A Rock, An Alter Ego, Lots Stars and Wine

11/28/10
It was made pretty official yesterday morning- I have been attacked by bedbugs!
The night before, Matt started compulsively checking his covers after finding the shedded skin of an insect and immediately assuming the worst. I googled frantically for about 30 minutes, learning all sorts of gruesome details about bed bugs. I had been waking up with a growing number of bites on me, but I had been calling them mosquito bites. But now I had a nice string of them across my neck and the bottom of my face, and they were horribly identical to the bites I was witnessing online. I searched my bed, but could find no evidence of what I had been told to search for in the articles online. It was also possible that the bugs were in the pillow, which would make sense seeing as I was bit only on my neck, face, and upper arms. We didn't know what to do. We were making this conclusion around 11pm, and reception was closed. We figured we would have to sleep in that room tonight, but the thought of just turning in as normal and offering another night of feasting was something I was not willing to do. I tucked in the covers tightly on my bed and threw my pillow in the floor. I wore a long sleeve shirt and long pants, tucking the legs into my socks. I slept with my head at the other end of the bed, and used my towel as a blanket. I didn't sleep soundly, and woke many times because I was cold, but I didn't appear to have new bites in the morning.

We were checking out to go to Uluru, and I was struggling with how to tell the manager he had bed bugs. Matt went to get our hire car while I finished getting ready. I kept practicing in my head what to say. I had to tell them or they might stick us right back into the same room on Sunday, and there was no way I could take that. Once Matt returned, we loaded the car and I took the key back inside to check out. I walked up to the counter and didn't even have to ring the bell. The male manager came out from the back and suddenly it came to me how to handle it; the age-old, tried and true, guaranteed method that has worked for women for ages- play dumb and let the man make the conclusion. I handed him the key and asked if there was anything I need to sign. He said everything was in order. I took a deep breath. "I just wanted to let you know about this. I don't know if I'm allergic to the detergent used in the sheets or if there was a mosquito in the room, but I have woken up and had this on me"- with that, I turned my head, lifted my hair, and offered my neck and face. "You got this from last night?" he asked. "Well, I had been noticing a growing number of bites on me, but these on my face weren't here until I woke up yesterday." He examined them and said to me "You know what those look like? Those ones right there in a line look like bed bugs" You said it, not me, I thought in my head, but out loud said, "Oh, bed bugs. Ok, well, I just wanted to let you know about it. Thank you." He thanked me and I walked out to the car, successfully and softly telling the hotel manager he had a bed bug infestation in room 25.

We hit the highway and were horrified to realize the radio stations ended only about 2 minutes driving out of Alice springs. Matt offered to serenade, but I declined, and we spent a lot of the almost 5 hour trek talking about years past. The drive really went by quickly, and we happened to stop at the roadhouse that was at the intersection of the road leading to Uluru. So pulling out, I said "No, we need to go this way, see? Uluru, it points that way." Who knows how long we would have driven without realizing we were heading to Adelaide instead of Uluru. The roadhouse was the half way point and we soon came up on a massive shape in the distance. It towered on the left side of the car, and Matt quickly identified it as Uluru and chattered happily about how magnificent it was. I looked at it, bewildered as to why it looked nothing like the hundreds of pictured of Uluru I have encountered over the years. I waited and let us approach it more, but it's shape and color just got more and more wrong. I took my time disagreeing with Matt, I feel like I do it too often, and I don't know if I do it to entertain myself, or if he's just wrong all the time, haha. But I had to say it. "I don't think that's Uluru." "Of course it's Uluru! Are you telling me there are other massive rock formations out here? If it's not Uluru, what is it? It has to be Uluru!" he said. "It's not the right shape or color," I said. "It's nothing like any picture of it I've ever seen." "Maybe it's the other side of it," he says. "But it's not red," I say. "IT IS RED, LOOK AT IT, THAT'S RED!" I stare at the grey, flat topped mountain in the distance, and decide to just lay it all out there. "If that's Uluru, I am massively disappointed," I announced, making the conclusion we were not looking at Uluru, and if we were, ultimately ruining the entire trip by saying I was disappointed. We sat in silence a few minutes, surveying the rock as we came up on it, arguing slowly with one another in a distracted way. We passed a sign about Mt. Connor tours, and I said, "That is Mt. Connor, it's not Uluru." Matt quickly changed his tune- "We do have over 150 kilometers to drive before we are supposed to be there." "Then why would you think that was Uluru?!?" "Maybe you see it from that far away!..." The argument continues a little, but let the record show, Courtney was, once again, correct from the start.

We finally do come upon the real Uluru, and even from a distance, it is what it is supposed to be- brillant, magnificent, rounded, RED. We watch it as it starts far away and grows as we glide along the unusually green desert towards it ("It's never like this, we have had a huge amount of rain...") We do finally arrive at the resort area and turn in. I check in and receive the ticket for our dinner and stargazing that night. We drive down to the cabin and unload. The cabin is good- two bedrooms, and a little common room with a small kitchen and table and non-working TV. I get the room with the double bed because I'm the princess. We decide we need to eat something before we explore, so we begin driving around the resort. We finally park and wander through the maze that is the resort. We have a map, but signage is not good. We do eventually find a cafe and eat some sandwiches. I try to finish quickly because I am anxious to get to the rock, and also Matt eats so much quicker than me. We head back through the maze to the car and drive out to Uluru. We had both decided not to climb Uluru out of respect, but upon hearing there is a $25 park entry per person, Matt jokingly announces, "I am cimbing that thing! I paid $25!"
We drive closer and closer to the huge rust monolith in front of us, and as we approach, it becomes more and more clear that it's not a smooth as eveyone thinks it is. It's cracked, it's pitted, it has lines and holes running about it, giving it character from millions of year of erosion. We park near the path that leads to the summit climb. We had already decided we wouldn't be climbing, but it was closed for the afternoon anyway due to high winds. We began our walk along the side. It was overwhelming to look up and see how gigantic it was, and to imagine it would take nearly 5 hours to walk the circumference around it. We had to get ready to be picked up for our dinner at 6pm, so we only had time for a short walk, but planned on coming back the next day. We spent about an hour at the base before driving to a lookout a little farther away to take some distance pictures. Around 4:30, we drove back to our cabin and got ready. I took the best shower I have had in a while (the water pressure was UNBELIEVABLE for a public toilet at a camp ground) and got dressed up in a dress and make up. We were picked up from near the campground at 6pm. We rode in a coach to pick up others before heading onto a dirt road. We were unloaded onto a path and walked up a hill. At the top, we were handed a glass of champagne. Matt said the evening was beginning to feel like a murder mystery. "Like one of those dinner theater evenings?" I said. "No, like how the story line begins, random people, invited to dinner," he said. "So you think someone is going to die, is that what you're saying?" We mostly stood by ourselves and drank champange and talked about the possibility of mingling and talking to others. Wait staff walked around a fed us a bit occasionally- a small bit of bread with kangaroo and cream cheese, a smoked salmon scroll, etc. Eventually, we were called to continue on the path to our seats. We were seated at a table with two couples and three women. I spent most of the evening talking to the women- Sarah, Christine, and Linda. Christine and Linda knew each other, but Sarah had just met them tonight. Sarah was traveling from the UK. The other women were Aussies. We had a buffett dinner that included croc caeser salad, kangaroo, vegetables, barramundi, lamb, and unlimited wine. After dinner, we had a brief star presentation. This was an amazing sight. To see the night sky, so absent of light pollution, was something I am not sure I have ever experienced, and certainly not the southern hemisphere night sky. I saw some constellations that were dead ringers for our dippers, but when I asked about it after the presentation, I was told you could not see any of our constellations in this hemisphere. We eventually were loaded back onto our bus, where Linda mysteriously began calling Matt "Adrien" (Did I mention the limitless wine?) Christine and Linda convinced Adrien and I to join them at the pub, and we convinced Adrien to walking to the back of the bus and talking to a group of girls he'd been eyeing all night. He invited them to the pub too, then joined us again. We got off at the pub, got beers, and sat with Christine and Linda. We spent the evening talking and laughing, and eventually convincing Adrien to go again and speak to the girls. We eventually did all part ways with a hug, and I had to endure the walk home with Adrien proudly chattering on about how charming he had been, even though he had to almost be forced into talking to the girls, after all, as he told me, "I was the most egging of the on-ers!"
The next morning, I woke to my alarm at about 4:45am. We had set it the night before, we wanted to see Uluru at sunrise. I woke Matt, who was now definitely Matt again and not his alter ego, and we sleepily got woken up enough to drive out to Uluru. We were not the only ones with this plan, and ended up having to fight for position with some Germans for a good shot of the rock in it's red early morning brilliance. Matt got some shots, then said, "Let's go back to sleep." we drove back and slept about 2 more hours before checking out and beginning our journey back to Alice.

Hot Air Ballooning and Snake Charming on Thanksgiving

11/25/10
Today was amazing!!!
It started off with a groggy wake up at 3:15am. We had to get ready for our 3:45am pickup to be carted off for hot air ballooning. We were the first pickup, being on the far side of town, so we were alone on the cold, dark bus. We picked up the rest and headed into the blackness that was predawn Australian desert. We stopped first to test the winds and let out a small balloon with a red light to see what direction the wind was blowing. I was able to experience the night sky in all it's brilliance, away from the city lights. We got back in the van and drove down the road a little more, tested the wind there, then got out of the van to begin the long task of preparing and inflating the balloon. We had to roll out the balloon first, then unfold it, then he began inflating it with a giant burner. Not long after, the tour guide motioned me over to the basket. He asked me to climb inside and hold on. He was going to inflate the balloon and sit the basket up with me inside! It was my worst fear, I thought there was a possibility that I could fly off into the sky without anyone else in the basket. He flamed and flamed, the heat was very intense and the sound reverberated past as I clung to the rope handles and pretend I wasn't hanging upside down in a hot air balloon basket. Finally, the balloon go full enough and the basket began to tip up. I slid upwards and was finally sitting upright. Everyone else jumped into the basket, and he continued to burn to achieve lift off, as his assistant ran around and untied the basket from the van. We dragged a little, but finally began to drift effortlessly into the sky. We watched the van get further and further away. I was concerned about the bottom of the basket holding everyone, and kept my hands on each side at the basket for the first 15 minutes of the ride, but I was mysteriously not afraid of the height. We got amazing areal views of the bush just outside of Alice Springs. We witnessed the sunrise from the air, as the light travelled higher and higher into the sky, making the dull grey greens of the plants in the morning into more brilliant colors. We travelled in the air, burning sometimes to go higher, opening the top at times to sink lower, for about an hour. He warned us to take the lift off position when landing because there was the possibility of landing sideways. We bounced once, bounced twice, dragged along the ground a little, until we finally rested, upright near our target. We were only upright for several second though, and our basket slowly tilted, then landed on it's side, all of us laying upside down and hanging on to the rope handles. We took turns climbing out of the overturned basket in the most graceful way possible. We then had to begin the strenuous task of repacking the balloon, before toasting with champagne and enjoying some fruit and light breky. We were carted back to our prospective hotels, and Matt and I returned to our beds to sleep for another 3 hours.
We awoke around noon, were happy to discover our leftovers from last night that we had offered to anyone as free food were still there, and had leftover pasta for lunch. After lunch, we went exploring, with the mission of visiting the reptile center. We arrived while they were in the middle of a presentation, but were able to join and hold some of the lizards, as well as the Olive Python. The guide draped the enormous snake around my shoulder and I held it's bulk with my arms. It's head kept coming closer and closer to my face. I closed my eyes, and it licked my cheek! We explored the rest of the center, which included some of the most poisonous snakes in Australia, as well as plenty of all varieties of lizard, a salt water croc, and a frog.


After my brush with the snake, it was time for more low key touring. We visited the flying doctors museum next and learned about how the doctors serve the huge bush region with medical care. It was fascinating to see how the program worked, and it was good to find out that even people living far outside of the main cities had access to good health care.

We walked back across town and decided to begin our Thanksgiving feast! We were shocked that we had been able to locate precooked turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing in the coles in town. We also had some biscuits and made some sweet potatoes and green beans. It was quite a traditional American Thanksgiving spread to be in a foreign country, in the middle of the desert. We had a nice Peter Lehmann wine with dinner, and Matt said grace, and we both said what we were thankful for. It was very civilized and pleasant and lovely, and it was nice to have Thanksgiving since I missed mine last year with my stomach bug!

Tomorrow we will explore Alice mall a little more, and Saturday we head to Uluru!

Bushwalking to the Telegraph Station

11/24
Matt and I decided today we were going to do the telegraph station, since it is the reason the town existed. Well, due to a lack of communication, or me not listening when I was told 4 times, depending on who you ask (I swear, it's like we're back to being a married couple almost immediately!), I think this walk is much less than it is. It isn't a huge problem, I just wouldn't have worn flip flops for an almost 8 kilometers round trip walk, and I would have applied sunscreen to more areas than my face. Needless to say from that explanation, the afternoon was spent in recovery for my feet and sunburn. But, at least despite the fact that Matt had the necessary distance information, he was burned too, haha.

We walked along the Todd River, which this year, like almost every year, is just a river bed, not actually containing any water. The walk was pretty exciting, punctuated by the sighting of occasional wildlife including beautiful birds, a kangaroo, and a rock wallaby, as well as the occasional attack from a rustle in the bush or a flying grasshopper, sending Matt swinging and restraining screams because he would think it was a much more formidable insect. He kept saying he loved that we were in the Outback, the Bush, and after pointing out several times that we were on a designated city walk, with occasional signs pointing how to go, I let him have his title of being in the "Outback." It did have a very secluded feeling to it, until the walk back when we encountered a man with a Virginia Tech hat, making us feel our remoteness and coolness of being North Carolinians in the Outback fade to not even the only ACC fans on this trail. But despite that, we got amazing pictures, and had quite a great walk through the "bush." We arrived at the telegraph station, just as it was really beginning to get hot. We walked around and looked at the various buildings, sweltering in the heat. The highlight was an Aboriginal man named Alec who works there now but had also lived there at the age of 5 when he was taken from his family. He showed us a picture he was in a told us a little about life on the station. He also told us about witnessing the Japanese bombing Darwin when he wasn't even 10. He has an amazing life story. He told us he loves country music, and hopes to take his granddaughter to Graceland one day. He also likes Taylor Swift. He soon announced it was time for lunch, and we shook his hand and told him goodbye. We spent a little time in the gift shop buying cold drinks before heading out again into the blistering heat. We made our way back to town and crawled back into our air conditioned den, where we soon discovered how burned we were, but mysteriously mostly on the right side of our body. One discovery we did make out there was a bird that sounded very much like a person whistling a tune. We looked around forever, expecting to see someone coming that was whistling, or someone sitting beneath a tree, but all we eventually found was an odd little bird that could carry a tune. We googled later and discovered we had encountered was called a Pied Butcherbird. It's a pretty fascinating specimen.

We spent the afternoon vegging out mostly, and made spaghetti for dinner. We tried to get in bed early because tomorrow is hot air ballooning and pickup is at 3:45am!

New Arrivals Down Under!

11/23
Matt is here! I got up this morning, got ready, and checked out of Toddy's. I waited about an hour after checking out, taking advantage of internet I had purchased, before requesting a cab. I got to the Desert Rose Inn a little after 11am and was immediately more happy upon walking into the lobby. I was greeted by a spiral staircase in the middle of the lobby, which added a nice touch, though it was carpeted in that fake green carpeting. I checked in with no problem and went upstairs. The room is nothing special, with the most ancient TV I think I may ever have encountered, and my grandparents have had old TVs in my lifetime. The shower is literally a shower standing awkwardly in the corner, like it was placed somewhere randomly that it has no reason to be. There is a sink, and mattresses are noisy with their old springs, but all this is still vast improvements to places I have stayed while here, though I know it will be quite an experience for Matt. I explore the grounds before he arrives, noting the kitchen and the quite cozy common area, with a very large flat screen TV, giving the place a feel that it could maybe qualify to be a museum for TVs "through the ages." There is also a salt water pool and a laundry. I busy myself with TV and tour books, all the while not really able to concentrate as my real distraction is that one of my oldest friends will be arriving very soon. There is a knock at the door a little before 1pm and I know who it is. I jump up and open the door and there stands Matt, here, in the middle of this tiny hotel in the center of Australia. I wouldn't believe it if it hadn't been so meticulously planned months ahead of time. I hug him first awkwardly because he is still holding all his bags, then allow him entry into the room, where we have a better hug. It's very strange to be seeing someone I know after so long of being alone. It feels like it hasn't been that long and nothing has really changed, but at the same time, it has been months, and I've been traveling for months alone in Australia, so something is bound to have changed, right?
We settle in a little, and I give him a 30 second tour of the hotel before we head out into town for lunch. It becomes immediately clear, as far as our interaction goes, that nothing has changed, but I find while sitting the restaurant, that I have about a million and ten new anecdotes that I will need to get off my chest between now and when I die, and will probably be subjecting the people I love to them for the rest of my life. I have so much new data that is labeled as "interesting" in my head, just because it occurred in Australia. Even common day to day interactions with waitresses is fodder for stories, so be prepared all, this is your warning!
After lunch, we walked around town a little more. There are Aborigines here, like there has been in Darwin and Coober Pedy. I feel like you see them more in the Northern Territory and remote locations. But it's a new experience for Matt, because he's only been here for a day and a half, and only in Sydney, where I didn't see a single one. We got to the visitor's center and browse brochures, selecting ones that might be of interest later. We are slowly realizing we are signed up and paid up for a hot air ballooning excursion less than 48 hours away, and the thought is beginning to trouble us. We went back to the room for a while, Matt kept proclaiming how hot it was, while me, a little to annoy him (which clearly was working) and also because it was very true, kept exclaiming what a relief and difference it was from Darwin, to be in the dry heat rather than the wet. North Carolinians know, humidity makes all the difference. We sat in the room a while and ended up talking about middle school, and laughing a lot. It's not like I haven't laughed with people on this trip, but it's great to share a laugh about something old and familiar again. We decided we needed to go grocery shopping, and made a vague list to follow in the store. We ended up circling the store about ten times while shopping, but we got enough for breakfast, 3 meals, and our Thanksgiving. We managed to find the staples: turkey (already cooked, but a small serving because raw whole turkey was $60 and would take us a week to eat), stuffing (which was narrowly missed not having, but located last minute), and cranberry sauce. We also have biscuits, which they labeled as scones, but we think are really biscuits, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Quite a feast for backpacking. We went next door and got some wine as well before lugging everything back to the hotel. We hung out a while again before making dinner. It was interesting to be cooking with someone in an unfamiliar kitchen, but I let Matt lead. We somehow made a pretty tasty stir fry dinner, and had left overs for the next day.
I think we have decided, due to money shortages on my end, that while Matt is here, he will pay for most day to day stuff, to allow me to have leftover money for Sydney, and I will pay him back once I get to America and work again. I hate having to do it, but I am seriously not going to make it until the 8th unless I do something drastic, especially considering the amount of dining out we will be forced to do in Cairns and Sydney, due to not having kitchen access in those places we are staying. I felt pretty good making it so far and budgeting pretty well, but I also miscalculated something I thought I had already paid for back in September when I booked it and am actually paying for now.
People I have spoken to lately at hostels have asked where I have been, and I have drawn a deep breath and rattled it off: Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Coober Pedy, Perth, the southwest including Albany, Denmark, and Esperance, the west coast including Monkey Mia, Coral Bay, and Exmouth, Broome, Darwin, and now Alice Springs. I watch as their eyes get big with my list, and I too think about it and am overwhelmed. It's amazing to me, and I will definitely need to reflect and decompress when I get back.

Flying through thunderclouds over the MacDonnell Ranges

After the 6 am, 6:07 am, 6:13 am, and 6:24 am wake up calls, my roommate finally got up and got ready for her work. She was quieter than last time, since she didn't need to be inflicting revenge on anyone, but I still was awake until she left. I slept again until around 8:30, then got up, got ready, finished packing, and checked out. The internet still wasn't working, and I felt like demanding a refund, or at least credit on the computers in the lab, but I also didn't feel like dueling. I sat in the air conditioned TV room, that smelled strongly of boys, for about 2 hours until my shuttle to the airport was to pick me up. I called my parents to let them know where I was headed, and was able to speak to my grandparents in the same call because they were over for dinner. Around noon, I walked out into the hot, dense air to wait on my shuttle. As I walked by, the housekeeping lady asked me if I was waiting for a shuttle to the airport. I said yes, and she said one stopped by a few minutes ago. "How long?" I asked. "Like three minutes," she said. I calmly called, knowing if they were stopping for me, they were almost 30 minutes early, so there was no reason for them to have been getting me yet. The operator confirmed, I was on the list for 12:35pm. I hung up and relaxed a minute, until I noticed my food bag was leaking rice like sand grains through an hour glass. I had to toss out a big amount, and still had a lot on the ground, but was able to seal it better and zip it up in my bag. As I was struggling with the zipper, the shuttle pulled up. "Of course," I said, and forced the zipper up quickly. I loaded into the shuttle to an unfriendly blond girl frowning at me. I decided not to even greet her, and sat a few rows back. We were waiting on a late girl, who finally arrived, and then ate a whole pepper, and then a tomato in the seat behind me. Maybe it was all the food she had, but it just seems strange to me to be chewing on a pepper like it was an apple. Then we picked up a family from Singapore and the mother put on a face mask and tied a bandanna over it. I just felt like I was surrounded by weirdness.

We were dumped at the airport, herded through check in and security with nothing of value to note. I boarded the plane and was granted the window seat, like every flight I have had so far. As we took off, I looked back at Darwin at the huge thunderclouds gathering over the city. We flew out over the ocean, and I thought, actually I said quietly out loud, "Wait, aren't we going to Alice?" As soon as I said this, the right wing of the plan was cocked up into the air and we began a 180 turn, heading straight into the clouds. We approached them, and as soon as we broke the boundary, there was instant turbulence. It only lasted a few minutes, until we were high enough above the storm to look down at the clouds. That is always the most amazing feeling, flying through clouds, coming out the other side, and looking around, it's like what everyone always pictures heaven looking like. Our flight was only about 2 hours, and as we came into Alice, I was greeted with another amazing sight. Below me was the MacDonnell Mountain Range, which looks so unusual. I will do more research on how they were formed, but if I was forced to guess, I would say plate tectonics. It looks like a perfect example of what is created when 2 plates push against one another and one plate forces the crust above the other. Its a straight line of mountains, a perfect formation, almost looking like a wall. I will get pictures when I fly out to Cairns, I was too mesmerized when I was flying in to pull out the camera. We landed and were made to wait almost an hour for the Perth flight to come in, even though no one on that plane was booked into the hostels we were going to. We were dropped on the side of the road and almost hit while crossing (it was a pretty confusing road), but we made it and checked into Toddys. I walked around and scoped it out before getting internet for the first time in a couple of days. Matt was online in Sydney, and updated me on what he had been doing since yesterday afternoon when he landed. I was stunned to hear his list of what he had done in just over 24 hours, but I suppose he has to fit it in 2 weeks, where I had 3 months. I can't believe he is here. It means I only have about 2 weeks left, which is insane to me. I know it will take some time to decompress when I get home, and shift through where I've been and what I've done. I am still saying to myself I can't believe I'm in Australia, even though I've been here almost 3 months!

I see Matt tomorrow around 1pm. I am going to try hard to not tackle him, but no promises.

Christmas Craft Shows, Cyclones, and Crocodiles

11/21/10
Yesterday I spent almost the entire day in my room. I know that sounds incredibly lazy, but I think sometimes it has to be done, especially when you have been traveling constantly for 2 and a half months. I g-chatted with my grandmother, then my mother, and also Matt for several hours in the morning. Matt was lounging in the New Zealand executive lounge at the airport, sucking down free alcohol and chowing on free food. He told me he could think of no one else he would rather be doing this trip with, which was a very nice thing for him to say, then ruined by saying that he would end up fighting with anyone else, and he said there is still a possibility of that happening with us. I think we will be fine. I have had issues on trips with him in the past, a particular camping trip comes to mind, but there was a group dynamic at play there, and there were three boys ganging up on me mercilessly for four days, so it ended not so neatly. But yea, anyway, we will be fine! He should be landed by now, but I have no way of knowing because this sh*thole of a place's wireless has crapped out on me, despite the fact that I am paid up for two additional days I will not be here to even use the internet. So I hope he's not emailing me or trying to gchat, it's not happening tonight.

I am happy to report that today was a pretty productive day, at least in comparison to yesterday. I got up and got pretty (meaning I dressed in something besides shorts and a tank top and put makeup on) for the first time in probably 2 weeks or 3 weeks. I called a cab and was taken to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. It was on my itinerary because it was free, but Bryson had gone there and written about it in his book as well. When I arrived, the craft fair was in full swing. I selected to go today specifically to be killing these two birds with one stone. I realized I didn't have any cash on me, and the atm I spotted was out of order, so I was safe from spending any actual money at the fair. I did spot a couple of booths that had some nice handmade jewelry that would have made lovely Christmas presents, but I am sure I will find plenty to buy in Sydney. I walked around and examined the offerings in the heat until I had decided I had sweated enough. I entered the museum and started in the Aboriginal art and artifact exhibit. You aren't allowed to photograph anything in the exhibit, but it was interesting to see the various art creations and ceremonial artifacts. After the Aboriginal exhibit, I moved on to the rest of the museum, which contained lots of stuffed specimen of various beautiful and deadly Australian animals. In one area of the animal exhibit, there was a display containing all the various poisonous and deadly snakes, bugs, fish, including the box jellyfish and the blue ringed octopus. The exhibit that probably had the biggest impact on me though was the exhibit containing information and artifacts from Cyclone Tracy. Photographs of destroyed neighborhoods was very reminiscent of Katrina. There were pictures of twisted metal and houses on top of cars. But Darwin handled their disaster with much more thought and action. There was immediate martial law, and a mass evacuation of the city to reduce disease and looting. The goal was to get the population below 10,000 within 5 days. There were organized road blocks in which paperwork had to be filled out and presented to get in or out of the city, in order to keep tabs on how many people had been moved. It was quite a feat, and definitely something we should have studied to handle our disaster. The most dramatic part of the exhibit was a recording made by a Bishop in the town that night. You could hear the wind ripping through the town, tearing buildings apart and dragging metal along the ground for expansive distances. It was amazing to witness the awesome power of nature in photographs but also auditory evidence. Another highlight of the museum was the stuffed crocodile named Sweetheart. Sweetheart died when people trying to move him to a crocodile farm were unable to dislodge him from a log and he drowned. He was being moved because although he had never attacked a human, he had a tendency of going after the motors and propellers of boats. I also learned the huge bats I saw the morning were not vampire bats, but probably fruit and insect eaters, meaning I was safe from the blood sucking and the romance.

I think I have been going a little crazy in this hostel as well. Certain environments make me feel like I am beginning to lose it. I think all the overgrown plants make me feel a little claustrophobic. And now that I had a day without roomies, I felt more welcome to talk to myself, but I have begun to incorporate numerous voices, haha. I think it's a good thing I am flying out to Alice tomorrow.

Walkabout in Kakadu

I slept peacefully, serenely, soundly last night with my fan at my head and my earplugs in (I was counting on either waking up before my alarm or hearing it through earplugs I guess?), even though my bunk buddy angrily (I think it's her only emotion, actually) jumped down around 4:45 am and turned the AC on. She had nothing to be angry about, she was the one who shut it off going to bed. Anyway, the amazing roommate I am, I had already laid out everything I needed, so without making noise, turning on lights or disturbing the three other sleeping people in the room in any way, I grabbed my stuff and crept out. I got ready in the bathroom and only went back into the room to get a yogurt and my water bottle out of the fridge. I stood outside in the driveway, waiting for my Kakadu bus to pick me up. I watched as enormous bats one after another took flight over my head, getting out of dodge before the sun came up. These were like no bats I'd ever seen before in the wild. They were huge, like Dracula or something. I half expected one to swoop down and suck my blood. Or if he was a more modern vampire, become involved in some complicated romance.

My bus arrived, and I boarded to a quiet group. They were mostly couples, between 35-55. There was another lone traveler, a German, of course, but I wasn't feeling friendly and was frankly a little turned off by Germans for a while, so I sat quietly like everyone else and watched pre-dawn Darwin pass by and become Humpty-Doo (yes, that is a real place). We visited first an Aboriginal cultural center, where we learned a little about Dreamtime, didgeridoos, and woven bags. I was most impressed by the technique of the bag weaving. So much time and effort!

Next we made our long trek to Kakadu. We walked up to see rock paintings from thousands of years ago. Standing in front of it, it was really hard to imagine that they were thousands of years old. Most were very well preserved and looked like they could have been painted today. Each painting had plaques explaining the meanings, or at least partial meanings, of the painting to Aboriginal culture. No one knows the full meanings but the Aboriginal elders.

After lunch, we went on a cruise of the Yellow Water Billabong. We spotted 3 crocodiles throughout the course of the afternoon. We also saw plenty of birds and beautiful vegetation. The funniest thing about our boat was the fact that it was equipped with life jackets. Drowning would really be the least of my worries if I found myself in that water!



We learned so much throughout the day, it's hard to keep it all in my head! Some facts to note:
-Alligators are not in Australia, despite the fact that they have rivers called West Alligator, North Alligator, etc. They were incorrectly identified long ago and the river names have never been changed.
-Salt water and fresh water crocs are what they have in Australia
-Salt water crocs are the mean, aggressive ones, but you should probably just avoid all crocs.
-Barramundi are the most populated fish in the area, and fishers are allowed to catch 5 per day, but only using artificial lures as to not attract other wildlife that might be protected or endangered.
-Aborigines have a tradition that when a person dies, you cannot speak their name until you do a "smoke 'um out" ritual where you burn their clothing. Sometimes this takes 21 years, as was the case with one of our teachers today. He had to be called Junior for a good part of his life because he was named after an uncle who later died.
-Aborigines have a tradition where once marriage has occurred, the husband and the mother in law no longer have any contact whatsoever. If they see each other out in the community, they cannot greet one another, they turn and go the other way. Cue the mother in law jokes.
-The leaf of the plant they use for bag weaving can be male or female. Male plants have trunks that have a pattern that runs up the length of the trunk to the right. Females it goes to the left.
-There are birds that will fly toward forest fires. They take the opportunity to pick of the rodents or snakes fleeing the flames. Aborigines call them Fire Birds or Bully Birds, because they have also been known to gang up on other birds.

We made our way back to Darwin as the sun was setting. It was really a nice sunset. I think I might have been to hard on Darwin. Kakadu is lovely, although I don't think Darwin can take any credit for that. But I am just going to make the best of the time I have here.

I lose two of my roommates to a 3 day Kakadu tour tomorrow, and my last roommate won't be here because she is camping overnight, so unless some new arrival shuffles in, I will be blissfully ALONE!

Top End Musings

Today, after refocusing, a brief call to mom to check on the bank situation, and some brekky, I was off to explore Darwin. Heading out, I wasn't too confident that I would enjoy the experience or find anything to my liking. I had booked a modest Kakadu tour this morning for the weekend, seeing as that was the main reason for making this trek to Darwin, but my interest in the city itself was quickly deteriorating. I set out in the same direction I had gone for groceries last night (it's really the only direction that contains anything, actually), armed with a tiny map I had gotten for free from reception, not really knowing where I was headed, but just walking, when I spotted, just at the horizon in the distance, water! Seeing as it's hard to mess up a harbor, I figured the area had to be nice and changed my route.

I was right. It was a lovely area, called Bicentennial Park, and it stretched for the length of the city, so I was able to walk through the park while still covering ground though Darwin. It was hot as hades with no breeze and about 80% humidity, so I stopped often to hang out in the shade and enjoy the scenery. I made it to the other end of The Esplanade, then began walking into the city. I came upon the visitor's information center and went in, more for AC than for information. An Arctic breeze washed over me as the doors parted and I knew I had made a genius decision. The problem was, I didn't want to go back out. I eventually, once all my sweat had dried, made my way back through the simmering city, walking this time through the center to see the actual city. I did find what I guessed was the stretch of the city that is all the bars people refer to when they reference the nightlife here. I grabbed some cold coke zeros, because the prospect of drinking more warm water with lunch was unbearable. I made a sandwich with my supplies and sat outside for a bit. I spoke to the housekeeping lady a while. She was talking about how horrible the heat was. She also talked about the intense storm they had yesterday afternoon. "Do you think there will be another today?" I asked, hoping I would get to witness a Darwin thunderstorm. "Oh, yes," she said. She asked where I was from, then asked what day it was there. "It's about 10:30pm on Wednesday," I told her. She looked pleased.

After reading a little from Sunburned Country this afternoon, I can't help but wonder if reading Bryson's book about 5 times between receiving it as a gift at graduation and departing for this trip has sent me subliminal messages about how to feel about Darwin or if Bryson and I just demand the same caliber of class from cities and it's people. An excerpt from his book that I think might capture Darwin perfectly:

"Darwin is in the steamy heart of the tropics, which in my mind imposes certain stylistic requirements- white buildings with verandas, louvered windows, potted palms, lazy ceiling fans, cool drinks in tall glasses presented by obsequious houseboys, men in white suits and panama hats, women in floral-print cotton dresses, a little mah-jongg to pass the sultry afternoons, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in evidence somewhere looking hot and shifty. Anything that falls short of these simple ideals will always leave me disappointed, and Darwin failed in every respect...Nearly every person on the streets was bearded and tattooed and scuffed along with a wino shuffle, as if some very large mission had just turned everyone out for the day. Here and there, too, were scatterings of Aborigines, shadowy and furtive, sitting quietly on the margins of sunny plazas as if in a waiting room."

I did see some seedy looking characters, accurately described by the passage, on my walk for groceries yesterday, hence the taxi home. Not to say it's a rough place, I roll in the mean streets of Durham, but it's just not what one expects from a tropical climate. It could be a sister to the paradise I left just yesterday. But instead, it fails to live up to what the climate demands. It's funny that Bryson also had several run ins with rude hotel attendants. As I said, the guy that checked me in yesterday is most certainly the bottom of the list in friendly hotel clerks I have encountered on the trip. Although I did have a good interaction today with a young lady that was working reception today. She got me a fan to use tonight since the AC will probably still be embroiled in the German tug-of-war. She seemed shocked when I explained one of my roomies doesn't like the AC, so she wouldn't let it run. The Germans noticed the fan and said it was a good idea, like it was for them. As if. We will see whose head it will be fanning in the morning when we wake up.

I've booked Kakadu for tomorrow, and Sunday I plan on going to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. There is to be a Christmas Craft fair on the grounds, which will be blowing my mind in the 90+ degree heat, but I might look for some gifts for people, and I will see the free museum as well. Bryson speaks highly of it, so I am looking forward to it.

I do want to see a nice Darwin thunderstorm before I leave. I hear they are epic. Buckets and buckets of water, lightening like you've never seen in your life.

Long Night in Germany

So it's official, I hate all three of my roommates.

There was passive aggressive German warfare going on last night in my room, and I was caught in the middle. The nameless German, mostly because I haven't asked and she's unfriendly, announced she was going to bed because she had work in the morning. This didn't change the other girls actions at all. They continued talking in German with all the lights on, planning their trip. This caused Nameless to roll about violently occasionally on her top bunk. She would jump down from time to time and drink loudly from her water and throw things around the room. When the others were out of the room temporarily, she jumped down loudly, shut the door, and turned the light off. They came back in and turned it right back on. She pretended to not know how to fix the AC, which one of the other girls had turned off earlier, but later on had no trouble, I guess once she got warm. We finally got everyone in bed around midnight, and I ended up sleeping maybe 3 hours because the AC wasn't allowed to be on but intermittently, as warranted by the tiniest, most cold prone one in the room. She even turned it off this morning when I turned it back on once Loud Nameless left. And Nameless let her alarm go off about 7 times between 6 am and 6:30. She then got up, opened all the curtains, and made as much noise as possible getting ready for work- her revenge. So I sweated all night until I decided at 7:30 am when Nameless left that I would check and see if I could afford to move into a private room here. I booted up my computer and saw that they were about $60 a night. Better than some, but I think I will try to tough it out, at least another night. Then I checked my balance and was shocked to see it was overdrawn! They had charged my card last night for the rooms, even though he said we'd do it today! So he put it on the card I wasn't planning on using, resulting in an overdraft. I'm not sure if I will get charged for it or not, but I just feel like crying. It's a combination of no sleep, being hot, and having no patience left for sleeping in rooms with selfish brats. I think I will wait until everyone leaves, then turn my air on and go back to sleep. Oh, and did I mention one of the Germans talks in her sleep. She shouted something in German at one point. Why did I leave Broome?

Darwin, Smarwin

I am an idiot.

No, strike that. I am Courtney, Lord of the Idiots.

I left my slice of heaven, my deserted paradise, my outback oasis town, miles from anywhere, with splendid accomodations and even more impressive beaches, my friendly little town at the top of nowhere, for Darwin.

I can't judge too harshly, because I haven't begun to see it, at least not in the full light of day, but if first impressions tell me anything, I should have stayed in Broome for another week and then met up in Alice with Matt.

All I've seen of the city, which I was driven around a good portion of it today on my airport shuttle, was urban sprawl, construction, and orange tape and cones everywhere. There is a haze that hangs over the city like it has rained or will rain, which it most likely will, but unlike Broome, this intense humidity isn't cut with a cool sea breeze or made bearable by beautiful blue skies. I checked into my hostel, seeming to annoy the old man who runs the place by having to ring his bell and make him check me in at 6:11 pm (apparently the reception closes at 6 pm. 6 PM!) He handed me my sheets, mumbled my room number, and gestured up the staircase outside. Being the honest person I am, I asked "Don't I need to pay you?" He looked at the papers I signed, looked at me, looked at the papers again closely. "No... no, we will do it tomorrow." He couldn't bear the thought of working past 6:23, even if it meant being paid. I walked up the staircase he had indicated, walking past a hipster looking guy who said "what room number you looking for, mate?" I told him and he said, "Not even the right building." He directed me through a maze of overgrown leaves and trees to a building on the other side of the grounds, and up those stairs. I found my room, unlocking the door and discovering- a break!- I had been assigned a bottom bunk and the AC runs here constantly, unlike in Broome. An immediate knock at the door, and the old man entered, producing yet another paper for me to sign before I had even taken my pack off my back. The room is ok, but the hostel is no Beaches (it sucks when I get spoiled and then expect for hostels to meet those standards). I asked about the nearest grocery store from my other German roommate (yes, I have 3 German roommates, I think they are invading), then began my journey to Woolworths. I got Vietnamese for dinner, then picked up groceries. Not wanting to walk back in the dark with 6 bags of groceries, I called a cab. The cabbie was nice, but even he admitted the reputation of this town as being a party town was accurate as there is really nothing else to do.

I had a pretty interesting flight today. Well, not interesting in that it was exciting, but I got to sit next to a hot Aussie guy. But he was sleeping most of our two flights, so I had to do things like take his food for him and put his tray table up while he was sleeping. I didn't really mind because he was nice to look at, but if he had smelled or been ugly, it might have been annoying. He was nice, and talked to me a little about Broome. He seemed embarassed that he kept falling asleep and making me tend to him, but that didn't stop him from sleeping again.

I will try and give Darwin a chance. I am not sure how much I will be able to do here, since the budget is looking low, but I will make the best of it.

Bumpy Sunset Ride

Today I spent the morning lounging on the beach. With the constant wind, it was actually very nice. this beach is so wide and deserted, it is perfect for my father. There was no one near me at all. I could see people up and down the beach farther down, but since this is the wet season, it's not the time of year most people travel here. There is a nude beach section farther north beyond the rocks, but not feeling too adventurous, I decided to bed down where I was. They also allow dogs and cars to drive in the northern area, it seems beyond the rocks, anything goes. I called Grandma and Pop and talked to them beneath my hat for about an hour to block out the wind. They both laughed at the thought of me camel riding at sunset this evening. I explained that they would be in a train, their would be no effort on my part to have to control the camel or steer it in any way. I was excited about riding a camel, not because I particularly enjoy large animals, in fact, horses seem to hate me, but it was the novelty and the unusual nature of this that attracted me. I have ridden a camel before, but I was very little, and it was just at the fair, one of those that goes round and round.

I spent the afternoon at the pool, sunbathing and guzzling water, trying to control my internal temperature. I have pretty much accepted the fact that I will be covered in sweat from the moment I emerge from my room until the time I return to bed. It's, of course, not the most pleasant state to be in, but with your choice of bodies of water nearby, there is some kind of relief. I've been taking cold showers for about 2 weeks now just because the prospect of a hot shower when it is already almost 100 degrees is not an attractive one.

I was to report to the camels at 4:45pm, just right of the rocks, in the forbidden zone. The sun sets relatively early here because the whole Western Australia state is one time zone, so the farther east you travel, the sooner the sun sets. I rounded the rocks, hoping not to get an eyeful of nakedness, but all I saw was cars driving out. I approached what I hoped was my train. I was told they were the camels in blue, and they were all wearing blue covers with their names on each covering. We were given a little instruction, then told to get on. We were warned to hold on tight as the camel stands up because the camel goes forward first, then back, so if you aren't paying attention, you can be thrown over it's head when standing up. It was a pretty exciting event to be on it's back while standing up, but it's over within 3 seconds. My camel was named Zoarim, and he was pretty well behaved. He did want to pass a few times when the other camels were going too slow for him, but he didn't buck or anything like that (can camels buck?) We got back around sunset and got some pretty good shots, thanks in part to Matt, the assistant. He was staying in the same hostel as me and recognized me because he asked if I was staying at Beaches. I thought I had recognized him too, but it didn't make sense to me for someone with a job to live in a hostel long term. He said he's been here bout 4 months and had just stayed at Beaches because it's nice and cheap. He was originally from Barossa valley in Adelaide. I agree that Beaches is a very nice hostel in comparison to hostels, but unless he has a private room, I couldn't imagine living in an 8 person dorm for 4 months. He explained he got the job by doing a ride like me then finding out later there was an opening for an assistant. We got to feed carrots to our camels after the ride. I have only video of this, but it's pretty good, so ask me to see it sometime.




I came back to my hostel and had pasta and a glass of house red wine for dinner. You could tell it was amazingly cheap house wine because it was chilled. I'm considering going to see the crocs tomorrow at the Malcolm Douglas center down the street, if I'm up for blowing 30 bucks. Tomorrow is my last full day in Broome, so I might just soak up some more sun for free.

Stifling, Inescapable Heat, and Beautiful Beaches

You would think after spending 17 hours on a bus and spending 2 weeks on bus tours that I would want to steer clear of them for at least a few days, but I found myself on a bus again today, riding around in Broome. I decided to be very low key today. I spent most of the morning floating around in the pool and sweating in the sun. I bused into the main part of town around 2pm and got groceries for the next 3 days. There are lots Aborigines here, but mostly just sitting around in the fringe, like they seem to whenever I see them. I had to sit and wait for the bus about 30 minutes because it only gets to each spot once an hour in the wet season. I was stressing about my cold stuff becoming warm. I did eventually make it back while most of my veggie stir fry was still frozen. I had bought a day pass, so I needed to ride at least once more to make it worth my while. I caught the bus again and rode the loop almost entirely, planning on being dropped off at the beach to walk home after. I could not believe that the chatty Irish woman from the Greyhound who talked to the driver the whole way was on the bus! And talking to this driver! Asked stupid questions about the route times. It's a stupid question because it's simple, they stop once an hour, the same time each hour, like 1:13, 2:13, 3:13. What could there be to ask? We finally got rid of her and the bus driver took a 10 minute break, but we chatted during it, so it was ok to hang out, plus I was in AC, so I was fine. He asked if I was local; I love when I pass for Aussie. He was surprised to learn I was from the states. We talked about Broome and how it was so far from everything. But it is very nice, and it's remoteness can be both a positive and a negative I suppose. He continued his route to Cable Beach. I waved goodbye and spent about 15 minutes scoping it out and enjoying the sunset. I was a bit disappointed that the water felt like bath water; I like mine a cooler to actually be a little refreshing. The beach, as far as the sand and how the water looks, is pretty similar to NC beaches. I went home and made my stir fry. I spotted some guys eyeing my food. One walked by and said, "That looks really good," in some East European accent. I almost offered him some, but I remembered it was to last me two meals, so I just thanked him. I watched as he spread white beans from a can onto a wrap with chili sauce for his dinner. I am on a shoe string budget, but the day I eat a white bean wrap for dinner is the day I go home because I am too poor.

This hostel is still great, but they do not turn your AC on in your rooms until 8pm, so there is nowhere to go throughout the day to escape the heat. I am trying to just get used to being drenched with sweat all day. As we North Carolinians all know, dry heat is so very different from wet heat. With dry heat, your sweat will at least evaporate, so you will be hot, but dry. In wet heat, you sweat and sweat, and it just sits in your skin and clothes and reminds you how hot it is. Yep, it's great.

Tomorrow I ride a camel!

Counting white goats and dead kangaroos up the West Coast...

So I am finally in Broome, after my 5 day tour up the west coast to Exmouth, then my 17 hour Greyhound bus ride to Broome (yes, it was as thrilling as it sounds). I had to put my iPod on because I had "Rambling Man" going over and over in my head on repeat because of the line about a greyhound bus. I will again give you the highlights for my Exmouth trip, as giving every detail would be more than you or I could take:

We stayed in Kalbarri, Monkey Mia, Coral Bay, and Exmouth. I think I like Coral Bay and Monkey Mia the best. The places we stayed were nice and both places were so close to the beach. We did see the dolphins, but only one person from our group got to feed. In Coral Bay, it was too windy to swim with the manta rays, so we took the turtle tour instead. We saw a few turtles in the wild and were able to snorkel on several reef locations. I forgot how much I love snorkeling. In Exmouth, we spent the day on various beaches including Turquoise Bay. I am getting a very nice tan, especially considering it is November and no one on my side of the world will be tan this time of year. It was basically the same deal as the last tour. We ate sandwiches for lunch each day and made dinner at night.

I got closer to a few girls on this trip more so than the last tour. In particular, a girl from Holland named Ada. We spoke the international language of sarcasm and humor, and had lots of fun, causing some of the more party-pooper types on the tour to ask "how old are we?" But we had fun. I learned a new word- geit- which is how they say goat in Holland. We saw lots of feral goats along the way. We were trying to explain to a German girl on the trip that we had seen a goat, but didn't know the German word for goat, and she didn't know what "goat" in English was, so we made the goat noise. This led to the discovery that roosters have different calls, depending on what language they are crowing in. So the rest of the trip was punctuated with various rooster crows from all languages at random times. She also liked to give me a hard time about sleeping on the bus. Everyone slept on the bus because our schedule was so crazy. But she would tell me, "how can you sleep when it's such a beautiful day?" This became another expression on the trip, and we would say it at random times to annoy each other.

Our tour guide was named Allan. He was a little more attentive and aware than Murray last week, but he had an expression he repeated about 5 times throughout the trip. "If you don't eat, you don't shit. And if you don't shit, you die." I think he was trying to convince us to eat something, but no one needed convincing. And we decided we may need to make a t-shirt or a bumper sticker for him.

I was happy to hear two North Carolinians represented on his iPod throughout the trip. He had James Taylor and Ben Folds and I proudly told people on the bus they were from NC. People were also excited to learn Dawson's Creek was filmed in NC, haha.

The drive up the coast is really nothing exciting to see. "Barren Wasteland" comes to mind. Landscape dotted with small shrubs, white sun bleached bones, the occasional gang of feral goats, a lone cow here and there, and scavenger birds feeding on the never ending supply of kangaroo roadkill carcasses. I got so bored at one point, I began the morbid game of trying to count them. But some are so beyond repair that you aren't sure it was a kangaroo to begin with.

Another little weird thing we did on this trip was the Australian bottle blowing concert we had one night (you get a little bored on trips like this). There was apparently a very proper way to blow on bottles, and we took turns blowing on various beer and wine bottles to produce different notes, creating a symphony of fog horn like sounds.

Most of the girls walked me to my bus on Friday evening. I was to be picked up at 10:30 from the visitor's center, which was next door to where we were staying, and since our tour guide had been drinking since about 5pm, it was a good thing it was walking distance. I hugged them as I boarded and they stood and waved as we pulled away. I was sad once again to be leaving something that had briefly become familiar. It was the same feeling I had leaving the Shreeves the weekend before. I think I just miss being part of a family. I think I even miss Nathan!

So as I said, I am in Broome finally. I am staying at a place called Beaches of Broome, within walking distance of the beach. This place is very nice. The dorm room itself is small, especially for 8 people to be staying in it, but the common areas are great and the bathroom is the best I've seen in any of the hostels I've stayed in. I had a peek into a private room. They are amazing. If I had more dough left, I would splurge one night to stay in one of those. I think I annoyed my roomies last night turning in about 10pm, but after a 17 hour bus ride where I slept no more than an hour each time I fell asleep, I was ready for some rest. I plan to take it easy for a couple of days here. I will spend the day on the beach and maybe go to the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park which is down the street from my hostel one day. I fly out to Darwin on Wednesday, so I am only here long enough to get a taste of Broome.

Wheels on the bus go round and round...

Over the past week, I have been on a guided tour of the southwest region of Australia, below Perth. I'm happy to report it's a lovely and infrequently visited region, but teeming with wonderful and amazing sights. My groups was like a united nations of young twenty-somethings- three people from the UK, two from Japan, one from Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and a french Canadian. And of course, me, the lone American. The tour guide, when I introduced myself as American, smiled and said in his best cowboy-ish accent "From the goddamn United States," then asked if I could name all 52 states, which led me to questioning myself over the next couple of days as to whether I was mistaken and we had at some time gained two more without me knowing (hey, Pluto isn't a planet anymore and after calculus, zero was a weirder concept than ever- stranger things have happened to my elementary education). We all got along pretty well, the biggest scuffles of the week were tense discussions over whether the onions in the stir-fry needed to be chopped smaller and cooked before the other vegetables for dinner. We rode in a bus all week, and we each had our own seat, lucky people had a double seat. Followers of my blog will celebrate with me to learn I had the bottom bunk all week! (I was sneaky and got there first each time) I don't want to give you every single little detail, so highlights:

We stayed in Augusta, Albany, and two nights in Esperance. There is nothing that notable about the hostels or the actual towns, but I did notice, no matter how small the town, they always seemed to have an information center and a bottle shop (and we know the location of most of the bottle shops between here and Esperance. For the information centers, consult a map.)

The most amazing sight from the first day was probably the Ngilgi Cave (don't ask me to pronounce this.) I continue to be amazed at the things that Australian tourist sights allow common tourist to do, at least without signing dozens of wavers or something. Yes, Australia is far less litigious than America, but give it time. We climbed so deep into this cave and so close to the irreplaceable features, any idiot could have ignored requests not to touch and wouldn't have been caught and would have forever ended the growth of that figure in the cave. I don't know if it's because Australia is newer to this game, but I often feel there needs to be more fencing to protect these amazing sights from us. I have very little faith in the common tourist to not be a selfish idiot and think beyond "wow, I am getting to touch this even though I am not supposed to." But anyway, amazingggggg cave. Especially the portion known as the amphitheater. It apparently has near perfect acoustics, though I didn't test it.

Highlights of day two was the Bicentennial Tree (or what I like to call "Suicidal Crazy People Climbing on Tiny, Shaky Metal Pegs with No Safety Net." Yes, I am a wuss and declined the invitation.) It's a 75 meter climb to the top, no safety nets, nothing to keep you from plummeting to your death should your hand or foot slip (and again, no wavers signed.) Another amazing sight was the Greens Pool in William Bay National Park. It was my first swim in the Southern Ocean. It was freezing, but I gave into pressure and grabbed the once in a lifetime experience of numbing my extremities in the Southern Ocean.

Day four was great (I didn't forget day 3, but it wasn't that great or picturesque enough to mention). We spent most of the day at Cape Le Grand National Park, which seems to be the sight for most of the world screen saver pictures of white sandy beaches and clear oceans. We first visited Frenchman's Peak to climb to the top for views of the surrounding areas. This Frenchman must have been spider man or something. It was more than a 45 degree angle, and seeing as I have been blessed with the walking grace of my mother (Love you Mom!), I knew climbing up might not be a problem, but climbing down would probably end in me rolling for half a mile and breaking some very important bones. I stopped about halfway, when it became nearly vertical, but had the company of a sensible German girl who also decided that gravity was not on her side and chatted with me while we waited for our groups to go up for the complete view. That afternoon, we visited Hellfire Bay. This is the most amazing beach I have ever seen. The white sand squeaks beneath your feet and the water is clear to the bottom. It was still cold, but there was no way I could resist swimming.

Day five consisted mostly of our drive back with intermittent stops. The highlight was definitely Wave Rock, an amazing rock feature created by erosion (that erosion can do some amazing stuff.) We had to of course take the obligatory surfing picture with the whole group. The trip wouldn't have been complete.



We learned, despite the fact that I was at first convinced it was another "drop bear"-like conspiracy among Aussies to make tourists look idiotic, that emus will come towards you if you lie on the ground and pump your legs like a bicycle. Apparently they have crappy eyesight and think that it might be another emu that has fallen over and needs their help. We witnessed this actually working when Marcus, our Swedish boy, agreed to get out of the bus and bicycle on the ground. The emus, that were initially walking away from us, suddenly seemed curious and came closer to inspect.

We learned a few new card games from Chris from the UK, most of which we were completely sick of by day 5. I realized that the card game 'asshole' varies depending on the country you're playing in, and that perhaps America has the most refined and detailed set of rules (we played what we called "international rules," leaving out lots of critical stuff to make it easier on new comers). These cards were also disgusting by day 5. I washed my hands after every game.

It was our tour guide's third time on this trip, and first time doing it alone. We got lost or at least didn't know where to go next probably no less than 12 times during the trip, and the organization of the trip could have been improved. Needless to say to those who know me well, this was a little annoying to me, but I did my best not to care and to sit back a relax, even as he shuffled through maps, called for directions, and took us on a 20 minute ride in quest for petrol, touring every gas station in the area, only to end up at the very first gas station we stopped at in the first place.

We had a wreck about 10 minutes outside of Perth. Our guide hit a car with our trailer. I felt the tremor and knew something had happened. There was hardly any damage to the trailer, but we took the car's front bumper clean off!

Overall, it was a good week, and I felt I mostly got my money's worth. I got to see lots of places I wouldn't have any other way, and despite the fact I might have picked a different tour guide had I had the chance, I had a good time with the people on the tour and learned a lot. I am back in Perth now with the Shreeves again for the next few days. I will be leaving Monday for my tour to Exmouth, and will probably not have another blog update until I get to Broome on Saturday night (sorry Kim!) I am coming down to the last month of my trip, which blows my mind. I am still enjoying traveling, but I have to say that I really am missing people that I am not used to going 2 months without seeing. I guess it's a good thing to have such close relationships with people that I miss them greatly when I go a while without them. It will be a relief to see those people again. But, I simply do not know how I am going to adjust from having no schedule to working 8 hours a day again. Can't we check one more time a make sure I don't have some wealthy great, great uncle somewhere who has left me millions in his will and wishes me to use his wealth to fulfill my dreams of traveling the globe?