Scuba Diving
On Febuary 20 I spent money and did my first ever scuba dive on 4 mile reaf. I think the biggest thing to get used to is having to breath through an aparatus, and under water. I have used similair gear before when I took my H2S course, and it wasn't a very big leap to do it under water. Anyway we got suited up flippers, tank and all and got in the water. There were 3 of us rookies out on this short 5 meter dive, along with a certified dive instructor in the case that we got ourselves in trouble. We are all arranged around this down rope attached to the boat slowly starting to decent towards the bottom. At about 2 feet below the surface the girl panicked and shot up like a cork towards the surface. Her brave boyfriend followed her quickley and was instantly reminded of the earlier lesson given to us by the big ugly bugger (captain of the boat) of never blasting to the surface without looking up as his head smashed into the bottom of the boat. The dive instructor sensing disaster on the door step followed the young couple. I was left forgoten alone 2 feet below the surface, the boat drifting over my head, the shadow cutting out the sun, floating and calmly watching the fish swim below my feet. I would love to say that a lonely dolphin swam up to me and I touched his nose, but that would have been to wonderful. But what I can say is that after about 2 minutes of floating I was tapped on the shoulder by my dive instructur, not wearing her regulator, looking rather stressed, who finaly came to get me. She pointed towards the surface, to a point away from the hull that loomed over me. After reaching the surface we grabbed hold of the back of the boat and I waited for my travel comapnions to get up the nerve to try a second decent. (For those of you who never have scuba dived before, and wonder why I didn't follow on my own, the reason is this. First, I was told in case something hapens to stay where I was and calmy breath, don't come to the surface as you might hit the boat. Second the vest we use holds air that can be added or removed like a balast tank in a submarine, and the dive instructor had removed more air from mine than anyone else as I was decending first.) When my head appeard at the surface I heard the captain say "Ah, there's the third one." What I missed up on the surface was this:
dive instructor to girl "Are you ok, just breath for a while and when you are ready we will try again."
Captain to boyfriend "I told you not to swim to the surface, how is your head by the way."
Dive instructor to boyfriend "Did you hit your head?"
Captain to dive instructor "Oh ya, I felt the thunk through my feet."
1 minute pass in which Captain and Dive Instructor talk down girl until...
Captain to dive instructor "Where is the third one?"
Dive Instructor to knowone in particular "Oh Shit"
At which point she came down in such a hurry that she didn't even put her breathing regulater in her mouth, she was holding her breath the whole time she was retreiving me. After several minutes on the surface, of which I swam around killing time and waiting for my diving companions to be ready. (Apparently she wasn't to worried about me to much, though she did seem to keep an odd eye on me maybe just to make sure I didn't get to far.) Eventually we once again returned to the down rope and made it all the way to the bottom. This is when the real fun begins, I have to admit I love diving, swiming around on the bottom with the fish and other wonderful things. Rock formations along with lots of vegitation. Though I have to admit I may have slightly annoyed the Dive Instructor as I may have been a little over zelous and vanished from her view within the first 38 seconds on the bottom, when she turned around to check how the couple were doing I may have dropped into a crevis between 2 rocks. When we met up moment later she may have made a gesture that may have meant that I wasn't to get beyond her eyesight again, and would greatly appreciate me staying behind her. That or she wanted me to see if a labster was attacking her butt, but I think the first one is closer. I still had fun doing under water arial acrobatiks and such, saw some lobsters, touched some sea erchands. I am so doing this on Nigilo reaf. Anyway I had a great time on the bottom lots of fish and such, but I only have a disposible camera that I won't develop for a while until I finish off the film.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
My Birthday
Febuary 20th ish
My birthday has now come and gone and the only thing that remains are electrical impulses firing in my brain cells, which is why I am transfering these impulses onto the web in case my wiring becomes corroded. So my birthday was actually a really quiet event, which was fine as I was really bussy anyway. The day was spent doing my first day of grape prunning, and on that evening we had Cake, beer, and ice cream as a special treat. As I was cleaning up around our campsite Natelie and Cecile pulled in and shouted out a happy birthday to me as they drove by in a French convey heading towards the French District . Chris went to bed early as usual and I wandered accross the road towards the French district to have a conversation with Peirre, Peirre, Cecile, Natelie, Julian, Thomas and Mark. As I came closser Julian holding the guitar struck the first 3 notes of "Happy Birthday". We chatted for a while and Nattelie promissed me tha she would have a surprise for me in a couple of hours and that Peirre would sing me a song. I was sitting having a beer with Julian later that evening looking at the stars (Julian had just spotted his first ever shooting star) when Natelie, Cecile and Peire showed up singing happy birthday and gave me 3 balloons. I had a nice time drinking and chatting with them expanding their English vocabulary by telling bad jokes. The next morning I picked up Ella, Lena and Kia and Lena asked me why there were balloons floating around the car. I told them it was my birthday yesterday and she responded with "Why didnt you say anything, we would have gone out for drinks" and that is how we ended up drinking friday night. Friday evening Chris and I headed into Margret River and hit the hostel where we sat down and had a couple of drinks with a whole bunch of people from the hostel including Ella, Lena, Kia, as well as Pete and Chris (The guys we worked with in the Vineyard at the Prongrup). It was nice to see so many people you know. We drank there for a while before heading out to the Settlers bar. The bar was great, live music and lots of people. Anyway we all chatted some more, Christian didn't drink as he was DD, but I did, and I am glad I did as a guy I know from the caravan park showed up and slipped in with several fine beer that needed emptying. When the bar closed we wandered to the car, and then 6 of us piled into the 5 empty seats for the short drive to the hostel where we said good night to Ella, Kia, Lena, and English Chris (who we worked with in the Prongrup). Ella got a call while in the car and she said "She was in a taxi heading back to the hostel" which got resounding laughter from everyone in the the car, as we are now called the team Canada taxi service.
My birthday has now come and gone and the only thing that remains are electrical impulses firing in my brain cells, which is why I am transfering these impulses onto the web in case my wiring becomes corroded. So my birthday was actually a really quiet event, which was fine as I was really bussy anyway. The day was spent doing my first day of grape prunning, and on that evening we had Cake, beer, and ice cream as a special treat. As I was cleaning up around our campsite Natelie and Cecile pulled in and shouted out a happy birthday to me as they drove by in a French convey heading towards the French District . Chris went to bed early as usual and I wandered accross the road towards the French district to have a conversation with Peirre, Peirre, Cecile, Natelie, Julian, Thomas and Mark. As I came closser Julian holding the guitar struck the first 3 notes of "Happy Birthday". We chatted for a while and Nattelie promissed me tha she would have a surprise for me in a couple of hours and that Peirre would sing me a song. I was sitting having a beer with Julian later that evening looking at the stars (Julian had just spotted his first ever shooting star) when Natelie, Cecile and Peire showed up singing happy birthday and gave me 3 balloons. I had a nice time drinking and chatting with them expanding their English vocabulary by telling bad jokes. The next morning I picked up Ella, Lena and Kia and Lena asked me why there were balloons floating around the car. I told them it was my birthday yesterday and she responded with "Why didnt you say anything, we would have gone out for drinks" and that is how we ended up drinking friday night. Friday evening Chris and I headed into Margret River and hit the hostel where we sat down and had a couple of drinks with a whole bunch of people from the hostel including Ella, Lena, Kia, as well as Pete and Chris (The guys we worked with in the Vineyard at the Prongrup). It was nice to see so many people you know. We drank there for a while before heading out to the Settlers bar. The bar was great, live music and lots of people. Anyway we all chatted some more, Christian didn't drink as he was DD, but I did, and I am glad I did as a guy I know from the caravan park showed up and slipped in with several fine beer that needed emptying. When the bar closed we wandered to the car, and then 6 of us piled into the 5 empty seats for the short drive to the hostel where we said good night to Ella, Kia, Lena, and English Chris (who we worked with in the Prongrup). Ella got a call while in the car and she said "She was in a taxi heading back to the hostel" which got resounding laughter from everyone in the the car, as we are now called the team Canada taxi service.
Tall Trees
Febuary 13
Do the lawyers know about this?
Well we decided to spend a couple of days away from Margret River, as we had 4 days off between pickings, and since I couldn't go diving as they were all booked up we headed down to Pemberten for a couple of days. On our first day we went and saw the Bicentenial Tree, which stands 75m above the ground. Chris really wanted to see this tree as he heard that you could climb it using the stairs they built around it. We arrived and Chris spotted the tree and the stairs and suddenly didn't seem to enthusiastic on climbing it.
I on the other hand saw the stairs and got a wide smile accross my face. What they called stairs were actually 3/4 inch rebars sunk into the tree trunk that spiraled all the way to the top where they had built a platform. It reminded me of the wrung ladders I used to climb the bins with back home. It reminded Chris of a rather horrifying scene from Vertigo, as he didn't like the sensation of seeing his feet below him acompanied by a large amount of empty air. At 25m he turned back and retreated to the ground, I on the other hand never looked back, seriously as I didn't really want to look down. I reached the top in under 10 minutes, which I was rather proud of, and proclaimed rather loudly "I'm king of the world" which made the lady sitting beside the tree jump. Unfortunately I forgot to do my Tarzan impression, and will fully admit that it was an opportunity I totally missed. Chris, who looked rather more comfortable since he returned to the ground, started taking pictures and asked how the view was. I said it was excellent, though if I had to admit it, even if it was crap I wouldn't have told him, I could just imagine the conversation.
Chris "So you climbed 75m up a tree and saw absolutely nothing?"
Adam "Shut up, I don't want to talk about it."
Anyway continuing on. I took some pictures and gave Christian adequit time to use the video camera (which I had given him) to show the world the tree and me upon it's tallest braches. I beleived he would use the very powerfull 40 times zoom to pull right up to my face giving everyone a great perspective of actually how tall that thing was. (I later discovered that he did not do that, something that I am still mad at him for.) Anyway I began the 75m decent,
something which I have to admit was much harder than the accent. I think the hardest part was having to look where you put your feet, and seeing only a large amount of empy space behind the 3/4 inch rebar. On a happy note if I did miss the rebar I would be able to call home to say farewell before I hit the ground. I reached the ground safely, punched the air in defiance and did a little jig, patiallly because I was estatic, and partially to hide the fact that my legs were shaking more than I wanted my crowd of would be admirerers to see. The next day we decided to keep our feet on the ground. We went to the Lavender Farm where they serve lavender pancakes and ice cream. Then continued onto Manjimup where we got some of the best bread from a bakery I have had in years, had a nice relaxing drive through the countryside, and saw a really deep mine pit (300m). I spent some time checking out an old railway station and antique shop where I found these 2 things. The first are 2 cans of Canadian beer, the second is this thing.
Does anyone have a guess what it is? Correct guess via comment or e-mail may win prize. Anyway, will probably hit sack now, am cheering for Team Canada as the olimpics have now started. I must find some more Canadians to cheer with.
Cheers
Adam
Do the lawyers know about this?
Well we decided to spend a couple of days away from Margret River, as we had 4 days off between pickings, and since I couldn't go diving as they were all booked up we headed down to Pemberten for a couple of days. On our first day we went and saw the Bicentenial Tree, which stands 75m above the ground. Chris really wanted to see this tree as he heard that you could climb it using the stairs they built around it. We arrived and Chris spotted the tree and the stairs and suddenly didn't seem to enthusiastic on climbing it.
I on the other hand saw the stairs and got a wide smile accross my face. What they called stairs were actually 3/4 inch rebars sunk into the tree trunk that spiraled all the way to the top where they had built a platform. It reminded me of the wrung ladders I used to climb the bins with back home. It reminded Chris of a rather horrifying scene from Vertigo, as he didn't like the sensation of seeing his feet below him acompanied by a large amount of empty air. At 25m he turned back and retreated to the ground, I on the other hand never looked back, seriously as I didn't really want to look down. I reached the top in under 10 minutes, which I was rather proud of, and proclaimed rather loudly "I'm king of the world" which made the lady sitting beside the tree jump. Unfortunately I forgot to do my Tarzan impression, and will fully admit that it was an opportunity I totally missed. Chris, who looked rather more comfortable since he returned to the ground, started taking pictures and asked how the view was. I said it was excellent, though if I had to admit it, even if it was crap I wouldn't have told him, I could just imagine the conversation.Chris "So you climbed 75m up a tree and saw absolutely nothing?"
Adam "Shut up, I don't want to talk about it."
Anyway continuing on. I took some pictures and gave Christian adequit time to use the video camera (which I had given him) to show the world the tree and me upon it's tallest braches. I beleived he would use the very powerfull 40 times zoom to pull right up to my face giving everyone a great perspective of actually how tall that thing was. (I later discovered that he did not do that, something that I am still mad at him for.) Anyway I began the 75m decent,
something which I have to admit was much harder than the accent. I think the hardest part was having to look where you put your feet, and seeing only a large amount of empy space behind the 3/4 inch rebar. On a happy note if I did miss the rebar I would be able to call home to say farewell before I hit the ground. I reached the ground safely, punched the air in defiance and did a little jig, patiallly because I was estatic, and partially to hide the fact that my legs were shaking more than I wanted my crowd of would be admirerers to see. The next day we decided to keep our feet on the ground. We went to the Lavender Farm where they serve lavender pancakes and ice cream. Then continued onto Manjimup where we got some of the best bread from a bakery I have had in years, had a nice relaxing drive through the countryside, and saw a really deep mine pit (300m). I spent some time checking out an old railway station and antique shop where I found these 2 things. The first are 2 cans of Canadian beer, the second is this thing.
Does anyone have a guess what it is? Correct guess via comment or e-mail may win prize. Anyway, will probably hit sack now, am cheering for Team Canada as the olimpics have now started. I must find some more Canadians to cheer with.Cheers
Adam
The Argument Begins
Tuesday Febuary 9, 2010
Ok, so you haven't heard from anyone in a while, and this is mostly because there hasn't been much happening. So since Adam has been ignoring his computer this blog will be done by non other than I, Matilda. Adam and Chris arrived at Margret river 4 days ago expecting to get a job fruit picking. That didn't exactly happen as it has been 4 days and the only thing that has happened so far is Adam went surfing for 3 days and Chris sat on the beach sleeping for those same 3 days. It sounds like the grapes are late this year because of the cold weather this summer. It will be anouther 2-3 weeks apparently, which brings forth a glaring problem. In 3 weeks we have to head north so that we can finish our trip. As you can imagine, this puts anyone who only has 22 dollars in his bank account, in a rather small bind. Especially when Adam went and calculated that it was going to be abouth 2,000 dollars worth of fuel to finish the trip alone. This has caused some small arguments as one of them is as rich as the bank and the other isn't. So alas as Adam looks into taking scuba diving lessons Chris isn't. Which makes the discussion I overheard last night even more interesting. Chris wants to go see Ayres Rock, 2000km out of the way and about 500 dollars worth of fuel. Adam doesn't.
Chris "It is a big red rock in the middle of knowhere. We have to go see that.
Adam "Exactly, why the hell would you want to go see a big red rock."
Chris "It is the most idenifyable feature of Australia. It is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eifly Tower."
Adam "I went to Paris, and you know I never did see the Eifel Tower."
I think I finally found the big difference between the 2 of them, it isn't the money, it is what they find interesting. Chris loves seeing the sights, seeing big red rocks. Adam thinks they are cool but only to a point, what Adam finds interesting is, well people. He is more interested in the culture, the people who live hear or the people he meets. He never remembers the sights as much as he remembers the people he meets there. He takes pictures of the things he finds cool in order to remember them. Which won't help for Arey rock as you are no longer alowed to take pictures on top of the Rock, anouther reason why he doesn't really want to hit it. What is the use of driving 2000km and not be able to take a picture on top of the rock?
Ok, something stange just happened, Team Canada (as nicknamed by the British boys Pete and Chris) were debating weather or not to head north to look for work when they got a call for work the next day. They returned from Busselton to Margret River 59km away and went to the employment office. Christian was bouncing off the walls Adam was his usual self doing math and calculating how much money and so on. So they arrived at the employment office and proceeded inside. I stowed away in Adam's bag in order to completely hear the situation. They finished their paperwork and then got the detailes of the work. It was 3 days spread over the next week consisting of a 3-4 hour pick each day. I could see Adam raise an eyebrow as this was a little bit less than the amount of hours he was expecting. And then the the man layed a bombshell that struck Adam like a titlewave crashing over his surf board.
Man "Be there at a 5:45Am"
"What time?" Said Adam
Upon the return to the car Chris was excited, Adam wasn't. 9 hours of work is hardly worth haning around a whole week for.
Chris "It is better than what we had yeasterday."
Adam "Yeasterday I was able to sleep in past 5."
It sounds like Adam doesn't sound to excited to be up before the sun tomorow, as he continued to make some comments revolving around 3 hours being way to short, and that since it was going to be such a short time that why couldn't they start at a civilized hour. Chris replied that since it was such a short time that you could really go hard for a short time (especially since they are being paid by the bucket) and then have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Adam killed the discussion by mentioning that at 5 in the morning the only thing he would be going hard for is a shot of speed or failing that a stiff faceplant into the ground. I think moneybags Adam was hoping to get some more decent work, with longer hours. If I didn't know better I would think that Adam was planning on saying the hell with it and sleeping in. But then again I know better as he already agreed to give a ride to 2 young ladies named Ella and Lena from England and Germany. I have a feeling that Chris's flat brokeness is really starting to annoy Adam as I think he feels that he has lost control of his holliday. That and he hates commision work, Adam was never really a good sprinter, he was always better as a long distance runner. I wonder if these 2 won't split for a while before they head North. Time will tell I guess.
Ok, so you haven't heard from anyone in a while, and this is mostly because there hasn't been much happening. So since Adam has been ignoring his computer this blog will be done by non other than I, Matilda. Adam and Chris arrived at Margret river 4 days ago expecting to get a job fruit picking. That didn't exactly happen as it has been 4 days and the only thing that has happened so far is Adam went surfing for 3 days and Chris sat on the beach sleeping for those same 3 days. It sounds like the grapes are late this year because of the cold weather this summer. It will be anouther 2-3 weeks apparently, which brings forth a glaring problem. In 3 weeks we have to head north so that we can finish our trip. As you can imagine, this puts anyone who only has 22 dollars in his bank account, in a rather small bind. Especially when Adam went and calculated that it was going to be abouth 2,000 dollars worth of fuel to finish the trip alone. This has caused some small arguments as one of them is as rich as the bank and the other isn't. So alas as Adam looks into taking scuba diving lessons Chris isn't. Which makes the discussion I overheard last night even more interesting. Chris wants to go see Ayres Rock, 2000km out of the way and about 500 dollars worth of fuel. Adam doesn't.
Chris "It is a big red rock in the middle of knowhere. We have to go see that.
Adam "Exactly, why the hell would you want to go see a big red rock."
Chris "It is the most idenifyable feature of Australia. It is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eifly Tower."
Adam "I went to Paris, and you know I never did see the Eifel Tower."
I think I finally found the big difference between the 2 of them, it isn't the money, it is what they find interesting. Chris loves seeing the sights, seeing big red rocks. Adam thinks they are cool but only to a point, what Adam finds interesting is, well people. He is more interested in the culture, the people who live hear or the people he meets. He never remembers the sights as much as he remembers the people he meets there. He takes pictures of the things he finds cool in order to remember them. Which won't help for Arey rock as you are no longer alowed to take pictures on top of the Rock, anouther reason why he doesn't really want to hit it. What is the use of driving 2000km and not be able to take a picture on top of the rock?
Ok, something stange just happened, Team Canada (as nicknamed by the British boys Pete and Chris) were debating weather or not to head north to look for work when they got a call for work the next day. They returned from Busselton to Margret River 59km away and went to the employment office. Christian was bouncing off the walls Adam was his usual self doing math and calculating how much money and so on. So they arrived at the employment office and proceeded inside. I stowed away in Adam's bag in order to completely hear the situation. They finished their paperwork and then got the detailes of the work. It was 3 days spread over the next week consisting of a 3-4 hour pick each day. I could see Adam raise an eyebrow as this was a little bit less than the amount of hours he was expecting. And then the the man layed a bombshell that struck Adam like a titlewave crashing over his surf board.
Man "Be there at a 5:45Am"
"What time?" Said Adam
Upon the return to the car Chris was excited, Adam wasn't. 9 hours of work is hardly worth haning around a whole week for.
Chris "It is better than what we had yeasterday."
Adam "Yeasterday I was able to sleep in past 5."
It sounds like Adam doesn't sound to excited to be up before the sun tomorow, as he continued to make some comments revolving around 3 hours being way to short, and that since it was going to be such a short time that why couldn't they start at a civilized hour. Chris replied that since it was such a short time that you could really go hard for a short time (especially since they are being paid by the bucket) and then have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Adam killed the discussion by mentioning that at 5 in the morning the only thing he would be going hard for is a shot of speed or failing that a stiff faceplant into the ground. I think moneybags Adam was hoping to get some more decent work, with longer hours. If I didn't know better I would think that Adam was planning on saying the hell with it and sleeping in. But then again I know better as he already agreed to give a ride to 2 young ladies named Ella and Lena from England and Germany. I have a feeling that Chris's flat brokeness is really starting to annoy Adam as I think he feels that he has lost control of his holliday. That and he hates commision work, Adam was never really a good sprinter, he was always better as a long distance runner. I wonder if these 2 won't split for a while before they head North. Time will tell I guess.
Kind of a Low
January 31
Well today we are in Albany sleeping in the car outside of the tourist info, beside 4 other vehicles containing other backpackers. Most of them are French, which is really weird as before albany I think I met like 2 people from France. No Germans though, I am kind of wondering where they are hiding suddenly? Anyway, we said goodbye to the Prongrup today as well as Scott, Die, Adam, and all the other wonderful people I have met there. I like meeting the local people, gives you a better feeling for who they are, what they value, and what there favorite type of beer is. I have to admit that evening I spent playing beach vollyball with the locals was great, the beer and wood fired pizza at the end was the icing on the perverbial cake. Scott and Die though are some of the nicest people I have met in australia. They found us a job, and when they came back from their holliday they sent us in the right direction to look for work.
On my personal note Chris's serious lack of money is really starting to cause some tension between us. He claims to have no money, so we don't go out and do anything, even if it look to be really fun. His policy of refusing to pay for acomidation is begining to bug me as where we sleep, we meet nobody. And the part that really pissed me off today was he spent an hour looking on the internet on my computer looking up info on Asia. I understand he wants to go to asia, but he is restrictig the fun I am having in Australia so he can go to Asia. This has infuriated me to no ends. What I will start to do I think is to do some things on my own, especially if they cost money. If he can't do them, or more specifically if he doesn't want to spend the money on it I don't care. This I think will start to be my new policy.
Well today we are in Albany sleeping in the car outside of the tourist info, beside 4 other vehicles containing other backpackers. Most of them are French, which is really weird as before albany I think I met like 2 people from France. No Germans though, I am kind of wondering where they are hiding suddenly? Anyway, we said goodbye to the Prongrup today as well as Scott, Die, Adam, and all the other wonderful people I have met there. I like meeting the local people, gives you a better feeling for who they are, what they value, and what there favorite type of beer is. I have to admit that evening I spent playing beach vollyball with the locals was great, the beer and wood fired pizza at the end was the icing on the perverbial cake. Scott and Die though are some of the nicest people I have met in australia. They found us a job, and when they came back from their holliday they sent us in the right direction to look for work.
On my personal note Chris's serious lack of money is really starting to cause some tension between us. He claims to have no money, so we don't go out and do anything, even if it look to be really fun. His policy of refusing to pay for acomidation is begining to bug me as where we sleep, we meet nobody. And the part that really pissed me off today was he spent an hour looking on the internet on my computer looking up info on Asia. I understand he wants to go to asia, but he is restrictig the fun I am having in Australia so he can go to Asia. This has infuriated me to no ends. What I will start to do I think is to do some things on my own, especially if they cost money. If he can't do them, or more specifically if he doesn't want to spend the money on it I don't care. This I think will start to be my new policy.
The half way Report
January 29
Day 78 of 156
The half way report.
Well today marks the halfway mark in my journey across Australia. I have now been in this foreign country 3 months, with still anouther three months left. Chris is completely broke and we are now working a bit so that we can keep going. Gas isn't cheap up north, aparently like 2 bucks a liter. Anyway I found myself missing home a lot, especially when I get the e-mails stuff telling me what is going on, the good the bad and the truely mundane, but I love hearing it all. I am not sorry that I went on this trip, though I do miss my friends and family back home. It is hard to beleive that I hav been away from home for 3 months, it seems like such a long period of time, and it is even harder to beleive I still have like 3 months still to go. Well enough of my heart to heart, here is my australian half way report,
It is strange really I just went through my list of my favorite things so far in Australia, and I came to a sudden realization, it is all about the people I have met along the way. The only real natural features I want to mention are the drive through the Snowy Mountain Ranges and snorkling on Rotness island. All the rest were people we met along the way. In Tasmania it was the nice evening we spent in Hobart with the other 2 Canadians from Guelp and Quebec. Melbourne reminds me of spending 2 nice days with Jasmine, the Murry River reminds me of Mick the mechanic and those 4 guys who invited us over for drinks on their houseboat. Adelaide was all about all the cool people I spent christmass with. The Nulabour brings Kia into my memory, Perth bring out the wonderful people of Jane, Gerard, Dr. Sarah. Then there is Boyup Brook, which is packed full of memorable people, Harvey, Sandy, his wife, Hugo, and Pom. The Prongrup mountains only register to me as Scott, Die, and their family who wo stayed with for the last 2 weeks. oh ya, also beach vollyball and all the people I met playing it. The mountains themselves seem insignificant next to them. Which I think brings me to something that has been causing some tension between my co-traveler and myself. I have been leaning to stay at hostels if we can so that we can meet more people, maybe pick up some passengers, etc. However there is one problem with this from Chris, it costs money, we don't even go out to the bar to have the odd drink, we usually drive off way out of town into the middle of know where, where there is know one, for free camping. I find it ironic, that the most populated state NSW, is only on my list for a natural feature, no memerable people though, how strange is that? I just remembered NSW did have one memorable person, the crazy yute lady in Sydney I told you about.
I guess to sum up my halfway report is this, talk to people, feel the culture, become something other than a tourist. Signing off from Australia
Day 78 of 156
The half way report.
Well today marks the halfway mark in my journey across Australia. I have now been in this foreign country 3 months, with still anouther three months left. Chris is completely broke and we are now working a bit so that we can keep going. Gas isn't cheap up north, aparently like 2 bucks a liter. Anyway I found myself missing home a lot, especially when I get the e-mails stuff telling me what is going on, the good the bad and the truely mundane, but I love hearing it all. I am not sorry that I went on this trip, though I do miss my friends and family back home. It is hard to beleive that I hav been away from home for 3 months, it seems like such a long period of time, and it is even harder to beleive I still have like 3 months still to go. Well enough of my heart to heart, here is my australian half way report,
It is strange really I just went through my list of my favorite things so far in Australia, and I came to a sudden realization, it is all about the people I have met along the way. The only real natural features I want to mention are the drive through the Snowy Mountain Ranges and snorkling on Rotness island. All the rest were people we met along the way. In Tasmania it was the nice evening we spent in Hobart with the other 2 Canadians from Guelp and Quebec. Melbourne reminds me of spending 2 nice days with Jasmine, the Murry River reminds me of Mick the mechanic and those 4 guys who invited us over for drinks on their houseboat. Adelaide was all about all the cool people I spent christmass with. The Nulabour brings Kia into my memory, Perth bring out the wonderful people of Jane, Gerard, Dr. Sarah. Then there is Boyup Brook, which is packed full of memorable people, Harvey, Sandy, his wife, Hugo, and Pom. The Prongrup mountains only register to me as Scott, Die, and their family who wo stayed with for the last 2 weeks. oh ya, also beach vollyball and all the people I met playing it. The mountains themselves seem insignificant next to them. Which I think brings me to something that has been causing some tension between my co-traveler and myself. I have been leaning to stay at hostels if we can so that we can meet more people, maybe pick up some passengers, etc. However there is one problem with this from Chris, it costs money, we don't even go out to the bar to have the odd drink, we usually drive off way out of town into the middle of know where, where there is know one, for free camping. I find it ironic, that the most populated state NSW, is only on my list for a natural feature, no memerable people though, how strange is that? I just remembered NSW did have one memorable person, the crazy yute lady in Sydney I told you about.
I guess to sum up my halfway report is this, talk to people, feel the culture, become something other than a tourist. Signing off from Australia
Friday, March 5, 2010
Ok, so it has been a while, and it may be a while longer
I haven't blogged in a while and this won't exactly quench your thirst from my travels in the world down under but this is the best I can do for now. I don't have a lot of time to tell you what I have been up to, but don't worry when I get good internet and some time I will get something up, and you had better bring your reading glasses, because I have so many tales of adventure, danger, drinking and some involving all three that you may need a week off work to get through it all, but for now here is the VERY short version of what I have been up to. Went from Prongrup to Albany, Albany to Margret and then spent several weeks in Margret River and am now heading North to Broome with our newest team member Ella. Meaning internet and I will be continuing our long distance relationship for some time more, and dad will be wondering who this Ella is for at least a couple of weeks. But for now wish us luck as we need to clear 13,000 km in under 6 weeks while still seeing 2 reefs, crocidiles, manta rays, dolphins, and probably a doctor, though hopefully for reasons not relating to any of the before mentioned items. Anyway, have to run, and drive, so I will hopefully get something up soon, but for all those people who have been checking my blog daily for a month only to be disapointed again and again, (hi Mike) I apologise and simply say I am having a wonderful time and have all my stories down for your later reading pleasure. But be prepared once I get them up, you may get a blog reading headace, so please take your time.
Cheers,
Adam
Cheers,
Adam
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