Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I'm back in Melbourne now and trying to catch you up on all my adventures. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks and I've been having some uh, motivational issues when it comes to writing but I think I'm back on form now. Trying to write in the heat is really rather more difficult than one might imagine!
Well, I think the last time I wrote I filled you in on my adventures in Darwin so we're still missing Alice Springs. In the middle of the Alice week I went on tour but I'll write separately about that or this thing is just going to get far too long and quite frankly a little jumbled. I can't imagine that would be fun to read - even for you who HAS to read it cos you're my mammy and it's your job.
So, from Darwin I flew down to Alice Springs - I allowed myself the luxury of a flight mainly because the train was booked out and it was more or less the same price. It would have been cool to go on the Ghan seeing as how I've already clocked up the Indian Pacific but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
Arriving in Alice was lovely because I immediately noticed that, while it was still warm (looovely!) it wasn't as humid. I can't begin to describe how fantastic it was to suddenly have a clear head again. It was a bit like surfacing after being under water, suddenly I was able to think somewhat straight again.
In Alice there were, of course, some crazy nights out! We went to this one bar called Bojangles a couple of times. It's the oddest place in the world, literally done up like some wild west saloon. I found out afterwards that, apparently there's a web cam in there and you can get your friends to buy you drinks over the internet - isn't that novel?? I didn't of course, but I did spend quite a bit of time waving at myself on the screen. Hours of fun. Ahem.
The first night in Bo's (that's what the locals call it, or so I'm told) Jenny and I ran into Swiss Andy from the Kimberley tour, along with his new Scottish friend Hugh. It was great to see him again, and over the course of the week he sort of kept popping up. I think he was secretly stalking Jenny, his "Darling".
There's actually quite a bit to do in Alice, which I didn't realise, and I think it's a pity that people only use it as a stopping off point for Uluru (which, by the way, is a good 3 hour drive away, it isn't in Alice at all). One of the most interesting things was the School of the Air. I was the only there, well, Jenny was having motivational issues so she stayed outside to snooze on a bench, so I had the whole place to myself. The school itself covers an area the size of Texas and has 140 students actively enrolled. I even got to see a lesson in progress - that was cool! I was extremely impressed with how well it's set up, as I was somewhat interested to find out what the academic record is like for that kind of school. Although the kids only have an hour or so lessons per day, they actually do most of their work as homework, as well as having "in school" sessions every semester where they all come together. If you're not a nerd like me it's probably quite dull but I was fascinated by the whole set up.
The other big thing that we did in Alice was visit the Desert Park. Jenny and I hired bikes and cycled out there. To be fair, I really didn't realise just how *far* we'd have to cycle. My behind was in shock. That said, we did get to catch 2 interesting talks, one about nocturnal animals - thank you very much guide-lady, who terrified us to our very bones with talk of Death Adders and such!! - and the other about kangaroos. And yes, I FINALLY got to see a kangaroo *actually* standing up. Up to that point I was beginning to suspect that they don't actually stand up at all, that they just drag themselves along the ground on their bellies.
The big highlight of the Alice visit though, was thanks in no small part to the ever fantastic Tommy. She arranged for us to go on a magical mystery tour with her, her friend Stringer (who also has blonde dreddies and looks like her brother though no relation!) and Claire, super awesome Scottish girl who was with us on the Kimberley tour too. We drove out to Trephina gorge in his 4WD and had a look around. Got some gorgeous pics of scenery and the sunset. I was extremely greatful to Tommy for bringing us out there because, without a car, there would have been no way on God's green earth that I would have managed to get there. That lady has acumulated some mondo Brownie points in my book!
On the Wednesday we went on tour with Tommy, to Uluru, Kata-Tjuta (or the Olgas) and Kings Canyon, but I'll tell you all about that in another post. When we got back, we had arranged to go on a big night out. There was a uh, minor, uh, glitch though for me. When we got to Annie's place (the bar / hostel where were were to have some food and drinks before going to the infamous Bojangles) there were 2 mahoooosive dogs running around. To give Jenny her due, the sweetheart that she is, she went to the bar to see if they could put the dogs out. They said no. In the mean time, I was so freaked out that I had to leave. So I walked back to the hostel in the pissing rain, absolutely mortified beyond description. I swear it was like a scene out of a movie, your quintissential "bad day" haha!
I got back to the hostel absolutely soaked through so I put on my PJs and got into bed. I had resolved to go join them in Bojangles but was feeling pretty embarrassed and fed up. Unbeknownst to me, Tommy had arrived later and also asked them to get rid of the dogs (which had since vanished) should they come back, and the bar staff said that would be no problem. I fell asleep and woke up just before 11pm. So I had a decision to make - stay put and sulk or get up and go...
Naturally I threw on some dry clothes and called a taxi! I was going to be dammed if I was going to miss my last night in Alice! I was super glad I went out - from the great "Floozie Wager", which consisted of me betting Jenny $5 that she would snog a random man (long story), she won; to the young lad who very seriously informed me that he sells drugs for a living but really liked my accent so could he buy me a drink (I declined whilst backing away sloooowly); to the impromtou skinny dipping in the pool in the guide house - bloody cold but it was my first time doing that so I feck it, I had to challenge myself!! it turned out to be a really good night.
I was very sad to leave Alice. It's a small and intensely strange place, one of those places where you barely scratch the surface and already there's a myriad of mad bad and very interesting characters everywhere you look. I will have to go back one day...
For now, I'll go ahead and sign off. I should probably get out of my pyjamas given that it's half 12 in the day - oh good holy sweet jaysus I'm becoming *that* house-guest... yikes!
Love you lots! Can you believe it's only 8 weeks to Christmas???
Mind yourself,
Your Daughter, the one who ran away
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Darwin - Carnage, Crocs and one very angry Tracey!
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am… well… I am, uh. I think the term is “gone troppo”. It’s ok, you don’t need to worry about me but I will say that if some of this letter doesn’t make any sense, there’s a reason for it.
Darwin really is a party town. To this point, on our way in, Randal our guide gave us a quick tour. It consisted of “here’s a pub, oh, there’s another pub, oh and here’s a pub that does cheap beer on a Wednesday”. Exactly.
Arriving in Darwin, after checking in to our hostel, all of us from the tour went out for dinner and drinks. It all started off in a very civilised and sedate manner but within an hour had descended into absolute mayhem. That said, nobody was ill or fighting or anything like that, no, but I did discover that I have an innate talent for dancing on tables, hopping between tables mid air and twirling on benches. Interesting transferable skills to have but you never know when such things come in useful.
I did my best to get out and see some things but to be honest, it was so hot and humid that I really felt very out of it most of the time. It’s a nice town, but I don’t think I could live there, my brain would just shrivel up and hide.
As I said, I did get to see some stuff. I did lots of walking down along the wharf, and saw the waterfront and the wave pool, and the famous Stuart Wharf. I did not try the fish and chips - in that heat even a cucumber is too much for my stomach to handle. But I hear the food there is nice.
I also went up to the museum with Jenny from the tour one of the days. It was interesting because they’d loads of Aboriginal art on display. They also had a display about Cyclone Tracey which basically obliterated Darwin in the 1970’s. It was sad to read about all the destruction and see the ‘before and after’ images. They have this small completely blacked out booth that you can go in and they play a recording of Cyclone Tracey that someone had recorded. Initially I thought that would vbe stupid and I was laughing up my sleeve but I said I’d go in and experience it anyway seeing as how I was there. Well. It scared the living beeejaysus out of me - I ran out of there so fast when it was finished. Not nice.
Ooh apart from that has to be the fact that they have Sweetheart the crocodile (obviously not still alive). This croc used to live in one of the estuaries but being a 5.2 metre male croc, he was a little uh, territorial. The only problem with this is that the sound of a boat propeller is pretty much the same as one of the crocodile aggressive grunts so he kept attacking boat propellers because he thought they were challenging him. The locals decided to move him (for everyone’s sake really) but unfortunately, when they were trying to get him out of the water he drowned. So they stuffed him and put him in the museum. He’s bloody big I tell ya, even stuffed they’re very scary beasties.
I saw some real ones too, at Crocosaurus (or something like that) Park. It was ok, but to be honest, having been at Broome croc farm, and the Wyndham croc farm, this was a little tame. They did the feeding tour as well but as usual there were about 90 million people on the tour and it was impossible to see anything. I don’t meant to be grumpy but to be honest the only thing that I thought was cool there, was the aquarium with the saw fish and the big barramundi in it. The crocs were cool, but I felt like I’d seen it all before. They’re still amazing animals, I think I’m just a bit over it.
What else… oh yes. The markets. Oh dear. I’m really just not destined to have any joy with markets. I had my heart set on going to the Mindil Beach market. All the guides and books I’d read said it was *the* highlight of Darwin, that the food is fab, there’s live music and you can watch the sun go down. Oh boy, I tell ya, I was in pseudo-hippy heaven just thinking about it. Sooo off we went (Jenny and I) on the Thursday. Disaster. It bucketed down rain and the market was closed. The previous day? Glorious sunshine. The following day? Glorious sunshine. I’m telling ya, someone upstairs is having a laugh.
Not to be put off entirely, I found out about another market, the Rapid Creek market which is on, on Fridays. So off we trundled (Jenny and I) with an enthusiasm and confidence that only a glowing Lonely Planet (new edition) review can instill. Eventually (after about a 20 minute bus journey) we got dropped off at this run down old shopping centre (about the size of the Loughboy shopping centre) which had one Asian grocery store, a hippy food shop and about 40 boarded up ex-shops. So in we went to the hippy shop where the poor lady very apologetically explained that the damn thing hadn’t been on for ages (we’re talking several months or more). Sigh.
That said, Darwin wasn’t a total wash out. I decided I needed to do something touristy. Given their very thoughtless lack of a big jolly tourist bus (they should get one, everywhere should have one) I plumped for a trip on the ‘duckasaurus’ tour instead. It’s basically like the Dublin splash tour, a bus that turns into a boat. I have to say it was actually loads of fun! We did a quick scoot around Darwin and saw some of the old building (the ones that survived the wrath of Tracey) and then off to the harbour. It was cool going into the water but I did have a mild moment of panic when I started to question the sea-worthiness of a bus. Luckily we didn’t sink. Sinking here, above anywhere else in the world is a *horrible* idea. Not only do they have the constant possibility of crocs, there are sharks and box jellyfish too. Ugh. NOT nice. Because of the jellyfish situation though, the authorities had closed off Mindil Beach so our guide decided to drive out of the water, hare down the middle of Mindil beach and splash back into the wather. Why? In her words “because we can”. I like Darwin!
So that was it really. From Darwin I flew down to Alice Springs and booked on a ‘rock’ tour. I’m off to Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon in a couple of days. First a few days to relax in Alice Springs!
I’ll write and tell you all about Alice!
Hope all is well back home - how are the Halloween preparations going? I’m going to have to bring Halloween to Australia!
Love ya xx
Your Daughter
(the one who ran away)
How are you? I am… well… I am, uh. I think the term is “gone troppo”. It’s ok, you don’t need to worry about me but I will say that if some of this letter doesn’t make any sense, there’s a reason for it.
Darwin really is a party town. To this point, on our way in, Randal our guide gave us a quick tour. It consisted of “here’s a pub, oh, there’s another pub, oh and here’s a pub that does cheap beer on a Wednesday”. Exactly.
Arriving in Darwin, after checking in to our hostel, all of us from the tour went out for dinner and drinks. It all started off in a very civilised and sedate manner but within an hour had descended into absolute mayhem. That said, nobody was ill or fighting or anything like that, no, but I did discover that I have an innate talent for dancing on tables, hopping between tables mid air and twirling on benches. Interesting transferable skills to have but you never know when such things come in useful.
I did my best to get out and see some things but to be honest, it was so hot and humid that I really felt very out of it most of the time. It’s a nice town, but I don’t think I could live there, my brain would just shrivel up and hide.
As I said, I did get to see some stuff. I did lots of walking down along the wharf, and saw the waterfront and the wave pool, and the famous Stuart Wharf. I did not try the fish and chips - in that heat even a cucumber is too much for my stomach to handle. But I hear the food there is nice.
I also went up to the museum with Jenny from the tour one of the days. It was interesting because they’d loads of Aboriginal art on display. They also had a display about Cyclone Tracey which basically obliterated Darwin in the 1970’s. It was sad to read about all the destruction and see the ‘before and after’ images. They have this small completely blacked out booth that you can go in and they play a recording of Cyclone Tracey that someone had recorded. Initially I thought that would vbe stupid and I was laughing up my sleeve but I said I’d go in and experience it anyway seeing as how I was there. Well. It scared the living beeejaysus out of me - I ran out of there so fast when it was finished. Not nice.
Ooh apart from that has to be the fact that they have Sweetheart the crocodile (obviously not still alive). This croc used to live in one of the estuaries but being a 5.2 metre male croc, he was a little uh, territorial. The only problem with this is that the sound of a boat propeller is pretty much the same as one of the crocodile aggressive grunts so he kept attacking boat propellers because he thought they were challenging him. The locals decided to move him (for everyone’s sake really) but unfortunately, when they were trying to get him out of the water he drowned. So they stuffed him and put him in the museum. He’s bloody big I tell ya, even stuffed they’re very scary beasties.
I saw some real ones too, at Crocosaurus (or something like that) Park. It was ok, but to be honest, having been at Broome croc farm, and the Wyndham croc farm, this was a little tame. They did the feeding tour as well but as usual there were about 90 million people on the tour and it was impossible to see anything. I don’t meant to be grumpy but to be honest the only thing that I thought was cool there, was the aquarium with the saw fish and the big barramundi in it. The crocs were cool, but I felt like I’d seen it all before. They’re still amazing animals, I think I’m just a bit over it.
What else… oh yes. The markets. Oh dear. I’m really just not destined to have any joy with markets. I had my heart set on going to the Mindil Beach market. All the guides and books I’d read said it was *the* highlight of Darwin, that the food is fab, there’s live music and you can watch the sun go down. Oh boy, I tell ya, I was in pseudo-hippy heaven just thinking about it. Sooo off we went (Jenny and I) on the Thursday. Disaster. It bucketed down rain and the market was closed. The previous day? Glorious sunshine. The following day? Glorious sunshine. I’m telling ya, someone upstairs is having a laugh.
Not to be put off entirely, I found out about another market, the Rapid Creek market which is on, on Fridays. So off we trundled (Jenny and I) with an enthusiasm and confidence that only a glowing Lonely Planet (new edition) review can instill. Eventually (after about a 20 minute bus journey) we got dropped off at this run down old shopping centre (about the size of the Loughboy shopping centre) which had one Asian grocery store, a hippy food shop and about 40 boarded up ex-shops. So in we went to the hippy shop where the poor lady very apologetically explained that the damn thing hadn’t been on for ages (we’re talking several months or more). Sigh.
That said, Darwin wasn’t a total wash out. I decided I needed to do something touristy. Given their very thoughtless lack of a big jolly tourist bus (they should get one, everywhere should have one) I plumped for a trip on the ‘duckasaurus’ tour instead. It’s basically like the Dublin splash tour, a bus that turns into a boat. I have to say it was actually loads of fun! We did a quick scoot around Darwin and saw some of the old building (the ones that survived the wrath of Tracey) and then off to the harbour. It was cool going into the water but I did have a mild moment of panic when I started to question the sea-worthiness of a bus. Luckily we didn’t sink. Sinking here, above anywhere else in the world is a *horrible* idea. Not only do they have the constant possibility of crocs, there are sharks and box jellyfish too. Ugh. NOT nice. Because of the jellyfish situation though, the authorities had closed off Mindil Beach so our guide decided to drive out of the water, hare down the middle of Mindil beach and splash back into the wather. Why? In her words “because we can”. I like Darwin!
So that was it really. From Darwin I flew down to Alice Springs and booked on a ‘rock’ tour. I’m off to Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon in a couple of days. First a few days to relax in Alice Springs!
I’ll write and tell you all about Alice!
Hope all is well back home - how are the Halloween preparations going? I’m going to have to bring Halloween to Australia!
Love ya xx
Your Daughter
(the one who ran away)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Into the wilds - The Kimberleys expedition
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I was super excited to hear about Scott learning to ride a bike. I was a little bit disappointed to realise it was only a push bike but I suppose he IS only 12 so he has time.
Since I last wrote, I’ve had probably the most interesting expedition that I’ve ever done, through the Kimberleys. I did think it was funny that one of my highlights of Australia is called Kimberley…
In Broome, I was debating on how to get to Darwin and I’d heard about a 4 wheel drive track called the Gibb River Road. Obviously I wasn’t going to be able to walk it so, having looked into my options I decided to go with a tour group (in spite of my deep seated prejudice against that way of travel, I sucked it up). I decided to go for the 9 day 4 wheel drive expedition through the Kimberley region and up the Gibb River Road. I wont go into all the details because, well, I couldn’t be bothered and anyway you’d die of boredom, so I’ll give you some of the highlights!
On day 1 I really was beginning to wonder if I was suffering from temporary insanity when I booked - I couldn’t get my head around the idea of being told what to do 24/7. I’m glad I stuck it out though, we had a really good group! Well, apart from Crazy Jonnie who (no word of a lie) actually put on his feedback form that we were all lucky he didn’t blow up the bus. Apparently he’s not keen on people having fun… scary!
We did lots of gorge walking and swimming, which was fantastic. Now you know I’m not particularly uh, “outdoorsy” so I was super proud of myself for managing all the walks. The toughest was El Questro which was about a 4 hour scramble. About half the group didn’t make it to the top but I was determined to get there and I did! The only down side was, sitting in the water hole at the top, I actually got nipped on the leg by some random fish that lived in a rock!! No lie. I got the fright of my life!
Speaking of El Questro, that’s where I celebrated my birthday. I went to the pub with some of the guys off the tour and we met the local character Buddy. We’d heard a rumour that he’s in the habit of buying wine if he takes a shine to someone so we had a challenge - who can get the bottle of wine. Of course I won… but it being my birthday I think I had a bit of an unfair advantage if I’m really honest. The record was broken by Clare (the Botox saleslady from Melbourne) who got him to buy her dinner. Game, set and match I believe.
I was super impressed that the guys managed to bake me a cake with only a camping stove, an open fire and some cake mix - and it was Deeeeelicious! The cooking in general was awesome, given what they had to work with, in no small part thanks to Simon and Garfunkel (also known as Simon and Tracey who own a hostel in Cairns and were over in the Kimberleys on holidays).
All in all we had a really good group dynamic which was proven the day the bus wouldn’t start. Picture the scene, Sheila (a mahoosive offroad 4 wheel drive bus) getting pushed by the team. It was all grand until the 8 ton bus started to roll backwards on us. It was ok, nobody got hurt, just splattered in mud. Yum!
The other big memory of the trip was the trio of crazy tour guides who were on “HORRIDAAAAYS!” from Alice Springs. Lead by Tommy (a girl) Juno (a boy) and Claire (Scottish) who had so much energy, the group took on a little bit of their madness, which made for lots of giggles! I did see a liiiiittle more of them (diving from the highest rocks they could find in the nip) than I would ideally have liked but we’ll let them away with that!
Unfortunately because we were on tour just in the build up to the wet season, we couldn’t get into the Bungle Bungles. That was a little bit disappointing but to give him his due, Randal (also known as Randy-pants) did his damndest to get us in, and really didn’t give up until the last minute. Instead we took a trip up to Wyndham to see a crocodile farm. That was AMAZIIING! The owner was the real life honest to God embodyment of Crocodile Dundee. He even spoke like him! He went around feeding the crocs and some of them even tried to attack people through the cages! I thought for a minute Juno was a gonner but he was far enough away to escape. That was funny though because the man said that the croc will always try and go for the smallest member of the group - not this time! Juno was the biggest member of the group by at least a foot! I don’t think I’d like to get that close to a croc again, it was super scary.
Towards the end of the trip we went to Lake Argyle. It’s actually a man made lake but it’s over 80 kilometers long! It started off as a river and most of the lake bed was once a station, but now it provides water for Kununurra and the surrounding area. Apparently it’s estimated that there are over 250,000 freshwater crocs in there so why we decided to swim in there is beyond me. That said, we all survived so there’s no need to worry.
This trip was, in a way, very much about facing my fears. The obvious one is facing my fears of dogs. It was really scary one day in particular when we stopped off for lunch. We were greeted by a dog, wasn’t too bad, about a 6 on the Labrador bouncy scale, but the problem was, when we went into the shop there was another dog so I was trapped. When some moron tried to pet it and it barked I burst into tears - I was SO embarrassed! The team were awesome though, and I honestly had about 10 people on puppy patrol, they were so sweet. I did draw the line at Lake Argyle - the boat owner had a 10 month old staffie - about a 400 on the Labrador scale of bouncy. I nearly lost my life. I was so glad I’d talked to the skipper the evening before (he joined us all for dinner) and told him about my, uh, canine issues - he said he normally takes the dog on the boat - can you imagine?? Crocs in the water, bouncy dog on the boat - trapped much! Luckily he didn’t bring him so I was able to stay on the boat.
My other fear was rock diving (basically leaping off anything high into a deep pool of water. In one spot we had a rope swing - it took me a bit to get the balls to jump but I did in the end. I wasn’t very graceful (at all, in fact!) but I did it! The other big one was Lake Argyle. It’s kind of funny but I really was so scared even at the lowest point. It was as though my brain was saying “ok, let’s go, time to jump” but I physically couldn’t move. I was completely rooted to the spot. We all tried to jump together but when the rest jumped I just stayed stuck. I did manage to get my nerve up and jump (twice HAHA!) but bloody hellfire, it took a few minutes I tell ya!
The other ‘first’ for me was sleeping in a swag. It’s basically a big heavy duty sleeping bag yoke with a mattress inside. You open it up and put your sleeping bag in on top of the mattress. It was unbelievable to be able to sleep staring up at the stars. When it started to rain I did initially join Olivia in one of the tents but after 2 nights in the tent I jumped ship and went over to team swag. It’s quite the experience to sleep in a swag under a tarpaulin in the lashing rain and not get wet - I tell ya, there was no going back to team tent after that, I was a fully fledged member of team swag. Fair enough I didn’t take the 9 day challenge (no shower for 9 days) but I was allowed to stay anyway. To be fair I think I did about 4 days of the no shower challenge before I quit in a moment of weakness. I think it was the smell of my shampoo that did me in.
Supermega kudos to Randy-pants for the best trip ever!
I’m in Darwin at the moment but I’ll write about that in another letter, I think your eyes are probably starting to bleed. My hair is on fire. Just checking… ;o)
Love ya lots, miss ya and will write again soon! Xx
Your Daughter
(the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I was super excited to hear about Scott learning to ride a bike. I was a little bit disappointed to realise it was only a push bike but I suppose he IS only 12 so he has time.
Since I last wrote, I’ve had probably the most interesting expedition that I’ve ever done, through the Kimberleys. I did think it was funny that one of my highlights of Australia is called Kimberley…
In Broome, I was debating on how to get to Darwin and I’d heard about a 4 wheel drive track called the Gibb River Road. Obviously I wasn’t going to be able to walk it so, having looked into my options I decided to go with a tour group (in spite of my deep seated prejudice against that way of travel, I sucked it up). I decided to go for the 9 day 4 wheel drive expedition through the Kimberley region and up the Gibb River Road. I wont go into all the details because, well, I couldn’t be bothered and anyway you’d die of boredom, so I’ll give you some of the highlights!
On day 1 I really was beginning to wonder if I was suffering from temporary insanity when I booked - I couldn’t get my head around the idea of being told what to do 24/7. I’m glad I stuck it out though, we had a really good group! Well, apart from Crazy Jonnie who (no word of a lie) actually put on his feedback form that we were all lucky he didn’t blow up the bus. Apparently he’s not keen on people having fun… scary!
We did lots of gorge walking and swimming, which was fantastic. Now you know I’m not particularly uh, “outdoorsy” so I was super proud of myself for managing all the walks. The toughest was El Questro which was about a 4 hour scramble. About half the group didn’t make it to the top but I was determined to get there and I did! The only down side was, sitting in the water hole at the top, I actually got nipped on the leg by some random fish that lived in a rock!! No lie. I got the fright of my life!
Speaking of El Questro, that’s where I celebrated my birthday. I went to the pub with some of the guys off the tour and we met the local character Buddy. We’d heard a rumour that he’s in the habit of buying wine if he takes a shine to someone so we had a challenge - who can get the bottle of wine. Of course I won… but it being my birthday I think I had a bit of an unfair advantage if I’m really honest. The record was broken by Clare (the Botox saleslady from Melbourne) who got him to buy her dinner. Game, set and match I believe.
I was super impressed that the guys managed to bake me a cake with only a camping stove, an open fire and some cake mix - and it was Deeeeelicious! The cooking in general was awesome, given what they had to work with, in no small part thanks to Simon and Garfunkel (also known as Simon and Tracey who own a hostel in Cairns and were over in the Kimberleys on holidays).
All in all we had a really good group dynamic which was proven the day the bus wouldn’t start. Picture the scene, Sheila (a mahoosive offroad 4 wheel drive bus) getting pushed by the team. It was all grand until the 8 ton bus started to roll backwards on us. It was ok, nobody got hurt, just splattered in mud. Yum!
The other big memory of the trip was the trio of crazy tour guides who were on “HORRIDAAAAYS!” from Alice Springs. Lead by Tommy (a girl) Juno (a boy) and Claire (Scottish) who had so much energy, the group took on a little bit of their madness, which made for lots of giggles! I did see a liiiiittle more of them (diving from the highest rocks they could find in the nip) than I would ideally have liked but we’ll let them away with that!
Unfortunately because we were on tour just in the build up to the wet season, we couldn’t get into the Bungle Bungles. That was a little bit disappointing but to give him his due, Randal (also known as Randy-pants) did his damndest to get us in, and really didn’t give up until the last minute. Instead we took a trip up to Wyndham to see a crocodile farm. That was AMAZIIING! The owner was the real life honest to God embodyment of Crocodile Dundee. He even spoke like him! He went around feeding the crocs and some of them even tried to attack people through the cages! I thought for a minute Juno was a gonner but he was far enough away to escape. That was funny though because the man said that the croc will always try and go for the smallest member of the group - not this time! Juno was the biggest member of the group by at least a foot! I don’t think I’d like to get that close to a croc again, it was super scary.
Towards the end of the trip we went to Lake Argyle. It’s actually a man made lake but it’s over 80 kilometers long! It started off as a river and most of the lake bed was once a station, but now it provides water for Kununurra and the surrounding area. Apparently it’s estimated that there are over 250,000 freshwater crocs in there so why we decided to swim in there is beyond me. That said, we all survived so there’s no need to worry.
This trip was, in a way, very much about facing my fears. The obvious one is facing my fears of dogs. It was really scary one day in particular when we stopped off for lunch. We were greeted by a dog, wasn’t too bad, about a 6 on the Labrador bouncy scale, but the problem was, when we went into the shop there was another dog so I was trapped. When some moron tried to pet it and it barked I burst into tears - I was SO embarrassed! The team were awesome though, and I honestly had about 10 people on puppy patrol, they were so sweet. I did draw the line at Lake Argyle - the boat owner had a 10 month old staffie - about a 400 on the Labrador scale of bouncy. I nearly lost my life. I was so glad I’d talked to the skipper the evening before (he joined us all for dinner) and told him about my, uh, canine issues - he said he normally takes the dog on the boat - can you imagine?? Crocs in the water, bouncy dog on the boat - trapped much! Luckily he didn’t bring him so I was able to stay on the boat.
My other fear was rock diving (basically leaping off anything high into a deep pool of water. In one spot we had a rope swing - it took me a bit to get the balls to jump but I did in the end. I wasn’t very graceful (at all, in fact!) but I did it! The other big one was Lake Argyle. It’s kind of funny but I really was so scared even at the lowest point. It was as though my brain was saying “ok, let’s go, time to jump” but I physically couldn’t move. I was completely rooted to the spot. We all tried to jump together but when the rest jumped I just stayed stuck. I did manage to get my nerve up and jump (twice HAHA!) but bloody hellfire, it took a few minutes I tell ya!
The other ‘first’ for me was sleeping in a swag. It’s basically a big heavy duty sleeping bag yoke with a mattress inside. You open it up and put your sleeping bag in on top of the mattress. It was unbelievable to be able to sleep staring up at the stars. When it started to rain I did initially join Olivia in one of the tents but after 2 nights in the tent I jumped ship and went over to team swag. It’s quite the experience to sleep in a swag under a tarpaulin in the lashing rain and not get wet - I tell ya, there was no going back to team tent after that, I was a fully fledged member of team swag. Fair enough I didn’t take the 9 day challenge (no shower for 9 days) but I was allowed to stay anyway. To be fair I think I did about 4 days of the no shower challenge before I quit in a moment of weakness. I think it was the smell of my shampoo that did me in.
Supermega kudos to Randy-pants for the best trip ever!
I’m in Darwin at the moment but I’ll write about that in another letter, I think your eyes are probably starting to bleed. My hair is on fire. Just checking… ;o)
Love ya lots, miss ya and will write again soon! Xx
Your Daughter
(the one who ran away)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Voom Voom Brooome!
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. Thanks for the tea bags! They’ve gone down very well indeed.
This past week I spent in a place called Broome. Thus far I think it’s definitely my favourite town in Australia. I know I’ve said that about everywhere but I actually really mean it this time. I'd love to get back there some day, maybe work on a pearl cleaning boat (dirty work, but who wouldn't want to work on a boat??)
While I’ve been here I managed to get the right mix of touristy things and socialising. I met some girls on the bus from Coral Bay so I spent some time hanging out with them in Broome. They’re all lovely and it was fantastic to have other people to talk to (uh, rather than just talking to myself).
Anyway, the hostel was called Beaches of Broome and I think it was definitely the vury poshest hostel I’ve stayed in to date - we even had air conditioning!! Of course there was also a sheet thief but we’ll talk about that in a minute. The girls stayed in the Cable Beach backpackers 2 doors up and their hostel was definitely a bit tired but that said, the did have a lot more of an atmosphere down there.
The first night we were there we decided to go in search of a beach party (I’d heard a rumour in my hostel, it had to be investigated). We went and got a few small sherries to bring to the beach then went wandering into the dunes using 2 mobile phones to light our way. We were getting very lost when we stumbled upon a group of equally lost other backpackers so we all joined up. The only problem was, we ended up following the drunkest person in Broome who, incidentally also had absolutely no clue where he was going. In the end we found our way to the car park and down onto the beach. Glad there were no snakes or crocs!! We lit a bonfire and sat around down on the beach for ages, it was so starry, and I saw at least 6 shooting stars, it was amazing! The only down side to the night was, when I got back to my room I realised that some gobshite had actually stolen the top sheet off my bed (really!) so I had to use my towel as a blanket, no kidding! It was ok, I got a new one in the morning but I tell ya, that was the first time I’ve ever had my sheet stolen off my bed haha!
I also went to visit Willie Creek pearl farm. It was very interesting to learn all about how they make the pearls and now, I can even tell you (uh, sort of) what to look for when you’re pearl shopping (for a price). Apparently the quickest and easiest way to tell if it’s real is to rub it on your teeth. If it feels gritty it’s real but if it feels smooth then you’ve been had and it’s a fake. There you have it.
On the Tuesday night I went to Captain Murphy’s Irish bar for an open mic night (no, I didn’t inflict them with my special a capella version of Waltzing Matilda, tempted though I was). It was hilarious though because this place felt like it had been lifted right out of the back arse of nowhere in Roscommon, carpet and all! Needless to say there was some alcohol involved but it’s ok, I behaved myself impeccably, no need for the wooden spoon I promise.
The other big highlight of Broome was the Crocodile Farm. I’ve NEVER been that close to one before. There was literally a bit of wire mesh between me and the biggest most prehistoric looking croc-beastie I’ve ever seen. They fed the crocs on this tour and be jaysus I tell ya, I’d really rather NOT get bitten by a croc, they look and act like actual dinosaurs. Incidentally, that was the same farm where some gobshite climbed over the fence one drunken night and tried to wrestle one of the crocs. I don’t need to tell you that he got bitten (big bloody surprise!) but it’s ok, I think he survived. Tried to catch a look at the croc in question but he refused to come out. I was tempted to borrow one of the really pushy loud children on the tour to use as bait but I don’t think their parents would have let me away with that one. Pity. I really wanted to get a good look at that croc.
Apart from that, I saw some wonderful Aboriginal art work, bout me some nice shiny things and drank my own body weight in… water! Mammy! Please! What kind of boozy floozy to you take me for?? Shocked.
I was supposed to be there for my birthday but my outback tour was pulled forward to I had to leave on the Saturday. Unbeknownst to me, Simon had got me the bestest birthday prezzie! He’d organised for me to go on a camel ride on Cable Beach! I was lucky though, and the camel people were able to pull it forward for me, so I got to go on the Friday instead. It was a lot of fun, but I am glad to say that these ones didn’t run (unlike the crazy Moroccan camels). It was super relaxing and I got some awesome photos which I was really please about (check out FaceAche for photos).
My last evening in Broome I went to the Divers bar and had some beers with some of the guys from my hostel. There was a live band which was quite good. The best bit was, they played 7 Nation Army and I said to one of the guys “oooh, I wish they’d play Hotel Yorba!”. What was the very last song that the band played?? You betcha! I was so impressed. I think they may have noticed it was my birthday from all the leaping around the place I was doing. I think I just had the look of a birthday girl about me. Either way, very happy about that!
Soooo! I’ll write again about the Kimberley trip because I’d imagine you’re pretty bored right now and probably have to go wash out the bin or something.
Love you lots and will write soon! Xxx
Your Dautghter
(the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. Thanks for the tea bags! They’ve gone down very well indeed.
This past week I spent in a place called Broome. Thus far I think it’s definitely my favourite town in Australia. I know I’ve said that about everywhere but I actually really mean it this time. I'd love to get back there some day, maybe work on a pearl cleaning boat (dirty work, but who wouldn't want to work on a boat??)
While I’ve been here I managed to get the right mix of touristy things and socialising. I met some girls on the bus from Coral Bay so I spent some time hanging out with them in Broome. They’re all lovely and it was fantastic to have other people to talk to (uh, rather than just talking to myself).
Anyway, the hostel was called Beaches of Broome and I think it was definitely the vury poshest hostel I’ve stayed in to date - we even had air conditioning!! Of course there was also a sheet thief but we’ll talk about that in a minute. The girls stayed in the Cable Beach backpackers 2 doors up and their hostel was definitely a bit tired but that said, the did have a lot more of an atmosphere down there.
The first night we were there we decided to go in search of a beach party (I’d heard a rumour in my hostel, it had to be investigated). We went and got a few small sherries to bring to the beach then went wandering into the dunes using 2 mobile phones to light our way. We were getting very lost when we stumbled upon a group of equally lost other backpackers so we all joined up. The only problem was, we ended up following the drunkest person in Broome who, incidentally also had absolutely no clue where he was going. In the end we found our way to the car park and down onto the beach. Glad there were no snakes or crocs!! We lit a bonfire and sat around down on the beach for ages, it was so starry, and I saw at least 6 shooting stars, it was amazing! The only down side to the night was, when I got back to my room I realised that some gobshite had actually stolen the top sheet off my bed (really!) so I had to use my towel as a blanket, no kidding! It was ok, I got a new one in the morning but I tell ya, that was the first time I’ve ever had my sheet stolen off my bed haha!
I also went to visit Willie Creek pearl farm. It was very interesting to learn all about how they make the pearls and now, I can even tell you (uh, sort of) what to look for when you’re pearl shopping (for a price). Apparently the quickest and easiest way to tell if it’s real is to rub it on your teeth. If it feels gritty it’s real but if it feels smooth then you’ve been had and it’s a fake. There you have it.
On the Tuesday night I went to Captain Murphy’s Irish bar for an open mic night (no, I didn’t inflict them with my special a capella version of Waltzing Matilda, tempted though I was). It was hilarious though because this place felt like it had been lifted right out of the back arse of nowhere in Roscommon, carpet and all! Needless to say there was some alcohol involved but it’s ok, I behaved myself impeccably, no need for the wooden spoon I promise.
The other big highlight of Broome was the Crocodile Farm. I’ve NEVER been that close to one before. There was literally a bit of wire mesh between me and the biggest most prehistoric looking croc-beastie I’ve ever seen. They fed the crocs on this tour and be jaysus I tell ya, I’d really rather NOT get bitten by a croc, they look and act like actual dinosaurs. Incidentally, that was the same farm where some gobshite climbed over the fence one drunken night and tried to wrestle one of the crocs. I don’t need to tell you that he got bitten (big bloody surprise!) but it’s ok, I think he survived. Tried to catch a look at the croc in question but he refused to come out. I was tempted to borrow one of the really pushy loud children on the tour to use as bait but I don’t think their parents would have let me away with that one. Pity. I really wanted to get a good look at that croc.
Apart from that, I saw some wonderful Aboriginal art work, bout me some nice shiny things and drank my own body weight in… water! Mammy! Please! What kind of boozy floozy to you take me for?? Shocked.
I was supposed to be there for my birthday but my outback tour was pulled forward to I had to leave on the Saturday. Unbeknownst to me, Simon had got me the bestest birthday prezzie! He’d organised for me to go on a camel ride on Cable Beach! I was lucky though, and the camel people were able to pull it forward for me, so I got to go on the Friday instead. It was a lot of fun, but I am glad to say that these ones didn’t run (unlike the crazy Moroccan camels). It was super relaxing and I got some awesome photos which I was really please about (check out FaceAche for photos).
My last evening in Broome I went to the Divers bar and had some beers with some of the guys from my hostel. There was a live band which was quite good. The best bit was, they played 7 Nation Army and I said to one of the guys “oooh, I wish they’d play Hotel Yorba!”. What was the very last song that the band played?? You betcha! I was so impressed. I think they may have noticed it was my birthday from all the leaping around the place I was doing. I think I just had the look of a birthday girl about me. Either way, very happy about that!
Soooo! I’ll write again about the Kimberley trip because I’d imagine you’re pretty bored right now and probably have to go wash out the bin or something.
Love you lots and will write soon! Xxx
Your Dautghter
(the one who ran away)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Coral Bay (AKA Home and Away)
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I got your package with the Tayto and the tea bags, thanks, I was only hanging for a Tayto sandwich!
Last week I was in Coral Bay - also known as the real life Summer Bay! I didn’t find Alf Stewart but I did find a lady who was the very embodiment of Irene - well impressed!
Unfortunately I’ve not been great at taking pictures, mainly because I keep forgetting to take my camera, but I’ll try to do better. I did manage to get some nice sunset ones so I’ll be sure and post those on my FaceAche account.
Coral Bay was absolutely paradise so I’m glad I left - I could very easily have had a very different letter to you if I’d stayed a day longer (along the lines of “Mammy I love you but I’m never coming home”). Breathe easy, that’s not going to happen just yet!
The main focus of my week was snorkelling and other water / beach based activities because, well, there isn’t really much else to do, Coral Bay is literally one street!
On the Monday of my stay I did an eco tour with Coral Bay EcoTours which absolutely blew my mind. We did three snorkel sessions in total and were on the boat for about 5 hours. In that time I got to swim with actual real life manta rays!! I did have a bit of a scare when one decided to swim at me with his mouth open but once I’d established that I was too big to fit in there I relaxed. I saw a shark too! It was only a nurse shark which are harmless apparently, but I still swam off the other direction (just in case). “Jaws” has a lot to answer for… I saw plenty of sea turtles too (the ones from “Finding Nemo” hehe).
Ironically with all the reef sharks, and manta rays and what not, the scariest thing I encountered were these like, super-aggressive snapper. I’m not joking, these were MEAN. One day I was out snorkelling when the American girl I was with told me to look behind me. Lo and behold, I had a little entourage of snapper swimming after me. I think the fat b*stards thought I was going to feed them. They’re bloody lucky I didn’t take a bite out of them. I found out later that all the tour operators feed them (mainly as all the people are getting into the water) so they get all excited when they see people haha!
Apart from that, I did do some socialising in Coral Bay, might maybe have had a little sherry one of the days…! I met lots of Irish people there which was odd given that it’s such a small town. Of course I met a few Ozzies as well.
One of the funniest nights (which I probably shouldn’t tell you about but sure feck it, the wooden spoon is in Ireland…) was when I met James and Chris. They’re two young lads from Perth who were up for a holiday. Funny out I tell ya! After we’d been, uh, playing pool, ahem… in the hostel, the lads decided they were going on an adventure so of course, never one to be left out, I had to go with them. What I realised later was that this adventure involved letting the air out of their tyres on their truck thing (they call them “ute”s here - sounds like yooot) they proceeded to go flying off down this 4WD track to the beach. It was fun but I was very very happy to have a seat belt. I promised I’d look them up if I ever get back to Perth.
Another night I went off down to find a beach party with Wendy (from Tallaght) and her fella Chris (they’re all called Chris or James / Jamie I’ve decided) we had to stop by the closed bakery. Except it wasn’t closed. Apparently the bakery does a very lucrative line in after hours pies. I nearly died laughing. In Ireland when you go to a party you try to get more booze, in Coral Bay you barter your soul for an illicit after hours pie. I suppose that’s just how they, ah, roll…
On my last day in Coral Bay I did lots of walking and eventually found the shark nursery. That was very scary - you stand on the beach and look into the water (about 3 feet in front of you) and you’ll see anywhere between 15 and 30 sharks in the water! It’s ok though because they’re reef sharks and not bothered with people but still - aaargh! Needless to say I had to wade in up to my ankles (very very briefly I might add) but how many people can say they’ve stood in shark infested waters?? I know one at least…
So that’s it really. I was very sad to leave Coral Bay but I was super excited to be moving on to Broome because I’d heard so much about it. I took the bus with 2 Irish girls and a Kiwi girl that I’d met in Coral Bay so that was nice, to have someone to hang out with.
I’m in Broome now, and gearing up to go seeing all the sights. First stop? Sunset on the famous Cable Beach of course!
I’ll keep you posted on all the goings on (within reason of couse - Iloveyoumammy…)
Thanks again for the Tayto and the Barry’s tea bags. You wouldn’t do me a favour and send me over an old block of the Avonmore cheese would you? Mmmm….
Love you!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I got your package with the Tayto and the tea bags, thanks, I was only hanging for a Tayto sandwich!
Last week I was in Coral Bay - also known as the real life Summer Bay! I didn’t find Alf Stewart but I did find a lady who was the very embodiment of Irene - well impressed!
Unfortunately I’ve not been great at taking pictures, mainly because I keep forgetting to take my camera, but I’ll try to do better. I did manage to get some nice sunset ones so I’ll be sure and post those on my FaceAche account.
Coral Bay was absolutely paradise so I’m glad I left - I could very easily have had a very different letter to you if I’d stayed a day longer (along the lines of “Mammy I love you but I’m never coming home”). Breathe easy, that’s not going to happen just yet!
The main focus of my week was snorkelling and other water / beach based activities because, well, there isn’t really much else to do, Coral Bay is literally one street!
On the Monday of my stay I did an eco tour with Coral Bay EcoTours which absolutely blew my mind. We did three snorkel sessions in total and were on the boat for about 5 hours. In that time I got to swim with actual real life manta rays!! I did have a bit of a scare when one decided to swim at me with his mouth open but once I’d established that I was too big to fit in there I relaxed. I saw a shark too! It was only a nurse shark which are harmless apparently, but I still swam off the other direction (just in case). “Jaws” has a lot to answer for… I saw plenty of sea turtles too (the ones from “Finding Nemo” hehe).
Ironically with all the reef sharks, and manta rays and what not, the scariest thing I encountered were these like, super-aggressive snapper. I’m not joking, these were MEAN. One day I was out snorkelling when the American girl I was with told me to look behind me. Lo and behold, I had a little entourage of snapper swimming after me. I think the fat b*stards thought I was going to feed them. They’re bloody lucky I didn’t take a bite out of them. I found out later that all the tour operators feed them (mainly as all the people are getting into the water) so they get all excited when they see people haha!
Apart from that, I did do some socialising in Coral Bay, might maybe have had a little sherry one of the days…! I met lots of Irish people there which was odd given that it’s such a small town. Of course I met a few Ozzies as well.
One of the funniest nights (which I probably shouldn’t tell you about but sure feck it, the wooden spoon is in Ireland…) was when I met James and Chris. They’re two young lads from Perth who were up for a holiday. Funny out I tell ya! After we’d been, uh, playing pool, ahem… in the hostel, the lads decided they were going on an adventure so of course, never one to be left out, I had to go with them. What I realised later was that this adventure involved letting the air out of their tyres on their truck thing (they call them “ute”s here - sounds like yooot) they proceeded to go flying off down this 4WD track to the beach. It was fun but I was very very happy to have a seat belt. I promised I’d look them up if I ever get back to Perth.
Another night I went off down to find a beach party with Wendy (from Tallaght) and her fella Chris (they’re all called Chris or James / Jamie I’ve decided) we had to stop by the closed bakery. Except it wasn’t closed. Apparently the bakery does a very lucrative line in after hours pies. I nearly died laughing. In Ireland when you go to a party you try to get more booze, in Coral Bay you barter your soul for an illicit after hours pie. I suppose that’s just how they, ah, roll…
On my last day in Coral Bay I did lots of walking and eventually found the shark nursery. That was very scary - you stand on the beach and look into the water (about 3 feet in front of you) and you’ll see anywhere between 15 and 30 sharks in the water! It’s ok though because they’re reef sharks and not bothered with people but still - aaargh! Needless to say I had to wade in up to my ankles (very very briefly I might add) but how many people can say they’ve stood in shark infested waters?? I know one at least…
So that’s it really. I was very sad to leave Coral Bay but I was super excited to be moving on to Broome because I’d heard so much about it. I took the bus with 2 Irish girls and a Kiwi girl that I’d met in Coral Bay so that was nice, to have someone to hang out with.
I’m in Broome now, and gearing up to go seeing all the sights. First stop? Sunset on the famous Cable Beach of course!
I’ll keep you posted on all the goings on (within reason of couse - Iloveyoumammy…)
Thanks again for the Tayto and the Barry’s tea bags. You wouldn’t do me a favour and send me over an old block of the Avonmore cheese would you? Mmmm….
Love you!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Humpback Whales, a Rat's Nest and some VERY drunken Swans...
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I think I’ve just about recovered from The Incident. I’ve been having a great time and am glad that I’ve got a couple of chill out days by the beach - badly needed!
So! Well I think one of the most memorable experiences so far, in fact possibly in my life was the whale watching trip I went on. I was extremely lucky as they put on an extra afternoon trip due to demand. That meant that there were only about 30 people on the boat with me so I was able to get a good view! We had to drive (sail? Uh, boat?) to where the whales were, which took about half an hour. Once they were spotted we pulled up alongside them and THERE THEY WERE!! There were 5 of them all swimming along being all whaley. They were simply magnificent. We had a good hour with them and my jaw just hit’s the floor every time I think about it. The best bit was when one of them swam right up by the boat. Seriously, this thing was about 6 feet from the boat and huuuuge! I nearly fainted. I think it’s something I’ll remember for a very long time to come. The guide said that we were lucky too, because the group that morning had not seen half as much as we did.
Wait til I tell you though, and I’m so embarrassed to have to admit this right… As we were pulling away I figured the show was over and was feeling a little peckish so I decided to have a rummage in my back pack for some biscuits I had stashed in there. Well, the next thing all I hear is this big “wooooooo!!” from everyone around me. I looked up and what could I see only a big bloody splash. Apparently one of the whales had breached! And of course what was I doing at the time?? Rummaging in my bag for a feckin biscuit. It wasn’t even a *nice* biscuit, it was a boring one, a bit like a dry digestive (actually, it was one of the ones that the knock-off kit-kat thief left behind). Typical me! That said, it was still an awe-inspiring and very special afternoon.
Sunday evening I went to see a comedy show by the Umbilical Brothers. Look them up on You Tube (get Scott to show you) - they’re fantastic. All they do is mime and make sound effects, they don’t have any set but my goodness, for such a simple concept they’re incredible!! I went with Emma (from the train) which was cool, it’s nice to go to something like that with someone else.
On Monday I went out to Rottnest Island with one of the girls that was sharing my room in the hostel, Sharon from Holland. It’s about half an hour from Freo by ferry, and it’s a real holiday island. There are no cars really, and everyone’s just there to relax. I saw some beaches that could have come straight off a sun tan lotion add, I very nearly stayed! We were also really lucky to see some quokkas. They basically look like little kangaroos and no, they weren’t wallabies smartie pants! Interesting story actually; a Dutch explorer (I’ve forgotten his name) discovered the island. When he landed he saw all these (what we now call) quokkas but didn’t know what they were. They looked like big rats to him, so he named the island “Rat’s Nest” island - et viola - Rottnest. Anyway, I digress…
We decided to rent a tandem bike and cycle around the island. It’s pretty small so we figured it would be easy enough. Yeah, nobody mentioned the hills… Seriously, one or two of those hills would put Patrick’s hill in Cork to shame, so I’m not too proud to say we actually got off and walked. The problem I suppose, was that we didn’t get enough momentum, and my giggling fits weren’t really helping.
That evening when we got back to the hostel Sharon and I decided to go out and grab a bite to eat. Well, that was the plan anyway. It didn’t really work out that way. She had heard of this place called “The Dean” which had a backpackers night on Mondays so we said we’d check it out. Unfortunately when I found out that the FREE food was hot dogs I was a little fed up of being a non-hot-dog-eater. I didn’t cave though, the idea wasn’t too appealing.
Anyway, yes, so, we got there and there was a big bunch of lads at the bar. We went looking for seats and to cut a long story short, one of the most handsome guys I’ve ever laid eyes on in my life had us settled at a table about 30 seconds later. Conveniently surrounded by football players. Mental note to self - if you’re going to go to a bar, bring a Dutch girl, the fellas seem to like that heehee! We had a great time hanging out with them, and we found out that their football (Ozzie Rules not Gaelic obviously) team had just won the league so they were out celebrating. And celebrate they did! Be jaysus they were knocking into those drinks like the sun wasn’t ever going to rise again… I have to say I did have to do a bit of ducking to avoid the advances of one particularly amorous dude but I’m pleased to say I escaped. I know, I’ll never find a husband this way but you know, a lady must have standards mother!! He was very handsome to give him his due but also VERY drunk. Ah I couldn’t be doing with that now. It was a very fun night to be sure!
The following day I moved down to Cottesloe to spend a few days at the beach. I decided that, after the madness of the Swan Barracks I had to get away from Northbridge, party capital of Perth before my liver packed up and left. I got lost on the way to the hostel but I was rescued by a nice man called Ken in his van who showed me where the town was, and brought me directly to the hostel.
Cottesloe is lovely. It’s a little beach suburb of Perth with a glorious beach and an alcohol free hostel - just what the doctor ordered methinks! Initially I had an 8 bed dorm to myself so I did a bit of naked twirling around just because I could. 3 others have moved in since to the naked twirling is no more. I don’t mind though, my derriere was getting cold anyway. Today, down at the beach I thought I saw a shark in the water!! Well, I think it was a shark. It could have been a dolphin because it did move through the water like a dolphin. That said, I’ve never seen a dolphin with 2 dorsal fins before so I‘ve a sneaky suspicion that that wasn‘t no kind of dolphin if ya catch my drift! I’m a little glad it’s a bit cold yet for swimming. I contented myself with lolling on the sand reading. My life is, like, sooo hard… hehe.
So that’s it from me. I’ll be moving up to Coral Bay on Friday and I’m planning to stay there a week anyway. I’ve decided that I’m going to give myself a PADI course for my birthday so hopefully I’ll be able to do that there. Otherwise I’ll move up to Exmouth and do it there. I’ll keep you posted either way.
Hope all’s well at home. Did you check the light in the attic? I think it might still be on…
Love you lots!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I think I’ve just about recovered from The Incident. I’ve been having a great time and am glad that I’ve got a couple of chill out days by the beach - badly needed!
So! Well I think one of the most memorable experiences so far, in fact possibly in my life was the whale watching trip I went on. I was extremely lucky as they put on an extra afternoon trip due to demand. That meant that there were only about 30 people on the boat with me so I was able to get a good view! We had to drive (sail? Uh, boat?) to where the whales were, which took about half an hour. Once they were spotted we pulled up alongside them and THERE THEY WERE!! There were 5 of them all swimming along being all whaley. They were simply magnificent. We had a good hour with them and my jaw just hit’s the floor every time I think about it. The best bit was when one of them swam right up by the boat. Seriously, this thing was about 6 feet from the boat and huuuuge! I nearly fainted. I think it’s something I’ll remember for a very long time to come. The guide said that we were lucky too, because the group that morning had not seen half as much as we did.
Wait til I tell you though, and I’m so embarrassed to have to admit this right… As we were pulling away I figured the show was over and was feeling a little peckish so I decided to have a rummage in my back pack for some biscuits I had stashed in there. Well, the next thing all I hear is this big “wooooooo!!” from everyone around me. I looked up and what could I see only a big bloody splash. Apparently one of the whales had breached! And of course what was I doing at the time?? Rummaging in my bag for a feckin biscuit. It wasn’t even a *nice* biscuit, it was a boring one, a bit like a dry digestive (actually, it was one of the ones that the knock-off kit-kat thief left behind). Typical me! That said, it was still an awe-inspiring and very special afternoon.
Sunday evening I went to see a comedy show by the Umbilical Brothers. Look them up on You Tube (get Scott to show you) - they’re fantastic. All they do is mime and make sound effects, they don’t have any set but my goodness, for such a simple concept they’re incredible!! I went with Emma (from the train) which was cool, it’s nice to go to something like that with someone else.
On Monday I went out to Rottnest Island with one of the girls that was sharing my room in the hostel, Sharon from Holland. It’s about half an hour from Freo by ferry, and it’s a real holiday island. There are no cars really, and everyone’s just there to relax. I saw some beaches that could have come straight off a sun tan lotion add, I very nearly stayed! We were also really lucky to see some quokkas. They basically look like little kangaroos and no, they weren’t wallabies smartie pants! Interesting story actually; a Dutch explorer (I’ve forgotten his name) discovered the island. When he landed he saw all these (what we now call) quokkas but didn’t know what they were. They looked like big rats to him, so he named the island “Rat’s Nest” island - et viola - Rottnest. Anyway, I digress…
We decided to rent a tandem bike and cycle around the island. It’s pretty small so we figured it would be easy enough. Yeah, nobody mentioned the hills… Seriously, one or two of those hills would put Patrick’s hill in Cork to shame, so I’m not too proud to say we actually got off and walked. The problem I suppose, was that we didn’t get enough momentum, and my giggling fits weren’t really helping.
That evening when we got back to the hostel Sharon and I decided to go out and grab a bite to eat. Well, that was the plan anyway. It didn’t really work out that way. She had heard of this place called “The Dean” which had a backpackers night on Mondays so we said we’d check it out. Unfortunately when I found out that the FREE food was hot dogs I was a little fed up of being a non-hot-dog-eater. I didn’t cave though, the idea wasn’t too appealing.
Anyway, yes, so, we got there and there was a big bunch of lads at the bar. We went looking for seats and to cut a long story short, one of the most handsome guys I’ve ever laid eyes on in my life had us settled at a table about 30 seconds later. Conveniently surrounded by football players. Mental note to self - if you’re going to go to a bar, bring a Dutch girl, the fellas seem to like that heehee! We had a great time hanging out with them, and we found out that their football (Ozzie Rules not Gaelic obviously) team had just won the league so they were out celebrating. And celebrate they did! Be jaysus they were knocking into those drinks like the sun wasn’t ever going to rise again… I have to say I did have to do a bit of ducking to avoid the advances of one particularly amorous dude but I’m pleased to say I escaped. I know, I’ll never find a husband this way but you know, a lady must have standards mother!! He was very handsome to give him his due but also VERY drunk. Ah I couldn’t be doing with that now. It was a very fun night to be sure!
The following day I moved down to Cottesloe to spend a few days at the beach. I decided that, after the madness of the Swan Barracks I had to get away from Northbridge, party capital of Perth before my liver packed up and left. I got lost on the way to the hostel but I was rescued by a nice man called Ken in his van who showed me where the town was, and brought me directly to the hostel.
Cottesloe is lovely. It’s a little beach suburb of Perth with a glorious beach and an alcohol free hostel - just what the doctor ordered methinks! Initially I had an 8 bed dorm to myself so I did a bit of naked twirling around just because I could. 3 others have moved in since to the naked twirling is no more. I don’t mind though, my derriere was getting cold anyway. Today, down at the beach I thought I saw a shark in the water!! Well, I think it was a shark. It could have been a dolphin because it did move through the water like a dolphin. That said, I’ve never seen a dolphin with 2 dorsal fins before so I‘ve a sneaky suspicion that that wasn‘t no kind of dolphin if ya catch my drift! I’m a little glad it’s a bit cold yet for swimming. I contented myself with lolling on the sand reading. My life is, like, sooo hard… hehe.
So that’s it from me. I’ll be moving up to Coral Bay on Friday and I’m planning to stay there a week anyway. I’ve decided that I’m going to give myself a PADI course for my birthday so hopefully I’ll be able to do that there. Otherwise I’ll move up to Exmouth and do it there. I’ll keep you posted either way.
Hope all’s well at home. Did you check the light in the attic? I think it might still be on…
Love you lots!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Perth, Freo and *The Incident*
Blog - Perth and Freemantle
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I thought to myself I’d better write and update you on what I’ve been getting up to. If the truth be told I’m still a little bit shook up after “The Incident” this morning, but I’m determined not to let it ruin my trip. More on that subject once I’ve composed myself; even thinking about it makes me howl like a banshee on fire.
All in all, Perth is absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t quite understand what the guidebook meant when they described Perth as ‘liveable’. I think I get it now. It’s a modern city with everything your little heart could want (even if you made something up just for the hell of it and demanded that, they’d probably have that too), but the city also has a lovely laid back vibe. It makes me wonder if they really do have it sussed - work to live, NOT live to work. I think the fact that the city itself is so pretty just adds to the overall atmosphere.
I’ve done a lot of the usual touristy stuff. Sorry? OF COURSE I did the Big Jolly Tourist Bus. Really, what a ridiculous question… I’ll let you away with it but only because you’re my mammy, and I’ve not forgotten that wooden spoon Iloveyoumammy… where was I? Oh yes, the bus. As usual the ticket lasted for 2 days so I was able to get my money’s worth (I know, you’re very proud). The first day, I went up to Kings Park. WOW. The scenery is divine and the views are incredible. They even have some examples of boab trees - I’ve never before seen a tree that could just as easily hopped out of Tim Burton’s imagination. I *want* one. Not sure what I’d do with it mind you, but that hardly matters now, does it??
I went to Perth Zoo too. I think I’d like to work in the zoo, it looks like such a fab place to work. But I digress… I’m not sure if it was quite as good as Melbourne Zoo (maybe because they didn’t have a nice Andy who let me in for a concession fare). But over all, dammit Australians know how to do zoos. There are all these little trails, like jungle trails, that you follow and all the enclosures are really nice. It makes me feel sad for that poor polar bear in Dublin Zoo. If only he knew what his cousins have, he’s be really rather put out.
While I was at the zoo, I was lucky enough to catch 2 talks, one at the sun bear enclosure where I got to see them getting fed!! And the other was at the crocodile enclosure. Man alive, he was the biggest fattest beast of a crocodile I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. I was secretly more than pleased that there was a great big bloody barrier between me and him or I think we would have had a repeat of the “Bear Incident” from Melbourne Zoo.
I’ve also had some good times in the hostel bar, where I got to know a couple from Tipp (yes, of course they mentioned the hurling, and yes of course they got a box) and the guy who runs the place. Now you’re not to get cross (well, come on, I AM 30 after all…) but yes, I did indulge in a couple of beers. But you’ll be very glad to hear that great fun and merriment was had by all. And that’s all I’m going to say on that subject.
Today I took a boat trip to Freemantle and back. The weather was absolutely glorious in a “no clouds as far as the eye can see” kind of way. I got very excited initially, because I thought I’d lost weight. I got some land when I realised that my legs only looked thinner because they’d retreated from the sunlight in shock. I was back to my usual uh, rubenesque self in no time. That said, I’m not going to complain because in fairness as soon as I got to Freemantle I proceeded to eat my way around the entire market (what?? There are no calories if nobody sees you eat it…). Oh nom, there was a feast of spinach and ricotta rolls, an onion bajji, a curry puff thing that was loovely, 2 pancakes and then I passed out. But I think there might have been an ice-cream incident but I was in a carb coma so I wont be held responsible.
After the market I decided to waddle up to Freemantle prison. Our guide was an English gentleman called John. Someone asked why we didn’t have a guide with an Australian accent (they were English) and fair play, he just turned around and said that when the prison was build his accent was and Australian accent. Good man John! They do torch lit tours that I’d like to do but I wouldn’t be brave enough to do one on my own, I’d need someone to throw to the wolves / poltergeist / demons - on my own I’d have no chance, especially if the evil beastie was hungry. Maybe I can convince someone to come back with me…
Apparently the prison is pretty much exactly the same as it was when it was built in the mid 1800’s which I thought was very interesting. John did explain too, that there’s a big distinction between convicts and prisoners - this I did not know! I kind of thought they were all in the one bucket (the ones that can’t run fast enough and therefore get caught), but John said that only the ones that were sent over from England were called convicts - anyone arrested locally was called a prisoner. I did get a little warm glow when I found out that the only escapees who weren’t ever caught were… Irish. Go on the boys in green hehe!
The boat trip on the way back was perfectly normal for 45 minutes of the hour’s journey when suddenly it all got a little surreal. First there were ACTUAL dolphins off the starboard (that’s right apparently) side of the boat. I actually shrieked out loud. Then the captain let me drive the boat (watch out for pics!) and to top it all off, the captain treated us to a rousing chorus of Waltzing Mathilda, followed by, wait for it, a rather grandiose version of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”!!!! how weird.
I was so excited by the dolphins that I booked a whale-watching cruise for tomorrow - full report on the way!
Right, well I suppose I better go, I need to do mundane things like drink coffee and read and smoke cigarettes…
Oh! I never did tell you about “The Incident” from this morning did I?? I think I’m just about ready to talk about it…
So, picture the scene: I’ve got out of bed, I’m hungry, I want to sit and eat and drink coffee and not much else. I go into the kitchen, go to MY cubby (well, it’s not like, actually mine per se) and…. GONE!! Everything was GONE! My apple. My stupid *healthy* wheat meal biscuits. MY CHOCOLATE BARS (I got a 12 pack of knock-off kit-kats in Woolworths for like, $1.50). Incited to near-murderous levels I stomped around for a bit, snorting until I realised that *nobody cared*. At that point I realised that I'd need to spring into Miss Marple mode, and I decided to have a quick look in the other cubbies on the off chance that they’d been moved - you know, you have to be measured and mature about these things. Lo and behold… THERE THEY WERE! Well. I really was relieved, but thought I’d better check the contents before I got too excited. Disaster. Oh my apple was there, and those stupid bloody healthy no fun biscuits. Oh they were there alright. My knock-off kitkats?? GONE.
From what I can deduce the thought process of the knock-off kit-kat thief went as follows: “om nom nom… I’m hungry… let’s see what I can steal… oooh, knock-off kit-kats… that’ll do… but wait, I’d better take only the knock-off kit-kats out of the bag, leave the outer back, and all the other stuff… ooh, now I feel guilty… I know what will make me feel better… I’ll just hide everything else somewhere totally different… there… gone… om nom nom.
I want to know: WHY the bloody hell did you not just throw the empty knock-off kit-kat outer wrapper in the bin but LEAVE the *boring* stuff where it was?? WHY did you mooooove it???? Did you think I wouldn't notice that you'd shamelessly made off with my knock-off kit-kats if you left the outer wrapper???? I hope you get bitten on the arse by a crocodile you big dirty knock-off kit-kat thief.
All I can say is he / she is very very luck indeed that I’m not hormonal right now. Carnage… that’s all I can say….
Anyway, I’m feeling much better about the whole thing than I was this morning. I know that I’m going to need time to heal, and to grieve for my knock-off kit-kats but I think time is a great healer. I guess the moral of the story is “trust nobody with your knock-off kit-kats”. Now that’s a mantra I can really get behind.
So that’s it from me for the moment. I love you and miss you, please send me all the news!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I thought to myself I’d better write and update you on what I’ve been getting up to. If the truth be told I’m still a little bit shook up after “The Incident” this morning, but I’m determined not to let it ruin my trip. More on that subject once I’ve composed myself; even thinking about it makes me howl like a banshee on fire.
All in all, Perth is absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t quite understand what the guidebook meant when they described Perth as ‘liveable’. I think I get it now. It’s a modern city with everything your little heart could want (even if you made something up just for the hell of it and demanded that, they’d probably have that too), but the city also has a lovely laid back vibe. It makes me wonder if they really do have it sussed - work to live, NOT live to work. I think the fact that the city itself is so pretty just adds to the overall atmosphere.
I’ve done a lot of the usual touristy stuff. Sorry? OF COURSE I did the Big Jolly Tourist Bus. Really, what a ridiculous question… I’ll let you away with it but only because you’re my mammy, and I’ve not forgotten that wooden spoon Iloveyoumammy… where was I? Oh yes, the bus. As usual the ticket lasted for 2 days so I was able to get my money’s worth (I know, you’re very proud). The first day, I went up to Kings Park. WOW. The scenery is divine and the views are incredible. They even have some examples of boab trees - I’ve never before seen a tree that could just as easily hopped out of Tim Burton’s imagination. I *want* one. Not sure what I’d do with it mind you, but that hardly matters now, does it??
I went to Perth Zoo too. I think I’d like to work in the zoo, it looks like such a fab place to work. But I digress… I’m not sure if it was quite as good as Melbourne Zoo (maybe because they didn’t have a nice Andy who let me in for a concession fare). But over all, dammit Australians know how to do zoos. There are all these little trails, like jungle trails, that you follow and all the enclosures are really nice. It makes me feel sad for that poor polar bear in Dublin Zoo. If only he knew what his cousins have, he’s be really rather put out.
While I was at the zoo, I was lucky enough to catch 2 talks, one at the sun bear enclosure where I got to see them getting fed!! And the other was at the crocodile enclosure. Man alive, he was the biggest fattest beast of a crocodile I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. I was secretly more than pleased that there was a great big bloody barrier between me and him or I think we would have had a repeat of the “Bear Incident” from Melbourne Zoo.
I’ve also had some good times in the hostel bar, where I got to know a couple from Tipp (yes, of course they mentioned the hurling, and yes of course they got a box) and the guy who runs the place. Now you’re not to get cross (well, come on, I AM 30 after all…) but yes, I did indulge in a couple of beers. But you’ll be very glad to hear that great fun and merriment was had by all. And that’s all I’m going to say on that subject.
Today I took a boat trip to Freemantle and back. The weather was absolutely glorious in a “no clouds as far as the eye can see” kind of way. I got very excited initially, because I thought I’d lost weight. I got some land when I realised that my legs only looked thinner because they’d retreated from the sunlight in shock. I was back to my usual uh, rubenesque self in no time. That said, I’m not going to complain because in fairness as soon as I got to Freemantle I proceeded to eat my way around the entire market (what?? There are no calories if nobody sees you eat it…). Oh nom, there was a feast of spinach and ricotta rolls, an onion bajji, a curry puff thing that was loovely, 2 pancakes and then I passed out. But I think there might have been an ice-cream incident but I was in a carb coma so I wont be held responsible.
After the market I decided to waddle up to Freemantle prison. Our guide was an English gentleman called John. Someone asked why we didn’t have a guide with an Australian accent (they were English) and fair play, he just turned around and said that when the prison was build his accent was and Australian accent. Good man John! They do torch lit tours that I’d like to do but I wouldn’t be brave enough to do one on my own, I’d need someone to throw to the wolves / poltergeist / demons - on my own I’d have no chance, especially if the evil beastie was hungry. Maybe I can convince someone to come back with me…
Apparently the prison is pretty much exactly the same as it was when it was built in the mid 1800’s which I thought was very interesting. John did explain too, that there’s a big distinction between convicts and prisoners - this I did not know! I kind of thought they were all in the one bucket (the ones that can’t run fast enough and therefore get caught), but John said that only the ones that were sent over from England were called convicts - anyone arrested locally was called a prisoner. I did get a little warm glow when I found out that the only escapees who weren’t ever caught were… Irish. Go on the boys in green hehe!
The boat trip on the way back was perfectly normal for 45 minutes of the hour’s journey when suddenly it all got a little surreal. First there were ACTUAL dolphins off the starboard (that’s right apparently) side of the boat. I actually shrieked out loud. Then the captain let me drive the boat (watch out for pics!) and to top it all off, the captain treated us to a rousing chorus of Waltzing Mathilda, followed by, wait for it, a rather grandiose version of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”!!!! how weird.
I was so excited by the dolphins that I booked a whale-watching cruise for tomorrow - full report on the way!
Right, well I suppose I better go, I need to do mundane things like drink coffee and read and smoke cigarettes…
Oh! I never did tell you about “The Incident” from this morning did I?? I think I’m just about ready to talk about it…
So, picture the scene: I’ve got out of bed, I’m hungry, I want to sit and eat and drink coffee and not much else. I go into the kitchen, go to MY cubby (well, it’s not like, actually mine per se) and…. GONE!! Everything was GONE! My apple. My stupid *healthy* wheat meal biscuits. MY CHOCOLATE BARS (I got a 12 pack of knock-off kit-kats in Woolworths for like, $1.50). Incited to near-murderous levels I stomped around for a bit, snorting until I realised that *nobody cared*. At that point I realised that I'd need to spring into Miss Marple mode, and I decided to have a quick look in the other cubbies on the off chance that they’d been moved - you know, you have to be measured and mature about these things. Lo and behold… THERE THEY WERE! Well. I really was relieved, but thought I’d better check the contents before I got too excited. Disaster. Oh my apple was there, and those stupid bloody healthy no fun biscuits. Oh they were there alright. My knock-off kitkats?? GONE.
From what I can deduce the thought process of the knock-off kit-kat thief went as follows: “om nom nom… I’m hungry… let’s see what I can steal… oooh, knock-off kit-kats… that’ll do… but wait, I’d better take only the knock-off kit-kats out of the bag, leave the outer back, and all the other stuff… ooh, now I feel guilty… I know what will make me feel better… I’ll just hide everything else somewhere totally different… there… gone… om nom nom.
I want to know: WHY the bloody hell did you not just throw the empty knock-off kit-kat outer wrapper in the bin but LEAVE the *boring* stuff where it was?? WHY did you mooooove it???? Did you think I wouldn't notice that you'd shamelessly made off with my knock-off kit-kats if you left the outer wrapper???? I hope you get bitten on the arse by a crocodile you big dirty knock-off kit-kat thief.
All I can say is he / she is very very luck indeed that I’m not hormonal right now. Carnage… that’s all I can say….
Anyway, I’m feeling much better about the whole thing than I was this morning. I know that I’m going to need time to heal, and to grieve for my knock-off kit-kats but I think time is a great healer. I guess the moral of the story is “trust nobody with your knock-off kit-kats”. Now that’s a mantra I can really get behind.
So that’s it from me for the moment. I love you and miss you, please send me all the news!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Overland, Adelaide and the Indian Pacific
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I’m pleased to report that, to date, I’ve not been arrested. Let’s uh, hope it stays that way…
I left Melbourne on September 11th (hope that’s not too ominous!). I took the Overland train from Melbourne to Adelaide. The train journey took 10 hours!! Compared to the small trains that we have in Ireland this one was pretty swanky, I was quite impressed. My biggest issue was with the woman behind me who would declare very loudly every 20 minutes that she was hanging for a cigarette. This would have been fine except that there was no smoking on the train, and when we did stop we weren’t allowed off the train. Yes. Exactly. By the time I arrived in Adelaide I was ready to pull out a cigarette and start chewing. Or chewing a limb off. Or simply sit in the middle of the aisle and start shouting obscenities at the top of my lungs. You’ll be relieved to hear that I did none of the above. I grinned, bore it, and chewed off every nail on both hands. Boy was I ever glad to arrive in Adelaide.
The nicotine deprivation was made worse by my fluctuating mood. On one hand, I was very excited to get going, actually do some travelling. On the other, I was, to put it mildly, missing Simon within pretty much the first 5 minutes of getting on the train. I couldn’t decide how I felt so I spent most of the journey staring out the window. There was some pretty scenery (I can’t get over how prehistoric gum trees look - I keep expecting to see a pterodactyl), but mainly there were just towns that looked like frontier towns. Like, American frontier. I suppose it’s all that space. Loughboy it most certainly wasn’t!
From what I’ve seen so far, admittedly in the dark, it’s an odd sort of city, I’m not sure I’ve really taken to it. I guess Melbourne has a lot to answer for! Let’s see what it’s like in daylight.
Well now! In the daylight it’s a little less forlorn than it is at night. I literally slept for nigh on 11 hours and woke in the morning to be greeted by glorious sunshine and actual people on the street (I was beginning to suspect that nobody lives in Adelaide with the exception of the nice Chinese gentleman who fed me). I wandered around and found a shopping district where I bought a note book and ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ - I felt vindicated as I too, am a woman in my 30s (just) who left a fairly daycent job to, well, nothing, just to run away. I also stumbled upon a Malaysian festival where I was suitably rewarded with the mother load of Laksa - YUM!! I am reborn.
Part 2: So, after a whistle-stop tour of Adelaide, I boarded the Indian Pacific train to Perth. The train is actually pretty ok, there’s plenty of leg space in chicken class (what?? You didn’t think I’d shelled out for a fancay schmancay sleeper now did you??). I did however shell out the $15 for a blue paper wristband that, apparently gives me access to a secret super-lounge and unlimited tea and coffee - given the amount of coffee I drink I felt that was a bargain. Because I boarded at 6:30pm it was dark, and I saw absolutely nothing. That said, I had a great time eating biscuits and reading. I was worried about the prospect of needing to be rolled off the train.
I met a very sweet lady called Virginia and had a long chat with her in the lounge car. She is a nurse and was going to go work on an aboriginal community settlement about 500k from the back arse of nowhere. We had a long chat about aboriginal people and the issues they’re facing. I have to say it was food for thought. A very interesting lady, who had married an irish sailor (really, why did nobody warn her, the poor dear), and she recounted a funny story about arriving in Ireland in the mid-60’s and the first thing she saw at the ferry port was a big sign reading “No Contraceptives”. That made me giggle. I assured her that they’re now allowed.
In the morning I woke to miles upon miles of scrub land - it was really quite something. I thought I’d reached the Nulabor plain (it means no trees, because there are well, no trees) and felt quite disgruntled. There bloody well were trees. Nulabor my arse, more like Abor-abuntum. Then I realised that this was just the precursor. Once we hit the plain there was LITERALLY, I’m not kidding, literally nothing for hundreds of miles in every direction - it’s the most mind-boggling thing I’ve ever seen. And not one bungalow built anywhere. Easy known the Irish haven’t got here yet… The urge to start chewing on my vastly underutilized pack of Marlboro Gold was tempered only by the view out the window and the copious amounts of free coffee. That said, I began to pray like crazy that we’d get to Cook, not to see Cook you understand, no, just to have a cigarette. It was *that* bad. Word of warning to any smokers - if you’re intending taking a train trip in Australia (anywhere), I’ve only one word for you - Nicorette. And lots of it. Be warned, your nicotine withdrawal symptoms will most definitely not be helped by the unique experience of Garth Brooks entire back catalogue sans base. Yep. Imagine it. Make sure you get a good mental picture. No really. NICOTINE!!!
Cook really was the epitome of a ghost town. There was some dirt tracks, a couple of small houses and an old school house. It’s really very difficult to imagine anyone being able to survive out there so far from anything. No mobile phone reception, that’s all I’ll say… We didn’t stop long in Cook, only about half an hour, then it was on to Kalgoorlie. The journey in between consisted of reading, reflecting, thinking and eating. Not necessarily in that order.
I decided to book on a guided tour of Kalgoorlie because I figured it would be dark when I got there and wasn’t too keen to go wandering around by myself. I was especially glad that I’d gone with this plan when the train manager announced that the police had had some “trouble” with the locals and that we shouldn’t go wandering around on our own. As it turns out, the locals appear to be hunting tourists for sport. Not with like, shot guns or anything, but still, I think that even I would have been nervous on my own.
The tour was actually quite interesting. I joined up with a girl called Emma who is moving lock stock and barrel out to Perth. I was very glad to have someone my own age - the average age other than us 2 was about 459. The bus drove us around town where we saw some pretty old buildings, very reminiscent of an American film about a wild west town, all with big balcony / veranda things. Next we drove up to the mine - the Super Pit - it was very impressive but definitely I think I would have liked to have seen it in daylight. I thought there were Tonka trucks driving around until I got my head around just how deep that thing is. Sure wouldn’t like to fall down!! Finally, back on the bus, the last part of the tour took in the 2nd most common form of employment in an old wild west mining town - yup, the brothels. Nothing like you’d see in Amsterdam, but that said, they too had that old wild west saloon feel about them. I think the strangest thing I’ve ever seen (now) is a brothel that does guided tours during the day, doubles up as a café selling coffee and cakes (also during the day) and then does what Mama Madam intended at night. Very very odd!
I got talking to this lovely English couple who were at the end of their year and were heading back home soon. They were very upset to be leaving - a premonition methinks for what lies ahead for me! They had some amazing times, including working in a zoo in North Queensland. I met a lovely Scottish couple too, but they, like me were at the beginning of their trip.
At last, back on the train, all smoked out and ready for the last leg. I was very much looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead in Perth.
I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to experience this, the mind boggles at the prospect of crossing almost an entire continent on a train. I promise to post the pics I managed to get before my camera died as soon as I get a good t’internet connection.
Hope all’s well at home. Love you lots, please send me all the news!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I’m pleased to report that, to date, I’ve not been arrested. Let’s uh, hope it stays that way…
I left Melbourne on September 11th (hope that’s not too ominous!). I took the Overland train from Melbourne to Adelaide. The train journey took 10 hours!! Compared to the small trains that we have in Ireland this one was pretty swanky, I was quite impressed. My biggest issue was with the woman behind me who would declare very loudly every 20 minutes that she was hanging for a cigarette. This would have been fine except that there was no smoking on the train, and when we did stop we weren’t allowed off the train. Yes. Exactly. By the time I arrived in Adelaide I was ready to pull out a cigarette and start chewing. Or chewing a limb off. Or simply sit in the middle of the aisle and start shouting obscenities at the top of my lungs. You’ll be relieved to hear that I did none of the above. I grinned, bore it, and chewed off every nail on both hands. Boy was I ever glad to arrive in Adelaide.
The nicotine deprivation was made worse by my fluctuating mood. On one hand, I was very excited to get going, actually do some travelling. On the other, I was, to put it mildly, missing Simon within pretty much the first 5 minutes of getting on the train. I couldn’t decide how I felt so I spent most of the journey staring out the window. There was some pretty scenery (I can’t get over how prehistoric gum trees look - I keep expecting to see a pterodactyl), but mainly there were just towns that looked like frontier towns. Like, American frontier. I suppose it’s all that space. Loughboy it most certainly wasn’t!
From what I’ve seen so far, admittedly in the dark, it’s an odd sort of city, I’m not sure I’ve really taken to it. I guess Melbourne has a lot to answer for! Let’s see what it’s like in daylight.
Well now! In the daylight it’s a little less forlorn than it is at night. I literally slept for nigh on 11 hours and woke in the morning to be greeted by glorious sunshine and actual people on the street (I was beginning to suspect that nobody lives in Adelaide with the exception of the nice Chinese gentleman who fed me). I wandered around and found a shopping district where I bought a note book and ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ - I felt vindicated as I too, am a woman in my 30s (just) who left a fairly daycent job to, well, nothing, just to run away. I also stumbled upon a Malaysian festival where I was suitably rewarded with the mother load of Laksa - YUM!! I am reborn.
Part 2: So, after a whistle-stop tour of Adelaide, I boarded the Indian Pacific train to Perth. The train is actually pretty ok, there’s plenty of leg space in chicken class (what?? You didn’t think I’d shelled out for a fancay schmancay sleeper now did you??). I did however shell out the $15 for a blue paper wristband that, apparently gives me access to a secret super-lounge and unlimited tea and coffee - given the amount of coffee I drink I felt that was a bargain. Because I boarded at 6:30pm it was dark, and I saw absolutely nothing. That said, I had a great time eating biscuits and reading. I was worried about the prospect of needing to be rolled off the train.
I met a very sweet lady called Virginia and had a long chat with her in the lounge car. She is a nurse and was going to go work on an aboriginal community settlement about 500k from the back arse of nowhere. We had a long chat about aboriginal people and the issues they’re facing. I have to say it was food for thought. A very interesting lady, who had married an irish sailor (really, why did nobody warn her, the poor dear), and she recounted a funny story about arriving in Ireland in the mid-60’s and the first thing she saw at the ferry port was a big sign reading “No Contraceptives”. That made me giggle. I assured her that they’re now allowed.
In the morning I woke to miles upon miles of scrub land - it was really quite something. I thought I’d reached the Nulabor plain (it means no trees, because there are well, no trees) and felt quite disgruntled. There bloody well were trees. Nulabor my arse, more like Abor-abuntum. Then I realised that this was just the precursor. Once we hit the plain there was LITERALLY, I’m not kidding, literally nothing for hundreds of miles in every direction - it’s the most mind-boggling thing I’ve ever seen. And not one bungalow built anywhere. Easy known the Irish haven’t got here yet… The urge to start chewing on my vastly underutilized pack of Marlboro Gold was tempered only by the view out the window and the copious amounts of free coffee. That said, I began to pray like crazy that we’d get to Cook, not to see Cook you understand, no, just to have a cigarette. It was *that* bad. Word of warning to any smokers - if you’re intending taking a train trip in Australia (anywhere), I’ve only one word for you - Nicorette. And lots of it. Be warned, your nicotine withdrawal symptoms will most definitely not be helped by the unique experience of Garth Brooks entire back catalogue sans base. Yep. Imagine it. Make sure you get a good mental picture. No really. NICOTINE!!!
Cook really was the epitome of a ghost town. There was some dirt tracks, a couple of small houses and an old school house. It’s really very difficult to imagine anyone being able to survive out there so far from anything. No mobile phone reception, that’s all I’ll say… We didn’t stop long in Cook, only about half an hour, then it was on to Kalgoorlie. The journey in between consisted of reading, reflecting, thinking and eating. Not necessarily in that order.
I decided to book on a guided tour of Kalgoorlie because I figured it would be dark when I got there and wasn’t too keen to go wandering around by myself. I was especially glad that I’d gone with this plan when the train manager announced that the police had had some “trouble” with the locals and that we shouldn’t go wandering around on our own. As it turns out, the locals appear to be hunting tourists for sport. Not with like, shot guns or anything, but still, I think that even I would have been nervous on my own.
The tour was actually quite interesting. I joined up with a girl called Emma who is moving lock stock and barrel out to Perth. I was very glad to have someone my own age - the average age other than us 2 was about 459. The bus drove us around town where we saw some pretty old buildings, very reminiscent of an American film about a wild west town, all with big balcony / veranda things. Next we drove up to the mine - the Super Pit - it was very impressive but definitely I think I would have liked to have seen it in daylight. I thought there were Tonka trucks driving around until I got my head around just how deep that thing is. Sure wouldn’t like to fall down!! Finally, back on the bus, the last part of the tour took in the 2nd most common form of employment in an old wild west mining town - yup, the brothels. Nothing like you’d see in Amsterdam, but that said, they too had that old wild west saloon feel about them. I think the strangest thing I’ve ever seen (now) is a brothel that does guided tours during the day, doubles up as a café selling coffee and cakes (also during the day) and then does what Mama Madam intended at night. Very very odd!
I got talking to this lovely English couple who were at the end of their year and were heading back home soon. They were very upset to be leaving - a premonition methinks for what lies ahead for me! They had some amazing times, including working in a zoo in North Queensland. I met a lovely Scottish couple too, but they, like me were at the beginning of their trip.
At last, back on the train, all smoked out and ready for the last leg. I was very much looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead in Perth.
I’m very glad that I had the opportunity to experience this, the mind boggles at the prospect of crossing almost an entire continent on a train. I promise to post the pics I managed to get before my camera died as soon as I get a good t’internet connection.
Hope all’s well at home. Love you lots, please send me all the news!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Snow, the Zoo, one bedroom philosopher and dropping the F-Bomb in front of Nana
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I was a little taken aback at Bridget’s issues with the Penguins. Maybe it’s best I simply don’t tell her about the Kangaroos…
So much has happened since I last wrote, and I have to say I do truly love Melbourne - I will be very sad to leave and definitely understand now how people could end up coming to Oz for a year and getting stuck. There’s simply no place like, uh, home (yes I know that sounds weird hehe!).
On Friday Simon took a notion and decided we were going skiing. We gathered up Lisa, Charlie and Uwe and headed up to Mt. Buller (it took me a while to find it on Google as I kept trying to find Mt Bulla - you got to love that Ozzie accent). Simon and Uwe went skiing but myself and the girls decided toboggans were the way forward. It was all going super well until Charlie decided to go down head first. I’m pleased to report that she’s still, um, more or less in one piece but I think that’s mainly down to her amazing natural barrel-rolling talents.
Definitely 3 highlights of the day:
1. We stopped off for breakfast beer, uh, I mean, beer after uh, 6pm, uh. Yeah. Anywaaay… I ordered an Irish coffee and got ID’d.. HAHA. I think that’s some sort of record - I got ID’d buying alcohol at 30 years of age - the gauntlet has been laid!
2. I think Lisa has the same ‘other peoples children’ issues that I do. I’m not quite sure what happened but when we were on the chairlift, some child didn’t realise that we were not getting off (what, you’re not here to judge, it was FUN!) anyway, so she went to jump on. One way or another, Lisa ended up pulling away on the chairlift still holding one of her jousting sticks. It’s ok, she threw it away and I don’t think she hit anyone. I think… Oh, I’ve since found out that jousting sticks are called ski poles. Go figure.
3. I got to go on a snow-mobile!! We were supposed to meet the boys at the top of the mountain for nibbles but we weren’t allowed to get on the super-dooper-fancy chairlift because we didn’t have skis/ we tried arguing but the lady was having none of it. So there we were looking very cold and pathetic when this guy pulls up on a snow mobile. Success! In my defence, I DID ask him if he was a homicidal maniac (he said yes) but it was too late because I was already mid air when I asked. Anyway, not to worry, it turned out he was just a good Samaritan (my new BFF Jeff). He delivered me to the top and then went back for the 2 girls. I totally want a snow mobile for my birthday.
Moving on! Later in the week I got to go to a gig by this Ozzie comedian guy called the Bedroom Philosopher. I have a funny feeling that I didn’t get all the references but feck it, I enjoyed what I got. And the hippies got me in for free - those ladies are the business! I mean, I woulda paid but it was sold out - what’s a girl to do??
On Father’s Day Simon brought me to lunch with - well, a whole host of family members really. Ironically his father had gone camping, but we’ll let him away with it - it was father’s day after all - if there’s one day a father gets to do what he wants it should be then I suppose. I wouldn’t know hehe. So it was all going swimmingly until someone brought up “The Story of the Tram”. Sure didn’t I get all into the story and what did I do only drop the F-Bomb in front of Nana. I hope she didn’t notice. I tried to salvage it by telling them I couldn’t help it, that I was raised by wild baboons (sorry…) but I don’t think they believed me. Don’t think they held it against me.
My other big highlight was going to Melbourne Zoo. I’m not normally a fan of animals behind bars but this zoo really is lovely. The enclosures seem to be well thought out and the animals have some space at least. I got lucky at the entrance! A lovely Scottish man called Andy gave me a concession fare purely because of my Irish accent! He said he’d been here 39 years, I was gob smacked because he sounded as Scottish as well… uh, a Scottish person. I had a dodgy moment when I came to the bear enclosure. I didn’t realise that there was a ledge that was impossible to climb - from my perspective there was a 3 foot wall, some rocks, some water and tadaaaah 2 great big bloody brown bears. All was going fine until one looked up and saw me. I’m not joking, that bear had murder in his heart and NOM NOM in his eyes. I hightailed it out of there but admittedly felt really quite silly when I saw “The Ledge” from the other side. I did get a giggle out of it though. And of course, I wasn’t eaten by a bear.
I’m getting set to head to Adelaide and then on to Perth. I’m excited but feeling a little sad to be leaving Melbourne and all the cool and wonderful peoples I’ve met there.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress. And I am honestly sorry about the baboon thing, I think I panicked.
Love you lots!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I was a little taken aback at Bridget’s issues with the Penguins. Maybe it’s best I simply don’t tell her about the Kangaroos…
So much has happened since I last wrote, and I have to say I do truly love Melbourne - I will be very sad to leave and definitely understand now how people could end up coming to Oz for a year and getting stuck. There’s simply no place like, uh, home (yes I know that sounds weird hehe!).
On Friday Simon took a notion and decided we were going skiing. We gathered up Lisa, Charlie and Uwe and headed up to Mt. Buller (it took me a while to find it on Google as I kept trying to find Mt Bulla - you got to love that Ozzie accent). Simon and Uwe went skiing but myself and the girls decided toboggans were the way forward. It was all going super well until Charlie decided to go down head first. I’m pleased to report that she’s still, um, more or less in one piece but I think that’s mainly down to her amazing natural barrel-rolling talents.
Definitely 3 highlights of the day:
1. We stopped off for breakfast beer, uh, I mean, beer after uh, 6pm, uh. Yeah. Anywaaay… I ordered an Irish coffee and got ID’d.. HAHA. I think that’s some sort of record - I got ID’d buying alcohol at 30 years of age - the gauntlet has been laid!
2. I think Lisa has the same ‘other peoples children’ issues that I do. I’m not quite sure what happened but when we were on the chairlift, some child didn’t realise that we were not getting off (what, you’re not here to judge, it was FUN!) anyway, so she went to jump on. One way or another, Lisa ended up pulling away on the chairlift still holding one of her jousting sticks. It’s ok, she threw it away and I don’t think she hit anyone. I think… Oh, I’ve since found out that jousting sticks are called ski poles. Go figure.
3. I got to go on a snow-mobile!! We were supposed to meet the boys at the top of the mountain for nibbles but we weren’t allowed to get on the super-dooper-fancy chairlift because we didn’t have skis/ we tried arguing but the lady was having none of it. So there we were looking very cold and pathetic when this guy pulls up on a snow mobile. Success! In my defence, I DID ask him if he was a homicidal maniac (he said yes) but it was too late because I was already mid air when I asked. Anyway, not to worry, it turned out he was just a good Samaritan (my new BFF Jeff). He delivered me to the top and then went back for the 2 girls. I totally want a snow mobile for my birthday.
Moving on! Later in the week I got to go to a gig by this Ozzie comedian guy called the Bedroom Philosopher. I have a funny feeling that I didn’t get all the references but feck it, I enjoyed what I got. And the hippies got me in for free - those ladies are the business! I mean, I woulda paid but it was sold out - what’s a girl to do??
On Father’s Day Simon brought me to lunch with - well, a whole host of family members really. Ironically his father had gone camping, but we’ll let him away with it - it was father’s day after all - if there’s one day a father gets to do what he wants it should be then I suppose. I wouldn’t know hehe. So it was all going swimmingly until someone brought up “The Story of the Tram”. Sure didn’t I get all into the story and what did I do only drop the F-Bomb in front of Nana. I hope she didn’t notice. I tried to salvage it by telling them I couldn’t help it, that I was raised by wild baboons (sorry…) but I don’t think they believed me. Don’t think they held it against me.
My other big highlight was going to Melbourne Zoo. I’m not normally a fan of animals behind bars but this zoo really is lovely. The enclosures seem to be well thought out and the animals have some space at least. I got lucky at the entrance! A lovely Scottish man called Andy gave me a concession fare purely because of my Irish accent! He said he’d been here 39 years, I was gob smacked because he sounded as Scottish as well… uh, a Scottish person. I had a dodgy moment when I came to the bear enclosure. I didn’t realise that there was a ledge that was impossible to climb - from my perspective there was a 3 foot wall, some rocks, some water and tadaaaah 2 great big bloody brown bears. All was going fine until one looked up and saw me. I’m not joking, that bear had murder in his heart and NOM NOM in his eyes. I hightailed it out of there but admittedly felt really quite silly when I saw “The Ledge” from the other side. I did get a giggle out of it though. And of course, I wasn’t eaten by a bear.
I’m getting set to head to Adelaide and then on to Perth. I’m excited but feeling a little sad to be leaving Melbourne and all the cool and wonderful peoples I’ve met there.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress. And I am honestly sorry about the baboon thing, I think I panicked.
Love you lots!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Titanic, good food and PonyPonyPonyPony!!!
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I was somewhat disconcerted to hear of Bridget's uh, 'issues' with the penguins. I assure you they're lovely. Please remind her that she's still my number one cat but really, she's going to have to accept that penguins are lovely. I uh, really like penguins. Anyhiu...
Things are going great, and I'm really enjoying Melbourne. This week there were some lazy days, but getting to know the locals has been lots of fun!
This week I went to the museum. In true me style, I managed to arrive at 3pm - given the amount to see at the Melbourne Museum, and given that it closes at 5pm, I really probably didn't think that through much. But on the plus side, I get to go back! I saw the Titanic exhibition which was really very well done! The ticket is a replica boarding pass and it just gets better from there. The highlights were the recreated cabins, the corridor and - wait for it - they actually recreated the staircase from the film - slackjawed in awe! Better again, someone actually saw fit to include a miniature iceberg - a REAL one - it was actual ice and you could touch it. I suppose it was more for people who had never seen ice before but still, I was muchly impressed. The only catch was I kept hearing *that* feckin song... neeeeeeeeear.... faaaaaaaar.... whereeeeeeeeever youuuu aaaaaaaree... you know the one... luckily it was only in my head so I drowned it out by humming Sysstem of a Down really loudly. All in all, vair impressed. I saw some of the other exhibits but at a sprint because of the impending closing time. Will go back, and send full report at a later date.
Apart from that, there's been LOTS of eating. I'm afraid of beaches now, in case Greenpeace show up, thankfully it's too cold to wear a bikini... The Chinese food is out of this world (well, the bits I can get in my mouth anyway, am still mastering chop sticks) and there's a beeeooootiful veggie restaurant in St Kilda called Soul Mama - NOM NOM! You can eat everything on the menu (you could probably eat the actual menu but I wouldn't recommend that) and it's got views of St Kilda beach - heaven!
Last weekend Shay and Jackie came down from Brisbane - queue all manner of madness! We did the rounds of several bars, and ended up in this metal (almost typed mental, also appropriate) bar called Insignia. My favourite memory was Shay in the middle of all the rocker-types in his white shirt and jeans giving it welly! I believe there was an incident involving Shay and some railings but don't quote me on that... I also have a vague memory of headbanging to Zombie (cranberries) for no good reason other than it's Irish and so are we. Hey, at least we weren't singing Danny Boy and crying... Ha. We decamped to the infamous Pony bar after that and promptly got adopted by some poor lunatic called Al. Poor Al. I think he went away in the end but I couldn't be sure. Someone may have eaten him.
The night ended with my biggest faux pas to date - yes, the Law of Shoe. I think it's a quaint Australian custom, and I'm very pleased to have been so readily embraced by the locals. The law states that, if you fall asleep with your shoes on, your companions must immediately acquire a writing instrument and decorate your face. The usual custom is to adorn the sleepy one's face with boy-parts (don't worry, I wont elaborate, I'm still aware of the Law of Wooden Spoon). I got away easy, all they did was play Xs and Os on my face. I managed to have an hour long conversation in the morning without my new face-art being brought to my attention. I think this means I've officially "gone native". What an odd custom. You'll be glad to know it rubbed off. Fools didn't find my waterproof eyeliner (sniggers).
On Friday we're going to the mountains to play in the snow. I'm preparing my snowball-arm as we speak by lifting weights. They're all GOING DOWN! muhahahahaha.
Finally, I've booked my ticket to Perth so I'll be taking off from Melbourne on Saturday week. But I'm going by train! woohoo! the romance of it all! I will of course keep you posted on all of my adventures.
Love and hugs!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
*Oh, by the way, I think I left the light on in the attic, you might want to check that.
How are you? I am fine. I was somewhat disconcerted to hear of Bridget's uh, 'issues' with the penguins. I assure you they're lovely. Please remind her that she's still my number one cat but really, she's going to have to accept that penguins are lovely. I uh, really like penguins. Anyhiu...
Things are going great, and I'm really enjoying Melbourne. This week there were some lazy days, but getting to know the locals has been lots of fun!
This week I went to the museum. In true me style, I managed to arrive at 3pm - given the amount to see at the Melbourne Museum, and given that it closes at 5pm, I really probably didn't think that through much. But on the plus side, I get to go back! I saw the Titanic exhibition which was really very well done! The ticket is a replica boarding pass and it just gets better from there. The highlights were the recreated cabins, the corridor and - wait for it - they actually recreated the staircase from the film - slackjawed in awe! Better again, someone actually saw fit to include a miniature iceberg - a REAL one - it was actual ice and you could touch it. I suppose it was more for people who had never seen ice before but still, I was muchly impressed. The only catch was I kept hearing *that* feckin song... neeeeeeeeear.... faaaaaaaar.... whereeeeeeeeever youuuu aaaaaaaree... you know the one... luckily it was only in my head so I drowned it out by humming Sysstem of a Down really loudly. All in all, vair impressed. I saw some of the other exhibits but at a sprint because of the impending closing time. Will go back, and send full report at a later date.
Apart from that, there's been LOTS of eating. I'm afraid of beaches now, in case Greenpeace show up, thankfully it's too cold to wear a bikini... The Chinese food is out of this world (well, the bits I can get in my mouth anyway, am still mastering chop sticks) and there's a beeeooootiful veggie restaurant in St Kilda called Soul Mama - NOM NOM! You can eat everything on the menu (you could probably eat the actual menu but I wouldn't recommend that) and it's got views of St Kilda beach - heaven!
Last weekend Shay and Jackie came down from Brisbane - queue all manner of madness! We did the rounds of several bars, and ended up in this metal (almost typed mental, also appropriate) bar called Insignia. My favourite memory was Shay in the middle of all the rocker-types in his white shirt and jeans giving it welly! I believe there was an incident involving Shay and some railings but don't quote me on that... I also have a vague memory of headbanging to Zombie (cranberries) for no good reason other than it's Irish and so are we. Hey, at least we weren't singing Danny Boy and crying... Ha. We decamped to the infamous Pony bar after that and promptly got adopted by some poor lunatic called Al. Poor Al. I think he went away in the end but I couldn't be sure. Someone may have eaten him.
The night ended with my biggest faux pas to date - yes, the Law of Shoe. I think it's a quaint Australian custom, and I'm very pleased to have been so readily embraced by the locals. The law states that, if you fall asleep with your shoes on, your companions must immediately acquire a writing instrument and decorate your face. The usual custom is to adorn the sleepy one's face with boy-parts (don't worry, I wont elaborate, I'm still aware of the Law of Wooden Spoon). I got away easy, all they did was play Xs and Os on my face. I managed to have an hour long conversation in the morning without my new face-art being brought to my attention. I think this means I've officially "gone native". What an odd custom. You'll be glad to know it rubbed off. Fools didn't find my waterproof eyeliner (sniggers).
On Friday we're going to the mountains to play in the snow. I'm preparing my snowball-arm as we speak by lifting weights. They're all GOING DOWN! muhahahahaha.
Finally, I've booked my ticket to Perth so I'll be taking off from Melbourne on Saturday week. But I'm going by train! woohoo! the romance of it all! I will of course keep you posted on all of my adventures.
Love and hugs!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
*Oh, by the way, I think I left the light on in the attic, you might want to check that.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Hanging out in Melbournia: buildings, Tim Burton and downright aggressive sea gulls.
Dear Mammy,
How are you? I am fine. I hope that the cat has given up trying to eat your toes, and that the 'incident' in the back yard with the neighbour's parakeet has been forgotten if not forgiven.
So! at the moment I'm still in Melbourne. I've been wandering around taking in some of the sights and really getting a feel for the place. I really can't get over the mix between old and new. I'm not joking, you'll regularly find an old (well, relatively speaking of course) building and looming behind it like a space-age monster is a big sky scraper. I've tried to get some pictures and I'll be sure and post them on FaceAche.
Apart from wandering the city, which has a weird mixture of feeling like America and Luxembourg at the same time, I've been hanging out at the pier getting some sea air. Wait and I tell you what happened me the other day! I went to the pier to visit my penguin buddies and decided to bring a sandwich cos I was hungry. I'm sitting there munching away when I look up and see this seagull hovering about 2 foot over my head. Well, I thought, no bodder, I'll just shoo it. Eh, no. The little b*****d wouldn't bugger off!! at all!!! argh! It ended with me running away, flapping half a sandwich at the world's most aggressive seagull. Ok, fine, it was funny in hindsight I suppose...
So when I wasn't getting beaten up by marauding seagulls I wanted to take in some culture so I went to the Immigration Museum. I was on my own when I went, and my goodness, it was pretty tough. I was reading some of the stories and I could feel my lower lip start to go. I managed to turn it into a sneeze but I did have to go through it at fairly high speed to stop myself from bawling like a baby. I learned a lot about the history, some of it very surprising - for example, I never knew there was such anti-Chinese sentiment here for so long, especially as there is such a huge Asian population here now. Very sad. There was also a cool bit where you went into a room, listened to an interview then got to decide whether or not the person should be allowed in to the country - that was amazing. Me of course, bleeding heart, was letting them all in. It occurs to me that customs officer may not be a viable career choice for me...
Finally, jaysus, this letter is going to long as my leg... but finally, I wanted to make you really jealous by telling you about the Tim Burton exhibition - that was faaahoooooobulous! There were (naturally) lots of his sketches but they also had models of some of his characters, clips from many films and the best bit... they had some costumes on display!! they had Edward Scissorhands' black leather rig out, and they had one the actual hands (ok, in a glass box but still!!). They had the headless horseman's cape from Sleepy Hollow too, and lots of other bits and bobs. I'm definitely considering going again to get a proper look.
So that's it from me for now, hope as I said, that all's well with you! I'm trying to behave, and *yes* I'm eating / sleeping enough...
Love and hugs!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
How are you? I am fine. I hope that the cat has given up trying to eat your toes, and that the 'incident' in the back yard with the neighbour's parakeet has been forgotten if not forgiven.
So! at the moment I'm still in Melbourne. I've been wandering around taking in some of the sights and really getting a feel for the place. I really can't get over the mix between old and new. I'm not joking, you'll regularly find an old (well, relatively speaking of course) building and looming behind it like a space-age monster is a big sky scraper. I've tried to get some pictures and I'll be sure and post them on FaceAche.
Apart from wandering the city, which has a weird mixture of feeling like America and Luxembourg at the same time, I've been hanging out at the pier getting some sea air. Wait and I tell you what happened me the other day! I went to the pier to visit my penguin buddies and decided to bring a sandwich cos I was hungry. I'm sitting there munching away when I look up and see this seagull hovering about 2 foot over my head. Well, I thought, no bodder, I'll just shoo it. Eh, no. The little b*****d wouldn't bugger off!! at all!!! argh! It ended with me running away, flapping half a sandwich at the world's most aggressive seagull. Ok, fine, it was funny in hindsight I suppose...
So when I wasn't getting beaten up by marauding seagulls I wanted to take in some culture so I went to the Immigration Museum. I was on my own when I went, and my goodness, it was pretty tough. I was reading some of the stories and I could feel my lower lip start to go. I managed to turn it into a sneeze but I did have to go through it at fairly high speed to stop myself from bawling like a baby. I learned a lot about the history, some of it very surprising - for example, I never knew there was such anti-Chinese sentiment here for so long, especially as there is such a huge Asian population here now. Very sad. There was also a cool bit where you went into a room, listened to an interview then got to decide whether or not the person should be allowed in to the country - that was amazing. Me of course, bleeding heart, was letting them all in. It occurs to me that customs officer may not be a viable career choice for me...
Finally, jaysus, this letter is going to long as my leg... but finally, I wanted to make you really jealous by telling you about the Tim Burton exhibition - that was faaahoooooobulous! There were (naturally) lots of his sketches but they also had models of some of his characters, clips from many films and the best bit... they had some costumes on display!! they had Edward Scissorhands' black leather rig out, and they had one the actual hands (ok, in a glass box but still!!). They had the headless horseman's cape from Sleepy Hollow too, and lots of other bits and bobs. I'm definitely considering going again to get a proper look.
So that's it from me for now, hope as I said, that all's well with you! I'm trying to behave, and *yes* I'm eating / sleeping enough
Love and hugs!
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Got here in one piece!
Dear Mammy,
I hope you are well. I'm pleased to report that I've managed to get here mostly unscathed.
The flight itself (or actually flights really) was mostly uneventful. I got fleeced in London though - NOT happy. Ok, it was actually completely my own fault for not being capable of parting with enough pairs of shoes. The lady said if I could get rid of 1kg out of my check in luggage, she'd give me a free bag to put the other 2kg in (the idea being I'd take that bag on as hand luggage) but for the love of holy God - seriously, there was no way I was getting 1kg out of the check in luggage. The leprechaun hiding in my bag bit me every time I tried to take the little f*cker out, and the Chef brown sauce was more than 100ml so... Anyway, in the heel of the hunt I ended up having to barter a kidney in excess baggage. NOT impressed.
Anyway, that drama over with, I got on the plane beside 2 guys who bonded over copious amounts of whiskey. That was a good thing though, because I was sitting by the window and so would have had to climb over their heads to get out. Thanks to the patron saint of Bushmills, I just waited for their every-20-minute loo breaks and made a dive for it - success! ha. Hong Kong was grand (200 cigges for just over 12 yoyos - are you serious?? yes please!). Got lucky with the flight too - miracles do happen! the Melbourne flight was very empty so I ended up with 3 seats to myself - ample room to stretch out (secretly vair pleased I didn't shell out for business class lol!). The only issue on the flight was the Window-Nazi. Yes. Really. I tried to put the window blind up to check out the view (who wouldn't want to see Indonesia from the air?? what is wrong with people?? sleep schmeep...) yeah, so, I put the blind up and I'm not kidding, she reached back and slapped it down so hard I thought she might climb over the seat and actually bite me. I let it go because she looked a little unstable but I did sulk a bit. I'll just have to go back and see Indonesia from the ground I suppose.
Once I arrived, I found Simon and away we went. Straight to Regans where we (oh well, clever-ass Simon wasn't drinking so really it was only me, Regan and Lisa) preceeded to imbibe our combined weight in beer / wine / name your spirit. The breakfast-Bloody-Mary did nearly do me in but apart from that I managed to conduct myself with appropriate decorum. You'd be very proud. ;o)
So thus far it's all going swimmingly! I've managed to get a special pass to exit the party-vortex, and have already been to visit my penguin friends on St Kilda Pier. Tomorrow, I'll be pulling out my tourist hat, back pack and dog-eared map and seriously unleashing a whole lotta Irish lady on the unsuspecting population of Melbourne. God love them.
I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress, and of course, lie about the bits that we discussed.
Your Daugher
(the one who ran away)
I hope you are well. I'm pleased to report that I've managed to get here mostly unscathed.
The flight itself (or actually flights really) was mostly uneventful. I got fleeced in London though - NOT happy. Ok, it was actually completely my own fault for not being capable of parting with enough pairs of shoes. The lady said if I could get rid of 1kg out of my check in luggage, she'd give me a free bag to put the other 2kg in (the idea being I'd take that bag on as hand luggage) but for the love of holy God - seriously, there was no way I was getting 1kg out of the check in luggage. The leprechaun hiding in my bag bit me every time I tried to take the little f*cker out, and the Chef brown sauce was more than 100ml so... Anyway, in the heel of the hunt I ended up having to barter a kidney in excess baggage. NOT impressed.
Anyway, that drama over with, I got on the plane beside 2 guys who bonded over copious amounts of whiskey. That was a good thing though, because I was sitting by the window and so would have had to climb over their heads to get out. Thanks to the patron saint of Bushmills, I just waited for their every-20-minute loo breaks and made a dive for it - success! ha. Hong Kong was grand (200 cigges for just over 12 yoyos - are you serious?? yes please!). Got lucky with the flight too - miracles do happen! the Melbourne flight was very empty so I ended up with 3 seats to myself - ample room to stretch out (secretly vair pleased I didn't shell out for business class lol!). The only issue on the flight was the Window-Nazi. Yes. Really. I tried to put the window blind up to check out the view (who wouldn't want to see Indonesia from the air?? what is wrong with people?? sleep schmeep...) yeah, so, I put the blind up and I'm not kidding, she reached back and slapped it down so hard I thought she might climb over the seat and actually bite me. I let it go because she looked a little unstable but I did sulk a bit. I'll just have to go back and see Indonesia from the ground I suppose.
Once I arrived, I found Simon and away we went. Straight to Regans where we (oh well, clever-ass Simon wasn't drinking so really it was only me, Regan and Lisa) preceeded to imbibe our combined weight in beer / wine / name your spirit. The breakfast-Bloody-Mary did nearly do me in but apart from that I managed to conduct myself with appropriate decorum. You'd be very proud. ;o)
So thus far it's all going swimmingly! I've managed to get a special pass to exit the party-vortex, and have already been to visit my penguin friends on St Kilda Pier. Tomorrow, I'll be pulling out my tourist hat, back pack and dog-eared map and seriously unleashing a whole lotta Irish lady on the unsuspecting population of Melbourne. God love them.
I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress, and of course, lie about the bits that we discussed.
Your Daugher
(the one who ran away)
Monday, June 14, 2010
Getting Organised... (part 1)
Dear Mammy,
I wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how I'm getting on. I'm writing this in work but I guess sure, the worst that can happen is they'll fire me and sure amn't I going anyway.
So I did it, I booked my flight! I know I'm still homeless and will be wandering another continent all on my own but at least I'm definitely going to get there now (volcano-permitting).
I'll be arriving in Melbourne on August 19th, back pack in tow and ready to party. I'm still hammering out the nomadic part of my trip but I think getting my toes on the right continent will be a grand start.
I'm reading books and dreaming about snorkeling with colourful fish, midnight swims on white sand beaches, and quite possibly a punch up with a hungry shark (I heard that if you get bitten you're to slap them on the nose as hard as you can - here's hoping I never have to try...).
I'll continue to keep you posted (but only the good bits, I haven't forgotten the wooden spoon).
Mind yourself,
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
I wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how I'm getting on. I'm writing this in work but I guess sure, the worst that can happen is they'll fire me and sure amn't I going anyway
So I did it, I booked my flight! I know I'm still homeless and will be wandering another continent all on my own but at least I'm definitely going to get there now (volcano-permitting).
I'll be arriving in Melbourne on August 19th, back pack in tow and ready to party. I'm still hammering out the nomadic part of my trip but I think getting my toes on the right continent will be a grand start.
I'm reading books and dreaming about snorkeling with colourful fish, midnight swims on white sand beaches, and quite possibly a punch up with a hungry shark (I heard that if you get bitten you're to slap them on the nose as hard as you can - here's hoping I never have to try...).
I'll continue to keep you posted (but only the good bits, I haven't forgotten the wooden spoon).
Mind yourself,
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
And so it begins
Dear Mammy,
At the beginning of this I just want to say I'm sorry. In advance. For all the messes I'm about to get myself into. Know that without you I'd be even madder, and more out of control that I am now! Can you imagine? Oh holy Mary God, stop, ok, no really, breathe! Breathe!
I've had some mad ideas in my time but I think it's about time to unleash the big one. So I've packed in my job and I'm going. To Australia. For as long as they'll have me.
Sometimes in life you just have to take a risk and go and do these things (especially if the corporate millstone has been dragging you down so much that you now walk on all fours).
The good news is I have my visa. The bad news is, I've yet to arrange flights or a roof over my head. Oh and I'm going on my own.
The plan at the moment is:
Melbourne > Perth > Freemantle > Ningaloo Marine Park > Broome > Darwin > Cairns > Brisbane > Woolongong (don't ask) > Melbourne
It's going to be great and seriously, honestly, how could it possibly go wrong?? oh. oh. never mind, I didn't mean to say that...
Anyhiu... I'll miss you lots and lots but promise to keep you updated and not tell you any of the bad bits ever until we're both on the way out and it's far too late for you to get the wooden spoon.
Mind yourself,
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
At the beginning of this I just want to say I'm sorry. In advance. For all the messes I'm about to get myself into. Know that without you I'd be even madder, and more out of control that I am now! Can you imagine? Oh holy Mary God, stop, ok, no really, breathe! Breathe!
I've had some mad ideas in my time but I think it's about time to unleash the big one. So I've packed in my job and I'm going. To Australia. For as long as they'll have me.
Sometimes in life you just have to take a risk and go and do these things (especially if the corporate millstone has been dragging you down so much that you now walk on all fours).
The good news is I have my visa. The bad news is, I've yet to arrange flights or a roof over my head. Oh and I'm going on my own.
The plan at the moment is:
Melbourne > Perth > Freemantle > Ningaloo Marine Park > Broome > Darwin > Cairns > Brisbane > Woolongong (don't ask) > Melbourne
It's going to be great and seriously, honestly, how could it possibly go wrong?? oh. oh. never mind, I didn't mean to say that...
Anyhiu... I'll miss you lots and lots but promise to keep you updated and not tell you any of the bad bits ever until we're both on the way out and it's far too late for you to get the wooden spoon.
Mind yourself,
Your Daughter (the one who ran away)
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