Picture time!

Okays, I've been really, really bad about this last update. We're going to say that Christina is scared to write the final post of her trip, because then it will bring about that traumatic moment when she realizes IT'S OVER.
So, to be nice, I've uploaded a more complete set of photos of the trip. A lot of these are kind of crappy, you've been warned. But there are pictures from every single day of the entire trip. Enjoy!

http://theyarb.com/aus/show/index.htm

If you have any questions about any of the pictures, or all of them, please ask! As I'm sure you've noticed, I love talking about Australia.

Yes, I know there are a lot, but this has been whittle down from the 4,000 I have.

Cairns

We got into Cairns pretty late in the day, and didn't arrive at the hostel until about 7:30-8:00. After Annie's Place, I was a bit concerned about the fact that someone from the hostel picked us up and wanted to talk to everyone. But it all turned out fine, no one tried to sell us anything and we ended up with the room we needed. Everyone on the bus there chatted and after being socialized for the past few days, I finally felt what it was like to be a backpacker (granted we had wheelie-bags, but that's just 'cuz it's easier). Remembering that moment being squashed in with a bunch of other people who were all quite content with the fact and being able to just talk to someone I didn't know brings up the feelings I want to always remember about the trip; carefree, energized, healthy, active, awaiting adventure, and not giving a crap that I smelled.
Anyway, after we checked in and opened the sliding glass door to our room, we headed out across the street for provisions; fish, chips, and pepsi. We saw that right behind our place was a giant statue of Captain Cook (one of the few things we didn't happen to get a photo of, because it was always dark when we were there).
It either rained or was cloudy the entire time we were in Cairns, and we also found out that there wasn't much to do here, aside from the reef of course and souvenir shops (which we visited every one of at least once).
The reason there were crap tons of these, we realized, was this was the middle-aged, wealthy resort town. Danielle found a shop for the Australian Rainforest Foundation and I made her buy a bunch of cassowary stuff.
http://www.arf.net.au/operationbigbird
We also decided to splurge since we had been really good all this time, and had fancy lunch.
http://www.redochregrill.com.au
We actually sat at the table in the bottom right of the first picture on the website. We each ordered the Game Platter, which was phenomenal. I still prefer kangaroo, but Danielle has decided on the emu as her favorite. We even ordered dessert, the Chocolate Slut. We felt very extravagant, and a bit out of place, but it was worth it.
Back at the hostel, I asked the receptionist an indecent number of questions, of which all she was very patient about. We did our laundry (hallelujah!) and figured out the reef cruise, which had been upgraded to their most expensive one. This should have been a warning to us.
The next day we found the wharf and realized that our cruise was the epicenter for stuffy, Italian tourists. Yay. The trip out to the reef was an hour, and as it was rainy, we went inside where everyone but Danielle proceeded to get seasick.
Aside from all of this, the cruise was very ritzy, tea and coffee upon boarding, double-shot-espresso-perky photographer, huge seafood buffet, champagne, diving equipment, and resident marine biologist.
I was still feeling quite social, and so asked a woman near us if she was actually from Colorado, as her t-shirt had a Bank of the West logo and something about Broomfield on it. She was, and we chatted a little bit. Her husband later teased me for eating a lot on a queasy stomach, but it was all potatoes and rice, so as not to puke on Danielle.
Oh, yes, the reef. The whole point for doing this. When we got to Michaelmas Cay (pronounced to rhyme with nickel-mas) there were some gorgeous fish that came right up to the boat, they were a vibrant yellow and blue, but unfortunately they were the flashiest things we saw. The island was wonderful, and the sand was so soft, as it was made up all of shells and coral constantly buffeted by the waves. Lovely place. I saw an installment of Planet Earth that showed Michaelmas Cay, and got so excited I called my whole family into the living room to show them that I'd been right there, at that little area that's not covered in sea birds. See?
Standing on the tiny beach out in the Pacific, we watched the black clouds roll in, then headed back to the boat of barf. :) I was particularly amused by the group of middle-aged women who had decided to ease their seasickness with a couple rounds of beer. The jaunt to the island pretty much cleared up my nausea, and we had a nice relaxing trip back to Cairns.
Our third full day, we took a bus ride up to Kuranda to see the village and Birdworld. This was another cozy van ride where at one point the 12 person capacity van held 16 people and a large gift basket. Luckily, we were all female and comfortable being squashed together.
I'm quite glad we decided not to rent a car, as driving on the left was still a bit frightening to me, it was a rather steep, winding drive (think Mt Evans) and it didn't rain, it poured.
The village was adorable, we did a bit more shopping in the authentic Australian shops, where everything was done locally, and explored Birdworld. We spent a couple of hours in this small aviary. There were just tons of birds. The larger Cockatoos and Galahs were surprisingly gentle and very friendly, even the Cassowaries, which I've heard scary stories about were careful not to peck or hurt you. Danielle about squealed with delight when we found you could hand feed these guys, even though they've been known to disembowel a grown man.
I almost came to blows with an Eclectus Parrot when he tried to bite my ear off, and I'm sure now that he has tasted actual blood, he'll be the bane of Birdworld's existence. I'm actually surprised no one came to my rescue, they have security cameras which feed to the check-in desk. Then again, it's probably their entertainment. Watch the tourist get eaten by, no not the giant carnivorous bird who's really a dinosaur, but the cute little parrot who looks like he could use a snack. On our way out we also got to pet a Tawny Frogmouth, one of our favorites at the Denver Zoo. Very gentle, timid guys who are all feathers.
After getting back to Cairns, we wandered the open market a bit, then had Aussie pizza, with barbecue sauce and an egg, bought some gelato, and put our feet in at the manmade beachfront.







Uncorrected photo of the reef.








The parrot who later beat me up.

Uluru Day 4

Our second dark wake-up was less exciting than the first, but we still made quick work of cleaning up the camp site, then headed out to a different lookout site for the last sunrise.
This morning we had fried ham, eggs, toast, and (happy day!) coffee. Kiwi had bought us a pound of Italian coffee, much to Francesco's delight. He even took a picture of Kiwi brewing it. Now, this was comparable to our first cup in Australia, which was a long black. In other words, by the time we were done with breakfast, Danielle and I were prepared to sprint the 9k base walk.
As before, the Frenchies took off, probably not even looking at the rock, hoping to beat the record walk of 45 minutes by a local woman. Any rate, we ended up taking 3 hours, because we wanted to enjoy this last time in the Red Centre. Kiwi, having done this walk about a bazillion times, took a nap in the bus. We of course arrived last, but only by about 5 minutes. The walk was probably the most isolated I felt the entire trip, as it was just the two of us for quite awhile. I think most of the tourists only walk along the first quarter of the rock, and then turn back. You know, can't be far from their air conditioning for too long.
Frencies did 1 hour 20 minutes.
After this, it was time for a light lunch or leftovers, and then the bus was heading back to Alice Springs, and Danielle, Francesco and I had flights out of the Uluru airport to Cairns. So we hung out in town until the free bus took us to the airport.











Me, Raphael, Frenchie 1, Kiwi, Frenchie 2, Danielle, Francesco, Anna, Allen

Uluru Day 3

I would say that Tuesday dawned bright and early, but it actually dawned late and slowly. We slept in until 4:30 instead of getting up at 4, and headed out to the sunrise lookout near Kata-Tjuta. We were actually the last ones up at the site, and got to the lookout almost first.
With so much open space, it was incredibly light out before the sun even peeked up. I think it was the best sunrise I've ever seen, as there was nothing blocking the view. Granted, I'm grumpy when sleepy, but I thought it a bit of a cop out that quite a few people came at the last few minutes before sunrise, snapped 2 or 3 pictures, and then scampered off. The visuals and special moments in this land deserve and practically demand to be enjoyed at length. I didn't want to leave even long after the sun was up, but we figured if we didn't, the Frenchie's would have eaten everything.
That's the key to our being able to sleep longest, get there first, and not rush. While we enjoyed the various sunrises and sunsets, Kiwi cooked our meals in the parking lot or on the side of the road, so all we had to do was wander back to the van, grab a plate and plop ourselves down on the ground. And the best part was, all the uppity snobs who came in their giant buses and spent on one night in their fancy hotels what we did for the entire tour, always exclaimed at how we had hot meals prepared for us right at the site. It's amazing no one else ever did this.
After we finished breakfast, we drove the last few minutes to the trail around and through Kata-Tjuta. Upon arriving at the site, we saw two dingoes running around the parking lot. Allen tried whistling at them to get them to come over, which of course they didn't. I'm am so disappointed, really wanted to pat a wild dog on the head that's known to attack humans. We also saw a wild kangaroo, who of course showed off to us limited humans, by hopping a quarter of the way up one of the steep rocks.
Anyway, this hike/walk was still strenuous, but much better than the King's Canyon rim walk, as there was a good variety of hilly areas and flatness. It was gorgeous. I think I enjoyed this walk the most out of all of them. Approaching the first rock (Kata-Tjuta is actually a series of rocks that were pushed together, and from how Kiwi explained it, they were caused when the continent bumped into Antarctica back in the day) the enormity was obvious. This rock looked so big, that even being a good thousand feet away from it, I felt like I was looking at something right in front of me, that I could reach out and touch this gigantic wall. It was an eerie trick on the eyes.
As was usual with our group, we didn't often stay together while walking, and soon the Frenchie's had taken off, this soon led to a problem as there was a giant loop in the trail. Kiwi told them to go left and around the far north side of the rocks, but he wanted to make sure, and so when we came to the fork he sent us on left, and went right, to see if he could catch up to them. Turns out they did go right, and eventually met up with us coming the opposite direction. Seems the whole intent of the trip for these guys (whom we were all starting to suspect were not completely platonic friends) was to see just how fast they could race around everything.
It was at this point that Danielle's camera died (simply dead batteries, but still, anyone detecting a theme?). Luckily, Danielle is smarter than smart, and had already bought new ones before we traveled to the land of 'You want HOW much for that?!?' So as soon as we were back at camp, the problem was fixed.
We climbed a pass between two of the large rocks, and rested, where Kiwi met back up with us (bugger just didn't want to make that hike) where we gave us another geology and aboriginal lesson. These people really are quite genius. To continue as a society for this long, without having written any stories down, about rock formations, about seasons, about everything really. It's almost all verbal. It's incredible.
Anyway, after this awesome walk, we headed back to camp for lunch, as per usual. We were also visited by a spiny-tailed monitor. We then headed into 'town', or the main area of the resort for iced coffee. I'm really going to miss all the awesome coffee options there (last night, Dec 30th, I actually had a dream about going back to Australia, simply for a flat white, which cost me $70). We chatted for a bit, and everyone tried to give Francesco tips for getting rid of his flu. Poor guy ended up drinking tea with lemon, which he apparently found offensive, while sitting in roughly 100 degree weather, with a scarf on! He also did not appreciate Anna's and my idea of toast with garlic.
Around 4 or so, we headed over to Uluru. Giddyness ensued, many pictures were taken. We did a short walk with Kiwi, called the Mala walk, after the Mala men. We walked near one of the little caves where symbols would be drawn inside, it was like a little classroom, where an elder would teach a child about the creation stories and life in the Red Centre. We also saw another huge cave, and walked past the women's sacred site, which we aren't allowed to learn about or photograph, though Kiwi mentioned that it could be where the women go to give birth.
He also told us why the Aborigines ask us not to climb the rock. There's a track up one part near the parking area that has a chain where people can climb it, but this track, as well as others that aren't open to the public, is climbed as a coming of age ceremony, and is where the elders would climb with a huge totem to place on top of the rock to signal to tribes miles away that there was a meeting at the rock. It's totally understandable that they ask people not to climb. It's like allowing the public onto the pulpit of a Catholic church. Basically, we haven't earned it. And unfortunately, half our group, after hearing this, and reading about why they ask us not to climb, still intended to. Well, apparantly there have been quite a few injuries and and over 35 deaths on this climb. When asked, Kiwi told us that yes, he had been up on the rock, rescuing an old man who had gotten hurt. The Aborigines thus close the climb for most any reason: high winds, rain, high temps, and low clouds. It was closed both days we saw it. Aw, too bad.
We then went to see the sunset on Uluru from a different spot, which was jam-packed by the time we got there. But it was a big area, and we found a spot to view it relatively unharnessed. Then, once the sunset was over, everyone booked it, and we moseyed back to the bus where Kiwi had dinner prepared right there. I think that's one of my favorites, eating dinner, and then breakfast the next morning while staring at this monolith.
This last evening was the most fun, as everyone had grown comfortable with each other. On our ride back, Kiwi had fun, flying around the rotary twice, to the shock of a group of middle-aged touristy types, flashing the interior lights, and blasting YMCA. We then resumed our previous sleeping arrangements, but everyone poked fun at Raphael for sleeping near where the monitor was earlier. It was really the most fun we had as a group. Love me some dirty jokes.







Raphael and Francesco

Red Centre Day 2

Our first evening on the tour, we stayed near King's Canyon, at a little resort that unless you're looking for it, you could completely miss. The idea was for upwards of 2,000 people being able to stay in comfort while blending into the scenery. At first I was concerned about the lack of tents, but that was before I discovered the wonder of the swag.
We watched a bit of the sunset coloring the Canyon, then made camp and started on dinner, which was spaghetti bolognese. Very good despite the fact that Kiwi snuck a jar of Vegemite into it. We also discovered that there was a huge ant colony in the middle of the site, and Kiwi spent a while trying to decide if they were bulldog ants, which not only bite, but sting you while they're holding on just like a scorpion. The guys filled in the hole, put a rock over it, and we bedded down on the opposite side of the site. There was also a very large type of beetle, that I still don't know the name of, but it was the size of a human eye, and made a loud low thumping hiss. At least until someone stepped on it. :P Poor thing.
I still feel sorry for Danielle about that night, because she didn't get any sleep. Seriously, she watched Orion cross the entire sky until daylight. Again, poor thing.
But oh, the stars! I've not seen anything like it. Not even in NH in the middle of the night. There was not a light for dozens of miles, and you could practically see an entire dome above you. It brings to mind one of the ancient theories about stars, where it was thought that the earth was flat, and there was an upside down bowl over it, with holes punched in it and a great fire behind the bowl. I think I'll never forget that.
We also heard a pack of dingoes howling not far off.
The next morning we got up at about 7, had a quick breakfast, and then headed to the canyon for the rim walk. We climbed Heart Attack Hill (aptly named) and then spent the next 2 and a half hours enjoying the views and learning more about rock formation and geology than I have in any science class.
He also got us with a joke about a rare species of pygmy koalas. As my skepticism grew, the group strained to see the tiny clip-on souvenir that someone had put in the tree. Danielle, of course, didn't fall for it, because she should have an honorary degree in zoology.
As we were coming down from our hike we saw the bus from Annie's Place. Turns out they had started their hike just as we were finishing up, about 11:30; don't envy them. We then went back to camp and had lunch. Chicken burgers with pineapple, beet, and lettuce. How I miss the food. Then it was back to the canyon (after the hottest part of the day was done), for a walk through the middle of it.
We then started the journey to Uluru, we passed Kathleen Falls, and walked a bit along the washed out riverbed, and stopped for iced coffee (with ice cream!) at one of the few outposts.
We also passed Mount Conner, which both Danielle and I saw from miles off, and yet had a bad feeling about. We later found out that we'd each been thinking something wasn't right about it. Turns out that the Aborigines feel the same way, that there is a bad spirit there, and they don't visit it. Odd.
We made it just in time to the Uluru resort (which regardless of the name houses campgrounds, a hotel, hostel, and village as well as the uppity suites) to scramble up the ramp to the viewing area. It was very well situated, because you're not quite equidistant between Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Kiwi even brought up munchies and drinks for us.
After it was getting a bit dark we headed down to help with supper, steak and sausages. I would say I was proud of myself for cooking the steaks all on my own and getting Australian approval (that's the highest praise you can get, according to a handy-dandy customs guide Beki gave us), but there weren't any real Australians there, dammit.
We then bedded down, after making sure there were no ant nests. Anna asked if we didn't mind her sleeping with Danielle and I on one side of her and Allen on the other. That way if anything came for her, it would have to go through other people first. And Kiwi gave us some bull story about getting fresh air by being higher up off the ground, and slept on top of the trailer.



Heart Attack Hill, Anna, Allen, and a Frenchie elbow


Danielle, Allen, Anna


Fossilized water ripples








Mount Connor


Uluru


Kata-Tjuta

Red Centre Day 1

Hmm, even though it has been quite a few weeks, and I haven't been keeping up with this as well as I had hoped, I can still remember the next few days like they just happened. It seems like the whole trip was just a prelude to this small part.
We flew into Alice Springs on Sat the 10th, and started to think that we should cancel the previously planned tour to Uluru, and just drive ourselves down there from Alice. We got ourselves kind of psyched about this idea, and were quite prepared for a little roadtrip in the outback. That is until we found out that such a late cancellation would mean no refund at all. :( At this point we became slightly grumpy, because we'd had our hopes up.
We then got to our hostel, which was one of the odder ones out there. Not because of the accommodations, but the staff. Annie's Place is run by a bunch of twenty-something girls, who then try to convince you take their tour to the Rock. Uluru is the only reason anyone comes to Alice. Seriously, we overheard a conversation with reception, and she asked the other person if they weren't here for Uluru, then why were they even in town? Since we already had the tour booked, we declined, for the better.
So, we decide to head into town for dinner, which ends up being no bigger than downtown Alton or Strasburg. The town, not dinner. We end up at this nice restaurant experiencing our first kangaroo steaks. Don't tell Tweakers. Further proof to the cute=tasty theory. They were phenomenal, and Australians love their sweet potatoes, they've converted me.
After dinner we decided to head to the grocery store for Sunday's breakfast, and encounter more screaming drunks, of the Darwin variety. Yay us. As Danielle has said, I would rather walk around alone at night in King's Cross than with people at night in Alice. Crazy.
Next morning, we checked out and waited for our tour to pick us up. I ran into town for some flat whites and we ate some rock cakes. Mmmm, rock cakes.
Kiwi, or Simon (he's from New Zealand) picked us up at 11, and we then went to meet the Ghan to pick up one more person, Francesco. There were 8 of us, two French guys, Anna and Allen from Wales, Raphael from Switzerland, and Francesco is from Italy.
We stopped at a bottle shop before heading out, because apparently even though alcohol is expensive in Alice ($50 for a case of beer), it's more than double the price at Uluru (as much as $180) And the exchange rate isn't very much in our favor, about $1 US to $1.15 AU. Regardless, we don't drink beer, and thought it a bad idea to consume any alcohol whilst in the middle of nowhere, seeing how easy it could be to die of dehydration. We were required to always have at least a liter of water with us, along with the keg Kiwi had in the van. The booze thing is all a moot point though; being Sunday, the bottle shop was closed.
So, we headed out with a little commentary from Kiwi. Alice Springs holds the only boating race in the world that has been cancelled due to there being water in the normally dry riverbed. Apparently the contestants build boats with no bottoms, get in them, and run up and down the riverbed. And people come from all over the country for this. I am not even kidding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta

There were some other interesting facts, like how Alice is only there because it is exactly equidistant between Darwin and Adelaide, it started out as simply a midway post for the telegraph line. Also, the highway between Alice and Uluru has the longest straight stretch, being some 40 or so kilometers with no bend or turn.
We spent most of the 5 hour drive looking out the windows at this strange new landscape. I read a bit, so didn't see everything, but I counted 6 red dust storms, (which I've never seen in all of my trips through Kansas) 7 cars that had run off the highway and been abandoned, and lots and lots of cow skeletons. At least I assume they were cows once.
About halfway we stopped at a camel farm, where (yay us!) we had the opportunity to take a half hour camel ride. We had both been pretty upset when we found we weren't going to have time to do this, but Kiwi said that the tour is much more relaxed than the company makes it out to be.
I rode a camel named Pebbles, and Danielle's was named Quee, I think. Our guide had a strong Asian accent and it was a bit hard to understand him. But he thought we were hilarious, as I'm sure we were, two pasty white Americans who can't keep their camels from eating everything. At least I couldn't. Every time there was a bit of shrub on the path, or a tree nearby, Pebbles would forget what she was doing. And if I had let my gaze wander a bit (and who wouldn't, this was gorgeous country!) she would end up chowing down. It's really hard to get a camel to give up on a snack once they've started, I practically had to pull her reigns so that her head was straight up in the air to get her attention off of the leaves. It was so fun, though, I would willingly part with a couple hundred dollars to do the camel safari if I had had the time.
After this, we all got back in the van and continued on our way.

Where did we leave off?
Darwin.
We arrived pretty late, and didn't get to the hostel until about 8pm. At which hour, it was still bloody hot out. Should have been a warning. Any rate, we finally had a nice, quiet room, with concrete walls and metal doors. No noise! And A/C! Yay!
Darwin is small, and the area we were in was geared towards our age group, so everything was open late and it was a bit seedy.
Anyway, the next morning we got up and decided after the wholly unsatisfactory breakfast that the hostel laid out, that coffee was needed. Had breakfast at this cute little place called Banyan Cafe for the giant tree canopying the patio. Then we decided to walk around and see the park and whatnot. Now, it probably was partly that our bodies were not accustomed to the climate, but after 2 hours of sweating and guzzling water, we had made it across the park, and were in desperate need of a nap. It was so hot and humid, I thought I was going to be sick.
That day was a bust.
The next day we went to Crocodylus. It's a crocodile farm and museum. They also have a small (I mean it, small) zoo. While we were there the guide made mention of how the weather was good lately, and how lucky we were that we were only at 80% humidity.
So, we saw the giant pond with the 77 young crocodiles, the 24 breeding pens, the ponds with almost every other kind of crocodile and alligator, and the 3 ponds with the juvenile crocs. I think they have a total of some 9,000.
Danielle got to feed the big one, measuring at 15' 10". They put a bit of chicken on a string and then tie it to a stick, and you basically fish for a croc. Then we got to hold a baby, and be tourists and take our picture with it.
After that we had lunch. Let me take a moment here to talk about the food here. It's basically the same, but they get inventive with what they put on it. For instance, a typical burger comes with pineapple, a beet or two, and shredded carrot. They regularly put an egg on their pizza, and sometimes even include peas in their fajitas.
We then walked around the zoo, which was really good despite it's size. The big cats had nice big enclosures, and it was wire on the back with glass on the front, so you could actually see them up close. AND, their wombat was awake! And doing stuff, okay, eating. But still. He was right up near the fencing, so I reached in and illegally touched his bum.
After we were done with Crocodylus, we shopped around a bit, and then called it a day.
Our last night in Darwin, which of course was a friday night, we were awoken at 3am to someone next door trying to beat down the door. I thought about going out there and telling them off. Seriously, this building is a fortress, and I can hear them hitting their door. I didn't though, which was good, because some guy from down the hall came out and started getting on the first guy's case. They bickered for a few minutes, and then we hear what sounds like slapping, then yelling, then some girl going on about all the blood! Nice. So I wait until it dies down, because now that we're both awake, we both really need to use the little girls room, which is of course only accessible by passing the room in question. It's quiet, so I poke my head out, and there's bouts of blood on the floor and smeared on the wall. I'm a pansy about this, so of course now I feel like puking. No one's in the hall, so we dash to the toilets and back. As we get back, the guy who did the hitting has gotten the night manager (finally! what's the point of having someone there if they're not going to do anything?) and they're cleaning up the hallway. After going back to bed, we then hear the next door girl crying in the hallway about how she didn't know what was going on. O_O
The people here are just freaking crazy, as if the above isn't evidence enough. While we waited for the bus, we were also treated to a group of drunks screaming f--- this and f--- that, and the woman in the group danced around in the street and offered her, ahem, services to every male. Then this other guy started blatantly patronizing her, and when she yelled at him for touching her water bottle but let him have the newspaper, he went out into the street and began thanking God for it. He also pointed out that the carton of milk he was drinking was dribbling on the sidewalk, and to be careful of it. Yeah, I think there's something in the overabundance of water.