Up late with shiny new toys

Well its almost 4am here and what a day it's been.

I decided in the end that with the extra hours i've been putting in, i deserved a new toy, so at lunch time i traded in my 2 old lenses and a wad of cash for a brand new lens. It has mechanics to correct for shakey hands and or coffee withdrawl, allowing for photos in really low light situations.

I also splurged on a hiking pole. However this hiking pole can be unsrewed at the the top to reveal its hidden talent - no its not a drug stash, nor is it a lethal weapon, but a rather limited monopod.

My testing today with my new toys shows that i can get passable zoomed in photos in situations requiring a shutter speed of a whole second. So that's exciting, well it is for me anyway.

And then when I got home I finally booked some accomodation - it's only one night I didn't want to get carried away. I arrive on a saturday and most of the hostels seems to be full that night, well the reasonable ones anyway I don't like the sound of the 24 bed dorm room nor the cost of a single room. Eventually I settled on a 6 bed room in Hammersmith for $50AUD a night.

And then to top all that off there was possibly the most exciting america's cup race I'll ever witness - hence why im still awake at 4am

Tomorrow's task should i actually sleep - to replace myself and find someone to fill my room

2 lots of 2 Weeks

Well in 2 weeks exactly there should be a plane moving in an upwards and forwards direction, with me onboard.

The list from the last post is still daunting. Atleast i managed to stop being sick.

Work has picked up and both my jobs are looking to squeeze as much out of my head as possible before I flee. This will work to my advantage though in some respects - one of them is casual and will become my after hours job paying overtime, and the other i can work 10-6 (my version of 9-5). This will help pay for my ipod and IceBreaker addiction - maybe i can afford that super lens after all.

I still have nothing booked for the first 2 weeks in the UK. I'm, contemplating getting out of there as quickly as i can and going somewhere else before coming back for the wedding. Whatever I decide I should move quickly as July is peak season and things are filling up quickly from what I can tell.

3 Weeks and a day

Well it's 3 weeks and a day till im gone and everything is chaos. Things to do before I go:

• Sort out lease on house and fill 3 soon to be vacent rooms
  
• Sort out moving utilities for house from my name
  
• Finish buying things
  
• Stop being sick
  
• buy more stuff
  
• Cancel australian health insurance and various other things
  
• Maybe even work out where im staying in london for the first few nights
  
• Work my two jobs
  
• Probably submit a conference paper or two
  
• Catch up with friends before I go
  
• Clean my room
• Sell my bed
• Read up on touristy things

I'm not really sure for the order, but stop being sick has to be the top of the list. I went away rock climbing for the long queens birthday weekend, and had a great time, however i must have been coming down with a cold as i was leaving and sleeping in a tent in 4 degree temperatures can't have helped much.





The climbing was good though, The weather during the first two days was amazing - I was climbing in a singlet, however the nice clear days of course made for cold evenings. It was amazing how green the area was. Over summer there wasn't a blade of grass to be seen in the pines camping ground. This time it was like a lush meadow - one of the photos above shows a nice view of the feields. Maybe australia isn't totally doomed to an apocapytic mad max style fight for water after all.

The giganormous TODO post

Well at this stage I think my tickets are final - it's now 4 months of travel, leaving on the 4th of July returning on the 3rd of November. So it's time to get serious about it. It's only 55 days till I leave and I'm working 2 part time jobs which somehow seems to add up to more than one full time job.

Things to definitely buy before I go:

• While I have wonderful boots for the walk across Spain, I need some semi casual shoes, that could pretend to be semi formal at times, yet still be comfortable for a good deal of walking
  
  
  -Update: Done, I have fantastic Tivas, any more shoes required I'll buy over there
  
  
  


• More travelish clothes. I'm hooked on the ice breaker stuff.
  
  
  -Update: Done much more ice breaker gear purchased to the detriment of credit card balance.
  
  
  
  



• A lonely planet guide or two.


• A drink bottle holder for my pack


• An Extra memory card for my camera

Things to buy if I can convince myself its worth it:

• A Nikor 18-200 VR lens - It will replace both my current lenses (And hence be lighter and no lens changing required) and be better in every way, shame its so expensive.
  
• An Ipod. My current Ipod is sad - literally half the time I try to use it, it only displays the 'Sad Ipod icon'. Not just useful for music on long trips it will also be good for storing photos and any other digital documents.
• Hiking poles. If I'm going to take my camera, they may well be a solid investment in the future of my knees.
• A Eur-rail pass.
  


• A more discreet bag that will hold my camera and a few other things that screams less of tourist


• A hiking pole that will double as a camera monopod. This will remove some of the need for the fancy lens i want.

That's my list for now, and suggestions of useful travel items Camino related or not would be appreciated.