Australia
40 days
2 cousins
1 hell of a time.
I can remember counting down the hours until I left for the airport. I had my shoes and my backpack on atleast an hour before we had to leave. When we got to the airport, we approached the check in kiosk, not really knowing how to prepare ourselves for such an adventure. We waved our parents goodbye, ready to head for the land down under. 19 hours of flights and we were in Australia. When we arrived in Australia, we were really lucky because we had our Australian relatives come and pick us up, and house us until we left for our tour 4 days later.
While we were in Sydney, we were adjusting to the new time and doing the usual tourist things. Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opra House, Botanical Gardens, the Zoo. It was great.
Early one morning, we got on our tour bus. The place where we would find refuge for the next 21 days. When we got on, my understanding is that everyone would be on the tour for all 21 days. Apparently not. It was a whole bunch of small tours combined, so the majority of people would come and go. On the entire bus, there were only 3 of us doing the whole 21 day tour. Myself, my cousin, and a British girl named Laurie-Ann. When we learned we would be on the same tour for 21 days, we figured we might as well get aquainted. Luckily, we seemed to hit it off right away.
Being on tour was a lot of fun. I had never been in such an environment before. Being in a small little bus with people from around the world and staying in hostels. Our first night, we hosted a "Garden Party". It was a fun time. The second night we had another "Garden Party" which consisted of a bottle of wine per person and several beer. I'm pretty sure when we were waking up at 5:30 the following morning, we were all still drunk. Ooh the life of a backpacker.
From Sydney to Melbourne, we had a 'sensational' Aussie tour guide named "Squatter". Some of the highlights of the trip was hiking up Mount Kozsiosco (up and down in 3 hours!), the 90 mile beach, and a 'Bush walk' where we got to get 5 ft away from wild kanagroos!
From Melbourne to Adelaide, we got to drive along the Great Ocean Road, got to see the 12 apostles, and got to see wild Koalas. In my opinion, this was the most calming part of our trip. Great accomodations, the weather was ideal...etc.
Once in Adelaide, we spent 2 days there as we had a free day. On our first night in Adelaide, Myself, Rachel, Laurie-Ann and Lindsay all stayed in the same hostel room, 222. It was Lindsay's birthday that evening, so we decided to have a night on the town. There were pre-drinks in our room, and then we headed for the Woolshed in Adelaide. Let's just say there was mischief to be had that evening. I was the first to head home around 1am. Laurie-Ann followed. When she got in, I was completely passed out. Rachel and Lindsay didn't make an apperance until almost 7 the following morning. Let's just say, the ladies of room 222 spent our free day recovering.
From Adelaide, we hopped on the Stuart Highway and made our way to Alice Springs. Along the way we stopped in Quorn where we got to see the Flinders Ranges and large Huntsmen the size of your hand on the wall, then off to Coober Pedy which was the BEST part of our trip in my opinion. It was the coolest little town in the middle of the outback, where it can get so hot there, that the vast majority of the houses are under grounds in 'Dug out's'. In Coober Pedy was where we got to sleep underground, eat the best pizza in Australia, buy my Opal Ring, and noodle for opals ourselves. Did I mention we got to sleep underground? I must say, that was the most comfortable I slept the entire trip. Off to Marla for Valentines Day where Laurie-Ann and I wrote poems for everyone on our tour.
I like chocolate
I like cake
give it to me now
Then up to Ulara where we got to go to Uluru and Kata Juta. While we were at Uluru, it was 50'C around the rock, and we weren't allowed to walk around the base of the rock because we could die of dehydration. Gotta love the Australian Outback. Then up to Kings Canyon, where we stayed overnight at a campground where there were wild dingoes and we slept out in our swag bags underneath the most beautiful night sky I have and will ever see in my life. Being the the middle of the outback, no cities for miles, the sky stretching out right above you. I honestly have never seen stars look like that before. It was mesmerizing. It was as if the sky was putting on a show, in that moment, just for you, showing off its depth and mystery.
Our tour from Adelaide to Alice was a pretty crazy bit. Sexy Aussie tour guys, Ratti Boy and Shano, caused infatuation amongst certain girls in the group. Not the mention, being on a 24 seat bus where almost every seat was full, and the bus with no air conditioning, I thought we could pollute the world with our foul stench. Proper mingin'!
Once in Alice, we settled in our room. Our first night out, we went to Annie's where I indulged in massive amounts of potatoe wedges. Laurie-Ann and I split 2 pitchers of cider, so I was surely feeling the buzz. We danced around, left for the Casino, danced at the Casino. At one point, I look over and Dan is pouring a pint of beer down Laurie-Ann's dress. I could barely believe that just happened. We went outside,and a group of german boys we had met were leaving. "See you next sunday..... I mean.... TUESDAY!" I can recall Laurie-Ann saying that as if it was just yesterday. Tooo funny. Then it was time to cab home. Dan renamed my camera "Fucking Napolean Dynamite", ran into an aboriginal fire, and could barely mumble his english. We finally got back the hostel, luckily I was the most sober and helped Rachel and Dan get to bed. The next day in Alice, we spent in our Hostel Room, where I decided to air out my stinky clothes. I swear we were all drugged from the stench. The only time we left our room was to go get food. Finally at 5, we emerged from our room for a swim. We were in the pool when Laurie-Ann suggested we play a game. "Let's play cars! Don't crash into me... I don't have insurance!". Still intoxicated with the stench of our room, I almost drowned from laughing so hard!
Then off from Alice in the morning we headed up to Darwin. We went to the the Daly Waters pub, where people from around the world leave souvenirs. Rachel and I left Canadian pins with our names on them. One of the days, we were at Mataranka (or Matti-tar-tar as Laurie-Ann called it), which was a natural hot springs, however we couldn't go in because 3 million bats had flown in and litterally shit everywhere.
We got dropped off in Darwin, and spent the night in a crummy little hostel room. The next morning, we were off again to tour Kakadu and Litchfield national park. I vividly remember saying at Uluru, how can I get more sweaty than I am now?! Our tour guide warned us of Darwin. That the humidity would really get to us. After about a 45 minute easy hike, I was drenched with sweat. How my body could produce so much was beyond me. I was going absolutely mental. I recall writing in my diary... I'm loosing my mind... It appears to be slipping away from me just as the copious amounts of sweat. I actually had a little breakdown. I needed to get off the tour. I mean, it was lovely, and it was probably the best decision we made, however.. I needed to get off a bus! I needed to have a bed, not a bunk in a tent! I needed non- tour food.
We finally got back to Darwin, where Rachel and I decided to upgrade our room to a private room. BEST IDEA EVER! I unloaded all my stuff and did all my laundry. Our room smelled regardless of the fact that this was the cleanest our clothes had been in almost 3 weeks. Our first night in our room, we decided to allow ourselves to sleep in the next morning. Rachel managed to stay asleep until 8:30. I woke up at 5:30, as I was programmed, but then went back to bed until 7:30. I got up, and had some time to myself before Rachel got up, so I decided to straighten my hair. By the time Rachel got up, my hair was a frizzy little poof on the top of my hair. Humidity hates my hair. What the point of even packing the straightner... oh well. Rachel and I by accidentally spent $18 dollars on gelato, so we couldn't afford to eat anything but our rice crackers and peanut butter for a couple days. Oh the life of a back packer. Oh, and because we decided to upgrade in Darwin, we couldn't afford our third night of accomodation, so we slept in the international section of the Darwin Airport.
Off the Cairns. Finally we can relax. Or so we think.
We got to our hostel, Tropic Days. It was the furthest hostel out of central Cairns, however it was the most lovely place we could have spent our 8 days in Cairns in. The staff were so nice, and we ended up becoming good friends with some of them. Not to mention, they had FREE WIFI! Which was a huge deal, considering we used to be spending $1 for 15 minutes of internet before. We decided that we would go for our sky dive on leap year, figured to do something special on a day that is already special. However, because it had been raining in Cairns, it was cancelled. Rachel, Laurie-Ann and I were so bummed. The hostel suggested we rent a car, and drive to Milla Milla falls. So we did, and we ended up having the most fun! At one point we had the water falls to ourselves, and lets just say, What happenend in Milla Milla falls, stays in Milla Milla falls...The next day, Rachel and I were off to the Great Barrier Reef. It was so beautiful and amazing, finally we could swim in the ocean without getting eaten by a crocodile. While we were looking at the reef, we did see 3 reef sharks. I also managed to burn the tiny bit of my face that wasn't protected by the UV Ray suits/face mask and become severely hydrated to the point that I was hallucinating that night. I spent most of our day trip to Cape Tribulation drinking water and catering to a horrible migraine. Luckily the rehydration tablets kicked in, because the next day I would be throwing myself out of a plane at 14,000 ft. It was probably the craziest thing I will ever do. I was so unbelievably buzzed, I had so much adrenaline pumping through my body. I was like Leo, the King of the World. I remember being in the plane, and not being scared, even though I figured I would. I remember angling myself out of the plane, and not being scared. I remember the moment when the guy tilt my head back, and the next thing we were soaring down to the smalls stretch of beach down below. There is no real way to describe the feeling of free falling. You almost feel like you are flying. I'll be honest, my ears were hurting so bad, but I couldn't even care. Another Happy Landing. What a life I have. What an exhilirating feeling.
While in Cairns, we were fortunate enough to get free evening meals down at the Woolshed, which was party central cairns at night. Many drunken moments to be had at the Woolshed. Mexican Mondays, Tropical Tuesdays, Wet T-shirt Wednesdays... Drinking goon behind a bush, dancing on the tables in the club, and Miss/Mr Backpackers competitions. Crazy craziness.
I think one of my favorite days was when we spent the day by the lagoon and made a BBQ by the ocean side. It was absolutely stunning.
Laurie-Ann had to leave for the coast, which was devesating. After spending a month straight with her, I knew I was really going to miss her. We really clicked, and I know I will proper miss her. I vaguely remember saying Bye to her. I was so embarassed because the night before she left, we had Tequila by the poolside, and everyone eventually left, and I remained in the pool sipping on a bottle of Tequila. 5:30 the next morning, I was still drunk saying bye to Laurie-Ann. I'll be honest, by 2 in the afternoon, I still was drunk. No more tequila for me...
Eventually Rachel and I had to head back to Sydney. By this point, I was ready to head back. I mean, I love travellilng and I will miss everyone, but Rachel and I were getting sick, and I longed to be home. Our last 3 days, we laid on our aunts couches while we past the time watching sitcoms on the television. Thank God the dogs, Bronte, Boston and Mia were there to keep us company. The only time we got up was when we went to Woolworths to spend our last Australian notes on Tim Tams, Cherry Ripes and Fantales.
We were dropped off at the Sydney Airport, and we said our final goodbyes to Australia. We had a long day at the airport; a 14 hour flight to San Franscico, then an 8 hour lay over where we mainly just slept in the airport because we were so sick, and then a 3 hour flight back to Calgary.
Our families greated us with open arms from our trip. It was really nice for Rachel and I, because I honestly thought that this trip would be a "Make it" or "break it" trip for us. I was pretty convinced that we would come back from Australia, and not want to talk to each other for a long time after, however Rachel and I became closer while we were in Australia. It was really nice.
Getting adjusted once I was home was really difficult, because I was so sick that I couldn't sleep properly, and I didn't adjust to the time change right away. I went to the doctor soon after of being home and was diagnosed with acute laryngitis and a sinus infection. I figured it was some cruel and unsual punishment. I mean, I just got home from the trip of a lifetime, and I couldn't even share it with the world? How fair is that?!
Oh well.
I met amazing people from around the world.
I gained a new bestfriend, whom I proper miss.
I was pasty and cold, and then I was warm and tan.
I was dependent, now I feel independent.
I was fearful, and now I'm fearless.
It was a Grand Adventure.
My grand adventure.
Until next time,
-Happy Blogger
Episode 2 - A Bucket of Beeps
11 years ago