The Red Center....continued...again

I realized half way through the last post that I already mucked up the order!  And I didn't do a good enough job explaining where the pictures were from.  People who know Australia will get it from the title, people stateside...maybe not.

Anyways, back in June/July I took a huge 3.5 week trip from Western Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory and down to Alice Springs in the center.  I was able to get through the Western Australia pictures but couldn't seem to tackle the over 1,000 photos from the Center.  The trip down the Center was 9 days and comprised of three 3-day tours.  3 days in the NT at Kakadu, 3 days to drive through the desert expanse, and 3 days to do the Center and Uluru.  The last Red Center post was the three day drive through the desert.  This one is the 3 days in Kakadu before the Center :)

A synopsis of this leg of the trip: bug bites, waterfalls, and flat tires.

 

Our first swimming spot :)  No idea what it was called, but at least it was warm this day!

Think this is the first "feet in water" photo I took...

Our next stop was an Aboriginal Culture Center. Which was cool, cuz unless you go looking for it, you're not going to learn much about Aboriginal culture

 First, this guy blessed you (near some croc infested waters).  Then his 14 year daughter taught us about weaving.

  They painted us with traditional paints.  They also let us try to play the didjeridoo, of which I have zero ability.

 They also took pics with us, which is pretty unusual (it goes against their culture).  The stick I'm leaning on is supposedly a traditional stick the wives use to convince their husbands to work, lol.

Kangaroo steak dinner.  Yumm.

The first night on tour, in Kakadu during the dry season it rained.  It was on this trip that I discovered I am the "rain goddess."  Which is not necessarily a good thing because it'll become apparent later that I can not actually get the rain to stop.  Anyways, rain=bugs.  I have never been so viciously attacked by bugs in my life.  It was horrible.  I think of when my Dad left the boundary waters a week early because he could not handle the mosquitos, and after this night in Kakadu, I don't blame him.  It was also the first night I actually had to sleep outside in the outback.  It wasn't actually outside, but in little permanent tents with a bench and a pad for sleeping.  Still mightly uncomfortable and subject to mozzies, spiders, snakes, dingos, and other deadly Australian creatures.  Needless to say, I had a hard time sleeping.     I also later learned that by this point I had acquired some lovely bed bugs from the hostel.  Having never had bed bugs, I didn't know what they were.  I thought I had some super powered mozzie bites that just weren't going away.  The itch and pain from bed bug bites is different from mozzie bites and it lasts about two weeks.  It wasn't until the last day of my 9 day journey that a different tour guide told me they were bed bugs and since I had been camping for a week and a half, I was getting new bites every night.  Unhappy.  (Luckily I was able to wash everything I had with me before going back to Sydney so I didn't bring them home with me.)

Thankfully only that first night was bad with the mozzies.  And the waterfalls made up for it.

 Jim Jim Falls.  I really liked climbing over the massive boulders to get to the falls.  But the water was ice cold!  The problem with the giant cliff faces is that they block out the sun.  And it was the Australian winter, though we were in the Top End. 

Its also a little unnerving to swim out to the falls.  While they tell you its safe and there aren't any crocs in the water, there are crocs that inhabit the water in the summer months, so you're just praying that they got em all out.  The water is super deep too and dark, so you're just waiting for something, a croc or lochness to come up from the depths and take you under.  Uplifting thoughts eh?

 Penny, our crazy tour guide.  Also the only female tour guide I had in Oz.

Maguk Falls. I think this one is more picturesque even though its not as impressive.

 By the time we got our 3rd flat tire, we were tired of waiting inside the bus.  Here we're sitting in the middle of road waiting for Pavel, the Polish army man to change our tire.  Because of the off roading, the buses are prone to lose tires.  Penny, our guide broke a record for busting three in one day, none of which were done while off roading, LOL. And oddly enough each flat was a separate tire.

Termite mounds.  Who knew?!

While not fixing flats, we saw a road train!  Scary mo-fo's.  This one only had 3 trailers.  We saw one at a rest stop that had 6 trailers hauling cattle.  And they barrel down the highway at like 70mph.

If this looks familiar, you've watched Crocodile Dundee a few too many times.  Apparently parts of it were filmed on top of that big ole rock.  Story has it that while filming Dundee cracked his whip in a way that was offensive to the Aboriginal people who own the land and allowed them to film there.  So they kicked him and the entire movie production off their land.  So the story goes...

 Our crew at Ubir National Park

Love these photos.  Sad I'm not in it.

Aboriginal rock paintings.  Thousands of years old.  Cool.

Heading back to Darwin (surprisingly far)

Back in Darwin, one of my fav things was their strange signs...

but ain't it the truth!

That night in Darwin was the previously mentioned epic-drink-athon.  It all started because of this:

 I win!  Guess who's drinking Jack and Cokes all night for free?!  Not a grand idea for someone who's drink tolerance was sufficiently diminished for the past few months.

 There was dancing,

 making love to beer pitchers,

 and of course taking photos with absolutely everyone!

And walking back to the hostel that night we all giggled at this little sign.  Well not the Australians, they didn't see what was so funny.  Speedo=speedometer.  American speedo=budgy smuggler.  I don't know why but thats what they call them.

My Life as a John Hughes Movie

While working in an old shut down cafe, Donna equated our experience to one of those awesome, sucks in you in when you accidentally catch it on tv (but wouldn't necessarily put in the movie player yourself) kinda 80's movies.  I knew exactly what she was talking about....John Hughes movies.  Like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Curly Sue (my fav!) just to name a few.  I also think he had a hand some other favs like Say Anything, and pretty much anything Molly Ringwald was in, but I can't back that up.

Since this conversation with Donna, I noticed, in Australia at least, that a lot of my experiences could be remade to a John Hughes movie.  Even now, as I celebrate my birthday by lamely writing a blog, wondering if my mother or two best friends are going to remember to call me on my birthday I'm reminded of Sixteen Candles...hmm.

Therefore, I'm toying with the idea of changing the blog name too..

My Life as a John Hughes Movie

Most people won't get the reference (unless you've read this post of course) but for those who do...1,000 cool points for you.  I was pretty sold on it until about a minute ago, while writing this.  I don't want people to think it has anything to actually do with John Hughes.  But, as narcissistic as it sounds, and I don't mean to be, I think parts of my life could make a pretty interesting movie...or cheesy sitcom at least. 

Thoughts?

The Red Center...continued

Its a rare quiet moment on Mill St.  Not for long though, I'm on baby duty and Julia is doing a lot of gremlin'ing over in her car seat.  Anyways, since I have a moment I thought I might work on some of those back logged blog posts.  I've had a fair amount of time since coming to Boston, but between adjusting to the energy of toddlers and the sheer number of pictures to blog, I haven't had the stamina to post yet.  I'll work on that.

I'm going to try..try to go in order.  Which means I have to go all the way back to July.  You thought I was exaggerating?

This was our 3 day drive. From Kakadu in the Northern Territory to Alice Springs (also in the NT) in the center.

Moira and I during a sexy dance party on the bus.

We stopped to see some animales...

In case you haven't heard my rant before...I loath cockatoos.  I respect them for being an ancient bird that lives for something like a hundred years, but their squak is THEE most annoying sound in the world.

I ain't afraid of no snake!

Dingo paw print.  I never did see dingos in the wild, though many people apparently do.

Parrots are cool.

Fresh water croc on the croc cruise, seen from the safety of a pontoon boat.

Daly Waters Pub is well known tourist stop in Australia.  Mostly because its the only stop on this stretch of road for hundreds of miles (or kms).  Since they are the only stop, I guess they decided to have a little fun with their pub:

Don't know what a Sheilas Dunny is?  Well this sign will help ya out:

Inside the pub they have collected little tokens from the tourists that stop there.  Tshirts, ID cards, cash, anything.  And they hang it up throughout the pub.

Who travels with an old IL license plate?  Not me, but I appreciate the reminder of home.

This picture was taken for Jessica, since I left her with Lincoln, who I convinced her to adopt with me then I moved away.  It was very serendipitous for the Jessica guitar to be propped up against that sign, like I was meant to buy it.  Then I saw that it was $11, and decided to take a picture instead. 

Danielle took a fancy to all the old antique farm tools (??) hanging in the pub.

Back on the bus for more antics.

  

Gotta stop and get firewood...why not take a jumping pictures in the middle of the road.

 On to Devils Marbles, which I think I mentioned before. Big rocks shaped  like Marbles in the middle of desert.  I sadly do not think I am in this jumping picture.

 I was too busy holding up this marble I guess, lol.

The first day on this leg of the tour we went kayaking on Katherine Gorge.  I was extremely hung over all day from our night out in Darwin the night before.  I won a free bar tab for being able to say Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious (sp?) with 16 marshmallows in my mouth.  Undoubtedly the worst hang over of my life.  Though surprisingly, even though I spent the entire morning absolutely miserable and nervous I was going to spew all over the bus, getting in the kayak on the river actually made my hang over go away.  (I did spend the whole morning working through my list of hang over cures.  Skipping lunch for a cold shower probably had more to do with the recovery).  I'm in the kayak with Moira who doesn't know how to swim and is terrified of water.  Did I mention that Katherine Gorge is totally croc infested.  Winning.

You could swim at any of the beaches along the way as long as there wasn't a sign saying croc nesting area here.  We didnt actually see any beaches that weren't croc nesting areas until this one, which was our final destination anyway.

Next stop:  The Roswell of Australia.  Don't remember the name.  There's a US weather station in this town and some strange occurrences, so their pretty sure 'weather station' is equivalent to Area 51. 

Naoko in this photo cracks me up!

Alcohol abuse? bug bites? allergic reaction? heat rash?  I believe it may have been all of these.  Whatever the cause, I was a hot mess on this trip.  I think I was injured part of the way too.

Last stop before Alice Springs...Thermal Pools.  Where chicken fighting ensued, and under water modeling/photography.  The water was so warm, it was awesome!

I would be holding my nose, LOL

A quick stop at the Tropic of Capricorn (or maybe Cancer).  Julie on the south is cold in winter, while Latetia on the north is in the tropics and toasty warm.

Welcome to Alice Springs.  Our guide thought it was funny to make the sign say something else. I have to say, we went with it thinking it was going to be a whole lot funnier on the flip side.  Lame sauce.

Most of the Darwin crew at the only bar in Alice Springs after our leg of the trip together.  R-L" Naoko from Japan, Mike from Perth, Moira from Ireland, Brecht from Sweden (oy, I don't think thats right?) Doc the tour guide, Uschi from Sydney (also seen in previous posts!), Kevin from Switzerland (now living in Chicago), Julie from Canadia, and Martina from Germany.

  

Diving in Victoria

I'm reading this book called Down Under by Bill Bryson.  I would recommend it to anyone coming to Australia, living in Australia, been to Australia, or just has a curious nature about Australian culture.  Bryson is from small town America and lived in London for awhile, which I think is why his way of describing things is right on and hilarious.  Its exactly how I would describe things, just written a hell of a lot better and funnier.

I tell you this because Bill Bryson devotes a lot of time in the book to a infamously tragic accident when the Prime Minister of Australia in the 1960's, Harold Holt, went for a swim in south Victoria and disappeared.  Never to be seen again.  Presumably he drowned and was eaten up by sharks and shit, but there's a ton of conspiracy theories floating around (get it...floating around...hehehe).  They built a monument to him in Melbourne....a swimming pool.

This pic is strange, but it shows what I want to show.  Where Harold Holt went swimming that day was near the Rip, or the Heads, which is a very small inlet (only a couple hundred meters) into Port Phillip Bay which Melbourne sits atop of.  The Mornington Peninsula is a get away area for Melburnians, and I can understand why. All of South Victoria has become my favorite part of Australia <3.  Anyways, the Rip is notorious for capsizing boats, its one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.  Guess where we went diving? 

Ok, we did NOT dive in the Rip.  Not possible.  We did do some diving in the bay and outside the bay, requiring us to drive through the Heads, which was scary enough in my opinion.  In fact, as we came in from our last dive out, we heard an emergency call on the radio for a capsized boat near the Rip!  When we docked another call came through that someone was signaling that there were people trapped in the vessel and they had to send out rescue recovery teams.  I just googled it to see if there was more information, but no luck. But how scary is that!  I'm just glad we were on our last dive, not sure I would've gone back out after hearing that.  Macca said it was a calm day for the heads when we went through, but my arms are sore and I have blisters on the hands from white-knuckling the bar so I didn't go flying out of the boat.  It was well worth it though, cuz the diving was awesome!

Macca took some awesome pics underwater.  I don't know what these are, maybe a nudie branch?  (seriously that's what they're called)

We followed some little squiddies around for awhile.  They were just squid, but smaller than I would expect squid to be and cute, so I call them little squiddies :)

A Gobi sticking out of coral 

We did a pier dive and fish count the third day.  You literally dive around and count how many fish you see.  I found it rather uninteresting except for this guy!  Weedy seadragons were everywhere.  Very cool.

I'm a diver, and you can't see my arms flailing!  Its really hard not to use your arms when you're diving, but they're useless, lol.

 Blue Devil Fish

 

We saw a shark!  Thankfully MC Hammer is the only shark we saw.

 The last dive we did was my favorite.  Mostly because I am disproportionately proud of myself for diving without a more experienced guide with me.  I had to pay attention to the computers to make sure I wasn't going to deep, and I guided the other two people I was partnered with around.  And I managed the accent with a very good safety stop at 5meters!  I actually felt like I knew what I was doing, pretty much for the first time.  It changed the whole experience :)

This is my fav pic form all our dives-fluorescent orange starfish in macro!

Limited antics of the Red Center

I'm trying very hard to update the blog and possibly just possibly get caught up....not likely.  But the crap internet of Australia is trying very hard to hinder all efforts on my part.  I have about 100 photos from the Red Center that I want to put up (and that's just the best of the best). Unfortunately, uploading photos takes a loooooong ass time.  Here, I have spent the last 20 minutes and only able to upload 4.  So please enjoy, 4 photos from the Center of Australia:

 Road bowling.  It is exactly what it sounds to be.  Funny enough, we were all quite keen to do road bowling, though thinking about it now, I don't think the bowl at all in Australia.  If you go to a bowling club, its lawn bowling, which is widely different and has a minimum age of 85 to play.    Regardless, road bowling outside of Daily Waters Pub (which is in fact very Australian but the pics did not upload) was good fun!

 Pavel, the Polish army man who liked to tell me that 9-11 was a US government conspiracy at Devils Marbles.  Devils Marbles are a set of natural rock formations that look like....marbles.  Quite remarkable actually.  Pavel's theory...not as remarkable (but awkward as hell to listen to when stuck on a bus for hours and hours)

Pushing one of the Devil's Marbles over...I wonder how the Devil would feel about that...

After the hours on the bus together, people get a bit silly.  Moira, Brecht, and Julie dancing a jig at Daily Waters Pub :)