So what did i learn in these 4 short weeks?

I learned that the Sydney Opera House organ has 10, 100 pipes.     I learned once again that traveling with someone else can be hard and it tests your patience.  Especially for me who is so used to doing things on me own and doing what I want.  Maybe it’s my job or just how i travel.  Agnieszka is a lot like me in that we’re both very independent and so have very strong views on subjects and desires to do certain things; things the other person might not be so into.  Giving into the other persons wants over your own is necessary in a travel buddy as it is in any relationship.  Or better yet, try to find something in their activities that you could find fun so that you can do something together.  But sometimes, you also need to be assertive about what you want and get the other person to try it, they might like it (ahem, tubing 

That being said, sometimes, you need to get away from each other and do your own things.  For instance, one night, Ani went to a party and I went roaming about Melbourne to see the sites and read about the history.  She’s not so into history, and I’m not as into partying as she is.  As long as you are both cool with it, traveling will be much nicer.  And that’s what a vacation should be: fun.  I feel like Dr. Phil.

I also learned how to play the drums, or rather how to copy what Phil did on the drums, god help me if i could remember any of the riffs we played, but it was really cool.  Wish i could go there and take his classes.  I saw the smallest penguin species in the world without paying $20 admission and found out that kangaroos don’t like rain.  I was given further evidence that Captain Cook, although his legend presides from New Zealand to Alaska, mostly fumbled through his career with almost nothing but will and gusto; naming an island based on your equipment malfunction does not a good captain make.  I learned that Moke’s are like a rollercoaster for the road and hella fun to ride in and 6k up a hill on a bike is really hard.

Oh, and I learned how to paint properly and now need to do a lot more of it.  All about primary colors: red, yellow, blue and a base of purple.  Block out your object first in purple, then do the background, then put in the color.  Only use white as a shade, never use black.    Fresh pineapple is good.  Planning is a good thing, do it whenever you have the chance, but leave yourself open for randomness.

I learned i can be kind of sulky when i don’t get my way.  Is that lame or am I as a human being allowed to do that?  Oh wait, that may be too gay.  Please tell me oh internet. I learned that Australia is much more expensive then the States right now, but it’s worth it not to have to tip or calculate tax.

I learned crocodiles can jump up to 10 ft into the air to get food.  They can grow over 18ft long and can snap bone with a blood curdling crack.  And when they get injured or scarred, their skin turns into this beige mooshy looking surface.  I was given further information on how dumb American tourists can be.  Exhibit A: “Where are you from?”  “Australia.”  “You speak very good english for being Australian.”  (yeah I know, wow.)  Exhibit B: Headline- “American Tourist drives car into croc infested river.”  She thought the boat ramp was a cross road even though there was no road or ramp on the other side.  She swam out of the river just before crocs started showing up to see wht happened.  idiot.

Darwin has only two seasons: wet and dry, the temperature not changing much between them.  In the dry season you can swim in some springs and rivers as we did, in the wet season, they are croc infested.  Bogans are hic australians which you can find at pubs in towns like Noonamah and Humpty Doo.  I also learned that kangaroos growl.  Katy taught me a lot about Auzzie rules football and she and Gregor cleared up some Tour de France issues I had.  I learned how to drive stick with my left hand.

But most of all, I learned that I must go back to Australia.  There is still so much left there to see and do.

With one day left in Melbourne and Australia, we rented a car to drive three hours to the Grampians National Park in hopes to see kangaroos.  We got a late start, but it was no worries cause there were loads of kangaroos!!  We saw hundreds!  We accidentally drove by Ani’s friend Matt’s place of work which turned out great, cause we stopped in to say hi and they gave us a totally needed map and everything.  We drove into the park and i could see them down in the valley and then we stopped and walked amongst them, even saw an emu.  These kangaroos were on the smaller side, but they’re claws on their feet were a good 3 or 4 inches long, and they can growl if you get to close.  Even saw a baby roo eating grass while sitting in his mama’s pouch!

After the park, we stopped by Matt’s to meet his Peruvian wife, Giovanna, and their two kids.  We had pizza and beers and talked and had a good time.  They were really nice.  Oh and some strange drunk guy who we think is his friend Leon called a few times and we all messed with him on the phone.  After that, we drove home.  I’ve driven on the left side before, but this was my first stick shift with my left hand.  I think i only stalled it once.  Ani did a great job driving.  I did almost kill us once, but we won’t talk about that. 

We got back home, i packed while she slept and then.  We traded pics and got ready for my departure, a sad one it was.  I had a lot of fun in Australia and did a lot of learning…

Our last night in Darwin and we did it up right.  Ani wanted to go home and sleep but we put a red bull and vodka in her and she was good to go.  We went to this bar… i don’t even remember the name of it, but they had all sorts of bar contests which our group: me, Ani, and the irish guys we met on the tour that day; continued to win.  One was you have this fabric tunnel on either side of which there are 4 guys and on the other four girls.  You have to hold open the tunnel and your team has to crawl through, one guy from one end and the girl from the other end and in between, they switch tops and then continue through at which time, the next couple goes through.  It was loads fun and we beat the other time by minutes!  I had a lovely top on which turned into a tube top on me by the end. 

We also had to pass a spoon attached to a string through all of our pants and shirts and back through to the front.  And then there was the dance off/sexual position freeze contest.  If you haven’t seen this, it’s hilaruious.  A great night with the irish folk.

Back on a plane to Melbourne tonight then off to LA on Friday.  Just one more day to see kangaroos!

Another quick post:

Sunday:  Katy drove us to Fogg Dam wetlands where we hoped to see some crocs but didn’t.. Saw a lot of birds though, it looked like some scene from Discovery Channel.  Stopped off in Humtpy Doo, another Bogin town which are actually fun to go to.  That night, went to the night Markets in Mindil Beach which are huge and packed with people.  Everyone sits on the sand and watches the sunset and people started clapping when it went all the way down, which we thought was kind of funny.

Monday: Hung out at the beach, then snuck into the theater again to see Ice Age 3.

Tuesday, the big tour day:  Got up early and got on the tour bus to see jumping crocodiles.  These things are massive, upwards to 16ft long and they launch themselves out of the water to catch the bait the guys are dangling out for them.  There was one that had all these scars on him, cause he got in a fight with another croc.  They’re cannibals and will actually eat each other if need be to protect their territory. 

We went from there to a beautiful swimming hole with a waterfall called Florence Falls.  We jumped off some rocks and climbed the side of the cliff to find a plunge pool which acted as sort of a spa in the side of the cliff.  Met these irish blokes who were loads of fun to hang out with.

Next, went to Rock Springs where we did more swimming and jumping off rocks.  Then on to see the giant termite mounds.  There arte two types: cathedral and magnetic.  Cathedral termites make large mounds with pipes going through them and whenever it gets too hot, they’ll open the tops of the pipes to let the hoit air out and keep the nest cool.  The magnetic termites have built their mounds like tombstones, the broadsides facing the rise and set of the sun.  They’re called magnetic cause the mounds always point north.  This is so the heat from the sun is spread over the broad sides of the mound and the next doesn’t heat up too much.

Okay, going out now, see yall soon.

After flying through Cairns, where we hung out at the Lagoon (e trendy pool area near downtown) and walked around a bit, we landed in Darwin the other day.  Ani’s friend Katy picked us up from the airport and is letting us stay with her and her bf Gregor.  They’re really cool folks.  The first day, Katy had off work, so she met up with Ani and I after we’d been walking around downtown.  Darwin is very small so it didn’t take long.  We did see the wave pool and Tree of Knowledge near the university and then went to some Aboriginal Art Galleries. 

Katy has a car, so we three drove out about an hour to Berry Springs which was really cool.  It’s a beautiful natural spring where the water was nice and warm.  It’s a cloudy clear water where Crocodiles roam during the wet season.  I’ve been assured that they’ve all been flushed out for now.  Finges Crossed. 

Darwin is known for its salt water crocs that get upwards to 15ft long!  The spring has three sections in between which are tiny plant covered streams which you swim through.  After swimming up to the waterfall and back for a couple hours, we headed out to Nunumah, where there is one pub and that’s it.  It’s the true outback experience, where you get real bogins (outback types, like Australian hics).  On the way, Katy saw a Northern Territory News van (she’s a reporter for NT News) and so we stopped and one of her coworkers had a blow out but were just finishing fixiing the tire, so we could do nothing but supply a friendly gesture. 

That night, we went out to a bar/club/restaurant called Wisdom for food and drinks.  This guy, Tom, came and sat next to us and just started talking.  He was already pretty drunk, but he kept buying us all shots of tequila once he was sure that we were cool.  It was pretty hilarious.  he was so excited about meeting his freind at the bar that he hadn’t seen in forever, but his friend Nick was only there for like an hour before Tom got kicked out of the bar for being too drunk!

Katy knew the guitar player at the club named Max and he was really good, so when his set ended and he went over to Kitty OShea’s to play with his band, we sort of followed him over there and had more drinks and danced the night away.  it was loads of fun, but we were all pretty hung over this morning.

The next day, we went to the local beach, Mindil, and then on to the Museum to see Sweetheart, a stuffed 12 foot croc which terrorized much of the NT one year until they caught it.  There was also a cool exhibit on Cyclone Tracy which flattened Darwin in 1974.  Darwin has actually been rebuilt twice, once after WWII and the second after Tracy.  It’s pretty hot here right now, I can only imagine what it’s like in the ’summer’.  Apparently, they just have a wet season and dry season, now it’s the dry season.  We got kind of lost in the museum, but found each other later.  We took the bus back to town, went to see the movie Bruno and then headed home.

Oh, on the way home, we stopped by the night market and there was a guy doing magic there so I bought some tricks and we came home and Ani crashed out while I shilled until Katy and Gregor got home from work (they work together).

Not sure what we’re doing today, but we’ll find out soon enough.

For future reference, if you’re coming to Magnetic Island, 4 days is more then enough time here and we’ve been here for about a week.  I’m trying to remember what I’ve done the last few days, but that’s why I keep a blog, so quickly do I forget.

The moke was awesome.  We drove all over the island.  I had to let Ani drive cause it was too small for me to shift in.  I was more then happy to be a passenger, we got the little thing up to 100 km/hr!  We went tubing in Horseshoe Bay.  It’s where they tie two tubes on the back of the boat and then drag you behind and do all sorts of turns, causing you to fly back and forth behind and along side the boat.  I know can do this in Austin, but there’s so much more room here and it was cheap.  Ani didn’t want to do it, but I convicned her and she loved it.  See, I’m always right.    It was quite possibly, the funnest thing I’ve done here.

On Tuesday morning, we rented a kayak and kayaked out of the bay for 3 hours, going as far as Maude bay and stopping at Lovers bay to chill for a bit before beginning the long paddle back.  It was a hell of a work out. 

In the afternoon, we took a painting class which was actually a lot of fun.  We’ve both painted before but never took a painting class.  Our teacher was really good and taught us the basics about primary colors and using a base color, in this case purple, to block out your subject first.  We both did different dolphin paintings and they turned out great.

Today, we just laid out on the beach and read our books, leaving tomorrow for Darwin!

Still here on Magnetic Island.  Yesterday, we rode bikes from Arcadia to Horseshoe which is about 6k over a really tall hill.  In fact, I had to walk my bike all the way up the hill, but then the way down was awesome!  We did a walk to the old fort grounds which defended the bay in which this island resides during World War II.  It made for some beautiful views of various bays. 

We continued on to Horseshoe Bay and got a late lunch at Noodies again, that place is sooo good.  We walked around for a bit and then rode all the way back to Arcadia to return the bikes before night fall.  We suddenly remembered there were dancing lessons at Noodies that night, so we hopped the bus again and rode back over there.  It was worth it, the lessons were a lot of fun, not my back and legs hurt from the biking, my arm hurts from throwing the ball and now my hips and thighs hurt from dancing so I’m feeling great! 

This morning, I got up early to go diving  just off the shore at a wreck called the Moltke which is over 100 years old.  It was pretty cool, but the visibility wasn’t that great, only about 3-4m.  And even though, my goggles kept filling it up, it was still fun.  Then, after we’d put all our gear back in the truck, my guide couldn’t get the truck started, so we had to walk back to the dive shop, it wasn’t far, like 500m, but I didn’t have any shoes on, so we climbed down the rocks to the water, and walked through it to the beach and up to the shop.  That was Pleasure Divers on Magnetic Island; nice people, but I wouldn’t say I’d recommend them.  Now we’re off to rent a Moke and perhaps go kayaking.

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve posted, but just haven’t had time.  In Melbourne, we rented a car to drive around south.  On the first day, we went southeast to Phillip Island to see the penguins.  We stopped off at a Koala reserve too and saw the cute little marsupials.  There was even one with a baby in her pouch.  They had these Koala walls which they couldn’t get over so you could walk around the boardwalk and see them in the trees.  We snuck into the Penguin thing just cause no one asked us to buy a ticket when we entered.  there’s loads of stuff to in the museum/gift shop but the real attraction is the penguins.  Every night they come in from the ocean onto the beach and back to their roosts.  They’re called Little Penguins cause they’re actually the smallest penguin on earth.  They’re quite cute.  They come onto the beach in groups and waddle across the sand into the bushes.  It was funny to watch them but it started raining on us so we were really wet and cold which didn’t help Ani, who’s been sick, basically since I got here.  We were glad we got in free cause I wouldn’t pay 20 bucks (price of admission) to see this, but it was cool to see for free.  When most of them have come in, you can go back up the boardwalk and walk beside them as they return to their roosts. 

The next day, we drove down to the Great Ocean Road which is south west of Melbourne.  We stopped at Bells Beach and watched the surfers then went on to Lorne where they have a famous golf course.  I was hoping to see some kangaroos on the golf course cause that’s where they hang out, but it was raining again and we didn’t see any.  I’ve seen some wallabees at the Koala place but so far this whole time no kangaroos!  The weather had turned bad and Ani was feeling sick, so we returned home.

The next morning, we hopped a flight to Townsville, just barely making the ferry over to Magnetic Island, erroneously named by the great Captain Cook who thought the island in the distance was messing up his compass.  We hadn’t booked accomodations, but had been told of Bungalow Bay hostel near Horseshoe Bay, but once we got there, it was completely booked exept for one room that night.  So we stayed there the one night and the next night moved over to Arcadia Budget Hostel, which we actually ended up liking better anyway.  Bungalow Bay was nice, but the bathrooms were outside and not very clean.  I know, I’m getting less rugged the older I get.  I did take a walk down to the beach that night and I’ve never seen so many nocturnal creatures, especially the birds.  In the States, typically birds go to sleep at night, but here, that’s when they’re most active.  There are the long legged ficknies that come out and make all sorts of noise.  The road was dark and all i could hear was their screeching and wings swooping over my head.  The bushes were constantly russling with possums and other nocturnals. 

The next day, we moved to our new hostel, and went for a bike ride on the bikes the hostel provided for free.  We rode down to Alma Bay which wasn’t far and was supposed to be the best swimming spot on the island.  It was quite nice and we laid out in the sun.  I’m trying to get tan before I go to LA for the BBQ.  I bought this water ball, which looks like a hackie sack but bounces on top of the water.  I met some guys and we were throwing it around.  The thing could hit a ripple and launch into the air over your head or hit you in the face, either way a good time.  We went to an art studio and actually scheduled some painting classes for Tuesday.  I also scheduled a wreck dive for monday morning which i’m pretty excited about. 

After that, we went to the Friday night market, got some fresh fruit, and really good/cheap food.  I wish that market was on every night.  Since it’s “winter” here the days are very short, so it gets dark around 5 or 6.  we came back here to the hostel and watched Babel on DVD.  It was good, but I thought it dragged on a bit. 

This morning, we woke up and got more accomodations settled deciding to stay in Arcadia instead of return to Horseshoe Bay (it’s a long story).  We woke up late, so it was time for lunch by the time the day started.  We took the bus to Horshoe Bay and at at Noodie’s, a latin place with some very good food.  We ate there for dinner too.  From there, we embarked on a walk to Radical Bay which was a more secluded beach, swam and layed out, then walked to Balding Bay and did basically the same thing. 

We returned for dinner to Noodies and didn’t want to wait for the bus so ended up walking half the way back before the bus finally came by us to take us back to Arcadia.  And now we’re gonna watch a movie and hit the sack.

—

And Happy 4th of July America!!

We took a wine tour today to four wineries and I was amazed at how much wine they give you.  In the States, you get a predetermined amount of wine, but at these places, we could take as many tastings as we wanted of all different kinds of wine.  It was fantastic.  Ani and I both probably drank two bottles full each today.  They served us lunch as well, I got the lamb shank which was delicious.  At the second winery, they also had fudge tastings which were waaay too good.  Ani bought some of those, and I bought a few bottles of wine.  The fourth winery also had sparkling red wine which is unique to Australia, along with some excellent relishes, cheeses and bread.   It was a great day of views and drinking.

When we came back, we dropped our stuff off and went out to one of Ani’s favorite spots, a Polish place (she is polish) called Vodka, Borsch, and Tears; a sort of lamented description of Poland but none the less expressive.  They had more types of vodka then i have ever seen.  I’d love to have that place in Austin!  I had a vodka cocktail and we ate perogis, lamb stew, and an array of polish tapas.  So good.  I’m going to now retire and allow my stomach to digest. 

Went down to the beach today.  St. Kilda is a southern part of Melbourne and a very trendy place to live.  There’s all sorts of shops, bars, and cafes.  We went to a place called Vineyard which had a really good feel.  This is me playing around with the panoramic mode on my camera.

Here’s some other examples of it.  It actually does it IN the camera, it’s sooo cool.