There is no way to upload pictures here at the Pioneer Lodge in Ayer's Rock - not that I have many yet - so you'll just have to imagine the rock, my tiny cell, and the rhinosarous pigeons until I can find a place to put pictures up. However since people like - I like them at least - the little notes I make to myself in my travel log, I present some of them now in chronological order:
First off, if you stay in youth hostels, don't kid yourself about what kind of accomodations you'll be getting. This is my room, it technically sleeps four but there were only three in there the first night and I actually had the room to myself the second. I don't think I could lie down and fit the width of the room - and I'm not that tall a guy. However for $17 a night you really can't beat it given the hotels all run close to $100 and are the only other option.
Uluru at sunrise. We had a sunrise climb and base tour the first day with a pickup at 4:45 am. This was probably the first time jetlag worked for me :) I woke up at 2:30 that morning, tried some brief starfield photography and had plenty of time to get ready. We arrived about a half hour before sunrise and got to setup up to take some shots. Like a fool I'd left my tripod in the room but found some germans who were nice enough to let me rest my camera on the top of their camper van. The vantage was pretty good, but some very ends of the rock were obscured by some bush. It was all about being there though.
This is the start of the climb to the top of Uluru. It should be mentioned that the aboriginal people would prefer you NOT climb the rock as it is sacred to them, however their teachings say that no man may tell another what he may or may not do so you are free to choose. I chose to do it, it's not any easy call to make though. It's an average difficulty climb - 50 degree incline to start - but so incredibly worth the effort for the view. Once you past the first 1/3 you crest a small roll into a wind cut gully that nearly knocks you over with blasts of pleasingly cool air. I met a nice frech girl here and we swapped snapping pictures for eachother and then got caught in what often happens at sites like this where more and more people kept comming up and asking either of us to take a picture of them. We managed to leave in a lull but agreed you could make a small fortune sitting there taking pictures.
Lest we forget that american culture is ever present, the aboriginal culutural center had a coke machine right outside the "how bushmen survive on grubs and twigs" exhibit. I liked the logo though :)
Fairly sore from the hike/run down the rock (40 minutes up, 20 minutes down) I took just a short base tour of the rock, not all the way around but to see some of the key points. If I had more time I'd take the full tour with one of the aboriginal guides who runs through the entire creation story rather than the pared down version I managed to get. This particular potion had not real cultural significance, but I really liked the effect of being inside a curl of rock. It rolls down to a point that hovers about a foot above a flattened rock benieth it, very hammer and anvil evoking. Some paintings on the rock but they didn't turn out well in the digital photos.
When I returned home from Uluru this little guy was there to greet me at my door. He was just cooling himself in whatever cold air managed to leak out from under my door. I tried not to disturb him as I grabbed my camera but he got startled and scuttled away. I caught him two doors down and grabed this quick picture. I think he knew I was done with him and settled right back into a little slumber.
One of my roommates in the hostel is Arno ("Arnold in French" he says). A nice fellow, very outgoing and surprisingly anxious to talk, I haven't had too much trouble with his accent. He's on vacation for two months, started in new zealand and is on his way down through the center of Australia right now. Plus he had the hat I've been looking for :) A Barmah Foldable Oiled hat (1062) size large. Anyway, he's from a city just outside of Paris and chided me for having seen germany and italy but never having seen his country. I told him I would and he said it had better be the next one I see. Hey, who's going to argue.
Later on I met two girls from Sydney who are on a quick three week tour of their own country. Hun le and Lavina are originally from korea and malasia respectively but have been in sydney for the last seven or eight years. They were sweet and tried not to make fun of my microwaved stirfry as they ate their freshly made meal. We shared dinner and talked about photography (Lavina is a little farther along on the enthusiast track than I am), dogs - they laughed that I keep addie overweight so she can't jump the fence, life in our respective cities, and places we'd like to see. They're both accountants of all things, though Hun le is currently unemployed and traveling (first time taking the hostel route). Hun le and I tried to explain the virtues of unemployment to Lavina, but she just didn't buy it. It was a pleasant four hours and helped finally kick my jetlag. I got pictures, but not digital, so this will be an entirely text based post. Anyway, I came away with a list of things to do and see in Sydney that I couldn't possibly complete in less than a week, never mind two days (the movie on the water sounds really cool if hard to get tickets for).
So Alice started off seeming like a wasted day, and I guess I didn't really need an entire 24 hours here, but it's always nice to meet more people. The flight for Cairns leaves in 4 hours and I have to return the rental car in two. I've been hoping the costal cities will be a little cooler, but from what I hear they're just as hot. Guess we'll see.
I can't believe I ran into Anna, what are the odds?
There were only four jump teams in the small single engine cesna, 10 people total (4 2 people crews and two cameramen), but still I was the only one that got to do summersaults out of the plane.
One of the things they tell you to do is to breath through your nose and try and keep your mouth closed, it helps you breath easier and keeps your cheeks from flapping around. I don't appear to have listened very well.
A quick shot from above to show you about how high 14,000 feet is. We jumped well above the clouds and had a full 60 seconds of freefall before the chute opened. My dad said that 60 seconds was an eternity when jumping, I thought it was over with all too quickly.
I appear to be having a good time :) I got these pictures (and the video) taken because "I'll most likely only ever be doing this once". First thing I started thinking about when we hit the ground was when I could do it again. I don't seem to have a very good track record for predicting things I'll never do a second time.
(Bonus points to anyone who can get the reference in the title.)
Had a great time with some UKers last night. Tim, Elsa and myself went out to dinner to try and stave off falling asleep at 8 from exhaustion. On the way back we ran into an Irish girl named Daun I'd met just that morning. She and her friend Neve had gotten some cheap but hideously timed flights so arrived in Cairns around 8:00 in the morning, hadn't slept, and couldn't check in to the hostel until noon. Understandably she was pretty tired, but being irish it didn't take much to convince her to come out with us. She went back and fetched Neve (who was already asleep) and we went to a little bar around the corner. Daun and Neve were in insurance but quit to travel for a year because being in insurance when you're 24 is just sad (they're words). Elsa is studying law down in brisbane but is on some form of break for the next few weeks and Tim is traveling around with two friends (who are currently out at Uluru) but has just finished university. We had a great time, talked about music and the virtues of Guiness, only had to deal with one very trashed american who wanted to show everyone how good his tan was below the belt. But regardless it was fun and we'll probably go out again tonight. There's only one problem...
See I'm supposed to be on a boat on it's way to the outer great barrier reef right now, obviously I'm not. I wasn't really sure of the pickup time for my tour so got up and went out at around 7:30. Turns out it was 6:45. There was No possibility I was going to be up and ready by then, I was barely up and ready for 7:30. Thankfully the tour company is pretty forgiving, so now I'm going tomorrow, no extra charges. I had to find something to do with the day so I'm most likely heading to Wild World this afternoon where you get to go in and play with a mob of kangaroos and hold koalas and all that sort of stuff (see picture, from their website). It should be fun, and I'd planned on doing something similar, I'd just planned on doing it after diving. Oh well.
Also, it's cheaper to get film developed here (with picture CD) so I had my first 6 rolls developed (halfway through roll 7). I'm kind of anxious to see if any of the night sky turned out, though I don't have much hope for that given how bright the moon was that night.
Back to see if Tim's awake yet. I think he's stuck in Cairns today too, see if he has any ideas for the rest of the day.
We only ended up going to two dive sites, the first one was kind of bland except for these little red and black fish swiming in the coral. If you wiggled your finger near them they'd come out and nibble on the end. It was a very strange sensation to say the least. That's the dive master's hand there demonstrating.
This is Manny (or murry, something like that), a HUGE fish that the dive crew keep as a pet at the second dive site. Whenever they go out there - basically daily - they feed him, so he's always around there and will come right on up to divers. When I say huge, I mean larger than full grown human size. You can make out in the left of the picture someone's dive gear to get a rough sense of size. I did try to pet him but he turned away in search of food.
Probably the best shot I got of the whole lot, there was a sea turtle grazing on the coral about halfway through our second dive. He was pretty content and fairly dosile so I got to get right up next to him for this picture. Previous experience told me they don't like to be touched, so I just let him keep eating.
Finally there was this school of about a million tiny silver/blue fish swimming around one of the reef clusters. The picture doesn't really capture it well, but does give a sense of how close and how many of them there were. There were also some giant clams we got to tickle to see them snap shut but not many good pictures of them.
Nightlife. To put faces to names, from left to right are Tim, Niamh, Myself and Dawn. We went out to dinner after the cruise, I was fairly sunburned so kept mostly to water for the night rather than a lot of heavy food. We went to the Rattle and Hum as usual (where this picture was taken) then went in search of an Irish bar for the two girls. After that pub Tim, Dawn and I went to the Woolshed, though Dawn and I lost Tim somewhere in the process.Consiquently Tim and I were idle most of the day and started to get a little cagey after about 1:00. I decided to take Dawn up on her suggestion of bleaching my hair (just the tips) so we wandered around trying to find a bleach kit. Unfortunately none to be found, but in the wandering around we ran in to Hue Le (I incorrectly named her Hun Le earlier) and Lavina. They thought I was heading to Sydney from Alice Springs and I'd forgotten when they said they were arriving so it was pretty long odds to just bump into them on the street - small continent like I said I guess. They were headed to "The Sportsbar" (that's its name) later that night so we decided to meet up with them. Found a pool hall and played a couple of games of strange australian rules pool, met up with Tim's two friends (Graham and Trevor I think), and then headed to the bar.
Since I've gotten most of my film developed I've got a picture of Hue Le and Lavina now (left and right respectively). Anyway they had free meals and we had free drinks at the Sportsbar (some YHA promotion) so we met up around 7:30. The food was average and the pool was fun but MAN did the DJ there suck. We figure he was trying to find what sort of music the crowd wanted to dance to so kept jumping from genre to genre with no real transitions. We thought that was pretty bad until he actually hit on the genre that most of the crowd wanted to dance to - gangsta/hip-hop/r&b/whatever. Tim and Graham slammed down their beers as quickly as they could and we headed out to the woolshed.
Having hit the Woolshed the first time on Australia day the second time was kind of disappointing. Not nearly as many people dancing and oddly enough it was the same music in almost exactly the same order. Still fun (they played House of Pain's "jump around" :) ), but I had a much better time the first time with Dawn and Tim. Lavin, Hue Le and I ended up leaving around midnight so I could get ready to head to sydney today and they could manage to wake up for their tours, I think Tim and Graham were there (or somewhere) until around 5:00 - obviously they had a good time.
They walked back on the Esplanade to see where my YHA was and try and stop the ringing in their ears. I told them I wanted to come back as soon as possible and they said they'd be back in sydney by then to show me all of the propper clubs. So there you have it. I have to come back to sydney in about two months. Dawn and Niamh will be set up by then and I can see them (hope their couch is nice :) ), Lavina and Hue Le will be back in town and can give me a propper tour. All I have to do is show up, seems easy enough. Checked prices, $1500 for airfare. I can probably save that in two months :)
But for now off to book a taxi to catch my 3:15 flight.
Sydney is big, very big, I would say almost too big for my liking when traveling alone. It reminds me much of New York only with a slightly less convenient mass transportation system (I still can't figure out what type of pass I need). The YHA hostel here is HUGE which I consider a disadvantage. I'm on floor 5 of 9, each floor has it's own common room, however that room is dedicated to TV usage. There is a lounge area down on the ground floor but it is largely dominated by people sleeping or awaiting a bus or something, it makes meeting people somewhat difficult. I "met" another one of my roommates today, which consisted of me opening the door and him starting awake, mumbling something in a language I couldn't even begin to recognize and then passing out again. So yes, this city would be more enjoyable with my friends (new or old).
As it is I went to the opera house, the harbor bridge and got out near bondi beach but never actually hit the beach. Found a couple of cool parks - including one right next to the hostel - and determined that the train/underground is going to be the best way to get around since Sydney is a bit like seattle in the "maze of one-way streets" aspect. Tomorrow I'm going to climb one of the towers of the harbor bridge (rather than do the whole bridge walk, it costs $150!) and try and find a zoo. Two weeks hopping over australia and I've yet to see a koala or living kangaroo (dead ones or skins aplenty but I don't think those count).
So yes, Sydney is nice but not really in tune with the rest of the trip. I had to see it but I'd have much rather spent another two days (weeks? months?) with Dawn and Tim and Niamh. So if they ever read this, Chicken wishes he was back in Cairns. $1500 airfare, $175 work permit fee, and three promising short term contract IT jobs. Can you guess what I'm thinking about?
Cheers.
As I walked around Sydney today - yesterday as well - a thought kept tugging at the back of my mind; to hell with work, delay my flight home, find Dawn and meet her. I called Qantas, called Dawn, found the flights and when and where to meet her and checked out of my hostel. I called Martin for his help, told him I was doing something very cool or very stupid and I couldn't tell which - maybe both. I got to the airport and went to the ticketing counter and was stopped dead, my return ticket couldn't be changed. I made two ticketing agents weep that they couldn't help me, that the only option they could offer me would be to just buy a new ticket for wednesday for $3000, or delay for at least a week and return for "only" $1200. To tell the truth, if I had the money I'd probably have spent it.
I don't know if it would or will lead to anything. It's probably a long shot at best, but for the first time in a while I'd really felt good. It wasn't just finding someone to squeeze who liked to squeeze me back - I honestly don't know how much she really felt for me, if this was more than two people out of their element enjoying a little stability. All that mattered was that life wasn't just about work and the drive home and the occasional game of pool anymore and that I was going to do something about it. No wondering what if I'd tried, no thinking "I should have". I was going to, I could say "I did". And fucking money stops me.
As I type, my cel phone's screen save shows superman flying along and smashing into a brick wall. I feel a bit like that now. Tomorrows flight is going to be long.
So as not to concern that I'll be insane when I get back to seattle :) I realize the lows come with the highs and that it's a good thing just to have some passion in life, regardless of how it pulls at you.
I played Yahtzee (Knuffle) with two germans (Natelie and Petra) until midnight last night. Man my accent has slipped.
So more quick lists, the people I've met: Dawn, Niamh, Tim, Hue Le, Lavina, Anna, Graham, Trevor, Dave. The people I've run across, "Chip" the drunken american with a tan to show, "guy who's in every airport I am but who's name I don't know", Arno, "very drunk swiss man at an all UK table", Natelie, Petra. More people than days, a good thing I'd say.
Train in an hour, then 2.5 hours till flight from Sydney to LA (flight 107), time to get a move on.
I try and stay later to go visit dawn, I am unable to.
I arrive early to check in to my return flight, it's delayed 10 hours, I think maybe I can use this as leverage to allow me to delay my flight.
Call Qantas, they say I can delay my flight, I've been able to this whole time you just had to read the rules right. I'm happy. I call Dawn. She's happy.
I set about delaying my flight. Dawn calls back, says she doesn't want me flying cross country just to holiday with her. She says sorry if kissing me confused things (I'm easily confused).
I think about it for a while, I may be able to just chill with her and niamh, but not just yet (it always takes me about a week to get unconfused). Tell her, she's sad but understands. We'll talk later and I still want to come back soon so will see her and others then - easier this way.
Throughout this I've been mentioning what's going on to all around me. At the end I come off as an incurable romantic. Three young women smile at me sympathetically. One invites me up to her hotel room for wine. At this point I realize where I've ended up and I laugh.
Rollercoasters have nothing on this segment of my life :)
Anyway, wrapping up the trip just a couple of things that I either forgot to mention along the way or whatever:
Lynn and David were an older british couple we met in Cairns. They were very outgoing to the younger crowd and sort of fit in. Lynn especially was quite affectionate with a couple of the guys, it seemed odd in an indescribable way. A little later Tim and I figured that they may be swingers. I don't know if they are or not (I never really decided to ask), but if not they sure come across like it. Ignoring that they were a nice couple to hang out with - and they bought a couple of rounds when they did go out with us so not all bad :)
Tim and I witnessed a very interesting exchange between an aboriginal couple while sitting at a cafe in cairns. The conversation itself wasn't terribly interesting - especially since we couldn't understand the language. It's just the image of this older guy in an open button-up red shirt walking away from this woman screaming at the top of her lungs. A woman with a full beard. Bushy, long, streaks of grey in it, this was a full on beard. Every other part of her appearance made us pretty sure she was a she, just the beard. No pictures sadly, didn't want to risk the wrath.
This trip taught me how to pack - more specifically what I packed this time to never take on a trip to a summery tropical continent again. Jeans and a sweater will be the first to go, but beyond that:
So in conclusion; hell of a lot of fun, a ton of great people, several friends I'll keep in contact with, and a real desire to return very soon. The culture and climate suit me just perfectly, a nice blend of laid back with still a bit of drive. I'd like to return to work and live for a year - and hey, if our schmuck president gets re-elected I'll probably just emmigrate.