well i’m on my way…

I was picked up from my hostel at 5 am Wednesday morning .  We stopped a few times on the way to the Olgas-another rock formation which means “many heads” in the local Aboriginal language-and each time, the flies were worse than the last.  I finally broke down, along with most of the other 23 people in my group and purchased a fly net.  A fly net is a very attractive net that goes over your head and is pulled tight with a drawstring at the neck. 

When we got the the Olgas, people were telling me that it was 50 degrees out.  I learned later that 50 C is over 110 F.  Yikes!  We walked a bit, learned some about the flora in the area and the importance of the rocks-it was used as a hunting area for the men.  Turns out that once the white men came in and tried to understand the Aboriginals ways, they somehow butchered the stories and meanings, so the Aboriginals refused to share any more information.  So a lot about the Aboriginals is shrouded in mystery.

We went out to Ayers Rock, the big monolith that’s practically located in the geographic center of the country.  It was amazing the first time I saw it, and the first time I watched it change color, but after a while, just like any excess of, well, anything, it began to loose its special-ness.  Watching the rock change from a terra-cotta color to a muted orange as the sun set was pretty cool.  A lot of us in the group had purchased alcoholic beverages to enjoy-since the real tourists have wine and cheese catered to them for the sunset.  One of the guys in my group noticed a lone table full of champagne glasses and overflowing platters of cheese and grapes and veggies and dip.  Our group somehow got invited to enjoy what the tourists left behind, as the workers were just going to throw it out.  We learned that the people who didn’t enjoy their treats were in fact, American, and we all had a chuckle about the “wasteful Americans”.  You know I was one of the first to say something!

We slept under the stars that night in sleeping bags and “swag”.  “Swag” is supposedly what the real jackaroos sleep in when they’re in the outbag.  I don’t really buy it, since it was so comfortable!  The swag was like a super tough sleeping bag with a built in mattress that also had a flap to put over your head in case the moon was too bright.  And bright it was! 

But the moon wasn’t the main event that night-it was the stars and the Milky Way.  We all went to bed around midnight where there were a multitude of stars, more than I’ve ever seen in my life.  When I woke up at 4 I was completely taken aback.  The stars seemed to have multiplied by the thousands and the Milky Way was ever so present.  I saw a shooting star and then forced myself up to eat breakfast and get ready for the day.  That view was easily the single most amazing thing I have seen in my entire life.  I had one of those “I’m so glad to be alive” moments admiring the universe over my head. 

That day we completed the base walk of Ayers Rock.  Halfway through I felt like I was sleepwalking.  It was almost as hot as it was midday the day before, and it was only 930 in the morning!  After the walk, we drove to our new camp, put our swimsuits on and enjoyed being lazy.  We all went to bed early in hopes of seeing amazing stars again, but when we woke up at 5 the next morning the sun had already started to erase the stars. 

We drove to Kings Canyon early to walk for 4 hours.  The heat wasn’t half as bad as it had been the 2 previous days, so it was a very enjoyable walk.  Our guide introduced us to what I called “dinofood” as this plant has been around since dinosaurs were.  It’s just a shorter, fatter, leafier version of what we all recognize as a palm tree.  I learned that canyons are created by wind and other elements-but not water.  So, I hate to break this to you at home, but what we call the Grand Canyon isn’t really a canyon.  It’s a gorge (sp?).  But the Grand Canyon definately sounds a hell of a lot better than the Grand Gorge.  The land around the top of the canyon was amazing as well-there were large beehive formations made out of rock that were created by cracks in the rock and then wind and other elements pushing through them.  So I thought it was neat.

After that walk (no twisted ankle!) we piled in the bus for a 5 hour drive back to Alice Springs, where we were all picked up from.  We all met for dinner in my hostel’s bar and made a not too late night out of it-since we were all so exhausted from the sun and walking and about 8 hours of sleep within the last 2 nights.  

Hi!  I just wanted to let you know that I survived camping in the outback, admiring Ayers Rock, and sweating in the not desert, but semi-arid heat.  I have a lot to tell you, but not while I’m on a 2 dollar/15 minute internet hook up.  And I promise to give full descriptions on the outback and the last few days since I cheated my readers on the Great Barrier Reef.  I’m looking forward to sharpening my creative writing skills…soon, very soon.

I’m in Coober Pedy now, dubbed the Opal Capital of the world.  I think 90% of opals come from here? 

I’m running out of time, so I’ll post back in a few days.  Cheers!

So I arrived in The Outback a few days ago.  It’s nice and toasty, but no humidity, so I’m in my element.  Alice Springs is another tourist town, so I’ve been hanging out by the hostel’s pool, reading and turning brown.  Everyone pretty much bunks here for the night/s until they leave for their Ayers Rock tour and than take off for elsewhere in Australia.  I leave for my tour on Wednesday, so I won’t be back on until at least Friday.

Remember how I was telling you about the flies looking for places to land on your face?  I knew that from reading it in the museum in Sydney.  Well now I know about it from experience!  My lips are sealed shut as I walk around while the flies land on my cheeks and forehead.  It’s only when they land on my “sunnies” that it bothers me, since the fly is in my line of vision.  Another fly tried to fly up my nostril this morning, so I did a good ol’ “farmer’s blow” in the middle of the street…I felt gross doing it, but more gross if larvae started coming out my nose…

Aboriginals are everywhere, sitting the the few shady spots along the sidewalks and up close to the buildings.  It’s obvious that they’re not part of society here, don’t really make eye contact with you as you’re walking down the street (nothing like Brisbane).  I made eye contact with one woman and smiled and she gave me the hugeset smile back…it made me feel like a better person.

So I’m off to lie in the sun, and I’m signing off until Friday…

Happy Birthday Meghan!

So the Great Barrier Reef was amazing.  I’m honestly at a lack of words for it.  Nothing I can say could even begin to explain what I saw…but I can tell you what I felt.  When I first got into the water I was a bit anxious.  Anxious about breathing out of my mouth and anxious about fish swimming around me.  They still kind of creep me out.  After kicking around a bit, I was thinking to myself, “This is it?”  I was a bit unimpressed.  But I picked my head out of the water and noticed the rest of the snorkels were not very close to me, so I started heading towards them and I was taken away by what I saw.  It was so beautiful I almost cried.  It was very similar to how I felt when the train I was on pulled into Bern Switzerland and I saw just the tips of the Alps…incredible.  I understood why I was such a fish as a kid, never wanting to get out of the water, the feeling of gliding through the water came back to me all too quickly.  I felt so at peace with myself and the world floating around looking at the reef, not thinking anything, and hearing nothing but my breathing (which had slown down by then).  I took a ton of pictures with an underwater camera, so I’ll mail that back in the middle of February before I leave Australia-so whoever gets it will see the pics before I do!

That night I went out with my Irish roommates to a local backpacker bar, the Woolshed.  Needless to say, I drank quite a bit and was out until 3.  I had to be up at 630!

I woke up on time and feeling not too bad, but not too great either.  I was picked up for Uncle Brian’s, a rainforest walk/tour at 730.  We walked through some rainforest, swam in a few water holes, played under a waterfall, slid down a natural rock waterslide, and swam in a volcanic lake.  Once I got in the cold water my hangover disappeared instantly.  Gotta remember that one!  I pet a python in the wild too!  The tour wasn’t just learning, sweating, and swimming.  We did a lot of singing and played some games…what a great day.  But I had to come home (back to the hostel) to pack my backpack.  It was an early night.

Now I’m sitting in a hostel in Alice Springs in the middle of the Outback.  Who else can say that they were in a rainforest one day and the desert the next?!?!   

Yep, that’s what I look like.  I layed out by the Cairns “lagoon” yesterday for a few hours.  I put the quotations around lagoon because it is in fact, a pool.  The entire time it was very overcast and rain clouds were threatening over the mountains but I still managed to get burnt.  As as many of you know, my skin is very adamant about burning before I can even think of getting a tan.  So in all my NYE pics I am the one who looks like an apple.  I even thought I’d lie out there today too, just as long as I continued to reapply sunscreen every 20 minutes…I could feel myself frying like bacon in a frying pan so I left.  I’m going out to the reef for some snorkeling tomorrow and will be getting a lot of sun then as well.

To me, Cairns seems nothing but a tourist town with souvineir shops everywhere and restaurants of every ethnicity possible.  There is a beachfront that is more like a marsh that houses crabs and crocs (not the shoes!) and the like.  It’s just a place to party and book reservations for reef trips and rainforest trips and skydiving and anything else pretty much imaginable.  That  being said, I’m not a huge fan.  But the hostel is nice and clean and I’ve met some great people. 

Last night I went out to celebrate the coming of 2009 with one of my roommates and her friends-all Dutch!  They were very nice and went out of their way to speak English-even amongst themselves-all night so I wouldn’t feel disincluded.  We had a cheap $10 meal at a pub and went to the bar that all the barcrawls were ending at.  There was a rooftop terrace where we could watch the fireworks and I felt very inlcluded with my new friends when I could agree that these fireworks were nothing compared to Amsterdam’s.  We ended up dancing the night away and went to bed with sore feet at 3.

Although I’m not hungover, I’m going to take it easy today.  The sun is not forgiving, not to mention the humidity and I want to have tons of energy for my snorkeling trip tomorrow! 

I hope you all have/had a safe and happy new year and that all your hopes for 2009 come true!  =)    

The humidity is suffocating in Cairns, where I landed just a few hours ago.  Flying into the area was goregous, the water was turquoise and islands were everywhere.  So many beaches, so little time!  But I guess swimming here isn’t advisable since there are dangerous things lurking in the waterways like crocs, jellyfish, and stingrays…

 I guess it was the 27th when I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  (This humidity has gotten to me.)It’s the world’s first and largest (which Australia boasts a lot of) rehabilitation place for Koalas and they house other animals as well.  Everyone (by this I mean animals) were all caged or in trees except for turkeys and lizards.  I had to ask someone what the turkeys were, and once I found out, I felt pretty stupid-that I should know what a turkey looks like.  When I ate meat, it was my favorite!  I did the tourist thing and paid the extra $15 Australian Dollars to hold a koala for a minute while they took my picture.  http://photo.koala.net/2712022970en.htm  He smelled like pine trees and was super soft!

The 28th I went to the Queensland Museum with my roommates from the hostel.  The museum had a fantastic animal exhibit and an even better exhibit on endangered species in Australia.  If anyone is ever in the area, I highly recommend it.  And it’s free!! 

Yesterday my roommates and I went to the Australia Zoo-Steve Irwin’s project.  It was AMAZING.  Although it didn’t have a huge variety of animals (only Australian animals and tropical animals like Asian elephants and tigers), it was certainly the best zoo I have ever been to.  There were so many hands-on animal shows, the animals were clearly well taken care of, their enclosures were huge and did not have the typical zoo feel where the animals are bored, stuck in a cage.  I got to pet a kangaroo and another koala!  It was so clean and you could feel Irwin’s presence throughout the place.  

I’m starting to get my sea legs again, and by that I’m feeling like myself again, going from place to place, meeting new people, leaving to meet more new people, and just doing my own thing.  

I was finally able to look at my grades from last semester today after about a week of trying:  Environmental Science-A;  Cultural Geography-A;  Spanish 2-A!!   Yay me!  I wish my community college was like CPS-where I can get paid for my grades…oh well.  I make my own money and boy, do I know how to spend it!  😉

How are the people?

The people are nice.  I know that’s  terrible descriptive word, but it’s the truth.  Aussies are very friendly outgoing people.  I did notice last night walking around Brisbane that randoms are very friendly.  Say in a big city, like Chicago or Sydney, when walking down a street, people look everywhere but in the passersby eyes.  Well here, people look at who they’re passing, and once eye contact is made, they smile.  I noticed everyone doing that.  It’s nice.  Not the typical big city mentality. 

I hate to admit but I’ve met far more people from the UK than locals, being on the backpacker track and all.  Most travelers are from Europe, and I can count the North Americans I’ve met on both hands.  Other travelers I’ve met are nice and friendly too, but have one mission in life: to get completely and utterly wasted every night.  Believe it or not, that’s not really my style. 

How’s the food?

I hate to admit it, but I don’t really know.  My budget doesn’t really allow for me to try a lot of the local cuisine.  On the blue mountain tour our lunch consisted of pie-vegetable pie for me-which was amazing.  The pie had a very thick flaky crust and inside had carrots, potatoes, and peppers.  I think that was the only local food I’ve eaten.  My diet has consisted of muesli and a banana for breakfast and some kind of pasta dish that I’ve cooked myself for dinner/lunch.  I’ve had subway a few times and stopped at a kebab joint here and there and of course my Christmas Eve dinner of Thai…What seems to be big with the pub food is steak and chips.  I haven’t eaten beef in years so I don’t know how it is, and most of you know that over here, like the UK, chips are fries, and crisps are chips.  I did try lemon and pepper crisps, a flavor one wouldn’t find in the US, and they were good. 

I hope everyone had a happy/safe/WARM Christmas.  I know I did.

Two days before Christmas I took a guided walk/trek through part of the Blue Mountains.  I got to meet a few kangaroos and walk down some steep stars cut out of the mountains.  What was really neat about it was that I walked through a couple of different vegetation zones-from forest kind of like what’s at home to rainforest.  I saw the Three Sisters and rode up the steepest incline in the world.  Once I get to a friendly computer, I will post pictures.  Sit tight, please.

Christmas Eve I went on an organized beach walk to see some of the more famous Sydney beaches.  It was a bit overcast and rained a bit, but it was enjoyable all the same.  I had Thai food for the first time that night, and tried many different curries.  I went out to dinner with a bunch onf English people I met at the hostel.  We ended the night at sidebar, the bar in the basement of the hostel.

Chrismas morning I woke up not hungover, surprisingly, and went downstairs to have breakfast-free fruitcake.  Yep, the same loaf that’s the butt end of bad Christmas jokes/gifts.  The people of the UK love it.  Another American and I weren’t fans and thought it tasted old.  Probably beacause of all the talk at home?!?!?  We moseyed our way down to Bondi Beach and layed there in the sun and splashed in the water.  The waves were amazing.  When we got back to the city we went to a Turkish place for Christmas dinner.  I had a falafel wrap and damn, was it good.  I’m sorry fam, but that had to have been my best Christmas ever.

Now I’m in Brisbane, where I’ll go to a Koala Sanctuary and The Australian Zoo, you know, Steve Irwin’s zoo.  I’m probably going to meet up with a guy I met in Krakow last year for drinks tonight.  But there’s a line of people waiting for the free internet behind me so I’ll talk to you later.  Cheers!

3 Things I’ve Learned About Animals Since I’ve Last Posted:

1) Female flies buzz around your mouth, nose, and eyes looking for mucus to lay their eggs in.  Male flies are there to hang out with the females.

2) ‘Kangaroo’ really means “I don’t understand” in a north-Aboriginal language.  When the first settlers landed, they asked the locals what that hoping animal was, and the locals responded, “Kangaroo”.  There’s actually another word for what we know as the kangaroo.  I just forgot the real one.

3) Cows will produce 200,000 liters of milk in a lifetime.

1 Thing I’ve learned about Trees Since My Last Post:

1) Some trees in Australia shed their bark yearly.  Kind of like molting.

The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned (or re-reminded myself of) Since I Posted Last:

Never take anything so seriously.  Traveling is full of pleasant surprises.  🙂

Day 4: morning

I’d first like to say that there is a bit of an adjustment process to go through beginning a trip like this.  At least for me.  I spent months trying not to be excited for this trip, because I believe that with expectations comes disappointment.  And now I’m here, in beautiful sunny Sydney, and I’m dealing with a lot of emotions that I wasn’t allowing myself to feel before, and also with new emotions that I don’t want to deal with such as missing people-but don’t mistake this for homesickness, being so far away for really the first time in my life and for such an amount of time.  I’m looking forward to this journey, but slowly.  I’m easing in slowly.  (Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a great time and am thrilled to do this.)  That being said…

 I woke up on my first full day around 5, since I’d gone to bed at 7 the night before.  I showered at left the hostel, headed down to the Harbour for some reading and sun, since nothing was open yet.  I found a market at The Rocks, the place where Captain Cook first landed and colonized.  I walked up and down the streets until I found the free museum and read everything while it rained.  The story isn’t very different from early American history: the English took over the indigenous’ land.  So after walking around for a while and finishing The History of Love I decided I needed a drink.  So I went down to the wake up! side bar and got my 2 for 1 deal on a plastic cup of Toohey’s.  

I ended up hanging out with the people from my room-all English!  I’ve met a few Irish, even less German, and English!  No North Americans in sight for miles, and the people I’ve met haven’t seen any either.  I do find this a bit wierd, since it seems to me that Australia is the American dream destination.

I proceeded to get drunk and we left for Bungalow 8-a hip bar on the harbour.  I proceeded to get drunk and once we decided to leave, I decided that I knew where we were going, and was very adamant that we were going the wrong way!  I told my new English friends that I was going to go the “right way” and I’d meet them at the hostel.  Good thing I decided to follow them-I guess my map reading abilities aren’t as good drunk!  I passed out upon arrival and woke up a quite hungover the next day.

I laid in bed until 11 to go for breakfast with the roomies.  They all ordered Chinese and Indian, while I stuck with a cheese and avacado sandwich.  Yum!  We walked around the city and took in the sights, most of what I’ve already seen, but it was good company.  I learned of Mrs Macquarie’s chair-the first mayors (??-our “tour guide” was an English guy who’d been in Sydney before, he also said that the opera house was built yesterday!) wife would sit on rocks at a high point of the coast and watch for ships coming in.  That must have been beautiful, but boring. 

We went back to the hostel.  I started reading Water for Elephants.  I’m liking taking it slow, even though it’s quite a difference from what I’m accustomed to-after running from work to school and a getting little bit of sleep so many months leading up to this, and the last time I traveled, we didn’t stay in one place longer than 2 or 3 days.  This is nice.  🙂

I’m going to head back out into the city, I’m getting back into my travelin’ groove.  And pictures, I promise, next post!  I forgot my USB cord!!  Cheers!