The Outback, Part 1: Train rides, climbing rocks, and camping under the stars

This is going to be a long entry, because I want to put as many pictures up as possible so I can free up some space (and prevent myself from getting too backlogged.) So get a cup of tea and a snack or something and settle in, folks. I think it’ll be worth it, because it’s been a really amazing week.

The Ghan is, first and foremost, a very long train (it’s over 600m long).

I’m standing at roughly the halfway point of the train to take the above picture.

Steeled for 24 hours on the train! I walked up and down it as far as I could (the whole thing isn’t accessible from the platform), and peeked in at the rich people cabins and such. We poor seat-bound suckers were close to the back of the train. I thought I had an aisle seat, but it turned out that nobody was sitting in the one next to me – they were getting on in Alice Springs, where I was getting off. So I got a window seat after all, yay! This provided me the opportunity to take about a million photos through the window, though it was kind of dirty so please excuse the spots and other blemishes.

One problem with taking the Ghan in the winter is that the sun sets quite early – all in all there’s nearly 12 hours of darkness in the 24 hour ride. I decided to spend as much time as humanly possible enjoying the view that was available to me during the scant daylight hours, so I listened to music a lot until the sun went down. Until that time, this is what the scenery looked like:

I love the look of these hills, the way they seem to kind of undulate:

Then I read well into the night, and spent a few hours trying in vain to get comfortable and sleep. I think I nodded off for maybe an hour all-told.

In the morning, the sun rose to reveal this:

Alice, will you marry me?

Alice Springs, that is.

It’s a small town, bite-sized really, but I am enjoying her quite a bit even though I’ve only been here for an hour or so. I will elaborate upon this idea, as well as upon the long train ride I took to get up here, once I have the chance to sit down and write a blog entry about it. It will likely be a few days, since I’m getting up at 6AM to do a three day tour tomorrow morning. And I am hungry and dead-tired and hoping to explore The Alice a bit more before I hit the sack mighty early.

But if you need an immediate example of why I love Alice so much already, this will suffice:

It is currently the second week of winter. It is sunny and 23 degrees, with an absolutely beautiful breeze.

Um. I THINK I can handle this. Really.

G’day from ADELAIDE, South Australia!

It’s been a long couple of days. Or should I say, “single extended day”. On Friday I set my alarm to wake me at 10:00 so I could go run a bunch of errands, and due to some crazy (probably human) error I didn’t wake up until NOON. I had been intending to be moved out by about 4pm, but I had six million things to do before I’d be ready to run out the door and into my month-long travel-related destiny.

So I ran around and finished packing, pulled the stuff down off my walls, vacuumed my room (with a broken vacuum cleaner, FUN!), returned my movies and closed my rental account, printed out travel vouchers, bought a  new chain for my  necklace, drop off the keys to my room, etc. I also had to figure out how to switch my internet connection to my roomie R’s name so she can use it, which required a nice amount of time listening to hold music when I had way more important things to be doing.

But I finally got it all wrapped up, did a last idiot-check, and stumbled out the front door of my former apartment at 6pm with every single posession that I own here in Australia stuffed into one of three bags. It was too unweildly to even consider taking the bus or train all the way to town, so I sucked it up and took a cab. (WORTH IT.)

Once I was settled in at the hostel, I called my Script Frenzy buddy C and we went to get a bite to eat, and proceeded to find yet ANOTHER Script Frenzy buddy and hang out literally all night eating a ridiculous tower of ice cream and watching “The Matrix” to spot identifyable Sydney landmarks (and for the special effects.) I literally didn’t get home until 7:30 in the morning, whereupon I collapsed and fitfully dozed for a couple of hours before dragging myself out of bed and checking out.

I also did the unthinkable: when I put my HUGE suitcase into storage for the upcoming month, it contained my laptop. This was not a decision that was made willy-nilly. Mainly it would have been nice to have it with me so I could change up the albums on my mp3 player and watch my “Lord of the Rings” DVDs. But ultimately it was too heavy for me to want to lug it around constantly, and I decided that I didn’t need the distraction OR the worry. Hostels just about universally have internet access these days, too, so I can keep up to date on the internet world in short, controlled bursts.

The flight to Adelaide was uneventful, though the brief glimpses of the countryside that I could see through the clouds were REALLY interesting. Still quite green, but there’s a strange kind of undulation to the land around here – weird clumps of mountains. I’m really looking forward to the train ride tomorrow, which will start to take me up into the real “bush” of Oz for the first time.

I have laid pretty low in Adelaide so far – I got settled in the hostel (after taking public transport to get into the city. Gotta love cheap and efficient travel, I actually BEAT the more expensive airport shuttle to my hostel, and it left BEFORE me!) Then I consulted my travel guide for places to eat and found a Lebanese restaurant nearby that sounded good (and it was!) I was getting kind of tired and it was dark already (stupid Winter) so I couldn’t do any real sight-seeing, so I decided to catch a showing of the movie “Get Smart”. It was fun! It was basically exactly what I wanted it to be. It’s nice to have ones expectations met.

Now I’m running out of steam, since I didn’t really sleep last night. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for good company.) I think I’ll hop off the internet and go flop into my bed for about 11 hours.

Taronga Zoo, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

This will probably be my last post from Sydney – at least, the last from what has been my home for the past four and a half months. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post pictures over the next month, but I will definitely be blogging from all over the continent and beyond. This is the kind of thing that makes this trip so much different than it would have been even ten years ago: internet access is basically de rigeur at hostels now. Can’t say I’m complainin’.

A few weeks ago I went to the Taronga zoo, which is a fifteen minute ferry ride from circular quay in the heart of Sydney. I love taking ferries here, for reasons that are probably best expressed pictorally.

Once I got off the ferry the view was still amazing:

The zoo is built into the side of a mountain, with a cable car leading up to the top.

Not only could you look down and see most of the different animal enclosures on your way up, but the view of the city was amazing, too (as a view-sucker, you can tell that I was stoked):

These two cute kids were visiting the zoo with their grandfather. I told them to turn around and check out the view and they were soundly impressed.

24-Hour Theatre – My Brain is Full!

Phew! I’m finally getting caught up on my blog entries, so sorely neglected thanks to end-of-school stuff and my desire to, immediatley afterward, spend an inordinate amount of time drinking. I’ve been looking forward to this one. There are only a couple of pictures, because being a genius and having spent the past week on constant picture duty, it totally slipped my mind to, like, take pictures during this thing. But the story is worth it anyway, trust me.

On Thursday I got back from the airport at about 9:30pm, and it wasn’t too much later that I crashed for the night, one blessed night of sleep in my own bed. On Friday I had to catch a train at about 2pm in order to get to Wollongong for this crazy theatre thing, but there was one problem: the dryer in my apartment was STILL out of commission for week numero THREE. So I was forced to pack some dirty laundry to take with me to wash there, which was funny and sad at once. College life at its best. Luckily my host was willing to put up with this kind of hilarity.

Said host – really, “hosts,” since they all went out of their way to make me feel completely welcome in their home – were my Script Frenzy friend Laura and her family, consisting of her husband Houston and daughter Margaret. (It feels kind of funny to be blogging about them, because I know for a FACT that Laura will be reading this blog entry. I promise I am NOT just trying to suck up when I layer them all with praise. They’re just awesome, that’s all.) I was told to sit on the left side of the train on the way down for amazing ocean views.

Honestly, the cost of the train (about 4.50$ for me, as a student) was completely worth the view alone. This picture is a pale approximation, taken through the scratched-up, dirty window of the train. It’s also from the trip home, since I was too stunned (take that how you will) to take pictures on the way down.

I got to the station and Margaret waved me over to their car so I wouldn’t wander forlornly around the parking lot for an hour, which was mighty nice of her. We drove up the hill to end all hills to get to their house – a humerously inept bit of 1970’s-ish archetecture that redeems itself almost entirely by way of the ocean views at the doorstep.

I met Houston and dropped off my things, and then we were off again – to go drink some free beer at a self-brew place. If there has ever been an auspicious beginning to a theatre-related weekend, I haven’t heard of it. Except for the fact that our writer, Laura, was coming down with a terrible cold at the time and could hardly even TASTE the free beer. Woe! Gotta love that kind of timing, eh?

Artsy Stuff

I have an entry in the works about the 24 hour theatre, but I need a little more time. So for any of y’all who are interested, here is the paper that I wrote about the crazy calculator piece of “modern art” that y’all helped me create. One of my terms when I asked for input was that I would post the finished paper, so here it is. It isn’t an amazing piece of writing by any means, but what can I say – it’s a first year course. (Actually, having just re-read it for the first time since I wrote it, I’m actually pretty pleased with it.)

The objective was to make a piece of art, and then justify why it’s contemporary. I’m betting this is pretty much what they’re after.

Enjoy! (If possible!)

(Oh yeah – and here is what’s written on the back of the artwork that I submitted:

What can I say, I am incapable of just saying something without trying to make it funny. You should see the tags on my Christmas gifts. I once gave a gift to my mother that required two or three tags so that I could write: “From: Cass, To: Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, ooooooooooooooooh!!!! Didn’t mean to make you cry, if I’m not back again this time tomorrow, carry oooon, carry ooooon….”)

Western Australia, Part 4 (final) – The Voyage Home

On Wednesday morning I got up at the crack of 8 o’clock, once again with little to no trouble. (Apparently a vacation means, to me, the EXACT OPPOSITE thing from regular folks – I normally wake up at noon and stay up until 4am, but go on holiday and I am up at 8 and down at midnight.) I checked out of the hostel, which actually had a couple of other visitors that night (but still nobody else in my five-bed dorm!), and got a quick bite of breakfast before catching the bus back to Bunbury at 9:40.

We stopped in Manjimup again, and I had visions of getting another slice of that heavenly sticky date pudding – but for some dang reason there was only one woman working at the cafe and she wasn’t allowed to take the time to go put it together. Woe! I was so put out that I didn’t bother getting anything – when am I ever going to be in that area of the world again? If ever?! I sat outside and moped about my dashed hopes until the bus was ready to get going again.

I talked a little about the rolling hills and idyllic countryside in Part 2, but I was too strung out to deal with photos – it was kind of hard to capture the majesty of it from the window of a bus, but here are some efforts.

Bah. They don’t really capture it. But it was extremely nice country to drive through, if one is stuck driving through country on a bus for four hours.

I also saw this cafe both on the way down and back. Something about it is just plain CRAZY. Or, er, “KRAZY.”

Something about animals advertising themselves and/or their own byproducts is just generally creepy, if you ask me. It also makes me wonder what kind of drugs are in that there milk, if you know what I’m sayin’.

In the early afternoon I arrived in Bunbury again; the bus only stopped at the train station, so I had to transfer (for free) to a city bus to get back into the city center where my hostel was. I was literally the only person on the bus for the whole ride, which wound its way all through Bunbury and was a great little scenic tour. Bunbury grew about a hundred times in size, in my perception of the place – when I’d been there last it was either dark or depressingly rainy, and the town had felt like a tiny speck of a place, hardly worth a second glance. This time it was sunny and warm. Lo and behold, the center of town was actually right on the water – surrounded by it, in fact, penninsula-style. I had NO CONCEPTION of this before!

Western Australia, Part 3 – Walking in the Trees

Before I hop into my narrative, I just want to quickly say – I just got back from going to see a really fun production in Newtown with the Script Frenzy folks. I had a great time and it was wonderful to see everybody again. I’m going to see if I can scheme a way to meet up with them again, but there is that nagging possibility that this is the last time that I will see some of these folks, EVER. Such is the nature of overseas adventure. If any of y’all are reading, I just want you to know that it was really and truly amazing to meet you. Australia is a beautiful country, but it’s folks like you who really make it feel like home. Thank you.

Okay, now that I’m done being all WHIMSICAL, on with the show!

I realized I was on a roll with this whole “waking up in the morning like a real person” business when I got up at 8:30 on Tuesday with no difficulty whatsoever. Talk about a remedy for jet lag – just stay up for 30+ hours for the first leg of the journey! That’ll fix you up right quick.

Unfortunately I had forgotten about buying myself some breakfast supplies the night before, so I just had one of Peg’s mandarin oranges which she keeps in stock for guests. I brought a few more along with me, as well as some of the munchies from the night before. In the unlikely event that I should find myself walking back, I didn’t want to be completely unprepared.

Distances don’t really solidify with me very well until I’ve either walked or driven them. As such, once Peg and I were on our way to the Tree Top Walk at about 9:30 or so, I sinkingly became aware of exactly how far 20k was. It just. Kept. Going. I wondered if I was going to be able to enjoy this thing without worrying every moment about how I was going to rustle up a ride home. The weather was also on the fritz – it would be rainy for a few minutes, then the sun would come out and the sky would almost completely clear the next. Then in half an hour it would be cloudy and rainy again. I realized that not only was this incentive to ask for a lift home, it was also a great sympathy card to play. I started rehearsing my lines in my head, hamming it up a bit. “You see, I’m stranded here… In the middle of nowhere… With no breakfast… In the rain…”

It made for a really nice rainbow before we left, too:

I thanked Peg profusely for the lift up, and then immediately ran for shelter in a little information booth. The way things had been going the rain would probably clear up in a few minutes, so I was in no hurry. I was practically the only person at the park just then, though people did start to filter through shortly. Once the sun came up, I bought my ticket and made my way to the first ramp.

Western Australia Part 2 – Travel Insanity

I will admit it: I have major travel anxiety. Kind of ironic for someone who loves to travel, I know. Some people get their kicks and eventual endorphin rush from skydiving or whitewater rafting. I get it from learning to navigate the transportation system of parts unknown. There is a heady satisfaction to be found in actually getting where I am supposed to be, at the right time. After that, it’s all gravy.

Perth is the only major airport in the southern part of Western Australia, but I needed to get to Walpole, which is 750km or so south of there. After some research and nail-biting I figured out how to get there via train and bus. My itinerary was as follows: Fly into Perth on Sunday. Bum around there for a few hours. Take the train at 6pm down to Bunbury, about 180km south. On Monday I’d get the bus down to Walpole. Tuesday would be my day to explore Walpole and do the Tree Top Walk. Wednesday morning I’d get the bus back up to Bunbury, and Thursday morning I’d wake up at the godawful hour of 5AM to get the train back to Perth, and fly out in the afternoon.

It was action-packed. But I didn’t know the HALF of it yet.

A few minutes after I booked the tickets online, I got a call from the booking agency – aparently there was going to be track work on that Sunday, so there would be a replacement bus to take people to the suburb of Armadale, where we’d get the train to Bunbury. Sounded all right with me.

Western Australia, Part 1 – My Crush on Perth

By the time I was ready to catch my flight to Perth last Sunday my sleep schedule was completely turned around – I was going to bed at 7AM and sleeping through most of the day. The rainy weather in Sydney and rapidly shortening days didn’t help, either. Since I needed to catch a bus at 6:15AM to get to the airport, I figured I’d just stay up for the rest of the day. I napped a little on the flight, but not more than a few minutes at a time. I’m a bit of a nervous flyer.

I took the shuttle bus into the city. The driver was nice, he pointed me at the train station that I’d need to find later, and he took the scenic route into Perth, following the swan river. Palm trees and bike paths abound – there’s something like 700km of bike trails in and around Perth, apparently. If I’m in this corner of the world again I’ll plan to hire a bike and explore for a couple of days.