Saturday, July 09, 2005

A free day in Brisbane, what shall we do?


We shall skydive!


After surviving our 14,000 ft. skydive!

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Why Not Tiles

I know, it's been a really long time.
I could say that I haven't had a chance to post until now, but that would be a lie.

I've only had a couple chances to post, but every time I sat in front of the computer screen nothing came.

And still nothing comes.
I think it's the pace that we're keeping.

To be perfectly honest it takes me far too long to remember what city I even slept in last night, let alone all the activities that have taken up the past few weeks.

It's not a blur.
It's vivid, but extremely hard to put into words.

I'm also crap at writing out rough drafts.
I seem to have programmed my mind only to work when I'm typing directly onto a computer, which isn't cost-effective when I'm paying by the second for the internet.

So I've been gone for awhile.
And I can't play catch up because there's too much, so here are some highlights:

-Thailand is the most amazing place I have ever set eyes on

-Jeff has no idea how to eat hard boiled eggs

-We need to import Chang beer into the states

-A conversation with Anon, our local guide, snapped me back into reality

-I've seen enough of Brunei to last the rest of my life, and we never even left the airport

-40 straight hours of travelling is a bit much, you start to hallucinate after awhile

-Australia is massive, and the system that they have organised for the children of the outback (The School of the Air) is ingenious and incredibly important

-Uluru was amazing, and people that climb the rock deserved to get smacked (for those of you who don't know about it, it's one of the most sacred objects for the Aborigines, and climbing it is the equivalent of burning our bible)

-Sleeping outside in the outback: Very cold, with way more dew than one would have expected...but I'd never seen a shooting star and after a night spent under those stars I saw 5...just ask Jeff, I woke him up everytime I saw one!

-Hey Karl (our driver) do people ever get hurt out here?

"Are you kidding? People fall and die all the time! Why just a few weeks ago some lady fell from about where you're standing right now, ha, careful mate"

-Breaking down in the middle of nowhere in the outback (No worries, we were back on the road in no time)

-Booked skydiving in Cairns and then it got cancelled, stupid cloudy weather. The Woolshed yielded some funny stories though, including some strange Eastern European guy picking me up and carrying me to the other room for absolutely no reason while my extremely polite boyfriend ("Um, excuse me sir, I believe that's my girlfriend") attempted to get me back on level ground

-Magnetic Island is dangerous...if I ever disappear for weeks on end and you can't track me down, that's where I'll be. I could spend years there, living on the beach and taking a job as a kitchen hand every night at the hostel just to pay for my room and board

-Our sailing trip: Snorkeling was so much fun, who knew you could scream with excitement through those things. The sailing on the second day was the best part, 35 knot winds, 4-5 metre swells, sailing so intense that the sail on our yacht finally ripped after about two hours. We got closer to whales than they ever do on the whale watching expeditions and I finally got to scuba dive...which was bizarre but incredible. The third day was cloudy and rainy, but White Haven beach was still amazing and a great way to end the trip. The night out once we were back on land with Captain Kirk and our crew will definitely be remembered

-I consider myself a biker chick, even though I was on a little scooter that didn't even have as much power as a vespa. And for the record, there is nothing more fun than flying around a tiny Australian coastal town singing the Bill Cosby "Picture Pages" song at the top of your lungs.

-State of Origin game: New South Wales won and it was ten times sweeter watching it in Hervey Bay and getting to rub it in to the Queenslanders...they got pummeled!

-Flat tires on the highway, 30 km outside Brisbane...my mouth dropped open when two different cars stopped to help us, just out of the goodness of their hearts

And that's about it for now.

I promise to be better about posting.

This of course is just a fast overview of the past few weeks. I can't share it all, otherwise I'd have nothing to tell you guys when I got home. I hope all is well back in the states. When we checked into our hostel tonight they were just getting news of the bombings in London, so we're going to be glued to the TV for the remainder of the night. Hope everyone is safe and sound. I miss you all and am so excited to be coming home in less than a month!

PS- If my family members don't want to receive any more overly emotional/slightly intoxicated phonecalls, they could give me a ring sometime