The Ban

I’ve got a joke for you. What happens when a Welshman, Scotsman, Englishman and Irishwoman walk into a bar? You get handed a three month ban from all bars and clubs in Australia. Sadly, this isn’t a joke. Apparently, I’ve been a naughty boy. 

I wasn’t sure whether to share this shame with you, but I’m hoping at some point I’ll look back on it and laugh.

After arriving in Cairns, I met up with a guy I was hanging out in Byron Bay. Being his last night in Australia, he wanted to go out one last time, and of course I obliged. We headed for the famous Gilligan’s bar, this place is famous among backpackers in Australia, being one of the biggest in the country. 

On entry to most places in Australia, they scan your ID and take a photo of you. This links up to a database for the whole country, checking that you are ok to enter. Sadly, my ID flagged up an issue, a three month ban from all bars and clubs in Australia. 

It turns out this ban was issued by the club I was in at Airlie Beach, the night before I set sail to Whitsundays. This was the night that lots of people were drowning their sorrows as their Whitsundays sailings had been cancelled due to bad weather. 

On this night, I was hanging out with three other people, and we entered the club together. After about half an hour, I left of my own accord as I had to get up for my sailing in the morning. 

Therefore, the three month ban came as a massive shock to me. There was no reason for it to be issued. We tried to get some more information from scanning my ID at another bar. While the bouncer couldn’t let me in to the bar, he was very helpful in giving me information to sort it out. 

I asked him if a reason had been given for my ban, yes there was a reason, “Unknown”. He also told me you can appeal the ban, but this takes time, and given I only had three weeks left in Australia, he told me to just chin up and accept it as it was. 

More information came to light after chatting to the others. The Scotsman I was with was removed from the club after I had left. They are very strict here in terms of the drinking culture. If you are in a group and one acts up, you are generally all responsible for that person and can all be punished for it. 

We think that this might have been what happened, or a case of mistaken identity, but it sounds like the full story will remain a mystery. I’m also done with the big populated areas, so there shouldn’t be many places where you need to be scanned to enter. 

So probably no more going out in Australia for me. On the bright side, Australia is expensive, so it’ll give me an opportunity to save some money. 

I’m sure I’ll laugh about all of this one day, but at the moment, it’s very frustrating!