ok... so looking at pictures from daintree.... i think i was on crack when i wrote the descriptions!!!

check it out... pictures

so i'm back home... and not tired (cause my body thinks that its 430pm, and the clock in my moms office says 130 am...oops) but i'll try to sort my self out and go to bed soon... but who knows.

i'm already looking at my pictures and "reminiscing",,, well, kind of... i'm picking some out to order and just enjoying the memories of the times that i had... its too bad that they have moved into memories now, but i guess it had to happen eventually. i'm gald to be back--it was nice to take a shower in my house, but i would love to be able to go back to NZ and OZ again and have another great experience. but i guess now i will just have to enjoy what i had.

i'm getting all philosophical and shit... i'm at the end of the trip and i think that i thought that i would have an idea about what i wanted to DO when i got home, but i think that i am further from knowing that than i was at the beginning... well, not really, but close.

i guess i have a long plane flight to figure some stuff out... but its really tough.

first... pictures. cause i know thats what the tour group kids really want...i haven't described them yet... they are slightly out of order (within the album) i don't have the mental capacity... i haven't even rotated some of them upright. I suck. TOO BAD.

sydney (harbour bridge, etc.): http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33f0e25c42b
ultimate nationals: http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33f0e34450a
melbourne/great ocean road: http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33f0e3a4504
adelaide to alice tour: http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33f0e164528
random pictures from elsewhere (screwed up album):
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33f0e3fc431

the past two days, i have driven 1450kms to get back to sydney for my last few days before i leave the country, so i send you all my last mass email from downunder (don't worry, there will be one from chi-town when i'm back) and let you know of the insanity that i have brought upon myself in my last few weeks here...

i spent the last couple weeks predominately on my own... hugh is "looking for a job" and has much more time than i, so we went our separate ways and i took buttercup on the road for a couple weeks...

i celebrated leaving hugh in sydney by driving a monster 150kms south.

i stopped in a little podunk town called jervis bay... i honestly think that i heard the sea beckoning me, so i spent what little money i have left on a dive trip... it was invigorating to go diving again (read: damn cold water, lots of swell, and sea sick.) actually, it was pretty sweet to see a different part of the coastline... i saw very different things than in the great barrier reef, the water was phenomanlly clear, and i even saw a couple sharks! i had to stay for a couple days in the town (dive trips only on weekends) so i played frisbee with some english blokes staying at my hostel on "the whitest beach in the world" according to the guiness book of world record, and i also had my first RSL experience (like a VFW... you know, cheap beer, old people, pool)...

i then looked at my watch and realized that my days are numbered, and i drove like a speed demon through melbourne and adelaide... i discovered a couple important things on the immense number of kms that i drove...

1. buttercup likes me more than hugh... once i got her an oil change, she drove like a dream, she didn't cut out on me, and she is perfectly comfortable at 125kms/hr. (cops, schmops...)

2. there is about 500kms (from about huskinsson to bairnsville? middle of nowhere.) where there is not a mcdonalds... maybe mickey d's isn't taking over the world, maybe people are safe from corporate america... but what did i do at km 501? bought an egg mcmuffin... oops.

3. headphones while driving saved my sanity...
imagine driving along the most straight, non-hilly road in the world (read: kansas) and then put it in the southern hemisphere... you haven't seen a building or a town in about 100kms, you have a car that only has a radio, and (your luck) that radio only has one station. its 6:45 pm and you are listening to kylie or somehting else equally bouncy and entertaining. you haven't had human contact in about 3 hours... you are just jammin' and then the horrible dj gets on the radio says that delia will be in next.... you're, like, ok with that... the radio's been fine. all of a sudden delia comes on and sounds like shes about 80... well she might have good taste, right? then "somewhere out there" comes on, and she doesn't even play the one wiht the stupid mice singing. its just instrumental... you almost scratch your eyes out. that was me on one of these driving experiences...

i thought that that was what was goign to happen every time i got out of radio frequency range... (which is most of my drives recently) but luckily i was informed that its not illegal to wear headphones... and since i can't entertain myself for too many hours alone... ( i'm just not that interesting) the ipod was a good, static-free break... and you know how much weirder you look when you are singing out loud and the radio isn't even turned on? you look pretty cool, let me tell you.

so, anwyay, melbourne...

i truly wasn't so sure of this city when i first arrived... maybe it was because i drove 600kms in one day before 2pm and hit the town with enough time to have a full blown case of road rage and just incompetant drivers to my left and right... maybe it was because within 10mintues of arriving at my hostel my wallet was $780 lighter from scheduling a trip into the red centre... maybe the 10 bed dorms and non working cooking burners didn't strike my fancy right away, but i've cleaned up my act a bit and i think i actaully really like it here in victoria.

i only had a day and a half so i did a super power-walking, all-inclusive tour of the city... i must have walked 15 miles and seen everything (well, seen nothing cause i didn't want to pay for most of the museums, and when you want to "do" everyhting you end up "doing" nothing cause you are so busy figuring out the next thing on your adgenda...)

but i tried...

i did go to the immigration museum where i spent ages in this simulated interview room where you can decide if people are able to come to OZ permenantly... (i thought i could learn a couple tricks so i can stay in the country longer, no such luck) but i did realize that i am way gullible and should never apply to work for anysort of customs/government job... oh well...

i also when to the melbourne cricket grounds where i learned a bit about aussie rules football and also saw a couple cool exhibits on the melbourne olympic games and everything... i got to walk on the pitch and saw the locker rooms and everything, didn't however, see any hot footy players or anything fun like that...

i hopped back in the car and drove down the great ocean road, and it was, well... great? it was slightly hazy, but beautiful nonetheless, and i stopped at every important lookout, but it became kind of mechanical at the end and i was glad to get my gourmet pizza and a clean bed at the end. i stayed in a silly little town called port fairy where they have a great lighthouse.

i discovered in OZ that i have an affinity for lighthouses (as you will notice if you look at my pics) and even drove about 50kms out of my way a couple times to get a picture of one... but the port fairy one was nice and i woke up early for a walk around the island it was situated on... this island, i discovered, has a very poorly marked walking path around it, (read: i got really lost) and i ended up on the top of a hilly scared cause i kept hearing sounds... scary sounds... uh, kangaroos? whatever, they scared me, and i ran faster than i thought i could to get back to the town safely...

drove though the grampians, a beautiful national park of mountains and waterfalls, blah, blah... bored cause i was alone, blah, blah... you probably aren't reading anyway, so thats about it for that.

i finally reached adelaide at about 10pm and talked to random people for about an hour just because i had been quiet in the car for the previous 5 hours, and you know how hard it is for me to be quiet for even 5 minutes...

i was super struggling when i reached adelaide, so i just spent a totally relaxing two days watching movies and eating at my hostel... i didn't see anything touristy in adelaide at all... nothing. i can tell you absolutely nothing about the town. i don't knwo if it has anything nice, anything crap, any history, or stories. nada. --i did go running through the botanic gardens with some girls that i met, but i don't count that as seeing anything.

ok... so i told you that i have done just about everyhitng cause i leave the country and i wasn't kidding....

i took a bus tour from adelaide to alice springs via ayers rock, etc. i was the only yank on the bus (of 17), and tried my hardest to prove that we aren't really that bad of people... it was a pretty sweet tour... the people were nice (most might be reading this, so i can't say too much shit about them...) and we bonded over numerous games of cards (it got SO boring at one point that i played WAR.) and drinking games every night over the campfire. don't ask what we "bought at the store"...

i thought driving the coast was tough, but up the center had little trees, even fewer houses, and just miles of red dirt. but it was pretty amazing to see an area so desolate... on the way we stopped in a town called cooper pedy (if you have seen "Mad Max" or "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" you would know what i'm talking about) anyway, all the townspeople live underground... they dig out their homes like they do for the opal drilling that is the main industry of the town because it is cooler under the ground... houses are only about AU$20000 all up, though i reckon i need windows... we hit up an underground bar there, which was pretty cool in itself.

Finally reached ayers rock where, despite the local aboriginals stressing people not to climb their sacred rock, 8 of us risked our calf muscles and hiked up the beast that is the rock... 348m up... straight up. it sucked. it was pretty invigorated when we were down safely, but it was one of those things taht you never thought would end... you reached the end of the assisting chain and over the creast you saw more up... but my butt muscles got a good workout at least.

...and were "lucky" enough to have rain... now, we are talking rain in an area where they get less than 100mm a year... and it didn't just rain... it RAINED. the locals and the rangers were loving it... me, well, it ruined my sunset picture.

we went to the olgas and kings canyon also... beautiful rock formations and areas of sheer cliffs and hikes... parts of it reminded me of canyonlands in SE utah, but it was so different cause it was honestly in the middle of nowhere. slept under the stars in swags (sweet mattress-bivy-sleeping bag-army colored things)...

on my drive back to sydney i stopped overnight in a town called Hay (motto: we haven't seen anyone under the age of 50 in years, can i buy you a drink?) and i hung with the locals, in the local... it was a good ol' time, and they even gave me a souviner to remember then by... a beer coozie from the hay magpies footy team from '89.

anyway, this email is reaching "hugh-status" in length, so i might have to sign off for now... i hope to talk to you soon, and maybe even see you again?

kristin

ok, so i have 4 days left and what am i doing? sitting in a computer lab while its absolutly gorgeous outside... i promise that i will enjoy it... juist after my pics are uploaded.

i'm leaving alice springs in about 40 minutes to take a 17 hour train journey back to good ol' adelaide... just did a fantastic tour of the outabck complete with kangaroos, camels, and uluru... met some fantastic poeple and drank TOO much. ahh, oz.

i did something bad.... now we aren't talking, like, moral compass bad, or even put in jail bad... but more along the lines of bad for the wallet. i bought a ring. a beautiful opal inlay one from the biggest opal area in the world. its lovely, but it was AU$109 and i don't have the money nor a finger for it to go on. luckily i'm out of the country in 7 days so i can't hurt the wallet too much more.

imagine driving along the most straight, non-hilly road in the world (read: kansas) and then put it in the southern hemisphere... you haven't seen a building or a town in about 100kms, you have a car that only has a radio, and (your luck) that radio only has one station. its 6:45 pm and you are listenin got kylie or somehting else equally bouncy and entertaining. you haven't had human contact in about 3 hours... you are just jammin' and then the horrible dj gets on the radio says that delia will be in next.... you're, like, ok with that... the radio's been fine. all of a sudden delia comes on and sounds like shes about 80... well she might ahve good taste, right? then "somewhere out there" comes on, and she doesn't even play the one wiht the stupid mice. its just instrumental... you almost scratch your eyes out.

that was me last night drving to adelaide... it was awful. i really need to be drivng wiht someone.. i'm not interesting enough to entertain myself for that many hours...

so, melbourne...

i truly wasn't so sure of this city when i first arrived... maybe it was because i drove 600kms in one day before 2pm and hit the town with enough time to have a full blown case of road rage and just incompetant drivers to my left and right... maybe it was because within 10mintues of arriving at my hostel my wallet was $780 lighter from scheduling a trip into the red centre... maybe the 10 bed dorms and non working cooking burners didn't strike my fancy right away, but i've cleaned up my act a bit and i think i actaully really like it here in victoria.

i only have a day and a half here so i did a super power-walking, all-inclusive tour of the city today... i must have walked 15 miles and seen everything (well, seen nothing cause i didn't want to pay for most of the museums, and when you want to "do" everyhting you end up "doing" nothing cause you are so busy figuring out the next thing on your adgenda...)

but i tried...

i did go to the immigration museum where i spent ages in this simulated interview room where you can decide if people are able to come to OZ permenantly... (i thought i could learn a couple tricks so i can stay in the country longer, no such luck) but i did realize that i am way gullible and should never apply to work for anysort of customs/government job... oh well...

i also when to the melbourne cricket grounds where i learned a bit about aussie rules football and also saw a couple cool exhibits on the melbourne olympic games and everything... i got to walk on the pitch (dimensions 175m x 134m, if you were wondering) and saw the locker rooms and everything...

saw where ned kelly was hung... and the tallest office building in the southern hemisphere.

i head down the great ocean road tommorrow. yeah me.

so, i'm bored... i just had dinner and really have nothing to do, so why not do nothing while paying $4.50 an hour? good plan? probably not, but i'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, right?

so... there are a couple things that i really need to remember/share with others... ie stuff from down under that needs to get above, eh?

like triple j its a cool radio station. they play all the indie stuff and sometimes somethings that you would here on other radio stations... i really enjoy it (though some of the deejays have an ecelectic crossmix of stuff they like.)

and then there are some cool bands that i have found....

salmonella dub, the superjesus (kind of like frogpond, or a mellower no doubt but without the swing), powderfinger, epicure...

other bands i want to find more about...

the waifs, goodshirt, the vines, badly drawn boy,

some books that i am interested in reading...

lost in a good book (jasper fforde), the god of small things...

anyway, thats enough stupidness for now...

on my drive into melbourne the other day i discovered that there is about 500kms (from about huskinsson to bairnsville?) where there is not a mcdonalds... it was really exciting... maybe mickey d's isn't taking over the world, maybe the small coffee shop can survive... but what did i do at km 501? bought a sausage mcmuffin... oops.

ok, so i am pissed. i just wrote something funny about my experiences in melbourne and then the computer i was on died.. well their internet stopped beign connected. so i checked and its gone. i don'tknow if i can be funny again (or if i care to try, cause this computer blows chunks.) but i might. but not now.

so i remember... it was about walking around the town, how it comparedto sydney, etc.