When my west coast tour ended I waved good bye to Brit boy and Kiwi girl, breathed a sign of relief and jumped on a flight to Darwin.
That was a while ago. About a month in fact. I fell behind with the blogging* and have been desperately trying to catch up. But I really can't be bothered any more. So here is the lightning quick version of the last 4 weeks.
Darwin - Was very hot and very humid.
Darwin to Alice Springs tour - Our tour guide whispered some incredibly filthy things in my ear as we were playing pool, so I'd be distracted and he'd win. It worked.
Devils Marbles - Big round rocks, we climbed to the top of a big pile of them to watch the sun go down.
Alice Springs - small town with nothing to do.
Uluru - Giant rock, the novelty wore off after about 20 mins. I didn't climb it out of respect for the wishes of the Aboriginal landowners and the fact that it's fucking steep and even if I made it to the top I'm not sure I could get back down.
Kings canyon & Garden of Eden - Amazing
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)- A beautiful place and a much more enjoyable walk than the Uluru base walk.
Coober Peady - Very weird little town.**
Adelaide (again) - This time I stayed in the best hostel ever, every evening they have FREE apple pie and ice cream. Backpacker heaven !
*internet access at the Uluru campsite was $1 for 5 mins!!!
**Did you know you can become an opal miner with a mine of your very own for just $65 plus the cost of a pick axe!
Thursday, 20 April 2006
Sunday, 16 April 2006
Monday, 10 April 2006
Ring of fire
"Oh My God it is you!" Screamed Tomato Girl when she saw me walk into the hostel.
She was not having fun on her road trip. The German boy was weird and had a very scary attachment to his van. He was constantly cleaning it. He never let anyone else drive it and he had a nasty habit of throwing his cigarette ends out of the window to avoid ruining the ash trays.
Luckily for Tomato Girl a German girl had joined their road trip as they left Perth and now the tow girls were bonding over their mutual hatred of the strange man with the van.
To save on money by avoiding campsite fees they had been illegally camping in rest stops off the highway. Van man was in bed at 8pm every night and up at 7am every day. He took to slamming the door of the van and stomping around the girls tent to wake the girls up for another long monotonous days driving, never stopping anywhere except to fill up with petrol.
The girls had had enough of the strange man and his gas guzzling van and they both decided to jump ship the next day so we celebrated their impending liberation with a drink or two, which qucikly turned into drinking game involving 4 boxes of wine(that's 16 liters) and most of my tour bus.
The fall out from Ring of Fire was spectacular. We found the German girl passed out over a toilet bowl.
She was not having fun on her road trip. The German boy was weird and had a very scary attachment to his van. He was constantly cleaning it. He never let anyone else drive it and he had a nasty habit of throwing his cigarette ends out of the window to avoid ruining the ash trays.
Luckily for Tomato Girl a German girl had joined their road trip as they left Perth and now the tow girls were bonding over their mutual hatred of the strange man with the van.
To save on money by avoiding campsite fees they had been illegally camping in rest stops off the highway. Van man was in bed at 8pm every night and up at 7am every day. He took to slamming the door of the van and stomping around the girls tent to wake the girls up for another long monotonous days driving, never stopping anywhere except to fill up with petrol.
The girls had had enough of the strange man and his gas guzzling van and they both decided to jump ship the next day so we celebrated their impending liberation with a drink or two, which qucikly turned into drinking game involving 4 boxes of wine(that's 16 liters) and most of my tour bus.
The fall out from Ring of Fire was spectacular. We found the German girl passed out over a toilet bowl.
Friday, 7 April 2006
exmouth adventure
Tomato girl caught a ride up the coast with a German boy in a van and I was once again left alone with the couple. I was dying to get away from them. Not only because three's a crowd but because I was finding traveling with someone else a real strain. I longed to be selfish again and do what I wanted when I wanted to do it. I didn't want to have to consider what anyone else wanted to do. But most of all I wanted to make a plan and stick to it.
A day should be planed of plan-less. I can not deal with people who make plans and then continually change them for no apparent reason. It was starting to drive me insane.
They wanted to rent a car and drive up the coast to Exmouth in just 3 days. It sounded like a complete fucking nightmare. So I played the 'car hire may be cheap but the petrol will be really expensive' card. I said sorry guys but it'll cost way to much for 3 days and I want to stop off at a couple of places on the way not just rush straight up there. They seemed ok with this so I went off and booked myself on a 5 day tour and wave of relief washed over me.
"I've been looking at the petrol costs and yeah, you're right it will be too expensive, I'll come on the tour with you. Kiwi girl will stay here, she's just got a job in a factory for a few weeks." Oh great.
A day should be planed of plan-less. I can not deal with people who make plans and then continually change them for no apparent reason. It was starting to drive me insane.
They wanted to rent a car and drive up the coast to Exmouth in just 3 days. It sounded like a complete fucking nightmare. So I played the 'car hire may be cheap but the petrol will be really expensive' card. I said sorry guys but it'll cost way to much for 3 days and I want to stop off at a couple of places on the way not just rush straight up there. They seemed ok with this so I went off and booked myself on a 5 day tour and wave of relief washed over me.
"I've been looking at the petrol costs and yeah, you're right it will be too expensive, I'll come on the tour with you. Kiwi girl will stay here, she's just got a job in a factory for a few weeks." Oh great.
Thursday, 6 April 2006
2 days on a train
After a week in Adelaide we hoped on the Indian Pacific Railway to Perth.
2 days on a train was an interesting experience if only for the novelty of showering on a train.
I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with tomato girl again (and so escape the lovey dovey couple for a few hours). Perth, like Adelade is a wierd place. A city with a somewhat provicial feel.
2 days on a train was an interesting experience if only for the novelty of showering on a train.
I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with tomato girl again (and so escape the lovey dovey couple for a few hours). Perth, like Adelade is a wierd place. A city with a somewhat provicial feel.
Sunday, 2 April 2006
driving me round the bend
We left Melbourne on our trip along the Great Ocean Road in a Toyota Landcruiser and to avoid campsite fees we stopped overnight in carparks (one of which I'm sure was the local dogging site).
The sights along the road were Amazing It was fantatsic to be by the sea again. I han't realised how much I'd missed it. However the company quickly got very annoying. Have you ever had to spend 3 days in a car with a lovey dovey couple? You'd better pray you never have to.
If they wern't snogging, hugging or gazing into each others eyes they were givin each other meaningful looks every time a love song came on the raido. It mad me want to vomit.
But I survived.
The sights along the road were Amazing It was fantatsic to be by the sea again. I han't realised how much I'd missed it. However the company quickly got very annoying. Have you ever had to spend 3 days in a car with a lovey dovey couple? You'd better pray you never have to.
If they wern't snogging, hugging or gazing into each others eyes they were givin each other meaningful looks every time a love song came on the raido. It mad me want to vomit.
But I survived.
Saturday, 1 April 2006
bye bye Melbourne
We had a very drunken leaving party at the Hostel.
It was the right time to go. The old timers were leaving and the whole atmosphere of the place was about to change. You could feel it in the air.
It was the right time to go. The old timers were leaving and the whole atmosphere of the place was about to change. You could feel it in the air.
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