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?

Freo and Perth and All Hallows Eve

I've been in Freo (Fremantle) for a couple of days, mostly just bouncing around the city and exploring. I spent a night with the Shreeve family, one of my mother's former student's mom's sister living in Perth. They were very nice to take me in, and have already offered again for when I am homeless next weekend after my tour. I have booked 2 tours, both kind of steep in price, but will take up 2 weeks of time and include my room and board, which means no more thinking required on my part. The first tour gives me a pretty complete overview of the southwest, so it takes care of what I was trying to accomplish. The second tour takes me north up the coast, and I have arranged to be stranded in Exmouth at the end. No one would ever purposefully arrange for this to happen, except I have also already booked a greyhound bus to take me from Exmouth that night to Broome. I have been trying to really limit my money output, I am getting down to the wire considering I still have a little over a month left. Take a look at my map now. The green is what I've done, the purple was the original route. I've generally stuck to the plan, but it will look very different after this next leg when I go tour the southwest then head north along the coast. Tonight I went to a sushi places, one of those places that has a little track that circulates the food in front of you and you pick plates off the track as you want them. Going in, you see the plates are color coded, ranging from just $2 to $5, and you think you could really come off cheap on this. But you don't take into account that food is constantly rotating in front of you, and if you make selections that aren't too tasty, you still have to pay for them. I had eyed a movie theater next door, and had seen that the next showing of The Social Network was around 7. I had wanted to see it, and figured if it was less than $20, I would go. But at some point during dinner, seeing as I am running low on cash, I had to make the choice between raw fish and Justin Timberlake, a choice that I am sure every person has had to grapple with at some point in their lives. I resisted some very nice looking tuna that came past me several times, and paid the check. The movie ticket was just this side of 20, but I went for it. She asked if I wanted anything from the candy bar, and I pocketed my last $3 dollars, knowing that even if the answer was yes, I didn't have enough.
This hostel I am staying in is kind of weird. I mean, it's a lot like most hostels I've stayed in, but I could see myself going mad very quickly here, much quicker than other places I have stayed. For one, the restroom fans run constantly in both bathrooms when the light is on. And this fan is not quiet. You can hear it inside your rooms. It's a constant, humming, dull basketball buzzer background noise. And one fan is slightly lower in key than the other, so they seem to be trying to sing together, but someone is off key. It's always present, in the kitchen, in the dining area, everywhere except the lobby. No where is really comfy, which is not really new for hostels either, but when you have a top bunk, you really have no choice than to try and find other seating (or make sure you have gathered everything you will need for several hours when you set out for your trek to the top). First you have to decide if you can tolerate the people around you. Then you note the background noise. If it's tolerable, you then consider if you can handle the overall comfort of the chair. If all these things align, make yourself at home! I've become quite the pro at climbing into the top bunk without a ladder. It seems the fat girl that gets up earlier than everyone else always has to sleep on the top of skinny bias that sleep in until noon. But isn't that just how life is? I mean, they should make that into a bumper sticker. But I deal, and do my best to roll out of bed quietly and creep around them all morning, 'cause that's what I do.

I'm back in Perth now. I caught the train earlier today. I had to check out at 10am, and my new hostel wouldn't take me until 2pm (just sticking to policy, as now I have checked in and there was CLEARLY no reason I couldn't have checked in at noon), so I had a few hours to kill. Since I had all my bags with me, tourist activities had to be limited to a minimum. I threw my bags in the corner and watched some sport of Ireland versus Australia with a bunch of Irish guys sitting around me muttering obscenities when Australia scored. I still don't know what the sport was. It was like soccer, except you could touch the ball and there were goal posts as well as a soccer goal. One sec, let me google... ok, it was gaelic football. Actually, it was international rules football, which is a fusion of Australian rules football and gaelic football. Now they are just making stuff up. Anyway, Australia won. I left about noon to get cheap lunch at subway and found through the line with my bags. I got the train about 1pm, and it took about 30 minutes to make it through all the stops. I don't understand who enforces that you actually purchase a ticket for the train. No one was around to take my ticket or to scan it or even see that I bought a ticket. I really think it would have been quite easy to ride without even buying one. But it was only $3.70, so it would have been very cheap of me to steal that. After getting my bearings, I walked about 30 minutes to get to my hostel. It only took 30 minutes because I had to go through several malls and stopped twice to readjust bags that were cutting off arm circulation. This hostel is very lax. Too lax, I think. The room is standing open for anyone to walk in and rummage or take stuff. So I will not be leaving anything of value in there. Also, there are 10 beds but 6 lockers, so I can't even try to lock stuff up. And I of course have a top bunk again. I probably will for the rest of the trip. You know, I am just going to assume now that is what is going to happen, so if I get a bottom bunk, I will be so excited.
Tonight is halloween. I am not planning on doing anything. I did buy some weird green hair braids in St. Kilda. I might just put them on and walk around because I could get away with it. But I am checking out tomorrow at 6 am to leave for my southwest tour, so I won't be doing anything too late. I will update as I can the next week, but I have no idea how much access I will have to internet. It may be just a massive update on the weekend.



Happy Halloween!

Projectile Vomit at 30,000 feet

24/10
I wasn't feeling well the day I checked out of the Underground hotel. My stomach had been a little off for a couple of days, but I figured I would be able to make it to Perth and take it easy a few days. I got up, checked out, ran some errands around Coober Pedy with my free car, then Donna from the hotel took me to the airport around 1pm. The flight to Adelaide was uncomfortable, but nothing I couldn't handle. I had a few hours to kill in the airport before my flight to Perth, so I found a chemist and bought some medicine for my stomach, hoping it might have some effect. I was still feeling really awful when I got on the plane, and considered staying in Adelaide overnight and rescheduling my flight. But I knew this would cost me money, and I would also lose money on my hostel already booked in Perth, so I decided to man up and deal with it. I knew when I confirmed the flight, it looked like I had a whole row to myself, so maybe I would be able to stretch out and lay down. As the plane filled up, I was quickly losing hope. Soon, two ladies arrived and piled in with me into the row. I almost explained to them that I was sick, and that they might need to jump up quickly, or give me the aisle, but I didn't. I sat, with my eyes closed, trying to will the plane faster through the sky. I kept feeling worse and worse. I reached into the seat pocket and brought out a bag. But I was too late. I puked all over my window. The girl in front of me with her seat leaned back, not minding to take up all that space, was suddenly very willing to give me that space back as her seat shot up. I had my earplugs in, so as I threw up into the bag, all I heard was me, and nothing else. I turned to the ladies and apologized, they told me they had hit the call button for the attendant. To spare you the gory details, I was covered. The flight attendant threw out my sweater, confusing it for a blanket, but it might have been beyond saving anyway. I took the walk of shame past everyone in the plane and cleaned up in the bathroom the best I could. When I came out, I didn't want to go back to my seat. I knew the attendants wouldn't let me stand back there with them, but I knew everyone was watching me. One flight attendant was particularly perturbed with having to attend to me. She told me if I was feeling bad, I should have rescheduled my flight. It was a little late for that, I supposed. She asked what I needed, I said ginger ale and she gave me water too. I took it back to my seat and sipped it slowly. They had reseated the other two ladies at my request, so I did end up having a row to myself! They were passing around that peppermint smelling stuff to the rows around me, to distract the passengers from the nice perfume I had created. About 30 minutes later, I was feeling ill again. I got up and went back to the bathroom. The flight attendant had told me she locked one bathroom for me and to tell her and she would unlock it, but the drink cart was in front of it and she was bent over doing something, so I went into the bathroom I had already been in. I was sick again, and when I came out, she scolded me for not using my designated stall. I explained that I needed it quicker than she could have provided it, but didn't feel like dealing with it and apologized too. I sat back down and slept a while, my head slumped against the seat in front of me. They served dinner, and I did my best not to get sick smelling all the food. They gave me a popsicle, which I managed to keep down. We finally landed, I lugged all my bags and called my hostel to see if I could get a private room, 'cause, ya know, I wasn't too keen on throwing up in front of any more people tonight. They did have one and they said I could still catch a $15 shuttle instead of taking a $50 cab. I missed the 9pm shuttle by 15 minutes, so I called my parents and told them about my horrible day and bought a bunch of drinks to take to the hostel to begin my rehydration. The shuttle took FOREVER. They couldn't wait for me at 9:15, but we had to wait for every old lady and young, confused, non-English speaking traveler at 10:15pm. I was reeking of vomit and dead tired. I was finally dropped out front of my hostel at 11pm. I checked in, showered, and collapsed into my bed. I managed to not get sick through the night, and have taken a few days to recuperate, not doing anything but sleeping and occasionally venturing out for fluids and white colored foods.

*No pics for this one, believe me, you wouldn't want to see them.*

A Sunset and A Late Arriving Moon Rise over the Breakaways

23/10
I was lazy this morning and slept in to about 9am. The thing about this place I have noticed, you are not woken up like other cities in Australia. For one, you are sleeping in rock, so sunlight really can't reach you. Another thing, in ever city I have stayed in so far, the birds will wake me before the sun bothers me. There are no birds here. You do not have to worry about the squawking that woke me in Brisbane, or the chirping that was common in St. Kilda. Even at night, standing outside, all I hear is the occasional dog and crickets in the distance. After getting up, I watched the competitive kid game shows on Saturday morning TV and ate my free brekky. I called Grandma around 11 to tell her happy birthday and excitedly talk her ear off about Coober Pedy. I decided to venture out around noon. I noodled unsuccessfully for a couple hours in the very windy, sunny weather. I would have noodled longer, but I can't help but always feeling like I am in a scene in some apocalyptic movie in which the next scene consists of me being attacked suddenly by crazy people with mohawks and losing a race to my car. I then ran by the bank and got "lasagna" at Johns before going by Oasis to see if I could book the Breakaways sunset tour for tonight. George said they would be running the tour, and to show up about 5:10 pm. Little did I know what a treat I would be in for.

Few people understand the relationship I have with the night sky, and more specifically, the moon. You see, we have our own way of interacting, almost flirting, the moon and I, and when the moon is at it's absolute best, when it's big and full and magnificent just once a month, it makes the event extra special. I can be seen peering over my shoulder every once in a while, sneaking peeks of my beloved, making sure he is still present and looking as good as ever. He plays along in this game, hiding behind clouds or trees from time to time, but always returning, dependable and true, to his position of prominence in the sky. My friends can attest to my perhaps unnatural attachment to my sky suitor. They have all occasionally received frantic text messages from me, pleading them to not miss the display being put on in the sky by the lunar Romeo. Well tonight, I was able to witness his unveiling among the spectacular mountainous formations of the Breakaways, and the Mars-like setting of the Lunar plain, red and desolate and dotted with flatted stones.

I arrived at Oasis and paid for the tour. We loaded up the car, just George, me, and two middle aged Australian couples. We drove and drove, way out on dirt roads, past Crocodile Harry's, past all the thousands of mining hills, to the ending of a cliff that overlooked the Breakaways. We all got out and took pictures. It adds nothing to my experience to keep hearing about the films made in such a serene area, in fact, it hurts my heart to think of the numb skulls that tromped around the place, munching donuts from the crafts service table and bitching about the heat or the flies or something like that. But it is an amazing area. And not to sound like some kind of hypocritical groupie or something, but I totally bit the dust big time in the exact place that the scene was filmed in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome where the plane almost goes off the cliff but turns at the last second. (Another draw back of people continually mentioning the Mad Max film is that I continually have Tina Turner singing "We don't need another hero" in my head.) We continued on the dirt road, stopping to take pictures of the formations from almost every angle and pondering what drugs people must have been on when they claimed to see a man or a dog in the rock shape. We stopped at the dog fence, the longest fence in the world, built to keep the dingos from eating all the sheep. We continued on to the moon plain, which now doesn't look so moon like, because as I continue to hear as I make my way across Australia, there has been an unusual amount of rain, and the usually red, desolate desert is now remarkably green. But we did come across a crackled, light textured ground, that sank under your foot. It was like nothing I had ever walked on. We found evidence of the internal sea that existed millions of year ago, as well as the rainforest that existed before that. A petrified tree lay beside my foot, something you think would be stuck in a museum somewhere. We watched as the sun sank down low behind the Breakaways in the distance. I did my best to capture the brilliant pinks with my camera. George had promised a brew at this time, which in American means beer. Imagine my disgust at being offered tea or coffee. Thanks Brits. But I accepted my tea and muffin, and awaited the arrival of my moon. It was later than usual, playing coy with me. We all talked and slapped at mossies (mosquitoes), waiting for the moon to arrive. I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon, knowing he was due any minute, and that he would be full tonight. I was the first to notice and call out to the others, as he appeared first as just a glow under the soft clouds blanketing the horizon. But quickly, he rose, emerging full and orange over the horizon, greeting us and mocking us at the same time. I tried to take pictures, but the cameras I have can never capture the brilliance of the moon. I watched it rise into the sky as we loaded up into the van and made our way back to Coober Pedy, which sparkled on the horizon more than you would expect a tiny town of that size would sparkle. As the moon rose, it changed out of it's orange hue to glow it's brilliant white. It continued to rise over me, and I was always watching it, even along my drive home. I made a sandwich for dinner and ate outside in the moonlight. A full moon rise was really the most perfect way to end my Coober Pedy experience. I love Cooper Pedy for what it is. And I know it sounds crazy, but I can imagine scenarios where I would very much like to move here and live in their little mountain dugout oasis.

Underground living, Crocodile Harry's, and Kangaroo Kisses

22/10
I was picked up this morning about 8 am for my tour. I was with an older couple from Perth and a family of 4, with two braaaaaatty girls, from Sydney. George was our tour guide, so he gave us an overview of the town. We started at the Serbian Church (underground, of course). It's pretty impressive, and has carving into the stone of figures. He next took us to the public noddling area where he humoured us by giving us about 30 minutes to seek our fortune and discover opal in the picked-over piles of rock and dirt. He told us about a week ago, a ten year old girl found a $4,000 piece of opal. Ok, sure. Next he we went to the Coober Pedy Golf Course, which I hope is more of a joke than anything. Of course, there is no grass on this course, but George says the membership is $100 and the club has 80 members. He drove us next out to the open mines area, which is closed to the general public. The reason for this is because the area is FULL of open mine shafts, literally thousands of up to 30 meter holes all over the ground with gray pyramids of sand beside them. It is quite a sight. He said that once someone digs on the land, they are under no obligation to fill the holes, so the result is thousand of open mines over the years. He took us next to the Umoona Museum. We watched an award winning film on the formation of Coober Pedy. It was formed because a group of men in search of gold in the area ran out of water. They left there camp with only a 14 year old boy there, and searched the area for water. They returned, unsuccessful, that evening to find the boy missing. He returned later with a sack of opal, announcing he had also located water. So the buy saved their lives and sealed Coober Pedy's history in one. Men returning from WWI had no jobs and lots of experience digging trenches, so many came out to the middle of nowhere to seek a fortune in opal. The name Coober Pedy comes from the Aborigines, who were traveling thorough the area and noticing something common among the people working there, calling the area "white man in a hole." Coober Pedy has always been built for efficiency and not for aesthetics, so the place is littered with old cars and machinery, tires, and even props from the movies filmed in the area. It's a bizarre and wonderful scene.
I was dropped back off at my hotel, where I ate lunch and ended up passing out for several hours. I then went out and bought $400 in opal and decided to seek out Crocodile Harry's, a suggestion from George. I followed the road until it turned to dirt, then kept following it for almost 15 minutes. I could see nothing up ahead, it was literally driving to nowhere. I kept imagining scenes from Mad Max and pictured a car in the distance behind me, approaching quickly to run me off the road and kill me for no other reason than boredom. Of course, this didn't happen. I eventually located Harry's, accidentally passing it because it was tucked into a cliff side (like everything else in town). I pulled in and parked as a man walked out. "How you going? I just shut the place down, give me a minute to open back up," he said. He came back around, almost shocked I was there- "how did you find us?" I told him George at Oasis had suggested it, but the truth was, if he hadn't, no way I would ever had know this place even existed. He smiled, told me to have a look around, and look in back too, because their was hand-dug caves. I thanked him and began exploring. So this Crocodile Harry guy was a crocodile hunter until the 60's when they became protected, then he just fell into his next favorite hobby, being a ladies man. The walls and ceiling over his bed were covered with underwear and bras with notes from girls over decades of time. They were also covered with everything else- business cards, photo ids, passports (good luck leaving!), photos, menus, all kinds of junk. The walls were painted with notes and messages from people that had visited. It was weird seeing all this in such a deserted place. You get the sense that this was once a rocking bachelor's pad, but now was forgotten into the dusty country side. I walked to the back and looked through the caves until I became convinced that there was either a dingo or a ghost of Harry that wanted to kill me, and got spooked. I fought flies back to my car and left. Back in the bustling city, I checked my watch. It was about 15 minutes to five, and I remembered the kangaroo orphanage had feedings at five. So that was my next stop. I browsed the gallery in the front until it was time to feed. Terry, the owner, told me they were waiting for a group to arrive. Wonderful, I thought. But it wasn't bad. I got some pictures of Terry and the group leader feeding some of the older kangaroo babies. Then he brought out a younger one named Dideio. He was tiny, a little smaller than the kangaroo baby in Kangaroo Island, and very cute. He hopped around, relieved himself, then hopped some more. It's so funny to watch the new ones try to get around. They don't know their own strength, and so sometimes a huge hop turns spastic, and they end up landing on their head. Terry held out him pouch, and he jumped head first in. Terry invited us back inside to hold him for a minute. I grabbed a couple of dollars from my pocket, strategically donating as Terry entered behind me. He offered to let me hold him first. Haha, excellent. I cradled Dideio, and Terry told me to blow into his face for kangaroo kisses. I blew, and Dideio looked up at me and began licking my lips and cheek. I usually am not a big fan of letting animals lick me in the mouth, but I figured it would never happen again, so what the hell? I passed him off and thanked Terry.
After my makeout session with Dideio, I was hungry for dinner. I decided to get pizza from culinary genius John, and brought it back to the hotel for the night. For a place in the middle of the dessert, they do make a mean spinach and tomato pizza.

Desert Paradise

21/10
I AM IN COOBER PEDY!!! SITTING IN MY UNDERGROUND ROOM!!!!
I got up this morning in Adelaide, parted ways with my dear adoptive family that I've spent about a week with, and was driven to the airport by Sarah. My flight at 10:20 am only had about 10 people on it, even though we were on the Kangaroo Island sized plane that can fit about 30, so we were able to stretch out a little. We lifted off, and I watched the city become pathwork farms, then change into deserted redness in front of my eyes. Nothingness except the occasional bush tree and long, straight dirt road cut cleanly through the red. It took about an hour and a half to reach Coober Pedy, and we arrive in bladder kicking turbulance. I scanned the barren moonscape and noticed thouands of tiny gray holes in the ground. There is no possible way these could all be mines! There are literally thousands of them! But as we got closer and closer to the ground, it became clear. The red was red, except for the thousands of current and abandoned opal mines that dotted the surface, like freckles on my best friend, haha. We landed no-so-gracefully and exited the plane. It was warm, but not dramatically hot. I waited for my ride outside the front of the "airport," a building with 3 rooms- the check in, the waiting room, and the baggage claim. While waiting, I witnessed my very first dust tornado! I struggled to get my camera out in time, and was only able to capture the last of it as it disappated. My car pulled up, and a lady asked if I was waiting for transport to Underground Motel. I said I was, I don't think I ever even got her name! But we talked, she has only lived in the area for 4 years, but enjoys it. She pointed out things and really gave me a tour of the town (a strip of road about the size of the main drag in Efland, NC), consisting of opal shops, restaurants, supermarkets, and the occasional petrol station (gas station to you yanks!) We finally arrived at the Underground Motel, on the far side of town. I was aleady reasoning out in my head how long the walk might be to the main strip. She checked me into my room before helping me carry my bags to the room. While checking in, she asked me an unsual question. "Do you drive?" My mind started ticking, wondering where this may lead. "Um, in my own country, I do. I haven't driven in Australia yet." She said, "Well, I am looking after this place for Mike right now, and it might be easier for me to just give you the keys to the car and let you go where you like instead of driving you around when you need it." I was stunned. She was handing me a car? But I wasn't supposed to drive until Alice Springs! "Are you sure," I said. "Absolutely, no problem," she said. "Is there any time I need to have it back, am I sharing it with other people?" "Nope, all yours." I let this sink in as she gave me a brief tour of the kitchen and my room. I would be driving, by myself, a free car, all around Coober Pedy. Awesome!
I was too excited, and needed to tell someone, but it was about 10:30 pm on the Atlantic coast, so I called Matt, I knew he would be up. He was out in NYC, I could hear the bar noise behind him. I was just glad he answered, because some people see the strange numbers I am calling from and do not answer. It's only about a month until I meet him out in Alice. It's so crazy! I chatted with Matt a few minutes, settled in, then decided what I would be doing in my drive out. I knew I would be hitting up the much touted John's Pizza Bar, mostly just for the 10 discount I would receive. I also decided to opal browse and grocery shop too. I spent about 5 minutes psyching myself up. Then I grabbed my purse and keys and town map and walked out to the car. It was a Ford Falcon, whatever that is. I unlocked the door, cranked the car, buckled up, then took a couple minutes to locate the various levers I would need. I then released the parking brake and was off. I was driving on the left! I didn't know the speed limit, so I just went a speed that felt right. I also kept forgetting that the levers are reversed, so I occasionally sent the windshield wipers swishing for imaginary rain instead of using my turn signal. There are no stop signs in the town. So people do not stop. They simply roll out into their turn, some not even slowing down. But I stopped, mainly since I am in a car that is not mine. I ate a hotdog at Johns, browsed a couple of opal shops, then went to the information center. She was able to suggest some things to do and tours I could book. I then went to the grocery store to get some stuff. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and planning what I would do. I called and booked a tour for the next morning that was kind of a highlights tour of Coober Pedy.

Various Seals, Various Rocks, Various Bad Sweaters

19/10
I went today on the highlights tour of the island. I got up around 7am, my roommates alarm went off or phone rang at 6am, so I had been semi awake since then. She was still in bed asleep. I got ready and headed out, planning on picking up something for breakfast. I happened upon a grocery type store, so I went there to get stuff for dinner. I ended up getting frozen pizza, yogurt, and bananas. I went down the street to a bakery and got a ham and cheese scone and a muffin for the next day. I returned to the Backpackers and was picked up by the bus. He drove us to the airport to get some more people, then we went to a Eucalyptus Distillery. The highlight of this was a baby orphan kangaroo. It was adorable. We wandered around the distillery, watched a video on how distilling eucalyptus actually works, then I bought a tube of eucalyptus lip balm. We went up to the road to meet our coach. This was one of those mega-buses that I have been able to avoid until this point. I think I will continue to avoid them when possible. I mean, it wasn't horrible, but a lot of time was spent waiting for the old people sitting at the front of the bus deciding when they were going to get off the bus. I had to sit in the back since we were the last group to join. It was mainly old people and couples, ranging from the annoying young ones to the middle aged ones in bad sweaters (seriously, at least one person in each middle aged couple had a bad sweater. I can't understand bad sweater, and sweaters in general on this day were kind of inexcusable. A light jacket in the morning would have sufficed. I was peeling down to my tank top by the afternoon, and lots of middle aged couples were stank since they had their bad, sweat-soaked sweaters.) Anyway, we saw two different seal colonies throughout the day, and saw a bird of prey show, but the highlight was definitely the Remarkable Rocks. I am a bit of a geology nerd anyway, always have been, so crazy rock formations are still a little more exciting to me than the average person. And these, well they have a very appropriate name. We spent about an hour there, fighting over prime locations for photo ops, before finally giving up and taking pictures that contain random strangers posing with the rocks (I tell myself it's to provide size reference). Another thing to note is the crazy bush on that island. They also have big problems with wild fires, but everything has grown back quickly and thick. It seems impossible when looking over the expanse of twisted, mangled, low growing, interlocking bush to imagine being early explorers trying to make their way through. It makes sense now when I read things about them only covered about 5 km a day. We were driven back to our meeting places in Kingscote and I was dropped off at the backpackers. I walked around town a little more before dinner. I found the oceanfront, and discovered a public swimming pool made in the water edge. The safety sign had the normal rules like "no running," then some inexplicable ones like "no putting animals in the water, especially sharks" and "no setting fires." These are things I would usually assume would go without saying. Of course, as a lifeguard, I feel that way about running too I guess. Tomorrow I fly back to Adelaide and will be there overnight before heading off to Coober Pedy!

Walk down the street, 1, 2, 3, can't miss it...

18/10
I spent a lot of today being a slacker, mostly because I had done so much up until now. Marie was kind enough to agree to drive me to the airport in the afternoon. So she came to me around 1:00 pm, me still having not showered for the day (hey, I said I was being lazy), and proposed a trip to the city before our drive to the airport. I was starving and wanted to buy a "Heaps Good" shirt, so I agreed. I rushed around getting ready and packing a 2-day bag for Kangaroo Island. The Pollock family is kind enough to let me kidnap their room for an additional couple of days and leave my big pack there so I can just carry on stuff to Kangaroo Island. Marie and I set off to the city. We visited my shop first, the Urban Cow Studio, and bought my shirt. Then we strolled through the mall, and decided we were too hungry to make it all the way to the Asian market, so we ate fake Chinese at the food court. I kept distracting her with questions, so I ended up finishing lunch much earlier than her. We then walked a little further into the city. I mentioned that I had wanted to go to the casino on Friday but wasn't feeling up to it after my tour. She suggested we visit it now, since we had some time. We walked up and there was some type of well dressed bouncer. I half expected him to stop us and not allow us entry because, who are we kidding, I don't belong in a casino. But he let us past. We walked past the intimidating ruelette wheel and blackjack tables (maybe intimidating because they are manned by actual people) to the shining, flashing pokies. We each dug out $5 and decided to play the 5 until we didn't have it anymore or ran out of time. The first machines we tried with our first $2 didn't win us anything and were kind of confusing. We decided to try some differnt ones. We walked to another cluster of machines and began playing on those. I was excited to win back my original $2 and $2 more. I looked over at Marie because her machine kept making musical noises and flashing. She was looking at the machine in wonder, and fanning herself as if she might faint. She kept winning sums of almost $20 then collecting. I had my fist of dollar coins, and she had enough to cover the bottom of her bucket. Frustrated, I ended up playing another one of my coins and getting nothing, so I came out just $1 up in the end. We walked over to allow Marie to cash out (I kept my 6 dollar coins since I figured it would be too embarassing to hand him 5 coins to cash in on). He poured the coins into the scale and handed her back $59!!! She won $54 on those stupid pokies. I was so jealous, and decided I didn't need to help pay for our parking after all since she had this new found wealth. We drove to the airport after that and she was going to drop me off at the terminals, but took the wrong road and decided to park and walk me in. I checked in and thanked her, telling her goodbye and that I would see her on Wednesday. After going through security, I had about an hour to kill. I was starting to get hungry (losing money and watching others make $60 in 20 minutes works up an appetite), so I grabbed something to eat as I sat at my terminal. Regional Express, or Rex as it is known, is a very small enterprise. They can afford to be efficient as there are only about 30 seats in their planes to seat, so they can book flights 10 minutes apart at the same terminal. In fact, they were about 15 minutes early in boarding every flight, including mine. We were called and simply checked off a list (no electronic scan like with Qantas). We walked downstairs to another waiting room. Then, went we were all there, we were taken out to a bus and driven about 10 yards to the plane (I couldn't help but laugh. I guess they can't let people walk on the tarmack, even for that short distance, but it was humorous. Our flight took less time that check in and security; it was about 20 minutes. I looked out the window and felt someone watching me. I looked at the seat in front of me and saw the boy sitting in that seat looking at me. We exchanged smiles and continued taking in the beauty. We landed on the tiniest runway, at the tiniest "airport" I have ever seen (but, I have Coober Pedy on Thursday, so this may change very soon). It was all so entertaining for me. This is what I have been asking for- deserted! I went inside, concerned about finding a shuttle at this tiny place. I saw I guy standing under a sign about Kangaroo Island transfers, and he was wearing a name tag, so I asked him if he was who I booked the shuttle with. He was, so I was able to book both the trip to the hostel, and the trip to the airport on Wednesday. We loaded the other people into the bus and headed off. We saw no other cars. And the road turned to dirt. Yes! We got to the hostel and there were a couple of buildings around, but no big names or anything. I checked in, which consisted of the guy saying room 4, then showing me the door that already had a key in it. Then he showed me the bathroom. And that wrapped up the tour. He asked for the payment, which since it was only 2 nights, I paid in cash. I asked about internet, he said we'd have to go to the library, which wasn't open now, but I could sit out front and use the internet "Go down this street, 1, 2, 3, when you get to Dourney, turn right, you can't miss it. Do you know where it is?" I said "yes." "No you don't," he said, and proceeded to repeat the directions. After getting him out of my room, I spoke to my roommate a little then settled in. I forgot to bring any granola bars with me, so I would need to eat something in the morning. I went out to ask about that. I found the man arguing with the woman that works at the hostel over whether or not you can sit outside the library and still get wireless. As she saw me approach, she kind of hit him to shut him up. I asked about food in the morning, he said "Go down this street, 1, 2, 3, when you get to Dourney, take a left, you can't miss it. Order the eggs and bacon." I said, "OK, so down here, breakfast on the left, library on the right." "You got it," he said. Gosh, I love him already.

A Giant Rocking Horse, A Greedy Kangaroo, and Paradise

17/10
Yesterday was spent on a quest to the Big Rocking horse, the chocolate factory, and the cheese factory. This big rocking horse is quite big, and I climbed to the top, despite it being a climb by ladders rather than stairs. I was kind of petrified the whole time, mainly because there were no real safety catches if I was to lose my footing or hand grip. Plus, it might be cool to die in a helicopter crash off the Great Ocean Road, or in a fiery Ferris wheel death in Brisbane, or a hot air balloon crash in Alice Springs, but death by giant rocking horse? That's not the coolest way to go. So fearing death I was on the steep climb and subsequent minutes I spent on the top of it's head. Sarah wanted to demonstrate how she and her brothers used to climb to the top and grab the sides and rock the horse. I politely declined the demonstration. Well, I actually asked it they were insane.
We climbed down and decided to visit the petting zoo at the same park. They had 3 kangaroos, some llamas and goats, and a couple of birds like peacocks, ducks, and we even saw a couple of chickens. We were only interested in the kangaroo though. We bought a 2 dollar bag of feed and found a kangaroo that had been sleeping. As we approached him, he got up, being all too familiar with what we were there for. We took turns feeding him out of out hand and petting him. A goat approached, feeling neglected and hungry. The kangaroo, not wanting to share the spotlight or feed, grabbed the goat by the head and pushed it away. We spotted a bigger kangaroo nearby, a bigger, grayer one. We went to feed it. I offered him a hand full of feed, which he gladly ate. Then, becoming frustrated that my hand wasn't immediately able to produce an infinite amount of food, he grabbed the bag of food out of my hand from the bottom, dumping all of the feed onto the ground. He then proceeded to eat the paper bag, munching on it as if it was delicious. We were both laughing hysterically at this point. Out of feed because of a greedy kangaroo's actions, we walked a circle around the zoo before leaving. We then went to the chocolate factory and bought a couple of bags of chocolate (seeing a theme on this portion of the trip?). The cheese factory was literally next door, and we were able to sample 8 different kinds of cheeses, although we were not able to tour the actual factory. That evening, we went out to an Indian restaurant for one of Sarah's friend's 25th birthday. It was a nice evening where I mostly took in all the Aussie accents, only occasionally contributing to conversations when I had something relevant to say.

Today I went to Sarah's church. Her friend Belinda picked me up and sat with me during the service. It was very different from the church I am used to at the small churches in North Carolina. For one, the church is an enormous concert hall. They began the services by playing several contemporary christian songs on guitars. It was a band on young adults on stage singing, the choir behind them as backup. After about 4 songs, they did have a sermon, but the environment was very different. I talked to Belinda about the differences and the facts that it seemed so many young adults were not only present, but actively involved in the church. She said it was by far their biggest age group, 18-35. I told her that in America, at least in the churches I have been involved in, that is the group that seems to be missing. It was interesting to me to see things done so differently.
I was dropped back off at the house after church and met up with Sarah later. She decided I needed to experience a meat pie, so we got pies and chips (french fries for you yanks), and watched the classic Aussie movie The Castle. It was very funny, a great movie. We grabbed Chinese takeout and went over to Sarah's friend Stacey's house to watch her copy of Beauty and the Beast on Blue ray (Yes, all we do is eat!). I leave for Kangaroo Island tomorrow for a couple of days. I return overnight on Wednesday before heading off to Coober Pedy!