Almost the latest news from Oz.

Hunter Stadium, Newcastle

Callum & Alan..season ticket holders for the Jets.

What have I been up to over the last few days? Fortunately my gout attack has now almost gone. It appears to have responded to rest and the anti-inflammatory tablets that I got from the pharmacy.

I have taken to cycling to the beach early morning and having a swim, either in the ocean at Nobbys Beach or in the Ocean Baths nearby at Newcastle Beach. With this bit of exercise behind me, I cycle back to Jonesy’s for a shower and then to his office nearby to work on my writing.

Thursday night I joined Team Clueless, minus Jonesy who is still under the weather with an inner ear infection, at The Duke of Wellington Pub in New Lambton for Pub Trivia.

The questions seemed to be centred on television, film and music and these left us somewhat bemused and yes, clueless, as befits our name. One question was a recording of a ‘hip-hop’ artist and we were asked to identify both the song and the artist? Most of us didn’t know what ‘hip-hop’ was let alone identify the song and artist….but Kermit the Frog did spring to mind! Never mind it was an enjoyable social evening with lovely people.

Friday morning, 25 February and I was up at 5.30am and ready to go power walking. Colin, Jonesy’s Welsh friend, arrived and off we trotted..well walked quickly! 45 minutes around the streets of Hamilton as the sun was rising and fresh into your lungs and then back for a fry-up breakfast! I spurned this opportunity and returned to shower and to have a breakfast of porridge with banana, what a good lad I’m being!

Yesterday and today were turning out to be glorious sunny days with the temperature hitting 27c. Almost too nice to be inside but I was true to my cause and worked on my writing until 3.00pm at which time I closed my laptop and headed for the beach aboard the bike and a lovely wallow at the Ocean Baths. Many Novocastrians thought so too as work or school had finished for the weekend.

That evening I had been invited by Alan to watch the local soccer (football) team, the Newcastle Jets (www.footballaustralia.com/newcastlejets) in their Hyundai ‘A’ League fixture against Adelaide United. Along with his son, Callum, we made our way to the Hunter Stadium were the Jets play their home fixtures.

This stadium is also used by the Newcastle Knights Rugby League side, also owned by local business man, Nathan Tinkler. The Jets main claim to fame was in the 2007/2008 season when they became the League Champions.

Unlike the English and Scottish Premier Football Leagues, it is not a first past the post system of electing the champions. In the ‘A’ League, the top six teams at the end of the regular season take part in a round of play-off matches culminating in a final match. This is the same system as is used in the English Coca-Cola Championship, where only the top two teams are guaranteed promotion to the Premier League and the next four teams play-off for the right to be the third team promoted that season.

The stadium is open at both ends with just a few seats but it does have two impressive covered, all-seated stands complete with corporate hospitality boxes. The overall capacity is given as 30,000 however, the record capacity for a soccer match stands at a little over 24,000.

Our seats were situated in the upper tier of one of these main stands and fairly central. From here you get an excellent birds-eye view of the action or in-action as was the case for much of the game. I don’t wish to be unkind or ungrateful, as I enjoyed the occasion very much, but if this was an advert for Australian Premier League soccer then they have some way to go before they will claim more spectators from other codes of sport.

I do wish however, that when either in my capacity as a match day steward at Ipswich Town Football Club or as a spectator, that it was as pleasantly warm as that evening in Newcastle.

A link to Ipswich Town was in the form of Francis Jeffers who was playing for the Jets. He formerly played for Ipswich after signing a one month loan from his then parent club, Blackburn Rovers, and scoring on his debut away to Hull City.

It was indeed Jeffers who provided the pass (assist) for the Jets first and winning goal in the 35 minute. A win that sent the 10,000 fans home smiling and the Jets into a play-off position. Their next home fixture against Gold Coast United on Friday, 9^th March should be in theory a home victory, as their opponents currently prop up the league ladder. Maybe I’ll be along to watch.

Saturday, 26^th February was yet another glorious day and I gave myself the day off (good boss that I am). Borrowing Jonesy’s mountain bike yet again, he had a business appointment to attend to, I cycled along the Newcastle Foreshore. Dodging the walkers, fellow cyclists and in extreme cases joggers I made my way to Nobbys Beach. It was busy today being the weekend and I found myself a space at the Ocean Baths and had a lovely dip. The water actually felt quite cool initially, probably as a contrast to the very warm sun, but I was soon splashing about comfortably.

As I stood drying off I looked in both right and left at a quite lovely beach vista (no, not that! Get your minds out of the gutter, although there were a number of delightful forms!). Newcastle Bay stretching away to my right towards King Edward Park heights and Nobbys Head away to my left.

It is at times like these that realise how fortunate the locals are to have such a lovely natural facilities on their doorstep. Young, old, families and tourists (me) all out enjoying it but with a healthy regard for the strength of the sun. Public barbeques are dotted about and people actually clean up after themselves ready for the next person, how refreshing and yet another great facility.

Talking of nature, I’ve just been bitten on the foot by an ant about the size of a stag beetle, ouch! Little ba** naughty thing. For every advantage there is a disadvantage!

Saturday night and my new pals of Team Clueless had invited me to join them for dinner and listen to a couple of local performers at the Duke of Wellington pub. Why not?   

Newcastle, New South Wales.

I thought I would tell you a little bit about Newcastle, NSW my home from home for the next few months. Situated on the East coast of Australia, Newcastle lies approximately 101 miles (162km) NNE of Sydney at the mouth of the Hunter River. It has a population of just under 155,000 (as of 2006 cenus) although the Newcastle Metropolitan area brings this up to just under 289,000, and is recognised as NSW's second largest city after Sydney.

I have copied a brief history of Newcastle as it much more eloquently tells you the salient facts:-

  Newcastle History- the short version
The Awabakal people lived in the Newcastle area for countless generations. To the Awabakal,
Newcastle was known as Muloobinba, translated as Mu-lu-bin (edible sea fern) –ba (place of).
Lieutenant Shortland was the first white man to explore and name the place, and it his original
landing at Signal Hill (Fort Scratchley) and Stockton on September 9, 1797, which Newcastle
has chosen to mark as the founding of the city. Captain Cook had earlier marked on a map the
rocky islet of Nobby’s Head at its mouth as he sailed north on May 10, 1770.
Shortland reported on the abundance of coal in the area and in 1799 the first shipment of coal
was sent to Bengal, making Newcastle, Australia’s first commercial port.
The first settlement of Newcastle was short lived, ending with a mutiny and closing in early 1802,
after sinking what is believed to be the first coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere at Colliers
Point (now Fort Scratchley).
A new settlement of Newcastle was established in 1804 as a place of secondary punishment for
unmanageable convicts and was re-named Newcastle, after England’s famous coal port. The
new settlement, comprising of convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on the
10 March 1804, under the appointment of Superintendent Lieutenant Charles Menzies.
Captain James Wallis (commandant from 1815 to 1818) laid out the streets of Newcastle, built
the first church (on the site of the present Christ Church Cathedral), erected the old gaol on the
seashore, and began work on the breakwater, which now joins Nobby’s to the mainland. The
quality of these buildings was poor and only a much-reinforced breakwall survived. In 1816 a
public school was built in East Newcastle for the children of soldiers and convicts, making
Newcastle East Public School, Australia’s oldest school.
The Bogey Hole was built in 1819 when Major James Morisset, the town commandant, ordered
a swimming hole for his own personal use. Originally called the Commandant’s Baths, it was
made by convicts who cut into a tidal rock platform at the bottom of what is now King Edward
Park. The current name is an aboriginal word meaning ‘to bathe’.
Newcastle’s time as a penal colony ended in 1823 and the town began to acquire the aspect of a
typical Australian pioneer settlement, with a steady flow of free settlers pouring into the area.
In 1847 Newcastle was proclaimed a city and named as the centre of a new Anglican Bishopric,
meaning the structurally questionable Christ Church became a Cathedral.
Construction of a lighthouse on Nobby’s Headland was begun in 1856, replacing the original
signal mast set up in 1804, and has been guiding ships into Newcastle Harbour since 1858.
1876 saw the construction of Customs House and in 1881 work on Fort Scratchley commenced
because of fear of a Russian invasion.
BHP was opened in 1915 and so began the transformation of Newcastle from coal city to steel
city.'

So convict labour once again the mainstay of a new city in this land. That chap Cook got about didn't he? It is quite staggering when you consider the distances those sea-fairing explorers actually covered in the time before jumping on an aircraft.

I am staying in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton and it was home to Newcastle's first Italian and Greek arrivals as is evidenced by the strong Mediterranean  influence with delicatessens and restaurants along Beaumont Street, the main hub and cultural beat of the area.

Newcastle hit the world headlines on Thursday, 28th December, 1989 when at 10.27am it was devastated by a major earthquake, measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale. At the time it was Australia's worst natural disaster with 13 people killed, 160 injured and over 60,000 buildings damaged. Of those killed, 9 were accounted for by the total collapse of the Newcastle Workers Club in the city centre and 3 were killed by a collapsing balcony in Beaumont Street in Hamilton, the remaining death was a lady in the Broadmeadow area who died from shock.

Since then, world attention was again focused on Newcastle when, on 8th June, 2007 the bulk carrier Pasha Bulker at 77,000 tonnes was blown aground 20 metres off Nobbys Beach during a ferocious gale. It surprisingly, or not, attracted thousands of visitors before it was eventually re-floated almost a month later on 02nd July.

So Newcastle, a pleasant city in which to be living and from where to visit other East Coast towns and cities. 

Thursday, 16th February, 2012.

Glenda & Diane at Trivia evening.

Diane, me & Jonesy with my paper plane!

World's worst paper plane launch.

It's hard to believe that I have been here in Australia for a week now. During that time I have managed to get my head down to some serious work on my writing, as well as enjoying the life here in an Australian summer.

The weather has been very changeable in so much that it has gone from hot and sunny to hot and wet within a short period of time. Locals tell me that this has been one of the wettest and coolest summers for many years. Temperatures are apparently well down on average at between 24c and 27c! Call me old fashioned but that seems pretty damn hot. I guess that daytime temperatures in the mid to high 30's would represent a somewhat different average.

I have become a regular for 'Team Cluless, for the weekly Pub Trivia and a temporary member of the Planet Fitness gym, although I have only been once so far. I have managed just the one swim to date, been 'power walking at the crack of dawn and managed to get sunburnt by underestimating the power of the sun!

On a negative note, I am currently suffering from gout in the big toe of my right foot. This is incredibly painful and has reduced me to a slow hobble. Hopefully the anti-inflammatory tablets that the pharmacist recommended and the ice treatment will see me back to normal mobility within a few days.

Not much else to report for now so g'day from Down Under.

Thursday, 9th February, 2012

I awoke at just before 6am in time to hear Jonesy leaving for the office. It was starting to get light and despite the sun rising and the skies seemingly clear, there was a steady fall of rain. It certainly wasn’t cold, about 20c and the forecast was for a high of 25c but with a reasonable expectation of further precipitation.

New South Wales was having a rather cool and wet summer this year, well, cool and wet by Australian standards. Parts of the north of the State were having flash flooding and some real problems, whilst across the border into Queensland, some serious flooding had been evident for a number of weeks. Extremes of weather the like of which we in the U.K. seldom experience or associate with this huge country.

Anyway, as I was awake it seemed only prudent to get my head down to some work on the laptop, and see if I could connect to the internet wireless connection from the hotel across the road. I’m still wary of this form of connection as it leaves your details open to possible viewing by parties unknown.

It was a good strong signal and allowed me to catch up with incoming mail items and send replies or forward on as appropriate. I’m still pretty useless with computer technology, and even simple tasks are either difficult or completely beyond my current skills.

When I think that I was amongst the first students to take up the computer studies syllabus at my school in the early 1970s. Yes, you cheeky buggers, we did have computers back then. We used to create hole punched data cards at the school then visit the local Civic College where they had computers filling whole rooms and where we could have our cards read at ‘high’ speed.

Isn’t technology marvellous and baffling and beyond me! The size of communication apparatus and the range of ways in which it can utilised never ceases to amaze me. It has most certainly opened up all sorts of opportunities to everyone, from general information to specific searches. I’ve been fortunate to have been able to travel fairly extensively but, for those unable to, computers allow you to view virtually anywhere in the world from your armchair.

The rain had cleared and it seemed only right to take a walk in the lovely warm sunshine. Hamilton, the suburb of Newcastle that I was staying in, is a pleasant area and also has its own ‘cappuccino’ strip in Beaumont Street. It was to this area I walked and took a Flat White at a very pleasant and airy establishment called The 3 Bean. It’s interesting to note that Australia has one of the biggest coffee cultures in the world and grow much of their own coffee. Talking of cultures, I hope I remembered to do the washing up before leaving home!

That evening I was to participate in a Pub Trivia evening. Jonesy and some other lovely friends of his meet regularly as ‘Team Clueless’ to test their knowledge and it must be said, to have a social evening.

I had been drafted into Team Clueless, very apt on my part, during my last visit. Surprisingly I was again invited to add my brain cell to the collective and we managed a creditable equal 3rd placing out of 4 teams! Only kidding, there were 10 teams; the problem was that the other 8 were equal 1st or 2nd!

And so another day passes and to bed to see if I could get up for 5.45am the next morning for a power walk walk with Jonesy and yet another pal, Colin.

Wednesday, 8th February, 2012.

Sydney Central Station is no different from any mainline station anywhere in the world. Always the hustle and bustle of people going to or from their homes to work; holidaymakers clutching baggage, maps and small children’s hands; railway employees in their hi-vis clothing trying studiously to ignore the looks of confused or harassed customers.

Personally, in comparison to London’s mainline rail terminals, I felt that Sydney Central seemed almost tranquil and ordered. A single ticket to Newcastle was purchased for $8.20 and the departure board showed the next train was due to depart in 13 minutes at 9.15am fro platform 8.

I strolled along to that platform walked past a couple of disinterested ticket checkers and boarded the train. My 22kg suitcase was hefted effortlessly, who am I kidding, across the gap between the train and the platform. Australia favours the double-decker variety of train, similar to those found often in mainland Europe and North America. I didn’t wish to sustain a hernia and so I opted for the lower level for me and my suitcase.

Another simple but seemingly good idea relates to the seats on these trains. They can be arranged so that you have a four seat format, two bench seats facing each other, ideal for friends or families or, by simply pulling the seat backward or forward, create two separate sets of two seats. (That sounds more complicated than it actually is…believe me).

The journey, once beyond the Sydney suburbs is really very scenic. The train trundles through, and stops, at many stations en route to Newcastle. It is particularly pretty at Gosford where the track curves along Brisbane Water having crossed the mouth of The Hawkesbury River estuary. By 12.15pm I was pulling into Hamilton, a suburb of Newcastle, where I was to be met by my good friend Neil or Jonesy to most of his close associates.

An accountant by profession and a football referee by hobby, Jonesy leads a pretty hectic lifestyle. I accompanied him to a meeting at 4pm and joined him and his friend Eadsey at their local gym where to my trepidation, I was able to purchase temporary membership and then join in an ‘Abs’ workout.

I was less than 24 hours off a 26 hour flight and with little sleep in the preceding 72 hours, and yet here I was preparing for, in their words, a high intensity work out on my tummy muscles. Now there’s a contradiction in terms, stomach muscles. The nearest my stomach has been to muscles was at a seafood stall in Clacton-on-Sea last summer!

This Abs workout lasted for 12 minutes and as I entered the hall I did, admittedly, relax somewhat when I saw the body shapes of a few of the ‘willing’ participants lying sprawled around on their backs. Or, could it be they were left over from previous workouts and were too exhausted to move away?

The instructor was an incredibly thin lady called Helen, who apparently, is soon to reach her 60th birthday. I was introduced by the boys who explained that I had very recently arrived from England and may or may not stay awake for the whole session. Helen assured me I would and as the floor space filled with expectant participants and the music powered up, Helen encouraged me not to fall asleep as I assumed a prone position on the floor.

Linked to a microphone to be heard above the pounding music, Helen encouraged and cajoled us to action. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with she called. Could I get away with just lying on my back for the next 12 minutes I wondered, but seeing the efforts of a rather large lady nearby, I decided not.

Now Helen is an incredibly agile and fit lady, nearly 60 years old or not, and was easily demonstrating the movements that we should all be aspiring to without even sounding out of breath. Different movements and stretches were occurring at breakneck, well break something, speed and just as I was coping on my back came the instruction to flip over onto our fronts.

What the hell, taking your whole body weight on your forearms and your toes you were suspended off the ground holding this pose. I don’t know what hurt more, my stomach muscles or my shoulders? The final ‘stretch’ as Helen called it saw us revert to our backs and then raising our legs as high as we could vertically above ourselves rotate each in turn in a form of slow motion cycling. If I had thought the other exercises had been hard, then this was really painful.

Helen seemed pleased that I hadn’t fallen asleep and looked forward to welcoming me back for more punishment next week! Will I return to the U.K. with an ironing board stomach or just the washing to put on it?

On our way back home we stopped off at a local supermarket so that I could purchase some salad items in order to continue my healthy eating regime. When we had unloaded these, we retired to the hotel across the road for a Chinese meal…que cera

10th February, 2012.

5.15 am and it was time to get up and get ready for the next phase of Jonesy’s exercise routine. Every Friday he goes for an early morning ‘power walk’ with a friend of his called Colin, who I discover is originally from Newport, Wales. Colin immigrated to Australia in 1982 and told me he wished he had done so years before that.

Off we went with Jonesy setting the pace and Colin and me falling in behind. I must admit I really enjoyed the next hour criss-crossing the streets and parks of Hamilton even visiting The Railway Station where the steps leading over the tacks were part of the route .It was interesting to see so many other folk out walking or, in the case of the park, getting in an early game of tennis prior to the heat building.

Our reward at the end was to go to one of the many cafes in the area for breakfast. Today it was to be Dimitrys Café, owned unsurprisingly by Dmitri (I jest!), a Greek couple originally from Athens. This gave me a chance to use my few words of Greek picked up from my time as and overseas representative for First Choice Holidays on Crete in 2003.

I couldn’t tell if they were impressed or not but they were very friendly and interested in my visit and ambitions for writing a book. They certainly reminded me of my dear friends Yianni, Antonia and Billy, owners of The White Lady Taverna, in Adelanos Kampos, Rethymnon, Crete.

A sumptuous fresh fruit salad with Greek yoghurt and drizzled with honey was delicious, and then it was back to work on my writing prior to being entrusted to take Jonesy’s car and collect his brother and sister-in-law from Newcastle Airport.

The airport is situated ay Williamstown, about 30 minutes north of the city on the Pacific Highway. I had driven this route before on a previous visit but the most daunting part is getting out of the suburbs and onto the Highway in the first instance.

I actually did better than I dared hope and was waiting for them when their flight from Ballina, in the north of New South Wales, landed about an hour late. They actually live in Byron Bay and were visiting for Jonesy’s sister Karen’s 50th birthday. The regional airline operating this route is called REX airlines and explains the sign at the airport entrance, ‘Newcastle welcomes REX’. There was me thinking it was a celebrity dog arriving!!

I’ve stayed with Stephen and Michelle on three occasions now so it was nice to be able to see them again. I took them first to visit Peter, Stephen’s father, who is in a nursing home currently.

Later on we had some lunch and sheltered in a coffee shop as a thunderstorm raged outside, delivering rain of biblical proportions. Wet summer or what! Wettest for a number of years I was being told….still, it was shorts and t-shirt weather as opposed to coats, hats and gloves back home.

Under way Down Under.

Me at Dubai Int. Airport

Win a Bentley at Dubai Int. Airport.

The oasis at Dubai Int Airport.

Sunday 5th Feruary, 2012

I hadn’t slept much that night, probably a combination of excitement and trepidation of the forthcoming few months.

Looking outside of bedroom window at 5.45am I was greeted by a 3or 4 inch layer of snow. This wasn’t going to make getting to Gatwick any easier, or indeed, the potential flight cancellations that Heathrow had already implemented prior to a flake of snow falling.

Anyway, what would be would be, and so I started the final preparations for packing and leaving nothing vital behind. My luggage allowance was a generous 30kg with Emirates Airlines but there was no way I would be taking that much, besides, my suitcase was not the largest.

At the last minute I was forced to jettison various pieces of clothing and pharmaceutical items that I had laid out to take due to lack of space. Travelling with a laptop and other electrical equipment severely hampered available space and also added to the basic weight.

Big brother Pete was driving me to the airport accompanied by big sister, Sandra for company on the way home. Road conditions were testing but not appalling, and with care we made the Best Western Moat House Hotel in 2.5 hours. My decision to stay here overnight was a wise one given the conditions and the early start the following morning.

Monday 6th February, 2012.

I had asked for an alarm call at 5.15am but had yet again only slept fleetingly. I caught the bus to the Gatwick North Terminal and joined a relatively small band of fellow travellers at The Emirates check-in area. As I was travelling alone, I was asked if I would consider taking their later flight that lunchtime that would still connect with my onward flight from Dubai to Sydney. This was because of the cancellations of flights from Heathrow the previous day, and they now had an overbooking problem. It would mean that I would have a 5 hour wait here as opposed to Dubai, but the sweetener was the offer of a FREE return trip to Sydney valid for a year.

I took all of 10 seconds to agree and was given a refreshment voucher to use at any of the terminal’s outlets and told I would be called back to have my luggage checked-in after my original flight had closed.

I was actually very pleased at this outcome and couldn’t wait to advise my friends and family. I had my complimentary breakfast and sat back reading a book on my new ‘kindle’ device.

Just before 9.00am, 45 minutes before my original departure time, I was called to return to the check-in desk. You can imagine my disappointment, and that of about 10 other people, as we were told that they could indeed take us due to no show passengers. This gave me very little time to loiter before getting to my departure date and boarding the aircraft. My original requested seat was still available and so began the first leg of my 26 hour journey, a mere 7.5 hour flight to Dubai in The United Arab Emirates.

Emirates Airlines are, in my opinion, one of the best airlines to travel with. Their in-flight food and services are excellent and despite taking off 35 minutes late, we arrived 15 minutes early.

I spent the next 5 hours in the pleasant company of a chap called Pat, from Chelmsford, who was travelling out to Brisbane. He had just recently received his Australian residency visa following along drawn out process, and was starting his search for possible homes. Good luck mate.

The Dubai to Sydney sector is the long one and is scheduled for 14.5 hours. As a notorious non-sleeper on aircraft, this would be the ‘killer’ journey for me and sure enough not long after take-off my lower back was crying out to be massaged. Once again, despite a 40 minute delayed departure we still managed to arrive 5 minutes early.

I had pre-booked a room at The Central Sydney YHA that is situated directly across the road from Sydney Central Railway Station, and from where I would catch the train in the morning to Newcastle and my home from home with good friend Jonesy.

As I presented my weary bones at the YHA reception desk, you can imagine my dismay and quickly, embarrassment, as I was told I didn’t have a reservation. But my visa card had been debited. How could this be so? The answer was soon apparent. My printed confirmation clearly stated arrival for 1 night on Monday 30th, January and not Tuesday 7th February.

What had happened was I had cocked-up! Whilst making the booking online, I had the correct dates booked but had lost the connection before I had entered my payment details. When the connection was restored some 30 minutes later, and my details were still online, I wrongly assumed that the dates showing were my original, entered my payment details and printed the confirmation.

The date was incorrect and I didn’t notice until now! The YHA had correctly charged 100% charges for a no show, and that was where I was now. The only beds they had were to share a 4-bed dormitory room, a mixed dormitory room at that. I took the bed and was told to speak with the manager in the morning prior to check-out.

In the event, there was just one other guest in the room, a young Indian guy. I felt bad at disturbing his sleep as I blundered in at 0.45am and turned on all the lights. I had to make my bed with the clean sheets provided and borrow a towel as I did not have one with me and would have had these provided in my original room.

So ended my first few hours down under again! I slept little again and my fellow guest was up and about early as he was leaving for Canberra. I suppose it was pay-back time for my disturbing him earlier.

The YHA Manager was very pleasant and could see my original booking and agreed to not charge me for my bed last night but neither could he authorise a refund between the $134 I had paid for a private room with en-suite facilities and the $46 for my bed in the dormitory. Fair dues, I should know better as an ex travel professional. Let this be a lesson.

Let me take you back....

...to 2001 before my gap-year started. Where do you start? Well sorting the actual travel arrangements were, for me, fairly straight forward. Having worked in the travel industry since 1979, I had a pretty good idea of how to go about this bit.
No, it was what to take with me for a year that was my biggest concern at this stage. Unlike my previous two-week holidays, where I would pack enough clothes for a month, I would need to be very careful about what I packed and indeed, what I packed it into. Whilst I wasn't going on a hiking holiday, there would be times when I was planning to hike, such as The Inca Trail in Peru. A backpack therefore seemed like the most practical form of luggage. needless to say there are numerous types of backpack on the market so off I trotted to an outdoor equipment specialist to seek their advice.
Now this opened up a whole new world of bewildering equipment and from what I was seeing a lot of potential expenditure. The assistant immediately told me to remember that whatever you put in your backpack you must be able to carry comfortably. He suggested to take a change of underwear for each day of the week, plus one extra day on the basis that hopefully you will be able to do your laundry at least once weekly!
I started to look at sleeping bags next. As I was not intending to do much camping and I was given to understand that hostels provided bed linen, it was only going to need some form of bedding occasionally. Being a stout fellow,well ok,overweight,I was going to need a large sleeping bag. Many of the bags appeared to taper in towards the foot of the bag so it was determined that I should try out a bag to find the perfect fit. The assistant found me the largest bag they stocked,which he assured me would fold into a relatively neat rolled package for carrying.
Unzipped,I slid into the bag and then started to draw the zips up. It was certainly cosy and as I reached the shoulder area came the critical moment. My sister tugged the zips up and past my shoulders and there I was,a rather large catapillar totally unable to move. I couldn't move my arms or turn in the bag and I couldn't reach the zips either. The assistant was with another customer and my sister had wandered off elsewhere in the shop. A surprised lady nearly fell over me and then smiled at the,by now,very red chubby face staring up at her. Not wishing to disturb me she stepped carefully over me and continued her browsing.
The temperature inside the bag was approaching critical level and a mild panic began to envelop me as I started wriggling helplessly in my cocoon. Fortunately, the assistant returned and released me, and suggested an alternative. A thermal fleece blanket,lighter and more compact and that zipped up like a sleeping bag.
'Ching,ching',a sale and before I had left I had also purchased a medical kit,complete with sterile needles;a folding knife,fork and spoon set;a water bottle;a huge waterproof poncho to cover the backpack;a micro towel(like a flannel),and a universal door lock. This small piece of metal fits into the frame of the door and then ratchets shut to create a secure lock for any door. Ideal for public toilets perhaps. I must remember to try this out when next at a motorway service station!