I was hit by a bit of déjà vu when I arrived from Australia into Heathrow Airport in London, security everywhere, a two hour wait to get through customs and a lovely little lady waiting for me in the terminal. Sharon helped with my bags, put the roof down in her little two-door coupe and drove me back to her place (was a bit cold but bloody beautiful).

I spent the first two days sleeping and working out what I was going to do. After a quick phone call to my mate Broco, I was on the next train to Swansea, Wales.I had visited Broco in Swansea last year for a couple of days, so I had a vague idea what to expect when I got there, beer in one hand and a shot glass in the other. The house I stayed in was a student house in the Uplands suburb, with seven permanent students and a constant influx of other students from around the block. The First night we managed to cram over a dozen people into Grahams room to drink and talk rubbish. Graham, Broco and I last time I was in Swansea kept having these random drunk wrestling matches, and one erupted in grahams room between him and I, where I managed to lift him up and body slam him into his bed, which did break in half. So I was off to a good start. Gra did manage to get one up on me on the second night, when he threw a bottle of milk at another one of our friends; Tom Bukht. Gra missed Tom and managed to hit the xbox, Playstation, internet modem and the TV. The only thing to break thankfully was the Internet but it was exam time so know one in the house impressed with his little stunt. The house stunk like milk quite badly and more than likely always will.

Broco and his girlfriend Shell were very keen to take me out and show me around Wales. We went to the local water park and jumped on the slides and board rider, which I was surprisingly good at. We skated around the park and checked out the local talent, went running on the foreshore and just lazily walked around the city. The day trips though were fan-frikin-tastic, our first one was out to a place called worms head. Worms head is a huge headland heading out south into the Celtic sea. The place had been carved out by the waves and looked very simular to the pits in my old mine job (just a big shenanigan), a fair four Km turn around in the rain over rocks and very, very slippery grass, which I found out the hard way, when I went sliding down one of the hills on my face. Up and down a couple of hills to get to the end to see the magnificent view and to look back at our achievement, which made me feel like a commando.

A few days later Broco had to take off to his PRMC (Potential Royal Marines Course) where he spent four gruelling days of crawling through mud, and just being punished by his corporals in the gym tests. While Broco was away, Brannan, Goudie, myself and a variance of other people spent the days surfing and lounging on the beach, which reminded me so much of home on the beaches in Esperance. My surfing when I first jumped into the water was terrible, could barely get up let alone drop in, but slowly through out the first day I got the feel for it again and was popping up every wave, woohoo. I really started getting back into surfing and wanted to go everyday, we would usually go to our local spot Langenith which is about a forty five minute drive from Swansea, or on the odd occasion if the conditions were right a ten minute drive to either Caswell bay or Vasilli beach. I managed to get lucky one weekend as Goudies girlfriend Laura was entered in a surf competition in Cornwall (I know this blog is about Swansea and Wales and Cornwall is in England but it is necessary because the photo I used is from Cornwall) Goudie, Branan and myself jumped in Goudies car strapped the boards to the roof and headed off, oh and a spare pair of board shorts if the others got to smelly. We arrived at Lauras mums house to be greeted with one of the warmest receptions ever, Tea and coffee biscuits bacon and eggs, followed up with a crate of beer. After catch up and talk and everyone pulling the piss because I was Australian we headed down to Gwethian beach where the surf comp was being held, once there we caught up with a few friends that were meeting us there and I was introduced to Lauras other friends I hadn't met before. The event was being sponsored by Relentless energy drink, and the man who was running around with all the Relentless merchandise and big sponsored 4x4 happened to be my age and one of Lauras mates, thereby the laws of physics we ended up with loads of free energy drink. The next day, the first day of the comp Goudie and I decided it would be funny to see how many cans of Relentless we could drink (not a good idea) so after drinking seven of the pint size cans we went for a surf, and by god was I able to paddle, Goudie and I were surfing like champs, that only lasted about half an hour when I started to crash, my heart was going a million miles an hour while I just lay on my board thinking I was going to have a heart attack. Goudie pointed to the shore so we headed in, watched the comp, recovered, surfed some more in the afternoon, then to only start drinking more Relentless and loads of alcohol. This was the norm for the next two days, Cornwall I have to say was one of my favourite times with my friends from Swansea, between all the surfing, hanging off the side the Relentless 4x4 getting to the beach and eating loads of scones and drinking tea with Ruth. Cheers Goudie for taking me, Jimmy for Bringing me home and Ruth for looking after us as good as my own mother would.

After wondering to the movies one sunny Wednesday afternoon and finding nothing we wanted to watch, we managed to stumble across a small hawaiin themed cocktail bar on our way home named Kon-tiki. One thing Broc and I noticed as we entered the bar was how many good looking girls were sitting around at the various tables. Broc suggests I should get a job here and I fully agreed, I mean who wouldn't the place made awesome cocktails, was small and fun looking and full of stunning women. I causally strolled over to the bar to get another round of drinks and asked if there was any positions available, to be given an email address and told to send my CV in. Being in a more than normal intoxicated state when I finally got home that night, I realised I had lost the email address (typical). I managed to "facestalk" the bar and get a different email address but I never got a reply from that. The following week though we (I can't exactly remember who was there but Tom Bukht, Goudie and Broco definitely were) decided to head back to Kon-tiki for the two for one Wednesdays. When we arrived it was exactly the same as last time except there were more babes than last time, so yes the boys and I were quite happy. As I went to the bar and ordered a drink the same guy and girl were there and remembered who I was and asked if I still wanted the job, to which I instantly replied "yeah why not" which does mean all my other plans got screwed up and thrown right out the door, "cool start Saturday at eight" the lovely girl said and that is how I started my career as a bar tender at Kon-tiki. Broco the clown goes straight over to Bukht with a big smile and declares to him I just got a job in Kon-tiki, Bukht had originally applied for a job there a few weeks before I had but had heard nothing back, so bucket wasn't to impressed that I had stole his job, but he took it on the chin and congratulated me, I did have a little chuckle about the whole situation when he wasn't around (love you bucket). I spent three months working at Kon-tiki for Laurence and Leanne who owned and tended the bar with the help an American fella Mikey and a local DJ Reece. I completely fell in love with the place and the guys I worked with, even when it was busy we all managed to still dance, joke around and have loads of fun. The best part of the night was when we finished to wind down and have a drink ourselves, which always went down a treat, we would sit around and talk for a good couple of hours sharing story's and joking about things that happened that night.

Working at kon-tiki kept me pretty busy and tired so I didn't get up to much else beside surfing and drinking until I left Swansea, but I didn't care I Loved it there so much that I didn't find any reason to venture away.

Thank you so much Swansea for chewing me up and spitting me out again, Broco, Shell, Graham, Jimmy Muir, Goudie, Branan, Ben and everyone else I will miss you all cheers. To Laurence, Leanna and Mikey thanks so much for the opportunity to work in Kon-tiki and looking after me you guys are amazing and will always be apart of my family.