the yarb

2011-12-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

4 days until Christmas. Holy moo.
Having not worked retail during the holidays for the first time in many years, it really doesn't feel like Christmas. On the plus side, I'm fairly well done on the shopping front. Maybe some wrapping paper, if there's any left. :)

Also, this means I'm not jaded by all the inconsiderate teenagers who want specific clothes, or irritable moms with their long lists to be checked off.
For the first time in forever, Christmas doesn't mean anger! :D

2011-12-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today's a day worthy of staying in bed. All rainy and chill. It's a nice change for LA. But for once, I don't feel like staying in bed. Did that all weekend.

I need to figure out this week's dinners. And clean up the place. And jobhunt. Blecch.
It's been an interesting challenge, to come up with food that's meat-free, and under 600-700 calories per person. Today's rain has me tempted to put further constraints on my meal choices, as I'd love to make everything with what I have here. i.e. Don't wanna leave the house! :P

2010-03-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

It may be possible, hopefully, maybe, that I may NOT be allergic to seaweed after all. I ate 2 pieces of a sushi roll today, and no ill effect!

Or at least maybe not the kind that they use for sushi. Are there different types used in rolls? I understand that there must be different species, as there are different grasses. But would it be safe to consider all sushi.... well, safe?

Adventures on Sunday

2010-02-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

Have tried Sea Urchin and Red Bean ice cream as of Sunday.
The Sea Urchin was a bit squishy, the ice cream was a bit lumpy.

I did also test my alleged seaweed allergy by eating a piece about half the size of a dime. No reaction. Maybe next time.

Made the best splurge purchase that was not at a renaissance faire.
(see below)

It comes complete with buck teeth.

Cute = Tasty

2010-02-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

I've decided to compile a list of the animals I've eaten. Mmmmm, tasty little critters.

Land Animals

Alligator
Antelope
Boar
Buffalo
Cow
Crocodile
Elk
Kangaroo*
Moose
Pig
Rabbit*
Snail*

Aquatic Animals

Catfish
Cod
Crab
Eel*
Haddock
Lobster
Octopus
Oyster
Pollock
Salmon
Scallops
Sea Urchin
Shrimp
Squid
Tilapia
Trout
Tuna

Birds

Chicken
Cornish Hen
Duck
Emu
Ostrich
Quail
Turkey
Various Bits

Flying Fish Roe
Rocky Mountain Oysters
Tongue

*Highly suggested

Happy Danielle's Birthday!

2010-02-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

All kinds of fun and exciting things happening today. Best of all, on the 3rd try, I made an almost perfect omelette!

Spinach and Feta.

Don't know if it was tasty, as I don't like feta. But I will eat cute animals.

We ate in North Conway. Four different meats consumed that had never been previously consumed!

Venison = cold, a little spicy, but not bad.

Rabbit = tender, amazing flavor, consistency of very moist poultry.

Antelope = slightly tougher than steak, looks like pork, mild steaky flavor.

Escargot = chewy, buttery and oniony, fantastic.

2010-02-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Helloooooo Blog.

Miss me?

A little?

Picture time!

2008-02-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-31T12:41:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-11-26T05:29:00.000-08:00

We have returned. We got back on the 23rd, Black Friday for those of you have enjoyed the wonderful world of retail. But, not to worry for all you (what, 3?) readers, I still have 4 places to write about. It'll be a few more days, though, as we're heading off to NY tomorrow.

Perth Part 2

2007-11-17T00:47:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I could write, that it's already hard to remember what happened in Perth.
So, the next day we planned to go to Caversham Wildlife Park, but upon getting up bright and early, Danielle nearly puked. She had a pretty bad sunburn, and I had gotten a bit of one too. So she decided to sleep a bit more and see how that turned out. But by the time she felt better it was pretty late. I freaked out a little bit with terms like 'sunstroke' and 'sun poisoning' running through my head, then we went and got some pancakes.
Again, that evening we went to Queen Victoria's Park and watched the birds. As soon as we sat down with our dinner, we were welcomed by a family of 6 young ducks, and then the black swan babies, all telling us in no uncertain terms that they'd not eaten for weeks. We called them liars and went to find a bench.
The next day was Caversham. This sealed the deal for Perth. It's a comfy, welcoming little zoo in a wildlife reserve outside of the city. The enclosures are nice, and all the animals were native. The best part by far was the huge (seriously, huge, probably the size of 2 football fields) walkthrough kangaroo area, which had a bin of pellet food for you to feed them. Not like some parks where you buy the food. You could just take it. So I filled a pocket and tried to feed some 'roos. No luck, no one was hungry. Not surprising, as a field trip had just come through. So we tried around the bend, which just kept going and going. The guys in the back were hungry. I would have spent the rest of the day there petting kangaroos, but we figured we should see the whole park.
As soon as we got done, we decided to head back to the kangaroos, so I loaded up 2 pockets and went to town. They had so many of them, all with plenty of space. Darker grey ones, the typical red kangaroos, and even a few white ones. My favorite was this twitchy little one who didn't want any food, just to be pet. She also really liked coming over to you and standing up tall to have a look at you, which was cute, because she was a short little dark grey one. I called her Tweakers. Turns out her name is Willow, but oh well.
So when we got to the gift shop, instead of the wombat I've been gearing up to buy, I had to get a kangaroo, the most publicized of all Australian animals.
Oh, yeah, they also had free wombat and koala pettings. There was also a Tawny Frogmouth, which I've been trying for years at Denver Zoo to get a good picture of with no luck.

Perth Part 1

2007-11-17T00:45:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacker. Perth's already done, and I've not written anything about it. Basically Perth is in 2nd place after Sydney. Nice little city, fairly clean, pretty, and the public transport is cheap and easy to figure out. Our hostel was okay, the staff were nice bordering on scary-nice, but we had thin walls again. The first night we could hear the lovely sound of our neighbor blowing his nose every 5 minutes. Literally, it was that often. Luckily there was a heater and fan in the room, so that took care of it the next four nights.
Friday evening we just laid low, and ate some dinner down by the water. Saturday we decided to check out the botanical gardens. They are huge. Since we were tired, it took us the better part of the day to see not even half of them, and then we took a nap there. It was nice to just relax in the almost quiet. I would have liked to wander the paths, since it's the only park to have bushland near the city. But I had worn sandals, and didn't feel like getting bitten by anything deadly.
That evening we walked down the street from our hostel to Queen Victoria's Park, which has a set of ponds where swans, ducks, and geese. There was a pair of geese that had eight goslings and they led them down into the water. However, the ponds are bordered by a wooden edge too big for the goslings to get out. So the parents kept getting out and couldn't figure out why they weren't coming with them, so they'd get back in or wander away from the little slope where they'd gotten in tweaking out. A long-necked turtle decided he'd have a snack, and then there were seven. Still, they couldn't get the goslings out of the water. So we walked behind the parents to shoo them towards the slope, which eventually worked and they all got out. Besides this it was a nice little park.
Sunday we headed down to Freemantle on the train. Gorgeous. I think I would live in that little town, if I could. It was cute, with an arcade, and an entire street (which I was too dumb to find) that has wireless internet. And the water was that turquoise color that I only thought the Caribbean would have. The beaches were all white sand, and relatively quiet. It was the vacation backdrop that I believed was only accessible to the wealthy.
We built ourselves a sandcastle that I'm pretty confident is still there. This happened after Danielle's sandblob became the beach's version of a fire hydrant.

Nothing Happens

2007-11-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

I figured that Adelaide would be a nice, quiet escape from the go go go, seeing as how it's always described as a smallish city, with a calm atmosphere. That's supposed to translate to Nothing Happens.
We had grand plans to check out the Warrawong Sanctuary or the Gorge Wildlife Park. But if you don't have a car of your own, you're SOL, because they're a little ways out of town, and thus the bus only goes there at 10am and 2pm. Four hours is never enough for us at any wildlife park.
So the first day we walked around, and found a cafe that actually had free wireless with a purchase. Yay! Then we booked a swim with the dolphins, which of course was outside of the city, since nothing happens in Adelaide.
Next morning, Wednesday, we get up at the crack of dawn to see that it's raining. Hard. Oh well, we'll make do. So we get to Glenelg, and join our boat, and head out. It went pretty well, we saw more dolphins than swam with them. And it was so bloody cold out that we didn't go in the water much. But I think it was better off to see them from above than to be in the water waiting for them, especially for those of us who are a bit scared of the ocean. *sheepishly raises hand* Quite a few times there were a couple of pods right under and around the boat, probably making the total anywhere from 10 to 20. It was quite spectacular.
After that we realized there wasn't much else to do in Glenelg either, so we went back to Adelaide, and wandered around the museums. The South Australian Museum was nice, they have a taxidermy room, as well as an Australian bird room, so that was the bulk of our time. And in amongst all of this Australian history and science they have an ancient Egypt room. ¿Por que? Regardless, it was cool. And a nice change from the queasiness I was feeling from all the animals and bits of animals in jars. Mummified people and bones? Sure. Platypus larynx and tongue under glass? No thanks.
The Art Museum, not as fun. I find the Renaissance and Baroque and Impressionist periods pleasing enough, but contemporary art is anyone's call. The highlights were the placards done by elementary school kids talking about the details and stories behind the paintings. Aussie kids are entertaining and smart.
We spent 2 hours in the SA Museum, and 30 minutes in the Art Museum. Bad us.
Today, Thursday, since we again could not get to where we wanted to go, went back to the cafe and did our internet stuff, then wandered around some more. But even though there wasn't much to do, I still like the city better than Melbourne.

Finally...Melbourne

2007-11-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

Melbourne is kind of weird. It feels like Sydney's kid sister who wants to be flashy and cool like her sibling, but resents her anyway.
If that makes any sense.
We started out our stay at Discovery Bakpak, which seemed nice online and in their lobby, but turned out to be our crappiest place yet. We'd heard of paper thin walls, but never actually experienced them. Let's just say that I could hear the girls next door unzip one of their suitcases. Thank goodness no one decided to be romantic anywhere on our floor. Then the party let out downstairs around 1, and all of the guys on our floor decided it would be funny to run up and down the halls screaming, just 'cuz.
So, now we are in an adorable little B&B about half an hour's walk south of the city. We really lucked out on this one, because it was the only place who would take us for 3 nights at the last minute. The owner (at least I think she's the owner) is incredibly sweet. I want to take her home with me and give her cookies. We have an enclosed patio, french-ish doors, a vanity, microwave, and mini-fridge. Nice step up from the bunks with warped mattresses and painted plastic for walls.

We visited just before the ending, and busy part, of the Melbourne Cup.
I suppose you're now going 'yeah, so?' Well, apparently It's Bigger Than You Think, according to the tagline. The whole state of Victoria spends 50 days of partying, watching horse races and playing dress-up. I believe the buzz about the dresses and hats evolved from the original British tradition of having a trophy wife on your arm, who of course had the finest wardrobe, when you went to the races. There's a booklet of rules about what to wear, and the crazier the hat, the better. They even advertise and take part in the shopping craze up in Sydney.
All in all quite interesting for this little graphic designer.
The flies here are horrendous. They just don't quit, any opening in your head is susceptible to attack; ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. Walking through the park was only moderately fun because of them. There ended up being a dozen just on my backpack!
Basically, aside from the B&B, we're calling Melbourne a lost cause. We planned on going to Phillip Island for the Fairy Penguin Parade on Sunday, where they come onto the shore at night. Apparently it's quite spectacular, hundreds of them waddling around. But we'll suffice to say there were some discrepancies with our tour company. So instead, we putzed around the city for the day.
Monday we took the country's oldest tram up to the world's oldest zoo. It was a really cute zoo, very nice enclosures, and many more of each species than what we're used to. We checked out the jaguar, of which they had the normal spotted one, and a black one, which has spots too, you just can't see them very well. There's a nice atmosphere here, too, making even the walkways seem like you're in Asia or Africa. They had a couple of the original cages from the old days near the entrance, to show how far they've come, and an ancient carousel.
It seems like every time we hit a zoo it's field trip day. We've yet to go when there aren't at least a dozen or so different schools wandering around with worksheets. Normally this is fine, but I'm growing a bit weary of kids. Of the adolescent age anyway.
I'm now off to have Snacks On a Plane!

2007-11-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

I'm still alive, just been having problems getting internet. I've not forgotten, posts will just go up later. Sorry.

2007-10-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

We've left Sydney.
I'm quite sad about this, we did get a spectacular view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House at takeoff, though.
This time we stayed at a different hostel, one closer to Darling Harbour and the train station, mainly because I was pretty much over King's Cross. It was a pretty huge hostel, and didn't allow food in the rooms. :P But we could actually see what was going on outside and what the weather was like. I was pretty bummed that our 4th floor window didn't open, but I guess that's to prevent jumpers, or people throwing things at the drunks on Friday nights. We also were not woken every morning at 7 to construction workers drilling into the wall right outside our window. It's a nice perk.
It was rainy the rest of our stay in Sydney, and while it was a bit like fall at home, we made the best of it. There's plenty more warm weather ahead of us.
Tuesday we went to Wildlife World, which was small, but the tickets had been paired with the Aquarium ones, so it was pretty good.
Wednesday we went to Taronga Zoo, where my camera officially crapped out. Fantastic. I felt like a loser, as my main focus was gone (really, there was no pun in mind when I typed that). It's what I do, I take pictures. It's especially useful for someone whose memory is swiss cheese at 25. So I cried a little, and then told myself I didn't come all this way and kill my feet for a week to let my trip be ruined by stupid error code 0x56. Besides, Danielle had her trusty little Olympus. We made do.
Anyway, excellent zoo. They had a great bird show, which we of course attended, and what timing, because the young condor was making her debut, and it was really cute to see this giant bird (3 meter wingspan) scared to come out of her box because of some piddly little people on the ground. Taronga boasts that they're the zoo with the best view in the world, and while I've not been to every one in the world, I still have to agree, practically every clearing had an awesome view of the entire harbour.
The zoo pass also came with a nice ferry cruise, since the zoo is on the north shore. We enjoyed that while stubbornly sitting on the back deck of the boat in the rain. Because we're tough New England girls, that's why (who sometimes cry over broken cameras).
Ahem.
Thursday we went to the National Maritime Museum, which I thought would be pretty boring. For the most part it was, but there were some cool things, particularly the boats docked right outside. There were also stories of immigrants to Australia from the UK and Asia. Apparently for quite some time the head honchos actually took British children and shipped them here to further the 'white ideal'. There was also the story and video of a woman whose family fled Vietnam when she was four. They made it all the way in 1977 on a small fishing boat which the museum now owns.
They had a nice display on jellyfish, one on trade vessels, and some info on the criminals who were originally brought over from the UK. All in all we got our money's worth.
This morning we took our 1 hour flight to Melbourne, and I feel like it's lacking something. It's probably just that it's not Sydney.

Sorry Samson, I've found someone new. He carries my schoolbooks for me.

The Maritime Museum; Danielle's favorite part.

Canberra

2007-10-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

I first thought it was a bizarre city. It is, don't get me wrong, but now that we're leaving, I'm sad. Granted, we're going back to fabulous Sydney, but Canberra has a nice little charm to it. It's like a small town (say Alton Bay) that grew up and was stretched out. It's got a bit of a feel like The Truman Show, or being inside a big snow globe (minus the snow).
Breakfast was a step up from our last hostel, with fruit and yogurt and such. And apparently the owners also run the next door Best Western; parents will often leave their teenage kids at the hostel and live it up in the real hotel.
Took over 500 pictures of birds on Sunday.
Held a small but heavy snake who tried to gain access to my mouth.
Mourned the cancelled concert on Sunday night.
Found out there's no bus to the National Zoo on weekdays. (wtf?)
Actually appreciated a museum for once.
Marveled at the apathy of the US. For instance, not even 5 years ago, 66% of Australia's capitol was lost to bush fire. Did you hear about it? Did the news stations make any mention?

Look, we're eating our greens! Well, a little anyway.

Happy Hippo!

2007-10-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, Danielle has a blog at http://www.dmayhem.blogspot.com or in my links list to the right.
Over there ==>

10-18 and 19

2007-10-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Alive still. Quite enjoying Sydney. I'm pretty sure we've both come to the conclusion that we're not coming back. Danielle has an uncanny sense of direction here (which is quite unusual, if you know her fairly well), and even though mine is crap, for some reason I don't mind getting lost in this city.
Everything of course is quite pricey, especially shoes and transportation, but we've found it's easy to walk around the city, despite what the maps say.
We're heading to Canberra right now, for a couple of days, then it's back home to Sydney until Friday. We were expecting to allow these first few days for resting up and getting over jetlag, but none of that happened.
Yesterday we went out to the Blue Mountains, and walked through the bit of rainforest there. We also ate at the Paragon, which had the most phenomenal warm beef mixed with salad. Danielle decided to order the Peach Melbourne which brought to mind the rule about never eating anything bigger than your head.
The aquarium was fantastic, with 3 walkthrough tanks, one for seals and sea lions, one for rays, sharks, turtles, and other fish, and one for the reef fish. I need to hit up a camera shop, as my medium lens decided to crap out on me while we were there, and then I dropped the whole camera last night. Pretty scary to not be able to take any pictures with it at the moment, so that's a pretty high priority.

Blue Mountains

This one was amusing, showing that people have actually left their infants on the seat next to them.

Tave, this is for you.

Darling Harbour

Update: bought new lens, but now my camera is having an error message and not letting me take any pictures

Darren Hayes

2007-10-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Oh yes! I almost forgot. I'm a loser.

The concert was phenomenal, even from the 3rd to last row. We were also pretty tired, but it was much more enjoyable for me than the NY concert, as I now knew almost all of the songs. And he had a lot more fun, it was very theatrical. Apparently photography was not allowed, but I have a pretty good zoom on my camera and thus did not need my flash. There were ninja-people going around yelling at people, but I was evasive!

10-17

2007-10-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yay, we're alive. Managed to swing the perfect flight to avoid jetlag. It left LAX at about midnight on Monday, in which we stayed up a few hours, then tried to sleep the rest of the way, which brought us to a landing in Sydney at about 8am Wednesday. So, minus losing Tuesday, we're doing pretty good. Qantas gives you a phenomenal flight, dinner and breakfast, snacks whenever you want them, care packages with socks, eyemasks, and mints, hot towels (not microwaved wetnaps like I expected, actual towels!), and they're wicked nice.
We got swindled into a shuttle that took us about an hour to get to our hostel, which shouldn't happen again, because I am determined to figure out their phone numbers so I can call for the free pick-ups directly. On the other hand, it was fascinating to see practically the whole city. Still haven't gotten my first glimpse of the Opera House, which since I've psyched myself up for it so much, will prolly be anticlimatic.
Our room is tiny, but cute, and we didn't really come here to sit in a room the whole time, and the staff so far have been great.

Off to see the Wizard...

2007-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

The cliches, they burn!

Ahem, am leaving tomorrow.
I will cease to exist for about 14 hours, and then I'll turn up in Australia sometime Wed morning.
Here's to hoping we don't crash, but if we do, maybe it'll be on an island with polar bears, crazy prophetic Scotsmen, and Udders!
See ya!

2007-10-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Aw, I'm sorry. I haven't updated my pretty little blog in over a month.

My passport came a couple of weeks ago, and it's quite possibly the most frightening picture of me ever...
Okay, with the exception of the yellow dress one, from Lasho's basement. *glare*
Seriously, I look like a terrorist, and I know a lot of people say that about their own pictures, but my brother saw it, and I quote "Wow, Chris, you look like an anti-semitist."
I love him, really I do.

I'm honestly debating the merits of getting 'lost' somewhere in the Red Center.

oops

2007-08-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

Five days later, I find out that the back and forth between Qantas and my bank was all my fault.

I am in Denver.
My bank account is in New Hampshire.

The billing addresses were different. Boy do I feel like a moron.
On the upside, I am ~~finally~~ now officially way poorer than I was, and the holder of two round-trip excursions for the monstrosity that is Australia.

Largest purchase of my life (thus far).

2007-08-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Flight 1:
Mon 15 Oct 07 17:00 Boston 20:15 Los Angeles
Mon 15 Oct 07 23:50 Los Angeles 07:25 Sydney (Wed)

Flight 2:
Fri 26 Oct 07 10:30 Sydney 12:00 Melbourne

Flight 3:
Tue 30 Oct 07 10:10 Melbourne 11:00 Adelaide

Flight 4:
Fri 2 Nov 07 11:30 Adelaide 13:25 Perth

Flight 5:
Wed 7 Nov 07 13:15 Perth 19:05 Darwin

Flight 6:
Sat 10 Nov 07 14:00 Darwin 16:00 Alice Springs

Flight 7:
Wed 14 Nov 07 15:20 Ayers Rock (Uluru) 18:20 Cairns

Flight 8:
Sun 18 Nov 07 12:45 Cairns 14:55 Brisbane

Flight 9:
Fri 23 Nov 07 12:10 Brisbane 07:00 Los Angeles

Flight 10:
Fri 23 Nov 07 15:25 Los Angeles 23:45 Boston

2007-08-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have been tinkering with the layout of this blog for a few days now, because really, that's the most fun part of the whole deal. Getting it just right. And, admittedly, it's not 'just right' yet. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the best.

Planning for the trip is at a bit of a standstill as we wait for my financial aid to come in. We're trying not to get too excited about anything until we know we're definitely going. So, once I actually have the money in the bank, I can call Qantas and make the most expensive purchase of my lifetime.

Financially. The most mentally expensive purchase would have to be Tas.