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| Saturday, 21-May-2005 00:00 |
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Random Assortment: Gerad's Ankle, Oz Tag, & Our Feral Kitchen
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Gerad's swollen ankle on Wednesday (5/18/05)
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Gerad looking sad because he can't go play with the boys again
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The swollen ankle's bruises on Saturday (5/20)
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Okay, this group of photos is pretty random. First, I'll post the ones of Gerad's swollen ankle, just because I find gross & swollen ankles to be quite interesting. Ha! He rolled it playing sport, and although large & in charge the first day, it started looking really gruesome once it bruised! 
Next, there are photos from the game of Oz Tag that I watched with Kate. It's pretty much "flag-rugby", as compared to our "flag-football" at home... at least from what I could gather with my extremely limited rugby knowledge. 
Last, I decided to take a few pictures of our feral kitchen. Unfortunately, these photos don't do the grossness justice. It's actually looking fairly decent in these photos, compared to how it usually looks! We have cleaning inspection every Monday, yet somehow our kitchen is feral (and I mean truly filthy & unsanitary) by midweek. But like I said, these photos don't even show how bad it gets. Maybe I'll sneak some more photos later, when it's back to the height of its filth.  
Update: I've added a few more pictures of the kitchen because on Sunday, Erin discovered an army of ANTS crawling all over our kitchen sink & counters! GROSS!! That was just totally feral, so Erin, Sheany, and I washed everyone's dishes, scrubbed the sink & counters, and swept the floor. Totally disgusting! 
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| Saturday, 14-May-2005 00:00 |
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"Relax-&-Goof-off-With-Some-Unit-Mates" Night :-)
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Shana posing on the couch
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Erin, Me, & Shana on the way to Jezzo
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Justyne, Sheany, & Shana at Jezzo
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This night only a fraction of our unit could be found. Leah is currently doing her prac in Tamworth, Kay & Gerad were gone for the weekend, Stevo was at work, and Kate went to her boyfriend's house. That left Erin, Shana, Justyne, Sheany, & myself to entertain ourselves for the night. So, we hung around our unit, convinced Sheany to drive us to Jezzo for a junk food run, and watched a movie from Sheany's laptop on Shana's computer monitor. Isn't it amazing what you can do with technology these days? Haha 
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| Sunday, 8-May-2005 00:00 |
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THE LION KING at Sydney's Capitol Theater!!!
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Justyne & Caryn on the train to Sydney
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Caryn outside Capitol Theater
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Me outside Capitol Theater
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Today Justyne, Caryn, and I hopped on the 7:37am train from Broadmeadow to Central Station in Sydney. We got to Sydney around 10:10am, and walked about 5 minutes to Paddy's Markets for some souvenir shopping. Then around 12:30 we walked the 5 minutes to Capitol Theater to get our FRONT ROW seats for the 1:00 LION KING show!!! I can't explain how amazing the show was, and the theater doesn't allow cameras, so I have no pictures to help me describe the experience.
But the stage, props, and make-up were like something I had never, ever seen! It was just a phenomenally-designed show, and the music and characters were perfect! From the front row we missed out on some of the things low to the stage, like if Simba laid down... but we also had the awesome advantage of actually seeing the actors' eyes and facial expressions from just a few feet away! The size of some of the animals is just amazing, and the actors put on a fantastic show with their enthusiasm and mesmerizing movements! Their voices were amazing as well, and I think I probably had goose-bumps throughout most of the show!
At any rate, if The Lion King ever comes near your city, you must go see it!! Even from the very back row of Capitol Theater, it would've been breath-taking, as I'm sure it would be in any theater!
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| Friday, 6-May-2005 00:00 |
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Evatt's "Back to School" Night at Shorty Pub!
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Evatt House had a "Back to School" night at Shorty Pub. My unit, C 1st, went as a swim school or swim squad. Everyone had a bit different twist to their outfit, but I wore my bikini over pink pants and a pink tanktop. Then we all had a swimcap, arm floaties, and goggles! Haha! I reckon we looked pretty silly, but it was a lot of fun getting dressed up. And you may recognize a few things in the photos, such as my red running shorts on Stevo, my orange boy-short swim-bottoms on Gerad, and my black halter swim-top on Shana! Haha! 
Some of the other blocks went as preppies or jocks or nerds. One block was a ballet school with cute pink tu-tus! One block made these really cool fish out of cardboard and carried it on their bodies. Originally I didn't really have any photos of other groups, but Kay let me "steal" her photos from this night, so now I'm posting more! Thanks Mama Kay!!
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| Friday, 29-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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Block Dinner!
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Erin, Stevo, Gerad, Shana, Kate, Me, Justyne, Sheany, & Kay
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Erin, Stevo, Gerad, Shana, Kate, Me, Justyne, Sheany, & Kay
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Sheany, Gerad, & Me
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We had a Block Dinner on Friday night. We went to the Grand, where we could get steak, chips (fries), & a salad for $10. It was good food and lots of fun. And we actually look decent and not scary in these pictures, unlike our "zombie" pictures from the PJ pub night! Haha 
(Thanks to Kay for letting me "steal" tons of her photos from this night, too!! Love ya Mama Kay! )
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| Wednesday, 20-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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N. Territories, Day 9: Uluru Sunrise & Kata Tjuta (the Olgas)
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This morning (Thursday), we woke up at 4:45am! Holy cats! I swear to you--there were more stars visible when I woke up than when I went to bed! Haha By 5:45am we were headed back to the Ayer's Rock park to catch the sunrise next to Uluru. It was SO cold out there, and we had to wait about an hour, til just after 7am, for the actual sunrise. But it was pretty cool once the sun finally peeked over the horizon because I'd never seen a fully proper sunrise before.
After that, we hopped in the van and headed for Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Kata Tjuta is much larger than Uluru because it's made of something like 31 domes instead of just one big rock. The assistant tour guide, Buzz, took us on a 5.4 km hike up and down Kata Tjuta, which was of course lovely and fun. After Kata Tjuta, our last 3-day tour was pretty much done, so we made the long 5-hour drive back to Alice Springs for our last night as a group.
Back at Alice Springs, many of us checked back into the Melanka. We got our last free meal that night at the Melanka Bar, and then hung out singing and dancing a little. I actually didn't have as much fun as the other two times at the hostels, but I think it was partly because I was really tired and a little bummed that the tour was over. I was pretty sad to tell people goodbye that night and the next morning, when Justyne and I flew out for Sydney. But hopefully I'll stay in touch with at least a few of the people by email and such.
**Our tour group for King's Canyon, Uluru, & Kata Tjuta was: Matt (driver & guide) & Buzz (guide-in-training)... Anna (Sydney)... Larry, Jane, Andrew, & Kate (Newcastle family)... Bryan & Ilene (married couple), Hannah, & Cathy (England)... Fabian & his parents (France)... another French couple... Chris, Natalie, & Andrea (Switzerland)... Phil (South Africa)... Justyne (Canada)... & Me (yep, I was the only American again)
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| Tuesday, 19-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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N. Territories, Day 8: Uluru (Ayer's Rock)
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Talking & dancing cockatoo at King's Creek Cattle Station
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Kate watching her dad try to feed a kangaroo at King's Creek
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Kate & her dad feeding the kangaroo
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This morning we woke up at 6am and left for Uluru (Ayer's Rock) around 7am. It was a long drive to Uluru, and along the way we stopped at King's Creek Cattle Station to feed some kangaroos. There was also a talking, dancing cockatoo there! In another hour or so we stopped at a lookout on the side of the road to view Mt. Connor. It's also called "Fooluru" because it looks like Uluru from a distance.
Eventually we made it to Yulara, where we made some sandwiches for lunch, and then headed into the Aboriginal Cultural Center at Uluru. After looking around the center and reading a little bit about what Uluru means to the Aboriginal peoples, we had to choose whether we wanted to climb Uluru, or do a base walk. The Aboriginal peoples who own the land request that you not climb because Uluru is sacred to them, and because it is a dangerous climb. In a couple of the pictures, you can see a whitish line running up Uluru. That is the chain that you can hold onto to help pull yourself up the rock as you walk. The top of the chain is not the top of Uluru, however, and is actually only halfway to the summit. Most of our tour group, including me, chose not to climb. But the base walk was fantastic!
It was a 9 or 10 km walk around the base of the huge rock. I can't explain how truly big Uluru is, but I hope the pictures give you some idea. It is also a beautiful rock. Each of the many sides and angles looks different from the last, and all are magnificent, with their brown, red, and orange rock.
That night we drove to a lookout to watch the "many faces" of Uluru as the sun set on the opposite horizon. The "many faces" of Uluru refers to all of the different colors and shades the rock shows as the light changes. Very cool.
**Our tour group for King's Canyon, Uluru, & Kata Tjuta was: Matt (driver & guide) & Buzz (guide-in-training)... Anna (Sydney)... Larry, Jane, Andrew, & Kate (Newcastle family)... Bryan & Ilene (married couple), Hannah, & Cathy (England)... Fabian & his parents (France)... another French couple... Chris, Natalie, & Andrea (Switzerland)... Phil (South Africa)... Justyne (Canada)... & Me (yep, I was the only American again)
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| Monday, 18-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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N. Territories, Day 7: Camel Farm & King's Canyon
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We checked out of the Melanka at 6am to start on our 3rd & last 3-day tour of the Outback. Our guide was Matt, and Buzz was along for the ride as a guide-in-training. Our first stop was at a camel farm, where we got to ride a camel. I also got to play with a tame dingo. Her name was Zhari, and she was adorable!!
After more driving and lunch, we set out for King's Canyon. We spent 3 hours hiking up, over, and down the King's Canyon area. The first part is called Heart-Attack Hill, and now we all know from experience where it got that name! It was an incredibly steep, long hike up natural "steps" made of rocks in the side of the bluff or canyon or whatever it was. But it was all worth it because the scenery and view were stunning! I think it was my favorite part of the last tour... but maybe not because it's hard to choose between King's Canyon, Uluru, and Kata Tjuta!
Oh, I almost forgot... the flies were ridiculous in the Alice Springs area!!! So as you will see in many of the photos, we are modeling lovely fly-nets in an assortment of colors & designs. Chris was creative and wrapped his head with a sarong thing. If you didn't cover your head with something, then you were begging for little flies to be in your ears, up your nose, on your eyes, and down your throat... and that, my friends, is NO exaggeration!!!  
**Our tour group for King's Canyon, Uluru, & Kata Tjuta was: Matt (driver & guide) & Buzz (guide-in-training)... Anna (Sydney)... Larry, Jane, Andrew, & Kate (Newcastle family)... Bryan & Ilene (married couple), Hannah, & Cathy (England)... Fabian & his parents (France)... another French couple... Chris, Natalie, & Andrea (Switzerland)... Phil (South Africa)... Justyne (Canada)... & Me (yep, I was the only American again)
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| Sunday, 17-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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N. Territories, Day 6: Devil's Marbles & Alice Springs
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This was the last day of our 2nd 3-day tour in the Outback. After leaving the Juno Horse Farm, we headed on towards our destination of Alice Springs. Along the way we stopped to view and walk around Devil's Marbles. They are gigantic rocks or boulders, basically in the middle of nowhere! They were pretty impressive, especially when we walked up to them for photos--I definitely felt dwarfed haha!
We also passed through Wycliffe Well, which is apparently the UFO Center of Australia! Haha!
After a long time on the bus, we finally reached Alice Springs, the end of this tour. We said goodbye to our 2 tour guides, then many of us checked into the Melanka backpacker's hostel. That night there was a free meal for Adventure Tours in the Melanka Bar. After dinner we goofed off and danced around a bit. It was a fun ending to a long roadtrip.
**The tour group from Darwin to Alice Springs was: Dave (a.k.a.: Cobber... the driver), Kylie (the other tour guide)... Nicola (Germany)... Bryan & Ilene (married couple), Jo, Lucy, Carmel, Hannah, Dee, & Cathy (England)... Fabian & his parents (France)... Anna (Sydney)... Chris, Natalie, Andrea, & 2 other girls (Switzerland)... Ivan (Ireland)... Justyne (Canada)... & Me (yep, I was the only American)
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| Saturday, 16-Apr-2005 00:00 |
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N. Territories, Day 5: Mataranka Thermal Springs
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Mataranka Thermal Springs
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Juno Horse Farm...the big round thing is the pool & it was cold!
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After a 5:30am wakeup call, we headed out for another long day on the bus. We did stop at the Mataranka Thermal Springs... although they were a bit disappointing because it was cold that morning, so most of us didn't actually get in for a swim.
That night, the Adventure Tours campsite was on a family's horse station, called the Juno Horse Farm. I didn't see any horses myself, but it was awesome because I got to sleep outside, under the stars in a true Australian swag!
**The tour group from Darwin to Alice Springs was: Dave (a.k.a.: Cobber... the driver), Kylie (the other tour guide)... Nicola (Germany)... Bryan & Ilene (married couple), Jo, Lucy, Carmel, Hannah, Dee, & Cathy (England)... Fabian & his parents (France)... Anna (Sydney)... Chris, Natalie, Andrea, & 2 other girls (Switzerland)... Ivan (Ireland)... Justyne (Canada)... & Me (yep, I was the only American)
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and 
oooh, and 
and the drinky guys 
haha and the girl that slaps the guy 
haha. funny. ttyl. holla!
