"THE END"

All good things must have an end. Leaving Tasmania and my new-found friends behind us, me and Hakan headed towards Sydney, where we spent a few days exploring the "the must-sees" and celebrating "swedish midsummer". We found a couple of other swedes (one of them recognised me from Lund - he was also studying medicine), raised a midsummer-pole and drunk snaps and ate pickled herring. Just as it should be. The park-tendants were a bit bewildered though... To get an Australian touch we also went to a restaurant and ate a delicious kangaroo.

Painfully early the day after midsummer we flew to Auckland, New Zeeland, where we rented a car and drew around like crazy, exploring the northern island. To save some money and time we slept in the car 3 nights out of 5. New Zeeland is truly fabulous. This was the second time in NZ and I still agree on that this may be the most beautiful spot in the world, even though I'd say I prefer the southern island.

Our next stop was to be Tonga. Neither me or Hakan really knew what to expect, but it was surely the most different country of those we had visited that far. When we was about to board the aircraft, Hakan didn't feel too good. Being tired and having a headache he just wanted to sit down and rest. When I walked in the isle I saw a familiar face and said hello in swedish. The female I adressed looked stunned and said "are you two here?". We chatted away a minute or so before I went back to the already miserable Hakan and said: "Who of all people in the world would be the one you least wanted to be here?" Hakan:"-X?! Don't tell me X is HERE?!". Ofcourse it was X.
She was Hakans girlfriend for five years and when they ended their relationship 3 years earlier, it all ended with them not talking to eachother at all. Well, Hakan wasn't too amused by the fact having her and her new boyfriend on the same flight to the same tiny island, picturing us bumping into eachother everyday... However, he showed to be a man and went away to talk to them for a while.

Surprisingly we did not meet them during the following week on this weird, but friendly little coconut-island, where we only met few tourists. The last day however, we bumped into them again in "town". They were very uncomfortable, but I chatted away (How has it been, what have you done, what's next...), while they just wanted to leave. Quite amusing! :-) Well they were going to Samoa the same evening and we were flying to Los Angeles 11 PM, so we didn't think we'd meet them again considering that the aircompanies tend to schedule their flights so that you won't arrive in the middle of the night. In the evening we grabbed a taxi (was fined for speeding - 1 dollar per km/h exceeding the limit) to the airport. The taxi stopped and just one meter away the couple stood, saw us and hurried away to check in. A bit unfriendly I thought... The night before we went to a Kava-club. Kava is a brew made of a root, which is ground and mixed with water. It is said to have a slight tranquilizing, narcotic effect. It tasted like muddy water with a touch of pepper and liquorice. We were the only westerners there. Men in a range from 25 to 85 sat on mats, drank kava from coconut shells served by two women, discussing the essentials in life. There were quite a lot of VIP:s there. I talked to the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice and Defense (also coach of Tongas rugby team) was there aswell. One of the guys we talked quite a lot with was head of the baggage on the airport. Being on the airport I thought that perhaps we could pull a joke on X and her boyfriend if he was there. Well, we checked in and went to the boarding-area (X & Co stayed outside, probably because they didn't want to sit in the same room with us for two hours). Our friend from the night before turned up, sat down to talk with us and we told him about our cunning plan. He said "I'll do it!". So we wrote a note "Hope you will have a good time on Samoa, even without us!" and signed it, told him her name and off he went. 10 mins later he returned with a peculiar grin on his face. "I think they will be mad" he said. "Why?". Well, I checked the computer and there was no one with that name, but there was a Mr and Mrs Y. They are now married and are on their HONEY-MOON!!!! (They could have told us...) As that wouldn't be bad enough he continued: "I found a small bag with her name, opened it up and discovered that it was filled with her underwear - so I put your note in there!"
:-D
Hope we did not totally ruin their marriage! I think that is the definition of bad luck. Well, it's not bad luck...Bad luck would be if you went to next town and bumped into your ex - to meet him on the other side of the world is surely a sign... I'd have loved to see how they reacted when they found the note!
MOAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

(He's got the note in his hand...check his thumbnail by the way!)

LA was quite OK, but nothing special. We stayed in Hollywood, saw "the must sees" and the movie "The perfect storm" at The China Mann Theatre and then caught a Greyhound bus southwards towards San Diego. San Diego was actually quite nice and we also crossed the border to Tijuana, Mexico. We had a couple of Margaritas, did some shopping and then we returned to LA and our beloved Sweden.

"The End"