Blogs from South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 275

After Coober Pedy it was a lot more of nothing to see until the Flinders Ranges. We drove a couple hundred km into the Ranges and spent 45 minutes hiking to a great lookout point only for it to start raining buckets just as we got up there... so in the end we didn't see much unfortunately. It was a nice drive at any rate. To redeem the day we drove to Alligator Gorge in Mount Remarkable National Park (I love that name) and did a really cool hike there. We spent the night in Port Germein which is a tiny little town who's claim to fame is that is has the longest wooden jetty in Australia. (Then I found out later that there's actually a longer one in Western Australia, so Port Germeinians are living ... read more

Bill Bryson says in Down Under that "the great virtue about driving through emptiness is that when you come to anything - anything at all - that might be called a diversion you get disproportionately excited." In my opinion, truer words have never been written. Jesse and I and our new English friend Paul (our third English friend named Paul actually) embarked on a four day drive through the Outback from Alice Springs to Adelaide today. Anytime we saw ANYTHING, including a passing car, a bird, a tree, and especially any and all roadsigns, we almost crapped ourselves with excitement. Some highlights include a cow crossing the road, a pile of tires and a series of roadsigns stating "Caution Cattle" to which someone had helpfully added creative verbs. The first was "Caution Cattle Jumping" then "Caution ... read more

Five days to go! I am beginning to panic, 24 hours is just not enough to a day! So much to do and so little time, and when I get home, I find that all I do is tuck myself into bed and tune out to Law and Order (currently on at 4 nights a week in its different incarnations). The cold is not helping me very much! Well, I am still doing this academic report, a detailed paper about nothing. I suppose I am looking to be distracted, in the current case, listening to a CD via the university computer. Listening to the Lightning Seeds at the moment (it’s the only CD I took to uni with me due to the rush this morning...) very cheery and happy, exactly what is needed. “Pure” is the ... read more

What is it about the ageing process? I really felt old today, looking at myself and noticing the lines on my face, my lazy eyes and my cheeks are starting to droop. Most of all I felt really weary. A blue Friday. I am not about to consider “manscaping” but the ad people are doing their job very well as I am constantly bombarded on how much I fall short of the ideal man. I often feel very insecure, a feeling that I had not felt at this magnitude since my early teens. I should get some pointers from Paco, a miniature fox terrier, with his chest all puffed out, strutting his stuff around the yard and barking at dogs 10 times his size. In fact, I read somewhere that the highest cause of death for ... read more

Another 18 days to go before my travels and am already feeling homesick! It’s always an anxious time to be out of the comfort zone and Adelaide is all that to me and more. Today is a bit of a shocker as I had just been told by my program co-ordinator that I cannot leave for Europe until I had submitted my report on his desk by close of business tomorrow, (a paper on South East Asian Labour Relations) which I have kept on putting off. No more. After my ultimatum, I am now in front of my computer screen wondering where to begin. It is not a hard task but I already caught the travel itch and my mind is already elsewhere... Meanwhile, while twiddling my thumbs, I am going to do my very first ... read more