Ok I know there are no photos up yet, but I have a DVD with 1.4G of stuff to post, can't do it from this internet connection, SORRY! meanwhile here is a lnk to someone elses photos... Just pretend they are mine. I know the girl who took them, we were camping together and my photos are nowhere near as good, so yeah, will put the ones with me in them up ASAP. And I have photos of Seattle.

http://www.oddculture.com/travel/burning_man_2006/photos1.html

We are sorry

Never draw attention to

A celebrity

I have to confess; Claire and I feel responsible for the death of Steve Irwin. You see neither of us have ever cared about him, thought about him or discussed him. We come to America and everyone we talk to wants to discuss him. We drew all of this attention to him and now he is dead. We are truly sorry and promise not to talk about anymore Australian celebrities (maybe Mel Gibson).

As we were leaving the burn we talked about how anything could have happened in the outside world and we would have no idea. Little did we know that the only Australian people know would have died, we didn't believe the first 753 reports, it just seemed to surreal.

Ok so highlights; Free grilled cheese sandwiches, the Petting Zoo (free bar, well there is no money, only gifts), the burning of the man, The pyrmaid with turf inside you could chill out in, 40 degree days 5 degree nights, alkaline dust everywhere, the Thunderdrome (where peopple on bungee swings beat each other with foam paddles while the audience watched from everywhere, including climbing the roof of the dome they were competing on), Dance Dance immolation (dance dance revolution but if you made a mistke you had huge flames shot at you, you did get a flame resistent suit to wear), the art cars, the nudity, sex over 60, the costumes, Piglet (mmmmm Pig,you are so tasty), the Belgian Waffle, pancakes, the 100m smoke rings, the sky divers, the art, the Katrina memorial, the Cathedral, the Opulence tent, Critical Tits, Nipple Dipping, Pachecopolis, the unadulterated freedom.

I also hung out in a tent full of Alex Grey's paintings, and found out later that he was there with us and I said Hi to him. For the philistines out there Alex Grey is guy who does all of the art for TOOL.

I have never felt so free, liberated, over-stimulated, welcomed, awestruck, amazed in my life. Burning  Man to be experienced. I will be back next year no matter what it takes (yes Pig I promise). I have never been so hot, filthy and happy before.

So, yeah come with me next year or die wondering.

A baseball game

Beer was drunk in the sunshine

The burn is sorted

Wednesdaay was many lifetimes ago, but it's events should still be recorded here. I met Claire off the plane in San Francisco at 11 and she had befriended an American on the flight. An hour later Claire, Johno, Matt and I were at a baseball match drinking beer. Very impressive.

We watched the Oakland A's play the Boston Red Sox. The A's won 7 - 2. I learnt alot about baseball and marvelled once again at how strange Americans are. We had nachos (disgusting very much not vegetarian friendly) and lots of beer. It was a great way to spend a lazy Wednesday afternoon. The match was sold out so we had lots of people watchign to do.

Allegedly we saw many great moments in the history of baseball; some guy got his 3000th strike out, another got a home run, a triple and a double (if you really care what this means let me know and I'll provide an explanation ).

On Tuesday I discovered the ride I'd lined up to Burning Man had fallen through (curses on you Becky, curses). So I booked a hire car, praying that we wouldn't have to drive up there and once again scowered the ride share list on Burning man website for something anything. Wednesday checked my email,  we had an offre of a ride, called Wednesday night, sorted getting picked up 11 hours from phone call (7am Thursday). I could wax lyrical about the amazing string of coinicidences that got us to Burning Man, but I won't, I'll just say this, we should not have pulled it off.

Claire and I got  lift in, managed to join a theme camp, made some awesome friends, got a lift out. We pulled it all off ; totally landed on our feet. We had supplies enough but our camp was more then organised, we had a tent but our fabulous new friend Carolyn who gave us a lift had organised a tent for us, we had no idea what to expect and I found my home, my ideal week and the best time I think I have ever had.

I cannot possibly describe Burning Man, I could never do it justice with words. I will post some pictures, and, later when I have slept more then 12 hours in 5 days, I will summarise my highlights. Be warned I took 287 photos, they represent 0.2% of Burning Man.

Oh yes and obviously I made it safely out, I'm in Seattle. San Francisco Airport is not fun at all, especially at 3:56am.Many crazy stories.

Lush smells exactly the same here, bizarre. So does Subway, but I think they may actually just pump out some kind of bread perfume rather then the source of the smell being the food. Subway is shit, smells good but is shit. Lush smells shit and is good. Lush smells like a whore's perfume had sex with toilet cleaner and tried to cover it up with flowers, apparently worldwide this is the case.

Purchased item

Felt the guilt of wealth

Escaped in art

Today I discovered a hitherto unknown talent for bartering. I'm sure no one would have sold me my new digital camera for the price I got, if they were not making a profit. However, the final deal was $129USD less then I started and I got a free case.

Then I went and had a crisis about middle class privilege and the unfortunate burden of possessions. Buying stuff can be hard when one has a social conscience the size of Mexico. To add to my loathing I chilled out in the Modern Art Museum and felt like a wanker, but it was AMAZING! I love modern art and this was seriously special. An awe-inspiring photography exhibition and some phenomenal digital exhibitions to name but 2 of the 6 floors.

The cartoon museum around the corner was actually better, if smaller. It was packed with Anime, comics, digital art and design stuff; absolutely fantastic and helped me forget about my i-pod, camera, phone, passport and other items of wealth and class.

San Francisco is extremely cool, it is only 7 miles by 7 miles and a population of 750 000. It is basically an enormous Kings Cross, with some very impressive architecture and lots of parks and gardens. All public places are covered in homeless people and getting pan-handled is a permanent fixture of any journey outside. There are elephant seals sunning themselves near the fisherman's wharfs very cool. The public transport is abundant, it all runs very smoothly. Then there are the social problems, I've seen too much human misery in this city, it breaks my heart. It is such a contrast to the physical beauty of the mist rising off the bay and drifting across Golden Gate Bridge obscuring buildings and trees, then burning off to reveal a perfect sky over green parks. Houses like fancier, larger Sydney terraces mostly in whites and creams with sidewalks of trees and cool little gardens. All with the constant stench and sight of some seriously messed up, unwashed people talking to someone I can't see. Don't get me wrong it is all very non-aggressive and the people are helpful and friendly, it is just sad to see so many broken

I have made friends with lots of locals and last night hung out on my new friends Tim and Brandon's stoop, talking, drinking and putting together a clearer picture of Americans. I know I'm not really an expert but one thing I can say definitively is this; land of opportunity my arse. This place is hard, work is hard, wages are low, education is prohibitively expensive, medical care is ludicrously out of reach, welfare is shite and there are a lot of people living in the category of 'working poor'. Bring on liberalism.

"I don't believe in equality but I do believe in equal opportunity."