Darwin, Australia

(.....continued from prior blog)

We slept in these thin see through tents where you could also see the stars.  Very nice.  Next day we woke up at 4:40 and headed for Jim Jim Falls.  Usually there's tons of water in the falls, but since it's dry season, there were none.  It was still neat to see the rocks.  The best thing was since there were no falls, we could swim in the pool where the water would fall.  It was huge...  so huge that when I floated on my back, I couldn't hear anyone else and I was just looking up at the rock walls and it felt like I had the whole place to myself.  That was my favorite part of the whole tour.  After the Falls, we hiked up this hill for a spectacular view of the whole entire Kakadu National Park, which is a World Heritage site by the way.  Then we checked out some aboriginal art work on the rocks and went back into Darwin.

Next day was our Litchfield tour.  It was basically a shorter version of Kakadu, where we visited falls and pools to swim in.  In addition, we saw huge termite mounds. 

Back in Darwin, Michelle and I also went to a night market which had tons of asian and other food, such as Road Kill Cafe.  Michelle actually bought something from there..  I think it was crocodile.  She said it tasted like chicken...  of course.  :)  I asked the guy if the food was actually from animals that were killed on the road and he said yes.  That's kinda funny.  They had possum, kangaroo, crocodile, wombats, and other animals I can't remember. 

Ok well, I think that's about it.  After Darwin, Michelle went back to Melbourne, where she is now, currently looking for a job.  (Good luck!!)  I flew east to Cairns, snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef and took a tour up to Cape Tribulation to see where the rainforest meets the reef.  After that, I briefly went to Brisbane to visit Nina & my penpal Noah.  There I also visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I got to hold a koala! which has been a dream.  After that, I flew to Sydney, went to the zoo, then caught my flight back home, where I am now.  I am relaxing for a couple weeks, then I head to South America on Nov 5th!  Will write more blogs then!!

April

PS -  I uploaded pics..

Darwin, Australia

Hi everyone!  So I'll continue the rest of our trip together up to Darwin.  Sorry, but it's gonna be long....

After Coober Pedy which we thought was hot, we went up to Alice Springs, where it just got hotter.  Here there were tons more Aboriginal people.  It was weird to see many groups of them just sitting on the grass and in parks throughout the city.  At first I thought they were just lazy, but later on learned they finish their work in the morning and relax the rest of the day, due to heat...  pretty smart idea huh...  I think we should all do that in summer too.  :)  We explored the town, which we had to walk about 15 mins to.  It felt like 30 because of the heat.  There wasn't too much to do, but we stopped here, as it was our base to get to Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock). 

The next day we began our 3-day tour to Uluru.  We spent most of the first day driving over there.  On the way, we saw at least 15 wild camels traveling together...  pretty amazing how they could survive in that kind of heat!  We got to Kings Canyon which was our first stop.  We did various hikes up on top and into the canyon.  It was very beautiful to say the least.  It was definitely a hard hike since we had to carry 3 liters of water w/ us along the way.  We didn't need to pee though, as we sweated (is that a word?) so much.  After our hike we headed to our "camp" which was basically an area in the wild.  Our first bush camp since Africa.  This was actually really cool though because we didn't have tents.  Instead we slept in these 1 person "swags," which was like a thin mattress pad w/ an outer covering, just in case it rained.   It hardly ever rains in the outback, but we actually did get to experience sprinkling, which was pretty cool.  We slept out in the open, under the stars.  It was one of the most amazing nights I've ever had.  After everyone was quiet, you could hear the whistling of the wind and see the clouds move past the millions of stars. 

Next morning we woke up at the break of dawn and saw a rainbow!  in the outback!!  It was pretty cool.  We then headed for Kata-Tjuta (aka the Olgas).  The name means many heads, since if seen from far away, look like many heads to the Aborigine.  We hiked around and through these rocks, which were more beautiful than Kings Canyon.  After this, we then headed for our last destination...  Uluru!  Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta are sacred sites to the Aborigine.  We hiked about 2 kms along the bottom of the rock in 45.2 degree C weather, which is equivalent to 113.36 degrees F!!  After, we prepared dinner at this sunset viewing car park and ate a delicious meal as the sun went down on the rock.  It was very cool to see the different colors on the rock, as well as take photos...  or watch other people take zillions of photos.  After this, the stars came out and we went back to our camp...  a real campground w/ showers and toilets...  yay!

That night we again slept in our swags under the stars.  It was not cloudy like the night before and there were tons more stars.  We were able to spot only the 2 new constellations we learned..  Southern Cross and Scorpio.  Better than nothing I guess.  Next morning we got up before the break of dawn and headed to a sunrise viewing carpark.  We again watched Uluru as the sun hit it and changed its colors.  It was again fun to take more pics..  as if we didn't already have enough.  Afterwards, we hiked around the base of Uluru.  Most of the time we spent racing to get out of the sun and walk in the rock's shadow..  we didn't realize it was more triangular than ovalish..  hahah.  The total hike was 9 km.  We actually only hiked 7 km that morning since we walked 2 kms the day before.  Done...  now we're headed back to the city of Alice Springs. 

We stayed that night in Alice Springs and the next day took a Greyhound (along w/ this Korean girl Nina, whom we met on the tour) to the hellish place of Katherine.  I only say hellish because it was probably as hot as hell..  (I'm sorry if this offends anyone).  But it really was hot.  Very hot and humid.  All 3 of us did not want to do anything or go anywhere.  We only forced ourselves to do one thing, which was walk to the hot springs.  We took about an hour to walk a 40-min trail.  We finally got there and Nina & Michelle scoped out & swam the water, which wasn't very hot at all. 

After this, we were dreading the walk back.  Luckily, a guy named Marcus, who was a "park rescuer" gave us a ride back into town.  I put that in quotes because the next day, as we were shopping in the market, he was working there at the deli.  He noticed us when Michelle tried to order something, and he basically threw her order at her cause he was trying to be quick and leave (probably embarrassed).  It was quite funny to us.  I still give him the benefit of the doubt though...  maybe he worked 2 jobs.  :)  Michelle tells me to get real.

Next day we took a cruise of Katherine Gorge, which was really beautiful.  Our guide was of Jarwoyn (one of many Aboriginal groups) descent and played a digeridoo for us.  For those that don't know, a digeridoo is an instrument made out of hollowed wood, eaten out by termites.  It makes a low rumbling sound if you blow into it right.  (Michelle thinks she can make the "same" sound w/ her water bottle.  I must say, she's pretty good at not making that sound.)  After our cruise, we headed out of Katherine and up to Darwin.  Darwin was still hot, but definitely a little cooler than Katherine.  It was more of a bearable heat.  Here we spent a total of 5 days.  It was the base city for tours going to Kakadu and Litchfield Parks which I decided to do w/ Nina.  (Michelle didn't want to camp anymore and decided to explore the city of Darwin instead.) 

I took a 2-day Kakadu tour which was really cool.  First day we took a crocodile jumping cruise, where they would find wild crocodiles and get them to jump out of the water for buffalo meat.  I've never seen anything like it, so it was very neat.  I also got to hold a snake!  I use to hate snakes, but I think they are now ok.  After, we had lunch by a river, where tons of flies would just fly onto your face and your food.  It was pretty gross actually.  Then we went to Barramundi Gorge, where we took a little hike to this little water fall and swimming hole.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  It was nice to swim after being all sticky and sweaty from the heat.  We then drove to camp and had buffalo and kangaroo for dinner.  I must say, these were quite tasty, although I did feel a bit bad for eating them...  that night I think I also ate some little flies, since I saw them dying in our vegetables as we were chopping them up.  Yuck.

(continued in next blog...) 

Melbourne, Australia

Okay so let's see where I left off. Oh yes, so we arrived in Mount Gambier which is known for its Blue Lake. We spent the night in a hostel that was formerly a jail, up until about 1997, I think. It was a bit scary yet cool sleeping in that jail, especially since it was just us and this mother and her son. I asked the manager if it was haunted and I think he said it was but we didn't experience that first hand - thank goodness.

Anyhow, that night we also drove to this giant sinkhole where you could handfeed opossums. Personally I am scared of opossums so I kept freaking out every time one approached me for food. They just look like giant ugly rats to me - - April liked them and thought they were cute. Whatever they are still opossums. yuck!

The next morning, we headed to the Blue Lake, which is a lake where the water looks very blue... obviously. We took some photos, then headed to the Norcoote Caves where we checked out a cave. It was cool though a bit overpriced for my taste. Unfortunately when we got there, the tours for the other caves were all booked up so we had to settle for the only cave available at that time - the Wet Cave. I believe the other ones were much more interesting... stupid tour groups. Oh well.

We then continued our drive and arrived in Adelaide later that afternoon. We drove to the beach to check out the sunset, then headed back to our hostel. On our way to the supermarket, we checked out  Chinatown and found a place that sold Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls (boba). We each bought a drink and it was so DELICIOUS that for the next 2 days, we bought one daily. The next few days in Adelaide were spent walking around, running errands, and eating Asian food.

Adelaide itself is quite a lovely little city. It's definately not in anyway as big as Melbourbe however it has a very cool and relaxing vibe to it - - - a bit like Santa Barbara for you L.A. people. There is only one tram and at times it was such a pain to get one because each one was full during rush hour so you had to really squeeze your way in or wait 45 minutes. Why they can't add more trams is a mystery to me.

On our last day in Adelaide, we headed to the bus station and caught the Greyhound to our first stop in the Outback - - Coober Pedy. We arrived at Coober Pedy around 5 a.m. We stayed in a hostel that was located underground. That's right - --- the rooms were underground. Due to the incredible heat that can occur in the Outback, rooms were built underground, which make them quite cold. Actually it was pretty cold in our rooms, to the point where we had to hire blankets, which I find quite an unfair thing to charge for. I mean, obviously the owners know it's cold so why the heck should we have to pay $2 for a blanket... such a rip-off. Anyhow, we went to sleep and didn't wake up until noon which isn't such a big loss because there is really nothing to do in Coober Pedy unless you want to buy opal. Coober Pedy is the opal capital of Australia - that's what it's known for - as well as underground housing. We spent 2 whole days there which is WAY MORE than enough time. I mean, you could walk from one end of town to the other in 10 minutes. Frankly I couldn't understand how people could choose to live there. I think I would die of absolute boredom. The cool thing about our stopover here was that we did a star-gazing trip where we learned about some of the constellations. We saw the Southern Cross which is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere every night. I think the guide said that it might be visible in the Nothern Hemisphere - but only for a few months out of the year. The Southern Cross is actually on the flags of both New Zealand and Australia.

Coober Pedy also gave us our first real experience with Aboriginal people. We had seen very very few aboriginal people up until this point. I think I saw one in my whole time in Melbourne. They tend to stick to the Outback. In Coober Pedy, there were about 20 or so that we saw in total. They kind of just hang out during the day - apparently they work early in the morning when it's the coolest time of the day, and for the rest of the day, they just kick back with their friends and hang out.

Oh darnit, I'm out of time again. Okay so I'll try to either write another blog or get April to do it, now that she is back home in the states. She will be there for 2 weeks, then heads to South America for 4 months.

Adios.

Melbourne, Australia

Okay so yes, we are back and I have access to free internet! Thank you Richmond Library.

Now that I have the opportunity to write a blog, I shall bore you with the details of our trip across South Australia and the Northern Territory. For a bit of geographical info, Australia is divided into 5 states: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

There is your history lesson for the day.

We left Melbourne on September 22nd, in a Hertz Rental Car. Now I admit, that I was very nervous the week before about driving on the opposite side of the road as well as on the opposite side of the car. The entire morning was filled with anxiety because I really didn't want to drive in the city, especially since it's been over a year since I drove any kind of  vehicle ( I did drive a small tractor in New Zealand on the Blueberry farm but that was just in circles for 2 minutes).

When we arrived at Hertz, suddenly all the butterflies in my stomach disappeared and I became excited as the idea of driving on the Great Ocean Road which is like California's PCH. It seemed like a pretty cool opportunity, and so we got in the car, headed to our hostel to grab our stuff and OFF WE WENT. Our first stop was a place called Geelong which is only about 45 minutes from Melbourne, however because it was raining that day, we decided to skip the site-seeing here and head to our night stop in Lorne, which is a small oceanside town. We drove through rainy weather, occasionally stopping to view the beautiful scenery along the way. When we arrived at Lorne, we drove a bit around, however decided to spend the rest of the evening in so we could get a head start in the morning and head to the 12 Apostles, which is the most famous site on the Great Ocean Road, and one of the most beautiful.

The next morning, which was gorgeous and sunny by the way, we got up, checked out a waterfall in Lorne and then headed to the 12 Apostles. We had lunch at another small town, which is the usual stop for tour buses heading for the 12 Apostles, called Apollo Bay. It was filled with tons of tourists shops and cafes/restaurants. After lunch, we headed to the 12 Apostles, which is such a breathtaking site. The 12 Apostles is a group of 12 individual rocks that appear in the ocean. They were originally formed  "by erosion of the original coastline. The constant action of the sea on the limestone slowly wore down the rocky cliff, gradually leaving individual rocks. The cliff is still being eroded at a rate of about 2cm each year, and in the future is likely to form more 'Apostles' from the other rocky headlands that line the Victorian coastline." (I took this off the internet).

It was so beautiful - especially because we arrived as the sun was setting, which gave the rocks this lovely orange glow to them. We then decided that we were going to come back in the morning and see if they looked any differently during the day. So that night, we headed to our hostel in Port Campbell, which is just a 15-20 drive to the 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge - the other cool site.

Loch Ard Gorge is this gorge named after a ship that was shipwrecked there in 1878, called Loch Ard. 52 of the 54 passengers died and there is a small cemetery in the area. I don't exactly know if it has all the bodies of those that died, because we didn't have time to visit, however I'd assume so. We spent about 1 hour and a half walking aroundt his place, checking out the Gorge as well as several other sites, like the Blowhole which is where this cave opening allows water to come in through the ocean into this huge hole in the mountain. Just seeing the thrash and power of the waves is frightening enough, but then reading the sign that says some of the bodies of the Loch Ard Shipwrecked were found floating there, well that's just downright horrible. It was still pretty cool to see though.

After checking out Loch Ard, which we did early in the morning, luckily before the tourist rush, we headed back to the 12 Apostles to see how it looked in the daytime. When we arrived, of course there were many tourists, however that didn't take away from the beauty of this famous site. It still looked magnificent and luckily the sun started to appear (it was a cloudy morning) and everything looked magical. I just loved it!!!!

We then left and headed to Warrnambool, which is a pretty large town, in order to find out which would be the best route to take to Adelaide, now that we were done with the Great Ocean Road. The lady at info suggested we go to Mount Gambier to visit the Blue Lake and then head to Narcoorte to visit their World Heritage Caves. We spent that night in jail... however that story will have to wait until the next few days, because my time is up.

Darwin, Australia

Hey all,

Yes I know we have been slack in our blogging especially since at some places, we did have free internet.

However right now we don't, so I will have to make this quick until next week.

We are in Darwin - it's freaking humid!!!

Darnit, time is up. We separate on Sunday. Write more next week. Cheers!

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Who knows..., Australia

Who knows..., Australia