These photos are out of order because my blog site seems to be placing them randomly. However, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which is which by my descriptions.
In Greece I stayed at a hostel and met some amzing people. I really hope that I will see them again sooner rather than later. Two of my favourites there were Bob and Kahlia. Kahlia (pictured) is an Aussie chick who is travelling with her boyfriend Davide. They are wickedly creative and free-spirited punk type kids who like nothing more than findly things in the street that they can add to there wardrobe or eventually turn into jewellry. Davide did me the honour of turning my broken earring into a bracelet (but i still can't tell him its fell off somewhere between Akropoli and Omonia train stations).
Bob (pictured) is an Scottish/English chap (sounds mostly English really) who has taken on the onerous task of attempting to "innocently" spoon with every half decent girl he checks into the hostel. I just so happened to have the honour of staying at his house twice. No mum - it was NOT like that! We sat around at his place, smoked cigarettes, played play station, watched dvds and walked his gorgeous dog Jack. Basically he was a bit lonely and liked the company... and the spooning. I must say that as far as experts on spooning go he has to be right up there. I fully enjoyed our long conversations out the front of the hostel on the orange lined Makri street that came to be my home, about the finer intricacies of the art of spooning. I said spooning a lot just then. Anyways, I used to ride around on the back of Bob's scooter with the wind blowing in the hair on my unhelmeted head (bless those Greek laws -or lack thereof) until the morning when I saw my first ever dead body on Sygrou-Fix (a major road in Athens). Apparently a helmet would've helped him when he came off his motor cycle. So from then on, I wore the helmet and only panicked a little bit when we went real fast. Although I think Bob just liked it when I held on real tight.

After leaving Athens I decided that I was on my way to Croatia. The best way to get there is on the ferry but you have to go via Italy. I was already on the ferry (pictured) when I finally made the decision to stay in Italy and go check out some things for about a week or so. The ferry was amusing. It was FILLED with Contiki tour Australians... but there were all real old. They were a little afraid of me as I was flaunting my recently acquired dreadlocks and had not showered after a long bus from Athens to Patras or the overnight sleep on the pullman deck chairs. So I sat stinking on the poop deck (I'm sure it actually isn't called that but I just wanted to say it) reading my book (at that time a really engaging Salman Rushdie novel called The Ground Beneath her Feet) and generally looking like the trash I was. I relished the 6 ft buffer zone Contiki tours tend to allow rabble like me.

In Italy I went straight from Bari to Napoli, and then went to check out the ruins of Pompeii the next day. It was stinking hot that day (about 39) and walking around the ruins became, whilst really interesting, really tiring. We (I was with a Kiwi girl called Alex)... to be continued - friend needs the internet.

istanbul parties and the town of repanidi in greece

OK, So the pictures here show: Me and Tony Loucas on our rooftop terrace in Istanbul after the Sun Project in the cistern party; Stefan and I on the very same terrance, the afternoon before he booted off to Berlin; Myself and the small little Greek town of Repanidi on the island of Limnos (photo is completely out of sequence); Daniel and I looking like we've been partying all night in a 1700 year old cistern underneath the ancient streets of Istanbul.

more photos

some photos to amuse

From the top:
*Stef, myself and Ann at Kadir's on Ann's birthday - Her face says it all really!
*The view from my tent at Butterfly Valley, Turkey.
*Boat Cruise on the Meditteranean (Olympos to Fethiye).
*Our boat as seen from near some castle.
*Killing time in Selcuk with the mandatory nargile session. Oh and it would've been backgammon that we'd played but their set didn't have enough pieces. Daniel and I seem to be on par with our chess skills though (which is to say that we suck terribly, but equally!).

The Bright Side

On the bright side however, the second stage was undamaged. After a little a nights sleep and a little bit of re-organising the party continued with everyone determined to overcome the elements. The sun came out, drying up the dancefloor. It went from ankle deep mud to a bizarre dry sponge in no time. It was amazing to dance on during the transition. Some sections were still very slippery allowing a good twist action, whilst the spongy bits gave a bit of bounce. A nice little combo in my book.
Our campsite was a great set up as well. Even though the only shelter we had was a just a few sticks and a sarong peg down with a couple of ropes we were the talk of the town owing to the 2 big armchairs we had in the centre. A couple of guys who camped with us, Dan and Tom, had bargained with some local Turks who had a shop near the checkpoint (oh the checkpoint was about 15km away from the party and there was a town in between - totally weird) and bought their chairs for 50 lira (They had asked for 80). The chairs were old and falling apart but coveted by all. Our camp consisted almost entirely of Aussies who had some kind of link to each other. Here's a brief rundown on who was there:
Me - most of you know me, I'm the hot one in the photos ;)
Ann - my friend and fellow crazy traveller.
Dan (number 1) -her boyfriend and my good mate (and briefly my housemate).
Stef (number 1) - mate from back in Melbourne, part of the Soulquest crew.
Timbo - Stef's boyfriend, the one with the hairy face. ;p
Tim - of the Fuller variety. Knew back in Melbourne but know really well now.
Bec- Tim's wife and a bloody awesome chick.
Gabs - Tim's cousin and the queen of pixie haircuts and avoiding bread in Turkey (which I deem to be impossible).
Emma- Tim's brother's girlfriend. Intersteller goddess of teaching poi and being the shy retiring type (hahahaha!).
Brigid- Em's mate, recipient of the quiet acheiver trashbag award.
Kirsty - Also Em's mate. She's British but we forgive her.
Dan (number 2)- Em's brother. Saxophonist extrodanairre and bringer of chairy goodness.
Tom - Dan's mate. Percussionist, guitarist and bad influence on young Californian girls.
Stef (number 2) - Associated with the above. Owner of the most outrageously gravity defying 'bed-hair' on the planet.
Bill - Total hippy snowboarder and dreadlock provider.
Johnno - Made me tea in the morning before he knew me from a bar of soap. I owe him my sanity.
Tess - Aviators never looked so good on a girl.
Raychel - The cutter of hair, the (joint) provider of campsite cuisine.
Laura - Always smiling, always laughing, ready to party.
Alex (number 2) - A kiwi I met doing a gate-shift. Befriended the girls above and was rarely seen without red wine.
Julian - Met at earthcore awhile ago. Awesome dude and king of the ultimate scavenger hunt.

There were more I'm sure but I forget them for the moment. Leave a comment if I forgot someone you know.

Guess Who?!!!

Aplogies to those not in on the joke.

That's right kids! Rose Porteus was at Soulclipse!! Wearing EXACTLY the same outfit that she was wearing at earthcore. She still can't dance and she sure as shit still can't find the beat. This photo was taken by Ann, on my camera, after I saw Rose for the second time (this time on the chill floor) and decided that I just HAD to have my photo taken with her. In some of the worst acting in my life (and there's been a lot) I strolled 'casually' up to her (she was alone in a nig gap in the dancefloor) and said, "Hello, were you at earthcore?" She smiled and shook my hand as we made a brief introduction (her name is Aki but she'll always be Rose to me). Then, 'seamlessly' I asked for a photo. Before she even had time to say yes I had hugged her, turned her around to the waiting Ann who was already aiming the camera. After the shot I very rudely ran away as I was about to wet myself with laughter. Ahhhh... Rose, just fucking go round.