Letter #3

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Hi everyone!!!
I am assuming that my second letter senta few days ago did go thru - it was Uluru and the site was pitiful to say the least - so I am starting my story again from after the penquins - if that didn't send, then I will have to backtrack thru my mind again- I know... I know - not a good thing - that is why I hope you got the note!!
When I got home from the penquins It was 1230 at nite so I saw Melbourne from a different perspective- and i think much prettier at night.
then next day we are off on the Great Ocean Rd - and I am excited to see the 12 apostoles - one of my must see sights in Aussie! well, first of all the van didn't get fixed until 1 pm so we were off to a slow start so I decided to post some stuff home and go to the local market called Victoria Market - Mom would have loved it - Deb, you and I- not so much - there was kangeroo, crocodile and rabbits hanging all over - the traders were all trying to get you to buy something and the prices were not bad..........but the smell of all that meat - ug - I bought a lovely apple to eat on the way but ate it there- it was so good - I lost Jane at the Market and so had to go back by myself on the TRam - didn't talk to anyone so I could remember my stop but forgot to pull the cord so still had to walk a ways!!
finally off on the tour and the scenery is terrific - not as wonderful as Cape Breton but very nice and the sea is warm- most of the time we were only able to go 40 km per hr. On the way , we stopped at a place that Adam the driver knew there were Kaolas in the wild and were they ever cute - they looked like teddy bears in the trees - there were also parrots everywhere and one landed on CHRIS'S HEAD and did it's number, cute!!
it started to rain there and we had several more hrs to go so it was quiet in the bus as everyone snored on route as we left the Ocean Rd and travelled inland across a peninsula for several miles
When we reached the hostel - I wish you could have seen the faces - all the boys in one room and all the gals in another and jane and I snore when we are tired - it was funny to see how rude some people can be - after a nite of trying to cook lasagna in the microwave as there was no oven at the hostel, we settled off to bed - i got locked out on one of my trips to the bathroom and had to sit in a chair until someone else had to go - almost 2 hrs - by now 2 of the girls are not speaking to each other- it should get better as the trip goes on!! it is like having your own soap opera on the bus!!!
I have threatened the frenchman that if he doesn't start helping out - he will be dead and I can make it look like a dingo did it - while I was threatening him, I had two knives in my hands - however, it doesn't appear to have upset him much - the next morning he handed me a plastic knife and told me that was all I was allowed to use now - there are 4 people who are done in Darwin and he is one - not a bad idea i think - also poor Jane has been doing dishes ever since we started and no one seems to want to help her - I usually do the cleaning up of the area and an american called Scott is helping her - everyone else appears to be very allergic to work of any kind and Adam the leader - stlll says nothing!! my tongue is getting blistered by biting it - so look out!!

Mar 23 - up at 0630 to watch the sunrise over the Apostles- what an awesome sight - I took lots of pictures - will dlelete later as didn't want to lose the light effect!! some of the crew went up in a helicopter tour but I declined- too windy and cold- not sure about how safe it was!!

now off on 512 km ride today - I pray that everyone will sleep or take their happy pill as it is supposed to rain to day and we are tenting tonite!! Happily when it rains at 3 pm Adam calls ahead and we can upgrade for $7.50 - needless to say as it is pouring, this is a done deal!! the ride is long and Jane and I have to cook tonite - sausages and hamburgers and miss Frenchie - says what else is there she is on a diet and that is too fat. - I sweetly suggested she try the salad and there was not drsg to mar the effect of the low fat!!! we used lemon juice instead - can we see where this is going????We bought 3 boxes of white wine today and may have to drink it all tonite if the group gets any cosier!!
After supper, we learn to play an english card game called cheat and Jane is good at it as she hides her expressions well - I did not win but we had fun in the rain. some swam at the pool and others slept - I think the snorers club is official as once again - it is Scott, Dan, Jane and I in a room with ear plugs but you know we have a great time and the guys are great gentlemen!! they carry out bags, pour the wine and clean up the room after - unfortunately, they do not make house calls!!!
Mar 24 - off to Adelaide today but have 2 different wine tastings to attend today on the way - have juist blew my top for the first time and made Jane go pack while I made 2 young people do the dishes for once - this caused a huge fight in the kitchen so I told them they were adults - yeh and they could fight it out - they were fighting over who was going to wash and dry - I kid you not!!! again quiet in the bus for a little time while Mama mia pouted but by the first wine tasting she was fine!!

Now you would think that wine tasting would be fool proof and Adam is not allowed to come in with us as he is a driver on duty so once he brings us to the door, he must leave!! well he and some of the non wine drinkers were playing rugby on the lawn and I had Francis with me - he is a young fellow of 22 who is about 13 really as he has no social skills and doesn't want any - he actually asked out wine hostess how drunk she got every day and asked her for a box of their cheapest wine to take home - she thought he meant a decorated box not the cheap ones we get at the grocery store and got one for him -not what he wanted!!! Mama mia went to another group who were tasting wine and who were awaiting dinner at the winery so were enjoyng bread and cheese with their wine and asked them if she could share with them as we had no bread!!! I kid you not!!! After the second tasting, Adam just said to the hostess what did they do now " and heard how Francis was so bad they had to change hostesses while he was there!!
Well, Jane got so embaressed she decided to go play rugby with the others and bent her big toe back so far it may be sprained - anyway too painful to walk on today and we are supposed to walk up a mt tomorrow.!!

When we arrrive in Adelaide it is dark and the Frenchie Carol throws a fit in the middle of the hostel because she wants a room with her boyfriend by herself and that is all there is to it - Jane and I escape once again to the snorer's room and tell the guys how much we appreciate them - we then pick up nice young english kids, Coral, Carla and Chirs and we sneak off to a pub for supper without anyone else - doesn' that sound childish...but it felt so good!!!any way as we are walking home about 11:30 pm we meet mama mia all dressed up and going out by herself on the town - and she didn't come back until 6:30 am but she needs Adam to go with her to make a phone call outside the hostel as she is afraid!!??!! I was sorry that we didn't have more time to spend in Adelaide as It looked very british and much more homey than Melbourne - actually, I would have loved to spent some time on the more than 15 beaches but pehaps another time.

Mar 25 - we find out that 4 people are no longer in the kitty - think $50 is too expensive for b'fasts and lunches and the few dinners we have had - Adam says this always happens on the trips..... We are off to the Remarkables and I hope to climb to the peak but as we get later and later as each pee stop is 1/2 hr- I know this will not happen. after we put up our tents, it is 3 pm so we do a 12 km hike instead along the base and I climb one of the cliffs over the campground to get some great pics - When i was going up the hill I almost peed myself as some of the rocks started to move - in my defense, it was dusk but they were kangaroos feeding on the hillside and were not very afraid of me at all. I also saw 2 emus, a kookabura and 9 wallabies on my walk, yup got pictures for eveyrone - it was amazing to see them so close in the wild!! It is Chris and Carlas turn to cook tonite and Chris used to be a chief so we had a lovery carbonara sauce on spaghetti with hot french bread!!!!
Jane and I had a great time trying to stay on the airmattresses and it was so hot there also - we didn't sleep in the sleeping bags - just laid on them until almost morning!! I got some great photos of sunset and the farms today for dad to see.

March 26 - off to Coober Pedy today to sleep in an underground hostel!!!! I am running out of clothes and so is Jane - hopefully tonite- also it has been ages since I have emailed anyone or been able to phone - they probably think I am dead or kidnapped on a camel or something!!
TOday got groceries for next 2 days and then off for 588 km - arrive at 4:30 pm and the sight is nothing I have ever seen before!! First we see an opal mine and then an underground home tour- amazing what can be done and it looks like a giant ant hill everywhere as the gound is dug up for a hundred miles in every direction looking for opals.Oh yeah!! we are to start looking for spiders now in the toilets etc.... Carla saw a large one yesterday at the campsite!!
oh and we have now met the famous flies that Pam talks about - when you get out of the van from sun up till sundown- you are covered with houseflies( only smaller and they will not leave) - try eating anything at a picnic site or going for a pee in the bushes!!! we have not used the hats Pam gave us yet but Scott has used his- I am not kdding - we are told the aboriginoles let them walk on their eye balls and I believe it....uggggggggggggggg we are now in the land of no bathrooms so I am trying not to drink too much during the day which means nights are great !!!
oh yeah, Adam filled up a gas can incase we ran out in the desert and we had to use it about 20 miles from Coober Pedy - this is the capital of redneck as far as I can see -the hostel looks like a long prision cell with 48 beds in it - we 12 are alone thank god - but again the frenchies want the one single room and mama mia is mad because she wants us snorers to have it as all sound echoes underground!! are we going to have fun tonite!!!I bought myself an opal tonight as that was going to be my Aussie keepsake and it just seemed right to buy it here in the Opal capital of
Aussie!! we had pizza tonite - very good and then ear plugs and off to sleep!! I did very well and gave Jane another ativan- by the way I am quickly running out of them as she can't sleep here very well and so I have been medicating her - as any good nurse would do!!! I feel in order to put up with me for 42 days, she needs her sleep more than I do!! the guys are off to the pub when Jane and I go to bed....can't wash as no washers - costs 8 cents to flush a flush here!!!!

March 26 - everyone is ready 15 min early and I hear the saga of Francis with the boys at the bar-
apparently, he almost got them killed last night when he took some money off the bar that some big guy had left there to go to the loo - they do this all the time I guess in Australia - welll, Francis says - whose is this? and put it in his pocket - Scott and Dan backed off quickly but the bartender hollared at Francis to put it back and all was well when the big guy came back from the
loo!!! aren't I having an exciting time bonding with this group!!!
Today is 730 km on the bus as we are off to Uluru to day - apparently it can get up to 50* in the desert around Coober and I am glad it is a little cool today as we start off - no flies but you know as the day wears on I am actually getting used to flies in my face, food and crotch as I traverse the desert of Australia - now is that poetic and a pretty picture!!!
It started to rain at 4:30 pm and we put up tents in this rain - everyone decides to go out to eat but I decline as I need to use the internet and try to phone home again - to see if I am still married!! and I have heard that Erin has hurt her back but no updates - so picture me - wet in shorts and a top, wet hair, with a bright green umbrella and my backpack on my front so it won't get wet trapsing in the campgound after dark!! One internet kiosk didn't work and after 40 min on the other one - I am shut off as they want to close the shop for the night - I spent the next 30 min walking in the pouring rain lost in the campground looking for my tentsite walking in large puddles across the road that are over my ankles and I am in flip flops - are you getting the picture....- I start to cry after about 15 min- I feel so alone, wet and tired, I have a bag of chips and a bottle of wine in my back pack and not a friend in the world!!!
A chinese guy helped find my site and I sit under the rain cover on a picnic table and gaze at the 1 ft deep puddle between me and the tent- after 1/2 bottle of wine I have a nap and the group shows up - and I feel better - at least the rain is warm - Jane and I settle into bed and then start tormenting Christopher until others start to yell at us - we then go to sleep with the sound of rain on our tent!!

Wed - cloudy and cool but no rain - off to walk aroiund Ayers Rock - cloud on top of mt when we start so not allowed to climb the rock - whicH I wanted to do - it is 9.4 km around the base of the rock and lovely - except for the many many large puddles that covered the paths - one girl waded over her knees in places - I kid you not - the rain we got last nite so was much that apparently Coober Pedy is flooded and the Canyon that we are going to tomorrow is as well so that people are stranded there and can't get in or out- the rock is looking better all the time!!
by the time we are finished the rain is gone, the clouds are high and we can do the helicopter tours we had booked! it was nice but now I have seen the rock from every angle and am ready to move along - where to...... we are not sure as King Canyon news is still not good.
this nite we go to a Australian barbeque!! where you cook your own meat and have a salad bar with it - I chose kangaroo which tastes a little like moose and jane ate crocodile which was something like chicken -( i know i know) but it is the truth!!Jane and I finally got to wash today - we were down to no underwear - it took all day and much money but worth it !! some washers didn't work and some dryers weren't all that great - thank goodness there are only 2 of us - oh yeah, Francis had a towel to wash and he was too late for us but we caught him going from tent to tent to see if anyone else was washing!!! it just doesn't get any better, does it!!!!
jane and I go home to bed early after the barbeque and we even catch a bus so we don't get lost on the way - good thing too as we thought the campground was the opposite way!!
Well, I am being kicked off this internet kiosk also but you are up to date almost with the saga of
Aussie Anne
Love to everyone - I am having a great time - the sun is out again and we are off to Alice Springs for 3 days now
aussie anne

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