Australia 1990

Armed with a one year working visa I arrived in Sidney after an interesting flight with Air India to find someone had walked off with my rucksack! I got it back and spent a few days in Wollongong with the Gregory family who used to live on Victoria Ave. There are a few photos of when I went on a tour of the Blue Mountains to see the three sisters and other sights, including the world’s steepest railway.

I moved to Sydney to look for work. There are a couple of shots of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I ended up working for a company selling Encyclopaedias door to door. Great job, travelling with other like minded people round Australia, staying in caravan parks and generally having a good time. Didn’t make any money though! The top photo shows me entertaining the troops with my extensive guitar skills. The other photos show typical days—messing on the campsite, getting some beers in and feasting on whatever we could find. There was a break from work at Christmas. There is a couple of photos of Christmas Day on Bondi beach. The photo of me and Paddy covered in soot is when we volunteered to help out with the bush fires.

I did run out of money and had to get Simon to send me some over. I ended up spending a few nights sleeping in the Botanical gardens and under the Sydney Opera House. This was despite valiant attempts at busking in Brisbane! Saw quite a lot of Australia, especially Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. Met some great people, though hitch hiking was tough work in a lot of places.