The problem was I had no idea where a good or a cheap dentist was, so I took a wander into the town centre and asked around til I found a place that seemed inexpensive, had decor that did not have crystal chandelliers from the ceiling and no receptionist there, only the dentist herself so I took this to be a good sign. I should have thought that a good, cheap dentist in a city as big as this would be full up and so even at 9am the lack of other patients was a bad sign.
My dentist was a lady from Egypt, something that I was not aware until almost towards the end of the appointment, mainly due to the fact that a face mask and uniform can hide many things. We tried to chat a bit but of course its hard with injections being stuck in you and being asked to open your mouth as wide as possible.
I was a bit surprised when she took me in and said that she could see me right away, but I was still not expecting the shock of the final bill for todays work, which came to AUD $1600, especially as it had only been two teeth she was working on and had only taken a single x-ray, ( and I still am meant to go back for a second session where still will check the recovery of my tooth and then decide on what action to take on the very damaged tooth - all for extra AUD $$$ of course ).
In my ignorance I assumed that my backpackers gold insurance would cover any medical or dental work I would need on my travels, especially as it was the highest level they had, however once I got back to my hostel and called them up it appeared that they will only pay out for extreme emergencies, not routine dental work ( what the fuck did they think I was then ) and more upsetting that I wsa only covered up to £250 worth of work, which was barely enough to cover the initial appointment and x-ray forgetting any actual work done!
Having already paid for the dental work by credit card I realised once I got back that I had been sand bagged both ways, but more upsetting was that having already paid this was the final nail in the coffin that was me staying out until after my May on my trip.
No matter who lent me what, or how much, I can no longer in good concience stay the full time away that I had planned. I have already used up my savings, hit more than one credit card, borrowed a bit from my sisters and each month I stay away my rent isn't quite covering my mortgage, so this last bit of bad news is just too much to take.
I dont mind putting myself into a bit of debt to have this dream come true but there comes a time when I just have to sit and think is it all worth it, and the fact that it will take me at least a few years of frugal living and no holidays just to clear the debt I already have means that I do not want to borrow any more, knowing that it will just mean that I have to go without for longer on my return.
What point is it on having an expensive trip of a lifetime if if then taken me the rest of my entire lifetime to repay all which I had borrowed in order to do it? I have a life back in the UK and when I return I will have to keep paying my mortage and pay the other bills too, so now that I have spent all which I saved up I have to start thinking of what happens when I get back, and that includes wanting other holidays, a wife & children, new clothes, a new job or learning to drive - none of which I will be able to fund any time soon if I dont cut back and make some sacrifices now.
Thus if anyone is independently wealthy and does not care losing a few thousand pounds in the name of letting someone else have some fun then by all means send me some and I will be forever grateful, but if you are expecting to have any of it back anytime before I turn 60 then it will just be another burden to carry when I get back and thus thanks but no thanks!
Thus it was that I contacted the airline and had only more bad news in that they would not let me cancel and get a refund for my flights or even change the dates without picking up even more costs, and the fare for a flight direct to Singapore was AUD $800 ( and a direct flight home was over AUD $1,100 ) so I have little or no choice but to stay the full time in Australia and start cutting back when I reach the far east, being a bit more flexible as these are mostly overland buses and trains, not prebooked and prepaid flights.
The double whammy really took the dam out of my jelly donut so to speak and so in an effort to cheer myself up I walked up to the harbour and thought I'd take some nice photos.
At the harbour was a seaworld and wildlife place, with double entry tickets being around AUD $45 I thought it would be a good thing to cheer myself up with, especially as they said that you could feed the sharks and the Koala's for a bit of an extra fee. Sadly both feedings were at breakfast time only, between 7am and 10am, so having spent 5 hours having my teeth drilled and packed I had missed my chance for this.
So I decided that the aquaworld could wait for another visit and instea I would just take a trip around the wildlife park and learn about some of Australia's slimey, furry and hairy critters. I was not aware that there are more kinds of reptiles in Australia than on any other continent and moreover there are more noctural mammals here day daywalkers, so out in the wilds a daytrip safari makes less sense than a nighttime one.
Knowing that this could well be my only trip to Australia I decided to bite the bullet and pay an extra AUD $35 to have my photo taken with the a Koala, the fee included a DVD of about 8 photos as personally if I am going to pay AUD $20 just for one photo I want to make sure that one crease wont ruin everything for good.
I am not sure if it is the heat, the jetlag, the dental work or the news but after visting the wildlife place then only thing I wanted to do is go back to my hostel, get some food and then get an early night sleep to go forget about things for awhile.
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