Tawau Rock City

Well gentlemen, ladies, I have been in Tawau, Malaysia 4 days now. Indonesia was the best ever. Most awesome people on God's blue Earth. Tawau itself is a bit of a dive. Kind of looks like Bankstown or Redfern or some shit place like that. Day before yesterday though, I dropped into a music studio to buy a Morbid Angel t-shirt I saw in the window, next thing you know I was jamming in the studio with the dude, Paktam. Pretty much the legend around town it seems. My Guitar skills: shameful. Drum skills: worse. Turns out his band, Noisy Crush, a grunge/rocknroll cover band was playing a gig that afternoon. I went along and got my mosh on to some local bands, sang backup vocals on "Smells like teen spirit" for Noisy Crush, who ripped it pretty hard, and sang an Arctic Monkeys number with another band. The scene here in Tawau is really good, all the bands were sweet and the kids sure no how to mosh. I busted my toe up good, but it is a long-established fact that thongs and hardcore dancing don't mix. All in the name of rock and roll, so it's all good. I met some really rad people and had a sweet, sweet time.

Yesterday I stayed on the boat, jumped in the water heaps and listened to terrible 80's and 90's music beamed from KL on the radio real loud. I ate so many biscuits with jam, drank alot of coffee, read and wrote and smoked cigarettes all day. Ended up covered with salt and sunburnt. It was a good day.

Today, after lunch, My skipper and I are set to begin our last hair-raising leg of our intrepid voyage. We plan to get around the northern tip of Borneoto Kota Kinabalu in 2 weeks. A slightly ridiculous proposition, sailing by day and night around 400 miles of fairly dangerous coastline, but whats life without a bit of danger eh? The whole coastline is a jumble of reefs, rocks, islands and atolls, and Tad's charts are pretty dodgy, but we are capable. Besides, we dont have much choice. Skipper has to get back to Oz because everybodys favourite wankers at Centrelink are trying to take his pension and the closest marina is at KK. So it's a mad dash for the finsh line for the 2 men aboard the Good Ship Olza. May Neptune, Apollo and the good Lord above guide our way. HUZZAH!