winter break

I went to the airport to pick morgan up. we spent a few days before byron bay staying at my new place at sids. a few days later, after sid got back. i went to byron bay with him, pei, sid , ted and ludwig. we rented a camper van and got there in 2 days, travelling up the eastern coast, stopping for a night at port macquarie. Byron bay was amazing. we camped near a beach that stretched on for miles. walked for hours at night without reaching the end . rested for an hour and watched the sunrise. the next day we travelled to the byron lighthouse, and watched dolphins and turtles and prepared to head to nimbin and then home.



along the way we passed a coastal ridge that was a ridiculous wind trap. the caravan got blown off the road, and we flipped. i thought pei died when she flew forward and stopped moving and i screamed her name. meanwhile sid and ted were dangling from seatbelted positions and ludwig had smashed into a cupboard. Morgan who had been sleeping with his beanie over his head at an odd angle , landed nicely on his feet and began to look for his shoes. amazingly no one was really hurt . we climbed out the back of the caravan in a daze, and were confronted by an annoying news crew who started badgering us. the farmer whose fence we brought down started asking us for compensation. thankfully NRMA and the local police showed up and really helped us out of that muck. The cops gave us a ride in the back of their cars to the nearest town, bangalow. thru the grilles and bars , we must have looked like criminals cos me and pei started getting heckled by a motorcyclist riding behind us. at bangalow we really didnt have the spirit to do much. we parked ourselves on a bench and drank the goon of wine sid salvaged from the vehicle. a few hours later with badly worded clauses in our rental agreement threatening huge financial liablities, we got on the bus to casino where we collapsed in exhaustion on the night train back to sydney.



i turned 23 a few days later, without much fanfare, but i had a really nice day with pei and morgan, and took a walk from coogee to bondi. found out we were not liable for any damages. in the evening, we went to tony's house at newtown, popped and watched viddies.



pei left for singapore, the next day. i realised very quickly how much i missed her. zom left sydney that thursday. we bade him farewell the night before. on the way to the regent pub , we saw some arsehole who was well off his rockers, kicking the shit out of his girlfriend who c0uldnt have been more than 17. we stopped him and called the cops after he ran off. had to encounter the NSW police for the 4th time.



moved into sids soon after that day. gallavanted with morgan around sydney the next couple of days, but felt a little heavy cos i knew he was due back in perth in a couple of days. on the last weekend , we went to newcastle for a rave. got into yimings car, what was meant to be a 2 hour ride soon became 4 not that i was complaining. acid had turned the road journey into a night time phantasmagoria. stars dancing in the freezing night air, streaking lights on dark roads, nightime clouds swirling in brownian motion. the branches of trees became the limbs of ancient things, reaching out for the car, having a go at the young and fleeting.



soon we got off the main road, and had to travel 20 or so km or so , on sand and dirt country roads. in the pitch dark the stars suddenly multiplied, as we steadily gained height above sea level. Richard had swapped cars after wilson got pulled over by the cops. I struggled to focus my eyes on the map and summon up the clarity required to help yiming navigate. at 4am in the morning, we finally arrived at the end of strike a light road, and got to the rave. it was freezing cold, with fog pouring out of our mouths and out the exhaust pipes of the cars sullied by dust and dirt from the journey. we wore flourescent wrist bands so we wouldnt get lost in the dark. i tried to make sense of the swirly floor as we followed the music to the main stage. there were fire jugglers and strange performance artists. spent more time getting wood to stoke a fire than actually dancing. We watched the sun creep up on us and we left back for sydney in the afternoon. everyone was coming down. the deafening silence during our lunch stop was rather uncomfortable, i tried to avoid eye contact with anyone while shoving soggy chips down my throat.

The last few days, me and morgan just hung out and saw more of sydney. i felt really sad after i sent him off at the airport for his flight back to perth.
i guess this holiday was really good, but i cant believe its drawing to a close so soon. back to school next week.