4 Countries in 2 Days...

We left Melbourne at 10:30 Thursday morning and landed in Los Angeles at 10:15 after a nearly 2 hour layover in Auckland (and they say time travel isn't possible). The first thing we wanted to do when we got to the States was eat proper Mexican food- so far that's about all we've eaten (it's just sooooo good). We even crossed the border on Friday to get the real deal. Lesley and Daniel (my aunt and uncle) took us to Tijuana for some tacos from Perez's and a little sight seeing and shopping. At the border trying to get back into the States, an officer took our passports and then came back and told us to follow another officer into a holding area. Lesley looked a little panicked; they've never had any problems crossing the border. Of course, Mark and I were relaxed since we have trouble pretty much every time we cross a border (a little tid-bit that we forgot to pass along to Lesley and Daniel- oops!). Fortunately they let us through, but only after looking at Mark and then asking him how he was related to Daniel. On Saturday we went to Sea World using free passes from my dad (thank goodness because tickets are about $65, which is probably close to $100 AUD). We hit the shows and exhibits, got wet on the rides, and had lunch and drinks in Bush Gardens. The weather was beautiful and there weren't a lot of people, so it was a perfect day for Sea World. We stuck around into the evening for the special Christmas shows; what an amazing way to kick start the season! Today we had a barbeque with the family. Not being used to kids, it made things easier on us that they showed up in groups every couple of hours. By the end, it was Mark and I, Lesley and Daniel, Danielle with her three kids, Stacie and Johnny with their three kids, and Jessica with her three kids plus one- ten kids total and not only did we survive, but we enjoyed it! We have a few more days here in California and then it's off to Montana. We'll try to post some pictures of our California trip when we get to Montana, so keep checking back!

Rules to cruise by…

As I’m sure you can tell, we’ve had a great time on our cruise; the people have been great and New Zealand is beautiful. Instead of telling more about the people and country, I’m going to talk about something else we’ve experienced- major weight gain.

Our first night at dinner our table mates (and experienced cruisers), Stephanie and Michael, shared some rules to follow to not gain weight on a cruise.

Rule 1: Don’t eat the bread at dinner

Rule 2: Don’t skip a course (not sure how this helps us not gain weight, but we liked the rule anyway)

Rule 3: Always take the stairs

Although we followed the rules (except the first one), we both managed to gain 5-10 lbs in 9 nights! As it turns out, they forgot one of the rules.

Rule 4: Don’t order drinks

Not that I think the drinks caused all of our weight gain, but the daiquiris, margaritas, martinis, and other drinks that we may have enjoyed were probably pretty high in calories. Still, I think that more than 4 rules are necessary to avoid gaining weight. Here are my additions. Hopefully they work better for me next time.

Rule 5: Weigh yourself everyday (so you’re not surprised at the end of the cruise that you’ve gained a pound a day)

Rule 6: Go to the gym at least once each day at sea

Rule 7: Avoid the buffet as much as possible

Rule 8: Eat only 3 meals a day and limit snacks to 1-2 small items

Rule 9 (this is Stephanie and Michael’s new rule): Have sex everyday

Rule 10: Bring Advil, allergy medicine, cold sore medicine, and Advil Cold and Sinus on board (this has nothing to do with weight gain, but it’s another rule to cruise by if you’re sickly like me)

What a day!

We’re just now cruising away from a great day in Wellington. The city was fantastic. The highlight by far was a church that was built in the mid 19th century entirely out of wood. As if the church wasn’t cool enough, they had an excellent display about American soldiers that defended the country in World War II. In the current state of affairs, when the USA in not the most popular country in the world, it was really great to hear of a time when we were the good guys. The man that guided us through was alive at the time and he told us great stories about the soldiers and what life was like in those days. That was probably the coolest thing we’ve done in New Zealand.
After we got back to the boat and did a little swimming and eating. I enjoyed a very nice Romeo and Juliet and watched the sun go down over the pacific, with the sun on my skin, and a cool air coming in, and the water crashing below me. The view was spectacular with huge mountains and waves crashing in. I thought to myself, life couldn’t get much better. Maybe in a few weeks it’ll be building stuff with my Dad in his shop. Maybe in a month or two it will be playing poker with buddies in the man room. Maybe in a few years it will be teaching a son how to play football… but just now it really couldn’t get any better.

It's like a cute quaint town...

...only better because it's a whole country! We arrived in New Zealand Monday and have seen Fiordland, Dunedin, Christchurch, and are currently in Wellington. So far the country is absolutely beautiful; it feels more like what I would expect Norway to feel like (the European influence is much stronger than the Australian influence). We are surrounded by lush green hillsides and water. The cities have been small, well laid out, and filled with friendly people. Although we only get a day in each city, it seems sufficient. We have lots of pictures and more stories to post, but that will have to wait until later, so check back soon!

Cruising

I want to rock and roll all day.. and Nikki wants to throw up (if it wasn't for the motion sickness pills). I love the waves. The ship has really been rocking as we roll through Fjordland, New Zealand (turns out the New Zealander’s have about the same creativity naming things as the Aussies(i.e. tasty cheese)). People told us that that you can't even feel the cruise ship but this one is a bit different. The swells were sometimes 15 feet high. The people we eat dinner with say it is the roughest they've ever experienced and they've been on 13 cruises.


The sights are like nothing I could have even imagined. Imagine the tallest mountain peaks you’ve ever seen and erase the hills, valleys, and everything else in between until you get to the ocean. It just goes from these huge snowcapped mountain peaks straight down into water. Then the water is 1000 feet deep. So back to the rocking, as we roll out of the fjords, the waves are huge and the ship is really rocking back and forth. The pools are splashing ten foot waves! It was a bit chilly so I was the only one in the pool, and I must be in 30-40 family vacation pictures. Amazing stuff!

Another Addiction

When I first went overseas to France, I became addicted to traveling. When I moved to Australia it became a whole other beast. Then, after 15 minutes aboard the Millennium, I am addicted to cruising! How cool. Yeah, we are the scum bags of the ship, but we are scum bags in a whole lot fancier class than Nikki and me are used to. Our lowest end cabin would rank as one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. Our every need is catered to before you can even think of it. And talk about “sport eating”… we have done nothing but eat for two days straight. We go to the fancy pants restaurant for our meals and hit the buffet for all our “in between meal” meals. As if the 20 pounds I’ve gained in Melbourne wasn’t enough. I’m hoping I’ll only gain 10 on this trip.

We are now on our second day at sea. We are out in the middle of nowhere between Australia and New Zealand. There is absolutely no land in sight, but it feels like you should just be able to walk across the boat and see the land. There is plenty to do aboard though. At night they put the next day’s schedule on your pillow and we go through and underline everything we want to do. Yesterday the only thing we did was eat and walk around the ship. Today, so far, we are eating and hitting the pool and working out. The pool is amazing. The boat rocks, so the pool has waves in it. And it is salt water in the pools so you float. We just floated around “starfish” style and rocked with the waves.

Probably the only downer on the cruise is American dollars. The Aussie dollar has dropped from about $.97 to around $.65 so we really don’t have much spending power. Good thing the only expense is booze, and we had $200 onboard credit from Travelocity. We’ll be alright.

Christmas in July...

That's what it feels like anyway. It's starting to warm up around here, today was about 31-32 C (not sure of the conversion- but it's hot), which is why it's so weird to see Christmas decorations and displays at the stores and to walk into work to hear White Christmas playing. Usually by this time of the year I'm stressing out about what to get everybody, but here, I'm finding it difficult to even think about buying Christmas presents. This whole opposite season thing is much more of an adjustment than I expected it to be and I'm sure my body is going to go into shock next month when we leave summer for the cold Montana winter :)

PS- In case anybody's interested, I received a high distinction on my first take home exam!

City Livin'

Alright, so the other half of this trip that I never really talk about is that I am living in the middle of a city of 4 million. The downside being that there are no Kangaroos and Koalas in the city and that as soon as I buy a new tire for my bike because it was stolen... the friggin' bike gets stolen. the upside is the kind of things that are accessible.

Last weekend we went to dinner at a place that required reservations 6 weeks in advance. Back home a 20 minute wait pisses me off. I tell you what though, the food was definitely worth the wait. It was banquet style Lebanese food. You didn't even get a choice of what to eat they just bring you food... and more food... and more food. Two things worried me about this evening. #1 was I going to get enough to eat? (yes I did) and #2 would I like the food (silly me... I love most food). The best part was the company. We went with Tim and Carrol the couple that we went to the beach house with a few weekends ago and they brought a friend that was Iranian. Just moved 2 years ago.

What an interesting perspective. It may have turned into a bit of a man crush as I discussed life in Iran with this guy. what a different world we live in. It really makes you appreciate the freedoms we have. We went to the local Hooka bar. How cool is that? And I smoked the "Sheesha" (that's what they call it in Iran)and drank Arak (traditional Iranian drink) with an actual Persian. Enlightening.

Well, probably the last post before our excursion to New Zealand. Cruise is for 10 days and we are really excited. Oh and sorry about the political discussion in the last post. I just found it interesting to see the US election from another country. And how could I not point out the fact that the leader of the free world is a Bears fan? Love ya' Dad!

The President is a BEARS FAN!

I love the USA and I could never leave it for good. I think it is the greatest place on Earth. But living here I really have seen America from a different perspective. So much of what we (the USA) does effects the rest of the world on a day-to-day basis. And they seem so much more interested in American politics than we are. Every student I talk to wants to talk about the American election. And every single student I come across is a huge supporter of Barack Obama. I think we have an obligation to consider the image of our nation. If the entire free world in favor of Barack Obama then that must be a good thing he is president. My Mom and Dad are most likely crying as they read this, but I guess Dad always call me a damn liberal school teacher. I actually view myself right in the middle. As most of my friends in Tacoma would consider me conservative. Above all else, I was excited in this election.

I was 13 and just getting interested in politics when Clinton won the first time. He was a guy that could pee on your leg and convince you it was raining. I couldn't vote but I would've voted for him if I could have. I would have voted for him again but I didn't think he was a good guy... just a good president. When G-Dub came on the scene everything in the country was peachy-keen. He was a simple guy that I thought would just cruise through a term or two and not screw up too much. In case I didn't learn my lesson the first time, I went ahead in voted for him again (oops). Come on though, Kerry? Really???

In this election, I think for the first time in a long time we were in a win-win situation. John McCain is a great man. If I teach any of these Aussie students anything about American politics it is that John McCain is NOT George Bush. He is a great man that has spent his life in service of the American country... He just wasn't the right party for this election. I wish he would have won 8 years ago.

Being in a foreign country during the election is exactly the reason why I love this trip. Visiting places like Rome, Paris, and London I've always gotten the tourist perspective. You don't really get an idea of how the average person truly lives their daily life. I spend most days as a sub just asking kids questions about the subtle things. Like what their perspective of America is. Most of them think: Celebrities, McDonalds, and Guns. But dig a little deeper and you find they think of Americans as kind of dumb. When I hear an Aussie accent I think Crocodile Dundee. I can't help it,that is just my first thought. Now the adults are different. It seems the older the person the more positive attitude they have about the US. I think this is very indicative of the state of affairs. And even if Obama sucks as a president, our image took a huge upturn yesterday. And I'm a little more proud to be American in this country than I was last week.

I found a great site about international perspective... check it out:

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/presidential-election-08-global-poll/article102098.html

God Bless America...

The outcome of the election is restoring faith in the Americans (I was really worried what would happen if McCain/Palin won). Whether or not Obama will be good for the country, he will definitely be good for the country's image!

Since I haven't posted for awhile, I figured I'd also give a little unpolitical update. As Mark mentioned, October was a difficult month for us, with the death of Bailey being the worst of it. She was so full of character and personality, definitely a one of a kind. It's going to be hard going back and not having her shower with me every morning or in my face when I'm trying to talk on the phone or read the paper. I try not to think about it too much now because I want to enjoy my experience here in Australia, but I know I won't be able to avoid it when I go home.

Fortunately, things have started looking up. I had the day off yesterday for Melbourne Cup Day (it's a national holiday to celebrate horse racing), so I went to a barbeque with my friend from school, Carol, and her partner, Tim. Since people get really dressed up to go to the races, Carol and I decided to dress up a little for the barbeque. I'll try to post some pictures later because it really is something. Anyway, we placed bets on the big race (we drew horses at random) and my horse came in last place so I won my money back :) That was the only race we actually watched and, I must say, I can't imagine getting into it enough to spend the entire day watching all of the races.

Next Friday we leave for Sydney, but we're only there for a few hours before boarding a cruise ship and heading off to New Zealand! We spend 9 nights cruising from the south island to the north island. I think it's going to be similar to an Alaskan cruise, so we should have lots of beautiful pictures to post when we return.

Then on the Sunday that we get back from our cruise, I leave to help out with a bioethics workshop put on by Monash University. They asked me if I'd be interested in volunteering during the first part of the week, which I thought was an honor so of course I accepted. The workshop is about an hour and a half outside of the city and they'll provide my transport, accommodation, food, etc. After that, it's back to Melbourne for a week and then we leave for Christmas vacation. We fly out on the 4th of December, spend a week with family and friends in Los Angeles, and then get into Billings on the 11th. At this point, we aren't sure when we'll be in Seattle, but we're definitely coming and we'll let people know when we get it figured out.

Thank God for Halloween...

... 'cause October sucked! Sorry there really hasn't been a lot of posts this month but it seems we haven't had a lot of good things to say. Australia has been pretty good. I didn't have to teach at the Jewish school this month, and I've really found my groove as a substitute teacher. We also had a lovely weekend at the beach with some friends. A girl Nikki goes to school with and her partner (they say partner here for everything, whether it is girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/lesbian lover/etc.). And last night we went to Federation Square for a massive beer tasting. Like 20 microbreweries with all their different brews on tap. Good times! Nikki is now finished with her first semester of the master's program and has officially left me in the dust when it come to her philosophical papers. Reading her papers is like another language for this dude.

Now for the sucky stuff. I missed one of my best friends weddings. Jimison was in my wedding and he asked me to be in his but I couldn't because I was here. It kills me that I let him down like that.

Speaking of friends, Captain Zito and his lovely wife Amber had a beautiful baby girl named Heather Paige. My first God-daughter and I won't see her until Christmas. Judging by the pictures I'm gettting she is a cute little girl!


Nikki contracted "pink eye" recently. Probably from dealing with the public in her new job. Definitely not from the fecal route. Her's is the viral kind... and she washes her hands 80 times a day. Just wanted to make sure y'all know she is a hygienic person.

And finally, we just got word from my brother who was taking care of our cat that she has gone on to cat heaven. This was Nikki and I's first pet so that makes it real tough. Bailey was a great cat. Nikki and I both hated cats before her. Really the only reason we got her was we thought she might be a low maintenance pet. Turns out we got a cat that was more like a dog. First of all, she was certainly a cat with character. Most notably she loved water. Every morning when the shower turned on she would come running and immediately jump in and shower. Just turning on the kitchen sink would get her riled up and she'd have to come jump under the water. What's more, if you left a glass of water laying around... she would come knock it over. Even now here, we are careful of leaving water laying around, just out of habit. Another fun quirk she had was if she decided she wanted to be pet, she would be. Throw her off your lap 8 times and she'd just jump right back on. If you started petting her, and then stopped, she'd bite you just to let you know what she was sitting there for. She certainly was a character! Just knowing she isn't going to be there when we get back reminds us that you can never go home again. My mom did let me talk to my dog Isabelle on the phone tonight so that made me feel a bit better. We just would never have been able to take on this adventure without the help of family and friends.

I guess it isn't all wine and roses on this trip. Regret and second guessing is certainly tossed around in my mind, but at the end of the day,this is something that we both really wanted to do. And these thoughts never make it to a second thought. Sure it isn't easy and after a month like this, it almost doesn't seem worth it but then I remember that time passes and things change whether you like it or not. And at the end of this year, whatever we end up doing we will have these memories, and that will stay with us until we die.

Well, with that said I am really getting sick of these heart to heart blogs. Let's keep things in perspective here. It was Halloween here an they do know what it is but don't really celebrate it. I subbed at Fitzroy High and there was about 5-10 kids with the costumes and I ask them if they were going trick or treating. They said they have tried before but the people either give them old Meusli or 100 year old lollies (candy) or they tell them "We aren't bloody Americans!" and tell them to get lost.

And most importantly, the Bears are in first place in the North and playing Detroit this weekend. The Packers on the other hand are playing the Titans.. which means after this week they'll be all alone at the top! Super Bowl '09 Champs! (you heard it here first)

I'm halfway there...

I submitted my final essay today, so I'm officially halfway through my master's program! Now I need to start thinking of a topic for my master's thesis, so if anybody has any ideas or knows of any new research that might be morally problematic, please let me know!

G'Day Compagni

Holy smokes this work thing is kind of tough! The Jewish school was out for most of October because I just happened to hit the perfect storm of holidays coming together. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simhat Torah were all in October. So, I was able to sub all week long at other schools, this meant I wold have to work a 30 hour week! As soon as I told the agency I was off they locked me into the same place (Fitzroy High School) teaching Italiano. Serena Sue Bonasissa has to be proud!

Although it was tough working a full work week, it was nice to be a regular somewhere. I actually know over half the staff and, get this, they talk to me in the staff room. Not only that but when I walk in to their office they all say "G'day Mark". I also know the kids pretty well. Rather than waiting for them to screw up, I know the dickheads straightaway.

More importantly, I have been able to really teach them things. A little Italian yes... but mostly American culture. For example, most of these students know of the Chicago Bears and that they are the greatest football team to grace the gridron. I have also taught them how to properly say and spell words like mom (they spell mum), aluminum (they spell aluminium), color (they spell colour). On top of that I am teaching that it is the letter "atche" not "hatche" and the letter "zee" not "zed". Lastly, I teach that we agree that G.W. is a a horrible guy, not everyone in America has a gun, we don't all supersize at Mickey D's (I teach them that word too, they all call it Macker's.), and that celebrities are not on every street corner in the USA.

Good times!

The video with this post really has nothing to do with the content of the post but it was a cool vid that showcases Melbourne and could put some of the things we talk about in context.

Way better than the dog at my homework...

How's this for an excuse- sorry my exam is late because I spent the afternoon at the clinic and the ER. Talk about bad timing! When I woke up yesterday morning, I noticed my right eye was a little puffy and bloodshot. I put in some drops, put on my glasses, and went to work hoping it would get better. Well, it didn't. In fact, it got worse. I actually woke up in the middle of the night last night from all of the pressure in my head and this morning my eye was even more puffy and bloodshot. I knew I had to go work since we were already short one and then come home to finish and post my take home exam, which was due today, so I decided I'd wait and go to the doctor tomorrow. However, about halfway through my work shift, my head was filled with so much pressure I knew that I couldn't wait until tomorrow. So I made arrangements to leave work a little early in hopes of making it to the clinic and still getting home in time to finish and post my test. Boy was I wrong! I spent nearly an hour at the clinic just waiting to be seen and then about another half an hour or so with the doctor who decided that it was either a quick onset of glaucoma or an infection. Since he wasn't sure and wanted to play it safe, he wrote me a note to the Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Emergency Room. I spent another couple hours there before learning that it's probably viral conjuctivitis, which is better than glaucoma, but as it's a viral infection there's nothing they can do for it. It's also highly contagious so I got a note to excuse me from work for the rest of the week!

Living the dream...

I always said that it would be nice to quit teaching and work a coffee shop job as it would be so much more relaxing and less work. Well- let me tell you- I was right!

Here's how it all started. A couple days after we got back from our trip, I received a letter from the Victorian Institute of Teaching informing me that my request for teacher certification had been rejected on the grounds that I had not satisfied the supervised teaching requirements (my PLU transcript lists my student teaching as an internship). I can appeal the decision, but to do so I need to gather additional evidence to show that the internship was supervised teaching and then wait until the next committee meeting. Since I finish with school in a couple weeks, but the appeal might take a month and even then isn't guaranteed, I decided to start looking elsewhere. So last Friday I went to a cafe for a working interview, which means they put me to work to see how I do. Clearly I did alright because I worked the entire day!

Although it doesn't pay nearly as well as teaching, the perks are great. I work from 9-3 during the week, weekends off. I get a paid break, which is short, but includes free lunch. If there's extra food at the end of the day, I get to take it home for dinner (so far we've had dinner provided every night). The customers are great, very easy to please, and I enjoy my coworkers. Plus, the best part is when I go home at the end of the day, I don't bring work with me!

Ah... life is good!

Back to Work

Well, now that the holiday within a holiday is over, it is back to work. Being back in the classroom has brought some things into perspective for me.

First of all, not many Aussies have been to the places we've been. They all want to but never take the time or money to do it. We are often the same way. I grew up about 2 hours away from Yellowstone National Park and only went there once. I've seen most of Montana but only through a car window doing 85-90 mph. I never really stop in the towns and check them out. By the time I leave here I will have seen way more of Australia than I have of the U.S. So, Nikki and I have decided we will take a cross-country trip of the USA and really be tourists.

Another thing is to appreciate the kids I am babysitting... er... substitute teaching. Now that I have a better handle on how to manage these hellions, I spend a great deal of time talking to them, and learning about them as they learn about me. As a matter of fact, I was missing the Pledge of Allegiance on Mondays so the other day I taught a class the Pledge and they all stood up in and said it... classic! And I'm making it my personal duty to teach every kid here the beauty of American football and the glory of the Chicago Bears. And I'm learning from them.
Kids do a great job of saying exactly what is on their mind. I've learned so much Aussie slang I could write a book. On top of that, when I go to a "multi-cultural" school that isn't a politically correct way of saying there is a lot of minorities... it actually means multicultural. I have been in a classroom with a Macedonian, Serbian, South African, Nigerian, Vietnamese, Turks, Greeks, Italians, Phillippino, and countless others all in the same class. And these are kids that were born there. How many of you have met a Macedonian? How many know where Macedonia is? (I had to look it up). Talk about cool conversations. I now officially have 30 more countries I have to see before I die!

Most of all, I am learning career is not everything and that all those little details are less important than the experience. Things that really pissed me off, like Fife shutting my email off like I was dead to them, or getting bitched out because I thought 30 kids were too many for 20 computers in a CADD class, or cancelling one of my classes in a program that I worked so hard to build and giving me Low impact fitness are just details. I still don't agree with those things but it isn't the end of the world. At the end of the day, I enjoyed teaching Yoga, I got paid the same wage, and above all some of those things are the catalyst for this change of scenery.

Wow, I am really getting silly in this thing. I hope nobody is actually reading this, but if you are be sure some things never change. I paid $5 for 6 minutes of internet in the outback to check the Bears score, and I watch Sportscenter everyday, and I listen to Bears podcasts, and I still think my dad's filthy emails are funny, still talk to my mumm every week, and I still go down to the wood shop and build things when I can, and I'm probably better at keeping in touch with friends here than I was at home, now if I could just scare up enough dudes for a poker game...

By the way, if you are reading this, send me an email, give me a call (number is still the same), or leave a comment. It's fun to hear who is following it.

Another day in paradise.

Nikki put things pretty well on her description so I'll just add a few meandering thoughts. First of all, the canoe trip was very cool. We paddled down a river and saw crazy birds, a crocodile skeleton, huge fish swimming belowe us, and wallabies all along the way. One of those times when I really appreciate the grand adventure we are having.

The first morning in Darwin we went for a tour to Litchfield National Park. We generally don't like tours because it is way more fun to get lost, dodge Kangaroos in the outback, show up at the airport a day early, get trampled at the Eiffel tower or one of the other strange circumstances we have gotten ourselves into. But this turned out to be one of the coolest days I have ever had. In the morning we went to the jumping crocs cruise, where they actually jump out of the water. These things aren't just occasionally found like Bears in the forest... they infest the waters. A park ranger said your life span if you are to fall into the river with a life jacket is about 5 minutes. When he said that I didn't buy it... after 20 minutes on the cruise... believe me it is true!

After the croc cruise we went swimming, and it was the kind of thing you see in movies. Amazing waterfalls in a calm swimming hole. You could just swim right over to the waterfall and let it fall around you. I climbed the side of the cliff and dove into this crystal clear water. It was amazing!



The picture below was at another swimming hole. This is the one that had the natural hot tub. What is was, was you climb about half way up the falls on the left and there was a hole about 10 feet deep in the middle of the cliff that fit about 5-6 people. Another interesting nugget about these falls were that the Aborigines used to swim here and one side was female and one side was male. They determined this because the falls on the left have a cave that looks like a giant vagina (half way up just to the right of the falls), and the falls on the right had a giant penis. I'm not making this stuff up... click on the picture and you can blatantly see where they might get the idea. I don't get why Nikki failed to mention that interesting tidbit.


The picture below is me licking the ass of an ant. Our tour guide for Litchfield taught us the trick and these green ants were all over. This was a table at a bar in town and here Nikki and I licking ant butts. They really taste pretty good. It is like a shot of real sweet, citric acidy, tangerine. Very good stuff.



You know all the really cool shots on Crocodile Dundee... yeah that is where this picture is taken. It really is cool looking. Just behind the camera is the tour guide that is watching the water, and we couldn't get any closer because it is full of crocs. This was Kakadu national park. I've never seen a place with so much life. We saw, buffalo (like the one Croc Dundee hypnotized in the movie), brumbies (wild horses), tons of crocs, exotic trees and plants, and every strange type of bird you can imagine.




All in all, the trip was an amazing taste of Australia bottom to top. From our big city, multi-cultural city of Melbourne, to the green hills of the McLaren Vale vines, to the desolate outback, and through to a tropical paradise. Now it is back to work to pay off the credit card!

The last leg of our Australian adventure...

I just realized that neither of us have posted about Darwin, so here goes. When we left Alice Springs, we were on the Ghan another 24 hours until we reached Darwin. This time around, however, the seats in front of us were empty, so we turned them around to stretch out on; it was much more comfortable than our trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs. We also had a 4-5 hour layover in Katherine, so we decided to book one of the excursions. Being as cheap as we are, we booked one of the cheapest excursions, which was canoeing on the Katherine River. It ended up being a pretty cool experience; I actually kind of felt like I was canoeing down a small version of the Amazon (not that I know what that's like, but you get the idea).

Anyway, we got into Darwin in time to check into our hotel and grab a bite to eat. The next morning we were picked up bright and early for our day adventure to the Adelaide River for the jumping crocs cruise and then to Litchfield National Park. The jumping crocs cruise was pretty cool. When the guides spotted a croc, they attached a big piece of meat to a pole and used it to lure the croc to the surface. After getting the croc's interest, they would lift the meat and the croc would actually come out of the water to get the meat. It was pretty cool! We saw 3-4 crocs over the course of the hour cruise and then it was off to Litchfield. At Litchfield we saw huge termite mounds; they were pretty amazing. Then we went swimming in waterholes, which was a great relief from the blistering heat. We swam in three different waterholes, each with unique characteristics. The first had a couple of waterfalls and rocks to jump off of, the second was a series of waterholes, and the last had a natural hot tub. We finished off the wonderful day with an ice cold beer (they have a pretty good cider around here) and a platter of kangaroo, crocodile, and emu kebabs.

The next morning we were picked up bright and early once again, this time for Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is a pretty amazing place with a lot of Aboriginal history. The Aboriginees of Kakadu were different from those of Alice Springs, which was evident in the style of their cave paintings. After learning about the Aboriginal culture, we went on a hike to a great lookout, and then took a billabong cruise where we saw lots of birds and even more crocodiles. We got back to Darwin in time to spend about an hour at the Mindil Beach night market.

Monday was our final day in Darwin and we had nothing planned, so we just walked around the town to see what there was to see. Since it was hot and humid (Darwin is in the tropics), we decided to check out the beach, which unfortunately was closed for jellyfish season. Oh well, we found enough to keep us busy until it was time to go to the airport. We flew out on a red-eye flight and arrived in a cold, overcast Melbourne Tuesday morning- back to reality!

PS- To get a good idea of the things that we saw on this Australian adventure, just watch the first half of Crocodile Dundee!

Montana is Urban

Nikki explained the Ghan pretty well. It was a very cool experience. I didn’t have an idea how big of a country Australia is until we were moving here, and even then I didn’t quite grasp the concept of how desolate it is. Once you leave Adelaide, there is nothing. It looks an awful lot like Eastern Montana. Like driving from Baker to Broadus, only flatter.

Once we got into town we picked up our sweet ride… the Britz Camper van! In much like Nikki and Mark style we may have bit off a bit bigger chunk than expected. I had a few misconceptions. Misconception #1 driving in the outback is just fine this is 2008 and it is plenty developed. Misconception #2 Uluru is not that far from Alice Springs. Misconception #3 Uluru is a major worldwide tourist destination… lots of people will be cruising the same road as us at that time. Misconception #4 there really isn’t a lot of Roos out on the road… it’ll be like deer in Montana. Yeah so… we spent the first three months of living in Oz begging to see a Kangaroo and then those three hours begging not to see one. We did see a few, but with my ninja-like reaction time and the peak performance of the Campervan we were just fine.



As for Uluru it was almost spiritual. I can see how the Aborigines feel the way they do. Just coming up on this thing is like nothing you can imagine until you see it. I just can’t put it into words. Nikki and I sat and watched this thing for 3 hours at sunset. And, Kata Tjuta was every bit as cool. On the valley of the winds walk, we walked right into the middle of all these huge rocks. At one point you are completely surrounded by huge stone walls all around and you walk into this valley and everything is calm. You hear every little animal and really feel close to nature. Wow… do I feel like a hippie after writing that! If it helps to solidify my manliness I followed it up with a VB and a few meat pies if that helps. If you haven’t heard of Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) then Google it or find a Discovery show.

The last day in the red centre was going through some very cool gorges. The Resort (RV park) where we stayed sat right back against these big cliffs. They looked a bit like the rims in Billings but a lot closer. Imagine the steep parts without the hills under it. All told we put about 2000 Kilometers on the old Camper van.