Nothing there

After a decent farewell party at my mum's atelier, I arrived in Brisbane on a Sunday late afternoon. Fair enough I wasn't expecting anything and the worst case scenario was treated as a real possibility, but I was surprised at how every single little thing went as wrong as it possibly could. It took me long enough to organize a ride from the airport, as Primata let me down in the last minute. Although my dear Alex volunteered, I was stuck in customs for over an hour and got even my computer checked throughly. It would have been ok if my phone was working and I could call her, but I found out my pre paid Optus sim card stops working if you don't recharge it for more than 6 months. Once the custom pigs were finished entertaining themselves at my expense, I walked past numerous people holding signs with names of waited ones but didn't even consider the possibility of Alex being still there after that long and no word. I hoped straight on a train. The thing crossed the western suburbs and I saw how fucked up youth is right now.. not a particularly comfortable feeling to have all my shit on me in a moving metal box full of freaks.

By the end of the long trip, I was the only guy left. That's when I remembered this is a ghost town and I'd be lucky yo find a cab at the station. As statistics have it, it wasn't the case. I was on my own in a pitch black Sunday night without a phone at fucken Varsity Lakes. The only human I spotted was an old Aboriginal lady. I asked for help to get out of there, she said her son was coming to pick her up and she could ask him to give me a lift. I thought I was saved, but the bastard simply said no haha I convinced him to let me use his phone to call a cab, but after 10 minutes fighting with his iphone, he gave up and told me to put my shit in his car.

I got dropped off on my sacred corner, where my symbolic grevillea is growing every day. She looked healthy, at least one good thing. After breaking in to my own house and hacking Primata's computer, I was finally communicable again. The only thing I was sure of at that moment is that I needed to find a new place. My old joint just seemed unrecoverable.

Rafinha carving it

Back just it time for Australia day!

babysauro & Piggy

You wait for me Rio, I'll share the sky with your birds

Never enough time with you..

Vinicim

Abundance of meat on offer @ Jurere

Popped my shoulder again on that day.. nowhere near as bad as the first time, although my confidence was way more sore than my body.

I was having too much fun in Rio, but the truth is that there was no way for me to live there if I wanted to. The Radio Operator thing wasn't gonna go anywhere and I had under a month before it was time to go back to Australia. The obvious thing to do was to get a flying license and become a pilot! but I chose to do it in Australia.. I'm a much stronger man when away from the coziness of home.

The turning point

Ok, I'm quite troubled by the cognitive process that triggered that whole pilot thing, but 1 factor that could not be excluded from the equation is this Flight with Calito. Regardless of what happens, I will always be grateful for that. As hungover as I was, I knew from the moment we got airborne that this was going to be my next adventure.

More Rio Chillness.. Why can't I get that type of friends on the Gold Coast? I guess I'm either too old or ran out of Hard Drive capacity to store them. Funny thing is that I hear the same complaint from girls and boys, either from elsewhere in Australia or from other countries, be them surfers, drinkers or both; when they move to our idyllic but shallow GC. No biggie if you just do your own thing though.

Fun session with friends at Joatinga, I was really getting used to it!

Radio Operator my ballz - Nov 2011

Right.. So I decided I'll actually catch up on the processes that leaded me into where I am now, this one here is from November 2011! I'll work my way up from there. No one replied to that test post, which is perfect, I wouldn't want to annoy my friends with the heap of posts I'm about to release. Besides, I will keep this public, but would prefer if no one actually knew I'm using it again. It's not a secret but it's more for myself than anything..

Anyway.

After 10 days out in South Rio's bush, it was time to make myself useful somehow. Ariana, a friend who I met at Praia do Sono, told me about the possibility of being a radio operator. It was the most sensible, realistic and profitable option as far as working in Brazil I have came across to this date. So I looked up a course and tackled the mission. a 4 hour drive to the North end of Rio for a 2 week course. Basic stuff.. fun trip, the place itself, Macae, is a shithole, but I drove down to Buzios on the weekend and had a good time. The drive itself was the biggest challenge by far!

The idea was to find a job and go work offshore 15 days on 15 days off, but they never gave me a certificate till 15 Months later hahaha

No worries though, that experienced got me contemplating something bigger.

Absolutely classic, I'm glad I took a picture of it.. my only memory from the whole thing really.. We were a class of 9 people, the only chick was ugly ugly as fuck haha but in my eyes she was looking a bit better each day that went past! Still the boys didn't take it lightly on her in their farewell card lol

Chilling at the Buzios house with friends on the weekend.. one of those scenarios you know will never happen again for a lot of reasons

Buzios has to be the prettiest town ever, right up there with Byron Bay

Martis de Sa

This place is mental. I'll let the photos speak for themselves