This was meant to be an island paradise getaway. A heavenly new year, with friends on the beach. After the mild dramas of travelling by bus to Sihanoukville (Lauli and her buddies went the day before; Jem and her friends found their pre-booked tickets had been sold, i was worried about having to charter a boat on my own) .. we were all looking forward to a chilled-out party on the beach.

There was bbq action, dance music, stories and balancing on a swing over the sand.

Lovely.

Bang.

A loud silence, then some shouts and that awful feeling of not knowing what’s happened. Followed by the sickening feeling of discovering what has happened.

Someone’s let a very big firecracker off in his own face.

Shanny’s seen the whole thing close up and looks like she’s about to pass out. “He’s blown his face off! Have you seen Phil?”

i still feel a bit sick and shocked from the events of the evening. This was about 11pm local time. Celebrations were clearly off the agenda. People milled around wondering how to help. Several people did help, giving first aid, painkillers, calling the mainland, deciding whether to call for a boat or pray for an airlift direct to Bangkok.

16 hours later, Yuma made it to Bangkok. But the reports aren’t good.

Still on life support. Not yet stable.

.

.

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Prayers welcome .. angelic support appreciated.

More than i have been in a long time, i’m totally excited about family christmas.

woohoo!

Margot, katie and michael .. in Pnomh Penh, soaking up the magnificence of Cambodia.

i can’t wait

Here’s my collection of photos from Tasmania (selected). Or, view via flickr (slideshow).

Oh this flickr slideshow might be better..

comments welcome
kthxbye

How delightful is the sun! When you haven’t had a holiday in over a year, there is truly nothing like a work-sponsored trip to Byron Bay. Yes i am the luckiest person alive, no doubt about that. Here’s the whole story:

• got bitten by a tick the very first night, and it still hurts three weeks later (on my ear)
• went to a super boring cultural evening, where the local singers all had US accents
• narrowly avoided a brown snake crawling across my sarong
• drove my hire car for 200km along unsealed roads (trying not to read the ‘thou shalt not’ sticker prominent on the windscreen), then later took all the wheels off to sweep out the tell-tale orange dust
  
• went to the most outrageously stupid ‘rainbow gathering’
• watched really bad cable tv

on the plus side

• saw whales and dolphins frolicking all over the shop, pretty much parading down the main street
  
• sat in on new enrolments at the Byron Community Centre
  
• had a whole cabin to myself for days on end
  
• 
• walked fifteen kilometres along Belongil Beach to Brunswick Heads, and back in a day
• bought organic carrots in the Mullumbimby grocery
• swam in blissfully cold mountain springs in the Washpool National Park. mmmmm that was good.

so i came back, brown all over, with knotted hair, and in a very tranquil state, but in need of a strong cultural fix. Lou suggested a gig down at Glitch bar on the Sunday night, just as i got off the plane. Enclosed in a small dingy dark bar in north fitzroy surrounded by strange young people wearing black and making weird musical noises .. i felt so at home.