Strahan

I cannot believe that the stupid Departed won best picture! I didn't see it... but I'm sure Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen were both better. Yeah, so I was going to update about 4 hours ago, but then I noticed that someone had left the TV on and it was the Oscars, so I had to go attend to that. Now I feel tired and dissatisfied, but thats what I get for being addicted to movie montages.

Anyway... I've had a fabulous day (and two emotionally difficult evenings due to my loneliness). But lets talk about the fabulous day. Tasmania is incredibly beautiful. I saw it in the best possible way today, by taking a cruise down the Gordon River into the World Heritage site. Strahan is located on a big harbor, and first we went out to where the harbor meets the Southern Ocean- a place called Hell's Gap. It was called that because some of the first people to cross it were convicts on the way to the settlement Sarah Island, located in the harbor. It was a notoriously horrible settlement, and impossible to escape from because it is in the middle of nowhere and the men were also told that beyond the mountains around them was China and they would be killed by the Chinese. We got to tour Sarah Island at the end of the cruise, but not much is left besides a few piles of bricks. A few decades ago, Australians were very ashamed of the convict history of the country and someone actually went to the island and blew up the buildings- as our guide said, that was before they realized that tourists would pay to see the stuff! So, we did Hell's Gap and we did Sarah Island, but between those was the highlight of the day- Gordon River. Now, if I had thought ahead, I would have brought my cable to plug in the camera and show you pictures. But I didn't, so I'll just have to describe. The boat traveled from the harbor down the river, the banks of the river are beautiful green hills covered in forests, and gradually the hills get taller and steeper and the rover gets narrower. It is a World Heritage Site and so there is nothing there but us and nature. The most amazing part is that the water is so still that the trees and mountains are reflected in it perfectly- you literally could not tell the difference between the real trees and their reflection on the water. When I saw it I gasped it was so beautiful. I had a strong urge to share it with someone, just to say something like simply, "oh wow". I may have said something to the woman I met on the boat, who was like the rest of the passengers, over 60. She was from Queensland and also on the cruise alone because her husband is cheap and didn't want to go! In any case, this was not a backpacker cruise- although it was definitely worth the money. We got to get out an walk a bit through the forest- there is a boardwalk like Sunken Forest, but shorter, made for the purpose. And then we got lunch on the boat as we made our way back. After eating, I went and stood on the bow (I had been standing on the top deck while going down the river and it was soooo windy and pretty cold- yet I somehow managed to get sunburn on my face). It was an incredible trip.

When I got off the boat I did some souvenir shopping and did the only thing there is to do in Strahan at night- see a play called The Ship That Never Was, which tells the story of a bunch of convicts who escaped Sarah Island. It was performed in a little outdoor stage next to the visitor center, and was about 75% audience participation (only two "actors"). The set was cool though- all ropes and pulleys and things, which they use to build a ship while telling the story. It is Australia's longest running show, probably because as I said, there is nothing else to do in Strahan at night. And it was worthwhile, although I certainly wouldn't want to see it every night. After that I got dinner in town, watched the sunset over the harbor and made friends with a stray dog in the meantime. It shows how desperate I am for company that I actually started petting a dog that came up to me and didn't run away when it jumped up on the park bench and lay down next to me. Then I walked back to the YHA, where I am now (they have free internet!), watched the Oscars, and will now go to sleep. I ended up having my own little cabin. It has a bunk bed in it but no one else is there. I have to go outside to get to the bathroom though, which is fine except I saw something that looked like a smaller cousin of a centipede and so now I go to the bathroom very quickly.

Speaking of bathrooms... I was supposed to be staying at a similar cabin tomorrow and Wednesday night in Cradle Mountain, but I picked up a walking map at the visitor's center today and discovered that my accommodation is not even at the entrance to the Cradle Mt National Park- it is a short free bus ride away, but still, I didn't want to be that far away, and I didn't want to use their composting toilets (which Andrew noticed described on their website), so I wimped out and am staying in my own cabin with my own bathroom and breakfast included, right across from the Cradle Mt Visitor's Center and park entrance. Why do I feel like when I do these things that all the Lonely Planet writers are watching me from above and shaking their heads. Oh well. I can deal with camping, and I can deal with being lonely- but I don't want to deal with them both at the same time. So, I will hopefully have internet there as well and will post pictures of more fabulous scenery when I get there.

Love,
Emma

PS- For those of you who don't know, I've accepted a position with the New York Musical Theater Festival and now have something to do from June till November at least. Yay for employment!

A Day at the Races

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I was been busy savouring my last days in Melbourne, and never made it to an internet cafe long enough to post. I'm in Hobart, Tasmania now and catching a bus to Strahan (pronounced Strawn, I realized after trying to sound it out very embarassingly), the town bordering Tasmania's World Heritage area. So before that adventure begins, here are the past few days.

Thursday:
Was a bit of a waste. Andrew and Norva were going to be out all day and night- they're working on a research proposal that was due Friday and ended up staying at work from 11am to 6am the next day (they also wanted me to write about how hard they were working because they thought my blog made it sound like they just hung out and had fun all day!). So, I got up to go to Queen Victoria Markets and was thinking about going to another movie in the afternoon. But I was in a weirdly depressed mood, probably because of my approaching departure from Melbourne. So I didn't enjoy the markets much, although I did buy a lot of good fruit, including "rock melon" otherwise known as cantalope. Then I decided that it was time to bake the Thank-You Challah that I had been planning for A&N. That took most of the afternoon, and it was going great until I took it out of the oven and discovered that it was badly burnt. Damn! I thought I had done the temperature conversion wrong (not something you usually have to worry about when baking!), but then I figured their oven must just be unusually hot. In any case, we ate most of it by the time I left, so it wasn't that bad.

Friday:
Felt a lot better. Mailed a bunch of stuff home, which made my backpack ridiculously light. I also met A&N's friend Philipa. She is a philosopher and a dancer- and is also Jewish and has agreed to host me for Passover. She was very nice and excited about my theater ambitions. She also has a large extended Jewish family in the area, so I think having Passover with them will be okay. We went to see a special exhibit at NGV Australia on Howard Arkley, an Australian artists who is famous for painting brightly colored suburban homes. It was really good, and nice to have company also. A&N came back in time for dinner in the evening, and we had raw oysters with dill (Andrew claimed that Norva once at something like 60 oysters in one sitting) and also guacamole, which they had never seen prepared before and were very impressed by. We played Sequence (the card/board game) and I even won a round.

Saturday:
I had been looking forward to going to an Australian race track since I discovered the racing schedule earlier in the week. It did not disappoint! We didn't rush to the track, but we made it there around the 4th race, in time for Norva to enter the fashion contest that was being held. It seems that in Australia, everyone wears hats to the track- well, not everyone, and not everyday, but they did yesterday. Norva hadn't gone all out, so she didn't win the contest, but it was fun to watch the other contestants too. They were really decked out- I'll have to post pictures next time I'm on. As for the betting, it went really well. I ended up winning $42 (bet two races and won two races!). I even suggested the horses that Andrew should bet, and he put a bet down for Norva, who ended up winning $80! He also bought a bottle of champagne which we sat around drinking while we watched the fashions and the races. It was a very good day! Afterwards we went out to Fitzroy for a late lunch/early dinner, and got ice cream from one of the well known ice cream places in Melbourne. Then we went home and watched a Stephen Fry comedy show called "Absolute Power" which was fantastic! I hope they sell it for US dvd players, because I really need to watch the entire series.

Anyway, those were my last days in Melbourne. I was very sad to leave- and almost got very upset because my flight was messed up when I got to the airport this morning (I just barely got on and I have to call them later to get them to refund me some money). But I did make the flight and I slept for the hour of flying, and arrived in an airport about the size of Macarthur in Islip. Tasmania looks really nice so far. Low green mountains, cute "city", and a good temperature. I think this will be a good week, even if it is lonelier than the past week. I may not have internet while I'm out in the wilderness, so expect to hear from me again in a couple days (I'm back in Hobart on Friday).

Keep commenting!

Love,
Emma

Wildlife

Just got back from the tour to Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary, where I saw platypus at the platypus-ery, koalas, a sleeping wombat, a tasmanian devil, and various cool looking birds and other things. Before that I was forced to take part in another tourist trap, Puffing Billy, a steam train that takes large groups of Asian tourist on a dull 30 minute ride around the hills. But, the wildlife made it worthwhile.

Everyone is clamouring for pictures, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, I guess I'll have to indulge you and show them. No pictures of the platypus though- they're sensitive.

Love,
Emma

PS- Another wildlife siting that I forgot to write about happened when I returned to Andrew's apartment the other day and noticed what appeared to be a pile of string or rope that someone dropped right in front of the door. I couldn't tell if this was actually a pile of something dead, or if it was a spider that might want me dead, so I moved slowly towards it, at which point it stood up on its giant and hairy legs and started to charge me. Thank goodness Andrew's apartment has two entrances, because I immediately ran to the other door and called him pleading to be let in. Well, A&N thought this was all hilarious, especially since the spider was a huntsman, which is friendly, although you couldn't tell from the horrible giant hairy-ness of it. Needless to say, I don't have a picture of that, except the one in my mind that haunts my dreams.

1. Me feeding a cockatoo.


2. Koala! They are incredibly cute, although I find their human-like hands a little disturbing.


3. Fruit Bats. They were waving at me.


4. The Eagle- Australia's largest bird of prey.


5. Tassie Devil. It looks nothing like the Warner Bros version. More like an RUS from Princess Bride, but cuter, less evil.



6. Finally, a ball of fur known as a Wombat. It was unfortunately taking a nap while I was there.

Suburbs

The past couple days I've spent wandering around Melbourne's various suburbs. Yesterday I walked, ate, and shopped in Fitzroy (=Greenwich Village) and went to dinner and a movie in Carlton (=Little Italy). I saw Little Children, which was not what I'd call enjoyable, but was definitely worthwhile.

Today was my Jewish themed day. I went to the Jewish Museum and discovered that the entire Jewish population of Australia is about 100,000. That is about equal to the number of Jews in Suffolk County, and less than a third of the Jews in Brooklyn. Pretty incredible. 48,000 are in Victoria (meaning Melbourne), 44,000 are in New South Wales (meaning Sydney), and most of the rest are in Perth and Adelaide. There are only 200 in Tasmania and amazingly only 110 in all of the Northern Territory. There are no synagogues in the Northern Territory. I guess that shouldn't be surprising, but it is anyway. After seeing the museum and touring the synagogue I walked down the main street of Balaclava, the Jewish suburb. I bought bagels from the number one bagel place in Australia- I haven't tried them yet though, so I'll have to report back. They did have everything bagels though, so its a good start. After that I walked around the trendy backpacker suburb, St. Kilda and ate at a Jewish restaurant. I was the only one there and the family working there just sat around and talked to me (well I assume it was a family, an older couple and a girl my age). They told me to go see the Great Barrier Reef and that I probably had distant relatives in Australia since they knew a Katz family originally from Poland. I felt bad leaving them- they seemed really thrilled to have a patron, and a NY Jewish patron at that! But I had to leave and go buy tickets for a day tour I'm doing tomorrow to an animal sanctuary. I still need to see koalas and platypuses (sp?). Should be fun.

One final fun thing to update about- when I mentioned going to the horse races, Norva got very excited and told me that she always goes to the big races so that she can wear big feathery hats- which she makes herself. She took out a bunch of them and we tried on hats together and talked about how great they were. So that was a lot of fun. Too bad I'm not going to be here in November for the big Melbourne Cup. Norva says that even the people who buy the cheapest tickets and pack picnic lunches dress up in fantastic hats and dresses to go to the track. Sounds like just my kind of thing!

Anyway, I have to get off the internet. Finding a cheap place to check email means that my addiction is flaring up again. I'll be sure to update about the bagels and the koalas soon. And I'll try to remember more pictures- I always forget the cable!

Love,
Emma

PHOTOS!

And you thought it would never happen! Here are just a few highlights from the past month:

1. Sunset at Stirling Ranges.



2. Me with real live friends (well, Carolin- the blond- and her friends) at Cottesloe Beach.



3. Me feeding kangaroos!



4. Me celebrating the Chinese New Year with the dragon.

The Pig and the Penguins

It took me a little longer than expected to find the cheap internet cafe- but I'm here now and ready to update.

I successfully got on the performance tram on Friday- and it was certainly an experience. The tram was decorated inside and out with all kinds of Indian designs and lights and fringe. It circled around the city and you could stay on for as long or as short as you wanted. The performance was a woman playing the most bizarre instrument I've ever seen- it was made of leather and was played almost like a bassoon, except that the body of it was curled like a tuba or a french horn, and it also had a set of electronic controls which she would manipulate with her hands, and which must have been sending signals to the man with the computer sitting behind her. From this bizarre instrument came the least formally "musical" sounds ever. I did my very best to appreciate the "music"- not to be prejudiced against experiemental art- but I was very glad when the tram finished its circle of the city and let me off! Later that night, I met Andrew and Norva (A&N) at a Vietnamese restaurant near their apartment and got to try sugar cane prawns (shrimp), congee (chicken soup/porridge), vietnamese pancake which is eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves, and rice paper rolls. I think it was my first time eating Vietnamese, and so Andrew insisted that I record all the things I had tried! We then went home and stayed up till 1:30 playing a card/board game whose name escapes me. They stay up so late! I think being professors, they are just permanently on college student schedules- which is not a problem for me!

Yesterday A&N took me to another art museum out in the suburbs- the Heidie museum of modern art. We saw an exhibit of Australia's most famous artist, Sydney Nolan, and his most famous paintings, a series depicting the folk hero Ned Kelly (a tragic outlaw along the lines of Bonnie and Clyde). After that they rushed me back to the city so that I could get on a Penguin Parade tour. The Penguin Parade is a phenomenon when the "little" or "fairy" penguins return to their nests from the ocean after a day of fishing. The beaches that they live on are about 2 hours southeast of Melbourne and they emerge from the ocean at sunset- so every day dozens of tours go down to this one beach to see them. Well, let me first say that the penguins were adorable and definitely worth seeing- first they come in very small groups of 4 or 5 and stand right in the surf waiting to see if the coast is clear, then they waddle across the beach looking like the might fall forward from the weight of their bellies. Gradually more and more emerge, in bigger and bigger groups, and they all head up into the dunes to regurgitate their food for their babies. The best part is that the baby penguins will try to get food from any adult penguin, even though only their parents will feed them- but the attempts to get fed create some interesting penguin fights. Now, that said- the Penguin Parade made me fully realize the meaning of "tourist trap". You pay all this money to take a 4 hour round trip bus ride to a big visitor's center built a little ways back from the beach and filled with two gift shops, a horrible fast food restaurant (which I had to eat at because I didn't think I needed to pack dinner), and the most absurd part, the "penguin photo experience". See, you can't take pictures of the penguins or videos (the bus driver said that it was bad for their health, but I can't possibly see how being video taped can be bad for your health!)- therefore, if you want your picture with the penguins, you can pay to be digitally inserted into a picture of them. What a scam! But, like I said, the penguins themselves were great- just the method of seeing them was fascinatingly awful!

I got back from the penguins around midnight- just in time to land in Chinatown for the New Year! It is the year of the Pig, as was 1983 when I was born, so I think that this is supposed to be a good thing for me. I got to walk around the stalls and see some lion dancing for a little bit before everything closed down. But, this morning I went with A&N to new year's dim sum (traditional breakfast of prawn and pork dumplings) and we saw the lion dancers and the dragon dancers and browsed around for the full New Year experience. Somehow I've manages to never celebrate a Chinese New Year before, even the year I lived in NYC. It was a lot of fun, although I'm sure it is not as fun to hang out on the streets of NYC in February, maybe that is why I never did it before.

Anyway, I've spent the rest of the day shopping for gifts and browsing the Sustainable Living Festival- a big hippy fair happening this weekend that I wish I could take half my friends to! I saw two booths selling keepers and "moon pads" (for any coopers reading this!), and a food tent giving demonstrations of macrobiotic/vegan cooking and selling lentils and gluten-free pancake mix. Oh, it makes me miss the coop so badly!!! I also finished seeing the National Gallery of Victoria. Thursday I had gone to the International art building, and today I did the Australian art building. The best part was an exhibit of women's hats, which made me want to live in 1940. I even had time to stop in at "Champions" the Australia Racing Museum- as in horse racing. I didn't know horse racing was such a big deal in Australia, so now I'm going to try and get out to the track before I leave Melbourne.

So that was my extended weekend. Hopefully I haven't lost any readers by posting less frequently. I'll try to pick it up- don't forget to comment so I know you are there!

Love,
Emma

PS- Almost forgot, an addition to the last post. The night I got to Melbourne, after dinner A&N walked me into one of the city parks to see the possums. They are everywhere! The squirrels of Australia, as Andrew said. And so cute! Okay, that is really all now.

Melbourne

I've escaped Western Australia- and hostels- and I'm now living comfortably with Andrew and Norva in Melbourne. It is so nice to have my own room and bathroom! I spent most of yesterday enjoying the apartment. Sleeping in, doing laundry, taking a long shower. Then I walked around the city for a bit. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the city center from the apartment, but there is also a tram right outside the door that gets you there in five minutes. Today I took the tram into the city and went to the National Gallery of Victoria. I decided to go on a free tour of the contemporary wing, and ended up being the only person on the tour- just me and the guide! Because I got such a late start today, I didn't make it to the second building which has all the Australian art. I guess I'll have to do it over the weekend. I've been eating a lot better since I arrived- Wednesday night we went out for Thai food and last night Norva made an amazing sushi spread. I tried raw scallops for the first time and they were tasty if a little slimey.

At the moment, I'm writing from the Melbourne Visitor's Center, which has very expensive internet, so I'm not going to write long (Andrew doesn't have high speed internet at home, which is the only drawback). This evening I'm hoping to hop on a "tram performance"- theater inside the tram. I'll try to get to a cheaper internet cafe tomorrow and let you all know how that went.

Love always (especially to CJ for the flowers!).
Emma

Up North

I have returned! After six days out in 'the bush', I'm back to tell the tale. Luckily, I'm staying at a different hostel in Fremantle which has free 24 hour internet. What a treat! Now to fill you in on the past week.

2/8 Perth to Kalbarri
Most of this day was taken up by driving. Well, driving and going to the Pinnacles- one of WA's weird rock formations. It's basically a desert with lots of rocks sticking up out of the sand, due to the fact that the softer rock all around them has eroded away. So, it was good for a picture but not much else. I mostly slept, listened to music, and hung out with Corinne. I also met a couple from Adelaide who unfortunately jumped off the bus in Kalbarri- but I got the girl-Caitlin's contact info, so maybe when I get to Adelaide they'll be willing to show me around a bit. The hostel in Kalbarri wasn't so great because there were 11 girls sharing one bathroom! But thankfully it was only one night.

2/9 Kalbarri to Denham
We got a very early start for the second day of the tour. Our first stop was a lookout called 'nature's window' (you guessed it, another weird rock formation!) where we had breakfast and took pictures. Then we got to stretch our legs a bit with a hike down into Z-Bends Gorge (which I kept thinking of as zee-bends, and being confused when other people were saying zed-bends). I was slightly nervous about the hike, just because I'm always afraid of spraining my ankle, but it all went very well. The way back up was supposed to be more challenging- steeper and more direct- but I found going down to be more difficult. I got to watch some people go abseiling, which is when you get attached to a rope and then run down the face of a cliff. Too scary for me, but it was fun to watch. Once we were down in the gorge we got to go for a swim in the river, which was so nice. It was only 10am but it had already started to get very hot. The weird thing was that I was the only identifying female to go in the water! All the guys did, and I was just lounging in the water wondering... when is everyone going to join me? It tells you a lot about the group on this tour, which was pretty lame and also a lot bigger then the southern tour. After the gorge we drove for a long time until we got to the Shark Bay World Heritage area, where we saw the famous stromatolites. They're not very attractive, but they are the oldest living organisms on the planet, which released lots of oxygen into the atmosphere and made all other life possible, so it was pretty cool to contemplate them for a while. Then we went to Marine Park where a cute blond guy showed us turtles, sea snakes, sharks, and pink snappers that came to the surface of the water and spit at him to beg for food. Finally we got to Denham where I ate dinner with Corinne and we met a strange guy who lives on a ship- like for years at a time, so long that he lost his British citizenship. I think that might be why he was so strange. His job is to go diving for things that accidently get dropped in the ocean- he said that the US military was the worst about accidently dropping things, which I thought was pretty funny. When I went to bed I had to say goodbye to Corinne because she was jumping off the bus and staying in Denham for a few days. It was depressing to have to face being alone again- especially since I might never see her again (I actually did end up seeing her again when I was traveling back south and she was continuing north and our buses passed). But, you never know when I might decide to go to Switzerland I guess.

2/10 Denham to Coral Bay
Another early start for our third day, so that we could get to the resort community Monkey Mia and see the famous dolphins that come in for early morning feedings. I got to see baby dolphins! So cute! Possibly even cooler than the dolphins though were the unexpectedly large pelicans. I never realized how big they were! After Monkey Mia we stopped at a look out where we could see loads of sharks in the distance (we were high up on a cliff, so they looked mostly like lots of moving shadows in the water). Then we went to Shell Beach- a beach with no sand, just little white shells everywhere. I was hoping to go swimming (as usual), but the water was so shallow, you would have to walk out for like 10 minutes before being up to your knees. So instead I just lay down in the water and sunbathed like that for a bit. I think the rest of the group might have thought I was a little weird, but it was nicer than just sitting on the beach staring at the water. After that we left the Shark Bay area, and drove for a long time- over the Tropic of Capricorn, where I got a picture, and on to Coral Bay, a small town within walking distance of the Ningaloo reef. We had a BBQ there at the hostel, and I decided to try the standard topping for burgers here, which is an over-easy egg. It was pretty good with a veggie burger- although I can't imagine what it would be like with a real burger. After dinner we walked out to the beach to watch the sunset and the stars come out. The stars were so amazing! When you get that far away from a city, you can't believe how many stars there are. Most of the group sat out on the beach drinking late into the night, but I walked home with Alice, a drama teacher who does G&S with her classes! Sadly, she was stopping in Coral Bay for a few nights, so we didn't get to spend much time together.

2/11 Coral Bay to Exmouth
The distance between Coral Bay and Exmouth is nothing at all compared to the distances we traveled in previous days- so we got to sleep in for an extra hour or two before getting up to go snorkeling. However, the first snorkeling expedition was aborted when we got to the beach and found it covered with evil blue bottle jelly fish (not deadly, but will cause 2 hours of intense pain). Instead we sat on the beach and saw crazy sand crabs scurrying around (not the tiny ones we have at home, but big ones with eyes that stick straight for half an inch out of their body). That was right in Coral Bay, so we had to wait to snorkel outside of Exmouth. We took a ton of people on the bus at Coral Bay and it took us a long time to get it together and get to Turquoise Bay where the snorkeling was. It was so worth the trip though- definitely the highlight of the entire tour. I had gone snorkeling at Rottnest before, but I didn't have the flippers, and I was alone and therefore scared to go out very far. This time was fantastic! I went out with another guy who had done it before and we went far out over the reef. I saw all kinds of beautiful bright colored fish, plus a manta ray with purple spots, plus a sea turtle! It was so great! That night I went to the pub for dinner with Nathan the driver, and a few other people from the bus. Nathan convinced two of the other people to try raw oysters- which I also agreed to share, and liked a lot more than I remembered from the times I tried them before. We stayed in a little cabin at this campsite, and it was airconditioned, so that was also a nice treat.

2/12 Exmouth to Geraldton
There is really nothing to say about this day except that we drove. A lot. Also I saw Corinne again heading up on another bus to Coral Bay- so we had to say goodbye again! When we got to Geraldton, it really felt like a huge city. Nathan cooked dinner for the 6 remaining people on the bus, and made chicken with garlic and avocado especially for me- it was one of the best meals I've had since I've been here!

2/13 Geraldton to Perth
Ah, today... more driving and a stop at the second highlight of the trip, the Wildlife Park. I fed kangaroos and baby kangaroos, and a camel. I saw emus, but didn't feed them because they peck at your hand too painfully. I also had two pythons around my neck- and fortunately Nathan took a picture. Now I'm back, staying in Fremantle because the OBH was full. I went out to dinner and tried to distract myself from the usual panic by going to see a cheesy movie- Miss Potter. It certainly was cheesy. Now I'm going to go finish my book and tomorrow it is off to Melbourne. It will be so nice to be in a real home for a little while! I can't wait!

Love,
Emma

Beach Bum

For starters, let me say that I made a decision to go on the tour north and I feel very happy with that decision. I leave tomorrow at 7am and I'll be back in Perth on the 13th. I fly to Melbourne on the 14th. Yay for having things settled.

For the past two days, I haven't done much except sit on the beach. Well, I also did laundry and bought some food for my trip (like PB&J- another thing I've been told is SOOO American). But those things aren't very exciting. I guess sitting on the beach isn't very exciting either. But today it was more exciting because Corinne and Carolin showed up to sit on the beach with me- and they brought an English girl, Hannah, and a German guy David. We sat there so long that we ended up watching the sunset, accompanied by an unbelievable number of screaming multicolored parakeets. I took pictures, but I don't think they can do justice to the sight of all those birds filling the sky.

So that is my short summary of the past two days. Hopefully the hostels I stay in the next few days will have good internet, because I'm sure there will be more to write about!

Love,
Emma

Easyriding II

I'm back in Perth! I survived my first tour and I'm actually feeling bumbed that it is over. I didn't see much since leaving Esperance, but I did make friends which was pretty fabulous.

After I wrote the other night I ended up spending the evening with Corinne and a guy named Paul. We just sat around the hostel and Paul tried to convince me that I should train myself to drink beer. I guess that sounds pretty sketchy, but it wasn't, it was just amusing. In the morning, we picked up another easyrider- a German girl named Carolin (pronounced something like Carolyn not Caroline). We went out to the famous white sand beaches, including the winner of Australian's whitest sand award. Unfortunately it wasn't a very nice day, so we didn't go swimming. But the sand was really really white, and also very fine. It had an almost milky consistencey. I think this was because of a high quartz content or something like that. After the beach we basically drove straight to the mining center of Kalgoorlie. On the way we stopped in some of the saddest, most desolate towns I have ever seen (including one called Salmon Gums- named for a kind of tree, not for the gums of fish). Imagine the saddest, smallest town in northern Vermont, and then imagine instead of quaint Victorian houses it is made up of corrugated iron houses, and instead of being green in the summer it is all red dust and 115 degrees. It was depressing to imagine that anyone could actually live in these places. Kalgoorlie on the other hand was a bit of a surpirse. Most of the towns I've visited in Australia have been disappointing in their architecture and general lack of unique atmosphere. For example, I imagined that the small fishing and farming villages in the south would be somewhat cute and country-looking, with unique main streets and stuff like that. Maybe this is just my stereotyping small towns, but that is what I thought. Instead, the main streets (the only streets) in these towns looked more like mini-strip malls, no character, just the same strips in every town. I assumed that Kalgoorlie would also be like this, especially since it is a very industrial place, existing just for the mining. However, I was surprised to find that it was the most historic place that we visited. Old hotels have been preserved from the early 1900's, along with the old Town Hall, and things like that. It was really interesting that this industrial town cared a lot more about preservation and asthetics than the more touristy places like Margaret River. But anyway, there wasn't much to see there- we went to the "super pit" where a lot of the mining is done (another depressing site, just thinking about people actually have to work there is so sad), and we went to a historic shack where the town past time was played back in the day. This past time is called "two up" and it is a gambling game in which one person throws two pennies into the air and bets whether they will come down both heads, both tails, or "ones". Okay, just knowing that this was the major entertainment in the town tells you a lot about it. Seriously, they played this game every day of the week, and people lost 100s of dollars on it. Pretty amazing. After seeing these sites, we all went to the hostel and jumped in the pool and played modified catch/volleyball. Then we all went out for pizza together, and Corinne, Carolin, and I went back to our room and had a really long wonderful conversation about how there are 28 states and 7 presidents in Switzerland (imagine the size of Switzerland and think about how hilarious that is), how our different schools systems work, and things like that. We must have talked for a few hours, and it was really one of the highlights of the trip to have such a nice conversation.

Today we basically just drove back to Perth. We stopped once to see a famous furniture shop in York- the stuff was really nice, made of this special WA wood called jarrah. But that was about it. I'm back in Cottesloe now, doing laundry and feeling freaked out as usual. I'm starting to anticipate my moods at least- it seems that as long as I am on the go, with a plan for the day, then I feel alright. But when I land somewhere and don't have something to fill my time, then I freak out. Tonight I also got booked into a single room by mistake- and now its the only room left, so I'm stuck there for the night. I guess it will be nice to have my own room for a change, but it means that I won't be distracted from worrying by the other people around me. The good news is that Carolin might come hang out with me in Cottesloe tomorrow, so then I'll have something to do. At the moment, I'm also trying to decide whether or not to go on a tour up north. I can't get a refund for the tour and I'd be going with Corinne for the first few days, so I feel like I should go. But I'm also very tempted to go to Melbourne straight away, especially since I'm not feeling so great right now. I change my mind every few minutes, but I'll keep you all posted.

Love,
Emma

Easyriding

OMG- this computer is soooo slooow. I hope it will even let me post this, because I have a lot of catching up to do. I planned to write from Albany (pronounces AHL-bany, not AWL-bany like in NY), but the internet there was closed and last night I was at a campground without internet. Now I am in Esperance, using bad internet, but ready to catch up on the last three days.

Day One: Margaret River to Albany
We left Margaret River early, stopped to drop off Lynne in Augusta, the southwestern-most point in Australia, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. We continued on to the forest country and stopped to drop more people off at Nannup. The town was basically known just for the hostel, which strives to be a kind of hippie retreat, with hammocks, yoga platforms, and lots of woodwork and murals that reminded me of a woods-y version of the co-op. I easily resisted staying there, although we did end up dropping off 4 people instead of 2. After that there were only 5 people on the bus, plus Andy the driver. The other 4 people I will now refer to as the teen girl squad, although they weren't teens, they made me feel like I might feel if I were hanging out with the teen girl squad. Two Brits, two Italians, all a lot preppier than me. We did have fun though, and formed a fairly cohesive group for the day. We went to a winery and bought some wine for dinner, we went for lunch and a swim at a beautiful lake surrounded by forest, we saw the Glouster Tree which you can climb but no one did, we almost hit a kangaroo with the bus, we did the Tree Top Walk which was amazing and only a little scary for me, and the best part of the day was when we went to Greens Pool- an incredible beach with clear green water, big beautiful rocks (including famous ones called Elephant rocks), and looked just like a screensaver really. It was fantastic. Then we got to Albany where the hostel was having a BBQ. I had the veggie option, a veggie burger which I have discovered means something more like a potatoe pancake than the nasty imitation burgers that we get at home. I even went out to the pub for a bit with the squad. Overall a very good day.

Day Two: Albany to Stirling Ranges
Day two was very different, since the squad went back to Perth and I went on to the Stirling Ranges. In the morning we went around to more weird rock formations, a big gap and a "natural bridge" which is gradually moving apart and will one day become a big gap. Then we walked around town, I bought a 1GB card for my camera so that I don't have to figure out how to put photos on the computer, and we stopped to wait for the bus to Perth at Albany's town beach. When the second bus came, I got acquainted with the new crew- Corinne a Swiss girl my age, and a slightly older Irish couple. We continued on with Graham our driver- Corinne could never remember his name and I said to think of graham crackers, but then it turned out that no one knew what they were, and therefore no one knew what smores were, so I had to explain. Supposedly roasting marshmellows is a very American thing, which I guess is something to be proud of. In any case, all of day two was spent at Bluff Knoll, the highest mountain in WA. I did not climb it, but the Irish couple did, although only the guy got to the top. The rest of us hung around and talked and looked at the scenery. Then we went down to the Stirling Range Retreat, which was a kind of campground, but with little trailers and cottages and an outdoor kitchen and pool. We swam, made dinner, saw a gorgeous sunset, and had a really nice evening. I kept thinking that it would be a wonderful place to stay if one of my hiking-inclined friends were there.

Day Three: Stirling Ranges to Esperence
Today was a bit of a waste. We woke up early and started driving even more into the middle of nowhere. It was absurdly hot (46 degrees=115ish I think!!!), we drove a long way to see "Wave Rock" which was not worth the trip at all, and Graham lectured to us about farming in the area, saying things like "a wheat paddock is just like a woman's body"- don't ask me why! The highlight of the day was when we were driving 2 hours through a badly paved road in a National Park and almost hit an emu, which then ran alongside the bus for a bit. There were more off the road and they are very cool looking- and the way they move is amazing, you almost can't believe that they can go so fast. The other highlight was arriving in Esperance and going for a swim. The beaches here are famous, but I didn't think they were that special, so I'm definitely leaving tomorrow for Kalgoorlie- a mining town which promises to be hot and well, different...). Then its back to Perth. I might just write from there, so if you don't hear from me soon, you know why!

Love,
Emma