Round the World

Hey all I reached Sydney in one piece yesterday...which is more than I can say for my new suitcase. It already met it's demise when a wheel popped off and it then had to be dragged all the way from the airport, onto the train, off the train and down the road to the hostel. Thats what I get for buying it at Kmart I guess. I better do some downsizing again so my stuff fits in my packpack again! Today I wandered around central Sydney with a new friend from England. We got to the opera house and had a tour, saw the botanical gardens...thats about it actually. The city is pretty cool, it sort of remindes me of San Fransisco in a way. We bought tickets to an opera tomorrow night Should be awesome! It is cool now that I am here, however I am still just wishing to settle in one place for a while longer and am not in a touring mood. Thats about it from this side, hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Tomorrow will be another flight. I'm sad to be leaving now. I had just started building up a some sort of a life here, (i.e. new friends, a job) and now I have to adjust to being on my own again for a bit. I feel a return to Australia in my future though so that is a comfort. This past weekend I worked my last few shifts and went out and enjoyed the Alice Springs night life for the first time since getting here. I had a good time and got to hang out with some cool people. Today is just packing and pouting and buying some Aussie lollies to take with me to the next place. My luggage has expanded significantly since arriving so I have purchased a new suitcase...so much for travelling light. That is pretty much an impossibility for me - I only lasted for the first month travelling that way and now I'm back to my normal habits. Thats all for now, perhaps I'll write next from Sydney, or maybe Vienna. Take care all

So I have a confession: I'm getting tired of travelling. Now, I'm not saying that I'm ready to come home, its just a phase I think. Just because I'm out in places that I normally would not be doesnt mean that my emotions won't go through the same things they normally do. I mean I'd get tired of what I was doing at home, but then I'd keep going and I'd soon be fine. I think it's the same thing. I think the biggest thing is that the pressures on me now are different than they were at home, so its just an adjustment. At home I had to fulfill my job requirements and pay bills and meet family expectations. Well now, I have even fewer responsibilities, sort of. However, now that I am away, when I feel moody and tired of looking at tourist attractions I feel guilty and obliged to see them anyway because of the expectations of others. There is the pressure in the idea that I am so lucky to be here and may never be here again and so many others may never be able to go here even though they really want to. So I feel I owe it to myself and everyone to make the most of every moment. And I dont think that is a completely unrealistic expectation, however, it's just not possible to feel excited at every moment. Ok that was my little rant, I'm better now. Dont know if that made any sense to anyone else. Anyway...so this is my last weekend pouring beer at my English pub job. Bittersweet I guess. Not because I'm so attatched to that place, its just nice to do something and earn some spending money, and it isnt a bad job either. I fly out to Sydney in a few days. And while I am not super excited about it at the moment, I will try my best to enjoy it. Thats all for todays entry in the cliff notes of my Gunglula.

G'day mates! Sorry to worry some of you, I didnt totally dissappear, just wasnt near a computer. So since last entry, I finished off a busy weekend of work. There was a rugby game going on so the whole town was out and about on Saturday night so it was crazy and I was exhausted. Then the next morning on Sunday, Ruth and I packed up her 4x4 and headed west. We went out to Uluru (Ayers Rock - one of the seven wonders of the natural world) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). These are some enormous and very cool rocks. Sunday we saw the sunset on Uluru and then got our camp site set up. We had a grand adventure trying to get our stir fry cooked. It was of course pitch black out when we started cooking and the barbie nearest our site was dodgy and ended up running out of gas while our chicken was still raw so we ended up tracking all over the campgrounds in search of a working one. An hour of stumbling in the dark later we found one and had a lovely dinner. The next day we went back to "the rock" and were comtemplating walking around it or climbing up it. We though we're start with climbing up it and then doing the 10km walk around....ha!!! Well weren't we surprised...and absolutely worn out after the 2 hoiur journey to the very top and back. We climbed on hands and knees up the first bit, then pulled ourselves up the next bit on the chain rope, then when we thought we reached the top, we were only half way there! It was insane, but we made it! From a distance you can see the walking path to the top and it looks like a little white vertical crack in the rock - that's how steep it is! It was worth the effort though, there was an amazing view from the top. The way back down was interesting too since our legs were shaking so badly. We were both like zombies for the next few hours recovering. We went for a swim, briefly visited the Olgas (also really cool looking), then headed to a place called Kings canyon. We camped out there - with fewer barbie difficulties this time. We looked like total idiots because we set up our tent under a shelter - it was efective though, we didnt get soaked in the rain. The next day we did the 6km hike up down and around in the canyon, which was really neat and looked sort of like ancient ruins. The only reason we were able to keep our pace up though in spite of our aching muscles, was the annoyance of the flies. Oh yeah - both days the flies were actually a major motivation. We had the pleasure of encountering about 83 million of them. No joke. We wore those really cool looking fly nets over our faces pretty much any time we were outside during the day. It you don't you swallow a bunch, inhale a whole lot and get em stuck in your eyes and ears. Neat huh? So after another exhausting hike we went for another swim to cool down (though thankful both days were relatively cool - around 30C). Today I am extremely sore and tired, but it was well worth it. Now I'm off to collect my pay and then off to Kmart to spend it G'day all

I completely forgot to mention last entry - I got to hand feed and pet wild wallabies! It was pretty cool esp because some had little babie heads sticking out of their pouches. They come out at night so we went to feed them at dusk. They are like a mini kangaroo and are soft like a house cat. I probably picked up some strange diseases from them..hmm... Anyway, thats really all the Aussie wildlife I've seen. I have seen a few kangaroos and some geckos but thats it. Fortunately I havent run across any of the several extremely deadly animals that central Australia is home to (like the red back spiders!) Nothing really new going on here, I'm still watching way too much Alias, eating too many "lollies" and chocolate, and pouring lotsa beer. I havent seen much of the olympics on TV but what I have seen is just strange. For one, there is snow there! I have forgotten that it is supposed to be winter! Also, the news coverage is cheering for the Aussies, well duh, cause I'm in Australia, but its still really weird after watching all previous Olympic games in the US. So I work again tonight. I am still kind of stupid and dont know what a bunch fo the drinks we carry are but its a fun job. I come across a lot of interesting people that I wouldnt normally talk to. Either people are really stupid or I have a very international look and accent because I've had people guess that I'm everything from Irish or Brazilian to Indian (Though most commonly they guess Canadian). (These were all guesses from people who were not yet drunk and had no excuse!) Ok folks thats all for now, its too hot to think straight!