco or some of the other places we've been to. The atmosphere is hot and heavy even at this time of year, and there is no breeze.

We saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance but it was too much of a hassle and expense to get there.

We've had a little bit of trouble with our seats on the plane to London, and we are not sitting together. We are going to see if some people will swap, and if not we'll just keep talking across them until they move as we are sitting in the same row. With a bit of luck this may work.

6:11 pm.

David: I have been trying to get a break into HR for some time now, but without much luck. Even though I've been getting some interesting and high-responsibility tasks with the work I'm doing at uni, this doesn't seem to be helping me to get a job in the 'outside world'. It's very frustrating. It seems that good performance at uni, and at work related to uni, has little impact on recruiters for HR positions.

I've talked to friends I know in the recruitment industry and they say that a lot of weight is placed on experience. This seems counter-intuitive, because I am applying for entry-level positions. I could understand why they would want experience in higher level positions, but to employ someone with experience in an entry level position seems to me like deliberately employing someone who either doesn't want or isn't capable of doing anything but an entry level position. It wouldn't be as black and white as that, and some people may just have not got the breaks they needed in a previous job, but I would think that the odds would be against it. It seems to me that it would be important to question why a person would go for two entry-level jobs in the same industry. You would think that employers would be looking more for aptitude than experience for entry level positions.

Anyhow, now that I have got that off my chest I'll post the next entry in the USA Journal:

Sunday 23/05/93 Boston. 2:59 pm.

Last night was pretty bad. We slept on the bus for four hours until we reached Albany at midnight, then we waited until 5:30 am before catching a bus back to Boston. Albany bus depot was terrible, with lots of homeless people lying in the chairs. Some of the chairs have little pay TV sets on them, and one young bloke managed to throw up all over one. Twice when I went into the toilet I got asked for money from different people. Some of the people were absolutely filthy, and spitting seems very commonplace all over America.

Today we are in Boston for the third time, and this is the first time we've had the chance to look around. So far we have seen the boat that was involved in the Boston tea party. We have also seen Harvard University (click here for a photo), which is a whole town in itself. The town is like a circus with different buskers all through the streets. One fellow was really good, he played Inca type music using a little guitar and pan pipes as well as singing and he was really good at all three.

We walked through the university campus. It has a massive library and we wandered into a church and someone was playing very unusual music on the giant pipe organ. Whoever it was was seated behind a screen and we were the only other people in the church. It was a really strange feeling almost like being transported to the twilights zone or some isolated church in ancient Europe.

3:20 pm.

Sunday 23/05/93 Boston Park. 5:04 pm.

We just visited the bar that inspired 'Cheers' (click here for a photo). It's the same outside except for the sign. The actual outside photo of Cheers in the TV show was of this pub. The inside is similar, only it's like the bar from the show has been cut in half. People were lined up in the street to get in, and they were buying Cheers tee shirts at a great rate.

The park we are in at the moment is pretty (click here for a photo). The leaves are raining out of the trees and it's really nice, except for a siren in the distance. There are lots of people in the park, mostly families and couples.

Boston is definitely one of the best cities in the USA. It's calm even with the traffic and all the tourists. The trains here are easy to use as well.

We tried to find a Toronto Star newspaper but we couldn't find one, we'll try again tomorrow in New York. We'd like to see the photo of us that the reporter took.

We will leave Boston for New York at 3:45 am so we'll have a long wait again tonight.

5:19 pm.

David: Our new budgie, Jamie, is too smart for his own good. This is his second day here, and he has already become used to not having to be in the cage. He and Chloe were left out while I went to work this morning. When I came back, I did a few practice runs of putting them into the cage and then taking them out again, letting him learn from Chloe's example. Then I thought that I'd better leave them in the cage while I went to the gym, so that he could have a chance to eat some seeds. He didn't like that idea at all, and decided that he was going to make a gaol break! He made his way around every part of the cage trying to chew through the bars, especially the joins. He then went down to the doors. We always put a peg over the main door to secure it, but he didn't even try that door. He went straight for the doors over the feed dishes. Within a couple of seconds, he had worked out how to lift it up. This is amazing, because I'm pretty sure that he has never seen the door being opened. He has either generalised the idea from seeing the main door being lifted up, or he has completely worked it out himself. When I saw him do this, I raced over and put a peg over each of these little doors. He kept trying for a while, but eventually gave up.

Here's the next USA journal entry:

Saturday 22/05/93 Portsmouth , New Hampshire. 2:44 pm.

Portsmouth is a really nice little fishing town. This would have to be the best town we have been too in the USA so far. It's very pretty and calm. At the moment we are sitting on a jetty watching some kids catching crabs.

First thing this morning, we got a lift to Kmart with a fellow we met at the Greyhound bus terminal. When we got there, we found out that the president of the US, Clinton, is in Portsmouth, though the only sign of him was an army helicopter in the distance.

There was a Scottish fellow busking in town with bag pipes as we walked through.

One of the bridges was raised to let the ships through, and one ship was a large tanker of some sort pulled by two tugs.

We rang Newark airport last night and brought our flight to England forward to the 24/05/93; as we are running a bit ahead of schedule, and the few days that we save are sure to come in handy in Turkey or Egypt.

I just heard a woman mention that a large building across the river that looks like a bit Luna Park in Sydney is actually an old navy prison.

3:03 pm Saturday 22/05/93 6:12 pm

Yesterday, as we were coming back to Portsmouth, we saw a car overturned on the side of the road with an ambulance man leaning in through the front window, and ambulances and fire trucks everywhere.

6:18 pm.

Saturday 22/05/93 Boston.

We are going back to Albany simply as an opportunity too sleep on the bus, and will be coming back to Boston in the morning. We have a 30-day Greyhound bus pass that allows us to travel as much as we like. We thought that we would save a bit of money by sleeping on the bus rather than getting a room.

We found a really great pet shop in Portsmouth. They had lizards, snakes, fish of all sorts (even a piranha that followed our finger on the side of the tank hoping for some breakfast), rabbits, ferrets, mice, rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, birds and a chinchilla which was really beautiful and as soft as anything. The chinchilla had a dust bath in its cage after the woman got it out for us to pat. They let out two ferrets and we got to play with them. They are like kittens to play with, jumping and running around. Ferrets, much to my surprise, are really playful both with each other and with humans. The woman at the shop really, really loves the animals. She talks and plays with all of them and even kisses them. She told us that one of her pet ferrets managed to beat up her cat, pinning it to the floor.

8:21 pm.

David: Chloe (our budgie) has been so noisy lately. She has been tweeting for a boyfriend, and has been really annoying Cathy when she has been here studying. We finally gave in and bought her a boyfriend. When we brought him home from the petshop, we let him out in the spare room. He flew on to the stick that Chloe rarely uses, and she raced straight over to see him. She was being such a flirt, but then started go get bossy.

After watching Chloe being patted and getting up on our fingers a few times, Jamie did the same thing. He is so calm for his first day, and he seems to be better at flying than Chloe. When Chloe flys she does it flat out. She flys so fast that you can barely see her. On the other hand, Jamie seems to almost casually fly around.

They have already had a couple of little fights. She has started all of them, as she is a bit of a biter, but he will just bite her once and she stops.

We have taken some photos already (of course!). You can see them by clicking here.

They had some zebra finches in with the budgies at the pet shop. This was not a good move, as the budgies decided that they were going to play with the finches. The finches didn't have much of a chance. One female bugie grabbed a finch by the leg. The finch struggled for a few seconds, and then just hung there upsidedown from the budgie's beak. The lady who was serving us saw this happen and started to get all the finches out and put them in another cage. She got the finch away from the budgie, but another budgie grabbed a different finch by the wing. The lady finally got all the finches out. None of them were hurt. I think that the budgies were just having fun.

We went for lunch at Stones Corner as a going away celebration for Rita, a friend from uni. Rita has got herself a really good job in Canberra. I won't say too much about it, as Rita can tell you about it in her own blog (click here to read it). We also met an interesting woman there, who works as a teacher. She teaches media studies in high school. I think that Rita had a good time. We only got one decent photo, as the camera's battery was running out, and you can click here to see it.

On the way back, we finally invested in some Christmas decorations. We were too busy to gets some last year. We took some photos after we'd set them up. Click here if you'd like to have a look.

Now on to the next USA journal entry:

Friday 21/05/93 Portland , Maine. 12:28 am.

We went through Boston at 7:00 pm yesterday and now we find out that we should have stayed there because at the real 'Cheers' bar (editing note: where the series 'Cheers' was set) they are having a final Cheers celebration. We could have been there!

12:32 am.

Friday 21/05/93 Portland , Maine. 2:13 pm.

The Greyhound bus dropped us in Portland about 9:00pm last night. We found that the bus doesn't go any further north, and the bus terminal was closed, so we went in search of a motel. We found out that the cheaper motels were a long way away from some people that run a service station, and they offered to give us a lift when they closed the store. Luckily we managed to find somewhere cheap to stay that was really nice.

Portland seems about the size of Toowoomba, and is fairly quiet. We went to a really good pet shop. They had a macaw that talked. It was about the size of three galas, and was worth $1,399.00. They also had ferrets which were really, really cute for $110.00. One was trying to play with Monique's finger and rolling on it's back.

We found out when we got to the Greyhound today that the next bus goes at 5:00pm, so we went for a walk and met a couple who are cycling around America and Canada. They were a really nice couple and we talked to them for about an hour.

From there we come to where we are now, down near the river, which is near the sea, I think. I took my boots off and went for a walk in the water, and it was freezing cold even though the day is sunny. Today is the first day without rain since Niagara Falls.

2:36 pm.

David: I'm too worn out to write much tonight. Besides, not a real lot happened today as I worked fairly long hours. I'll hand you straight over to the USA journal:

Thursday 20/05/93 On a bus from Utica , New York State. 12:15 pm.

On the bus ride from Buffalo yesterday we went on a bus that was full of Quakers. They all wear the same clothes, the men with their round hats and the woman in bonnets. At each stop the men and boys would get off leaving the women on the bus. They would stand around in a little huddle facing each other and smoke pipes. They all have the same beards and hair cuts. I was talking to the fellow that seemed in charge of them, and probably the oldest. He was quite a nice fellow, and aside from the attire was came across just like anyone else, and was quite friendly; though he seemed to have a preoccupation with the safety of the groups luggage and kept pestering the driver about it.

Utica was a strange place. We got there at 6:30 pm yesterday. The bus/train terminal was a beautiful marble building. After there, we began looking for accommodation, but the city itself is almost deserted. There are a lot of big old buildings that seem abandoned. We went to a place called Utica Hotel, a place with quite a few floors; but the fellow at the counter (who was really helpful because we were Australian) told us it was an adult residence and that all the hotels were out of town. We ended up walking miles into the suburbs before we found a motel cheap enough, and this was even $32.00, and that was after a bit of bargaining. We went past a lot of really lovely houses that often had big pillars near the entrance. Apparently a lot of big companies are closing down in town and people are trying to sell these houses but no one wants to buy into the town.

We often get recognized as Australians, and we've talked to heaps of people who want to visit Australia.

12:42 pm.

Thursday 20/05/93 Two miles out of Springfield on a bus. 4:00 pm.

I was just looking out the window at the forest we are passing and I noticed a dead deer at the bottom of a large slope by the side of the road. It must have been hit and thrown all the way down there.

A lot of the hotel owners in America seem to come from India. I would say at least 70% of the ones we've stayed at have been managed by them.

4:05 pm.

Cathy: I went out to dinner tonight at my favourite Thai restaurant with friends from uni. It was a little celebration after finishing our third year of psychology. Click here to see the photo of us (Wendy, Jenny, Di, Ray, Me, Dee, and Sue).

David: There was a loud gunshot that went off last night at about 11:30pm. There was only one, and it was slightly muffled, as if it was fired indoors. There was a dog barking afterwards, but the neigbourhood went quite quickly. I suppose that we will never know what happened.

Cathy came to visit me at work today, and we caught a bus into the city to have lunch with Celeste. I've known Celeste for about eight years. We met when she was a client at one of the gyms I was working at. We lost contact for a couple of years, and then bumped into each other at while voting in an election. When I cycled to Sydney, I stayed with her and her boyfriend Ross for a few days. They have now moved back to Brisbane.

Here is the next USA trip journal entry:

Tuesday 18/05/93 Toronto , Canada. 6:18 pm.

We have just finished having a look around Toronto. It's not bad, but once again it's just a city, pretty much like any other we have seen except it's more expensive than America.

A photographer from the Toronto Star newspaper pulled us up and took a series of photos of us for the paper on Sunday. We might be able to pick up a copy in New York and see ourselves with a bit of luck. He was taking photos for a report on the mistakes tourists make when taking photos when on holidays for the leisure section of the paper.

6:34 pm.

David: The street is really coming alive with Christmas lights. I don't remember there being so many houses decorated last year, or maybe I didn't take enough notice last time.

Apparently new neighbours are moving in, a couple. Cathy saw them today. She was here studying, and nearly ran over the guy when she left to pick me up from uni. My ankle is still a bit sore, so I didn't walk home today.

On to the next entry in the USA trip journal:

Monday 17/05/93 11:46 pm.

The first thing we did this morning was take a trip on the 'Maiden of the Mist' a boat that cruises to the bottom of Niagara Falls. The horseshoe falls are the most impressive; the sight of them above as the mist soaked us was almost frightening to see.

We walked across the bridge to Canada and had a look at the falls from that side, and it was even more impressive. As soon as you get to Canada you can see the difference from the US. The whole place is so much cleaner, and even the footpaths don't seem as grotty.

We went to see the falls at night. They have lights on them for a certain period at night that change colours, which looks amazing. I read somewhere that the falls erode two feet a year from the amount of water going over it.

We went for a walked on an island near the falls called Goat Island. We wandered through some forest there that was full of squirrels. These animals are crazy. They bound around like idiots and seem to have no idea were they are going. Some will race right up to you to see if you'll feed them. They are really cute.

12:03 am.

David: Somehow I managed to hurt my ankle, so I missed out on going to trampolining. Cathy went though. I suppose that it is only fair. I went without her last week, while she was preparing for a job interview. I must have hurt my ankle at the gym last night, but I didn't feel anything until I got up this morning.

We had taped the last episode of 'All Saints' some time back. We finally got around to watching it last night. We haven't watched the show in ages, not since that character Mitch died, but I'm glad we got to see the last episode of this year's series. The shooting scenes were disturbing, and it reminded me of how terrifying it must be for people to have to go through such ordeals.

Here's the next USA journal entry:

Sunday 16/05/93 Du Bois , Pennsylvania. 8:33 am

We have been travelling and changing busses all night. We made stops in Indiana and now we're off to Buffalo.

8:36 am

Sunday 16/05/93 9:22 am

The bus we are on just stopped at a little place called St Mary's, and a fellow got off there; this means we have our own private bus.

It's very green here and fairly heavily forested almost like Australian Rain forest.

We have been on a very small road (for the USA), with only one lane each way for quite a while now.

9:27 am

Sunday 16/05/93 9:30 am

Monique asked me if I could go down and ask the driver to turn the heating up, and I found out there is a Japanese fellow sitting down the front; ripped off! We don't have a bus to ourselves.

We are going through Johnsonburg now, a dirty little industrial town that absolutely stinks like sewage. Monique's stomachs a bit off as it is, and I bet that smell didn't help.

9:36 am

Sunday 16/05/93 Niagara, New York State 9:11 pm

We reached Niagara Falls about 5:00 pm (click here for a photo of Niagara Falls). The falls are big, but didn't look that big from the top (click here for another photo I took of the falls). But when you get the lift down from the top, and see it from below the falls, you get some idea of how much water comes over the top; and the mist soaks you. We wore our rain gear, but still got pretty wet.

We spent over 24 hours travelling to get here from Elizabeth town.

I just looked out the window and the sun is just starting to go down. It feels like about 7:30 pm rather than 9:24 pm.

9:24 pm

David: I received my marks for this semester tonight. These are the final marks of my degree. I couldn't be more happy with the marks, and I reached a goal I set for myself with this degree: to have a GPA closer to a seven than a six. Well that is the end of another era I guess. My undergraduate period is now finished.

Going back now to a different era, here is the next USA trip entry:

Saturday 15/05/93 Cincinatti , Ohio 6:30 pm

We spent a day and a half at Elizabeth Town in Kentucky sleeping and resting. We had a hotel room with the bathroom door falling off and the TV wouldn't work unless you had the light switched on.

The road network in America is amazing, and no matter where you go the freeway never has less than two lanes going each way, with a very large median strip that is normally about 25 meters wide.

The cities seem to be getting better as we move north, more comfortable and safer.

We leave for Pittsburgh at 9:15 pm.

We explored the cemetery at Elizabeth Town, mainly because there was nothing else to do in this town, which is about the size of Stanthorpe in Queensland, Australia. While there, I noticed that the soles of my boots are already getting worn. We must have walked many, many miles by now.

6:50 pm