Miscellaneous Photos, Boredom...

Hello! My friend Elaine finally posted some pictures from her camera, and I am bored so I am passing them on to you! I thought about inserting them in the appropriate places in previous posts, but then I will notice all of my old spelling errors and you will have to read the same posts again, so here are some miscellaneous tidbits left out of earlier work:

Fraser Island: We visited this on my Queensland trip, we look happy because it was only about the third day of the trip and only the second day of rain...Anyways interesting story about Fraser Island is how it got to be named.

"Fraser Island, Batjala K'Gari, is the largest sand island in the world at 1630 km². It is located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 300 km north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 km^[1].

The original name of the island is 'K'gari' in the Butchulla people's language. It means paradise.^[6]

According to Aboriginal legend, when humans were created and needed a place to live, the mighty god Beeral sent his messenger Nendingie with the goddess K’gari down from heaven to create the land and mountains, rivers and sea. K’gari fell in love with the earth’s beauty and did not want to leave it. So Yendingie changed her into a heavenly island – Fraser Island.^[7]

The name Fraser Island comes from Eliza Fraser and her story of survival from a shipwreck on the island. Captain James Fraser and his wife, Eliza Fraser, were shipwrecked on the island 1836. The name of the ship was the Stirling Castle. Captain Fraser died but Eliza was rescued off the island. Eliza later made money traveling around England and Australia telling her story of the events that had occurred while the Stirling Castle’s officers were on the island."-Wikipedia

Ok, the island was also called Indian Head after Captain Cook saw a bunch of Aborigines looking at the boats from a point on the island as he passed by. But the really interesting horrible pt of the story is what our guide told us, apparently Capt. Fraser did something to really offend the Aborigines and was killed pretty soon after arrival, but Mrs. Fraser was kept for five years and left the island in the peak of health. Mrs. Fraser wasn't getting enough attention after a while being back and started making up stories about rape and torture which lead to attacks and bias against Aborigines for years before someone figured out she was lying. Great way to name a island!

Me on the ferry to the Island, it wasn't raining yet but very windy.

This huge tree was usually used for ships masts, apparently it is a baby compared with others on the island that we were not able to see that day...needless to say this tree provoked several short jokes. It doesn't help that both of them are Amazons compared with me :) From Left: Gaynor, Me, Elaine

Also nearby is Rainbow beach where a lot of the different dunes have different colors of sand. The Aboriginal story, much abridged, is as follows. Once a woman fell in love with Rainbow, and would go to the beach every day to see him. One of the great warriors in the tribe however wanted to marry her, she refused and ran away. He followed her, grabbing his best killing boomerang and chased her to the beach. Rainbow saved her from the boomerang, but in doing so fell into a thousand pieces on the beach and has been there ever since. Aboriginal woman apparently used to travel here to put some rainbow sand in her hair or collect some of it to carry as sort of good luck/ protection. I confess my one touristy buy was a small neckalace with rainbow sand, what a good story!

Tumut: I don't think I left anything out in my account of the last trip but here is one picture. My friend Elaine is a fan of all things ridiculous. (she is sitting opposite me in a koala jumper, sweater, and also purchased a jumper with a skiing kangaroo on this trip) She got the tea cozy from the CWA a (usually) older women's group that makes jam and knitted things. It inspired me to pick up some grey yarn for a crochet project on the plane home, imagine a Koala's ears where the owl's eyes are...hmm, i may start this sooner rather than later as my house is pretty boring right now, daytime tv here is awful.

I didn't know she was taking this one as all of her focus seemed to be on the owl. As a side note this was at the Chit Chat Cafe in Tumut, toasted croissants with Devonshire cream and raspberry jam=delicious.

T Shirts: I found this one also on threadless and forgot to post it, but it isn't for sale anyway, sadly. Isn't it cute? scratch having a dog, i want a mini elephant.

Elee, My Extraordinary Pet! by Jemae

No other news as of yet, I am working on postcards but cannot find any printers in Australia. I could print and send them from the states for cheap but that would defeat the purpose of a postcard from here. Would you mind? I have started a small illustration ala threadless and will post it for your critique before i maybe submit it, it is after one of my fave childhood songs by Natalie Merchant according to the internet, I do not remember myself:

“Come Take a Trip in My Airship”

I once loved a sailor.
Once, a sailor loved me.
But he was not a sailor,
who sailed on the wide blue sea.
He sailed in an airship;
Sailed like a bird on the wing;
And every evening at midnight,
he would come to my window and sing:

Chorus:
Come take a Trip in my Airship,
come sail away to the stars!
We'll travel to Venus,
we'll sail away to Mars!
No one will see while we're kissing
No one will know as we SPOON.
So come take a Trip in my Airship,
and we'll visit the Man in the Moon!

One night while sailing away from the crowds,
we passed through the Milky White Way.
While idly drifting and watching the clouds,
he asked if I'd name the day!
Just by the Dipper, I gave him my heart,
the sun shone on our honeymoon.
We swore to each other, we never would part,
and we'd teach all the babies this tune.

All this in addition to fervently working on my research paper and paintings of course... I'll probably post soon as one or potentially both of my roommates will be gone this weekend. Oh, i have to buy catfood, excuse me.

Healing and Fun with the Internets

G'day all,

I am feeling much better now thanks for all of the good wishes I think it is really helping! I find out in the next day or two if I have the antibody that means I have Mono, but I am feeling so much better right now that I am secretly hoping that it was just an epically bad mutant penicillin resistant case of strep throat. In either case, however, I feel so much better! (it's amazing how much you appreciate swallowing once you can do it again) I also have the rest of the week off from school to heal myself and I am hoping to be better as soon as possible.

Teachers here are so sweet and accommodating about illness, maybe they just aren't as jaded about excuses as some of the professors from SC. My paper has been extended, and my painting professor gave me a five-step radius and told me to go straight home as soon as possible, and to let her know if I DID have mono so she could 'warn everyone.' I feel like a plague victim.

My biggest problem right now aside from the fact that I sleep a lot is what to do with the time when I am not sleeping. Although painting does not seem like it would be hard the prospect is exhausting to me and so I have spent a lot of time reading, watching my dvds (hooray for Pride and Prejudice, so good to me when I am sick) , and surfing the internet.

Oh, the internet. I think this is the first time in a while that I have actually expended all of my eagerness to waste time on the internet, and it seems that the minute I have tons of time to waste I have an incredible urge to be productive.

As senior year is approaching I have had the inevitable what am I going to do for the rest of my life questions and I am finding that my problems with that question are similar to my problems surfing the internet. I get really excited and passionate about one subject and have tons of ideas about what I could do should I go down that road, but there are so many things I want to try!

My latest internet adventures:

Cooking--Most all of my wasted time begins with tastespotting.com and i found these from the whistle stop cafe food blog, which brought me to other food blogs, which have all collectively convinced me to start a small herb garden and maybe a tomato plant this fall.


Painting--Tons of artists post their work online and I have stumbled on to many of their pages. How cool is this guy's stuff? His name is David Brewster and it seems like he does all of his paintings with a palette knife they are so vague but so easily recognizable. http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424080736/424035807/david-brewster-1guilded-sky.html

Mexico--I was despairing with Courtney as to how expensive travel in Europe has become. I was telling my Mom that I am buying some plane tickets to get around Europe and she said, but can't you take the train? One train ticket online from London to Paris for a youth (18-25) is $137 USD, or 137 Australian dollars for those of you who were wondering. I have found some tolerably cheap tickets to get around but I was remembering how inexpensive, fun, and delicious my family trip to Mexico was so instead of researching more European flights I spent about an hour looking at towns in Mexico. They rent whole houses in some places that could sleep tons of people for $1000 per week in off-season. That is $147 per night for a house, if we had 9 people then that would be $15 each! I inevitably spent time looking at small non-touristy places, this place looks great! Except, i don't know WHERE we would find the time....

Isla Mujeres
Couchsurfing—This is a new network I have joined with Lena and Courtney so that we might be able to stay with people instead of in hostels on my trip this summer. I was wary at first, but most people have extensive profiles so that we can see what they are like, and I will be with someone else the whole time. I would so much rather a couch than a dorm full of drunk college students!
Cake decorating—I have no idea how I came upon this idea, maybe stumbling, but aren’t these cakes amazing? They are covered with some kind of marshmallow icing that has that finish. It seems like every time I see something like this I want to start on it immediately. Couldn’t it be amazing if I made a cake with blue icing and then put wax paper flowers on it, then sprinkle the whole thing with powdered sugar and take the wax paper back off again? It seems like if you want to really do it right you need icing tubes, and gum sugar, and paintbrushes and special food coloring. Everything I want to try needs so much investment and special equipment! I want to do silver-smithing, and I would need an anvil and blow torch and tools and silver, same with glass, same with cakes apparently, very exhausting. Plus the cakes I bake would actually have to turn out… could I just use betty crocker cake and then decorate do you think?
This photo was on a page titled "Are You Ready To Turn Your Cake Decorating Hobby Into A Money Making Business?" could you think of anything more dangerous to read?

Stuffed animals—I enjoyed making stuffed animals for my cousin’s baby boy last year and the minute I saw these I wanted to do it all over again! Wouldn’t it be fun to have a craft stall for the rest of my life? But then I will need a studio and storage and I don’t know what else.

Isn't it cute? more in the gallery here: http://everylittlething.typepad.com/

Web Design—the project I am a part of that takes me to Tumut constantly has a website run by two people who are constantly busy with work. I have thought about learning to do this more since I really like messing with my site and the Hellions website, but there is so much to learn! And plus what I really like to do is design the look of it, but there are so many little things that you have to do to make it work! In my own site, for example, I had to write a new page for each painting I do and will have to do the same for jewelry should I choose to pursuer that, sooo much busywork!

Anyway, the website for the project is nice and I spent any length of time perusing it to see how it works, then looking at their other projects. God forbid I actually complete a bio and become a member of the blog like I was sposed to do a month ago…it has been so long at this point I feel like I am past getting an account though. Anyway if you want to see pictures of me in tumut you can look on this site although the navigation isn’t completely logical…

http://www.tumut.engagingvisions.com.au/categories/artists

Design in general-My roommate received a package from a site called threadless.com the other day so I had to check it out. It is a site where you can submit designs and get a lot of money if yours is chosen for a tshirt! I want to learn to use adobe illustrator and design tshirts asap, then learn to screen print, then begin to wear tshirts again...hmm. Here are some of the ones I liked…

It's Just A Summer Job by Mike Sayre aka mildish

In Pachydermic Fashion by Michael B. Myers Jr. aka slaterock

Robot Dance Contest by Cameron McEwan aka Ronin60

Please send me any wacky ideas you have for an illustrated t-shirt; I really want to try one!

Letters—all during the perusing I am listening to Daddy Long Legs, a novel I read when I was pretty young, free from the internet. It has inspired me to finally write my grandmother back (the letter isn’t finished yet grandma but it should come in, I dunno, the next month or two) The book is so funny! I must have been much less attuned to sarcasm when I first read it…

Anyway that is all off my internet perusing for the week condensed down and given to you in a reader’s digest format, with so many fun things to make what AM I going to do with myself?

PS didn’t quite finish this last night so I thought I’d add before I post it. I cleaned my room today, and vacuumed, AND did laundry! Thank goodness I did too because Mani’s sister is visiting us. I always know when I am over the worst when the piles of clothes and medication on the floor start to bother me. I am a little tired from the effort but I feel much better in a clean room. (AND I wore real clothes today!)

Anyway I am sitting in my room with all of the doors in the house and my windows open so it smells like fall. I simply must go grocery shopping now because I am tired of condensed soup and my potato soup did NOT thaw well unfortunately, it looks like swamp thing. How do people have such success in the freezer? My things are just never as good if I freeze them. Off to buy and bake chicken drumsticks with some green beans and baked apples, mmm I MUST be getting better…Cheers!

It's Semi-Official, I Have Mono

Today I spent the better part of my afternoon in the medical world. I didscussed various symptoms with my new favorite doctor, parents excluded. I was prodded in my stomach to make sure i did not have a rigid liver or spleen. I was poked in the arm by the nice woman at the nearby pathology lab, who seemed a little worried about my statement that i would be gone in 4 weeks, could they please make sure they malied the bill to me before then. The long and short of it, folks, is that I probably have Mononucleosis. Yay.

Apparently the blood test might come back negative but that won't shake my doctor's belief in my status as an incubator for this annoying virus so really at this point i am only taking the test to be able to present my professors with a medical certificate documenting my misfortune. All of thee symptoms are there so i have resigned myself to a few more weeks of constant naps. The symptoms, in case you were interested, involve sore throat, fatigue, achyness, nausea, and sometimes rigid organs. (Oh yeah, about the sore throat, did i mention i managed to get strep throat on top of Mono, as my friend Aaron said, this is the worst souvenir ever)

Although previously undocumented scientifically I have a few more symptoms to add for myself, just so you all will be warned if you are ever afflicted. (I am probably going to be contagious for the next few weeks so you should all stay far far away, oh wait.)

Kate's Symptoms:
*A sudden love for minty throat spray (possibly the best invention ever, rivaled only by puffs plus lotion when you have a cold in my opinion)
*A propensity to wear flannel and sweats, honestly i don't know how i managed to be sick without flannel shirts before. They have just the right level of comfort and grunge to put you in the mood to lay in bed.
*A new appreciation for librivox.com, seriously Louisa May Alcott now plays a serious role in my life.
*A love hate relationship with cookies. Okay, previously I only loved cookies, but now if i eat only a few i feel sick, very very sad. I quote Romy and Michele.

Michele: Remember the prom? You got so thin by then.
Romy: Oh, I know. I was so lucky getting mono. That was like the best diet ever.

*A dislike for British medical terms and medications. I just want tylenol, dammit, and I can't find it. Also, they call Mono 'Glandular Fever' here, which just makes me feel like i'm in a Jane Austen novel. I've decided that the reason British and Australian accents and terms sound funny to the American ear is that they are a part of our past and therefore sound incredibly formal and old fashioned in comparison to the totes quick and modern slang of the US today. Seriously, some people from the UK actually say Cheerio, while this does make me smile, it does so because i feel like the person saying it should be at least 80. And a man wearing a bowler hat.

If you find yourself wearing flannel and sleeping in beware! Not to scare the entire lumberjack population of the world or anything.

Anyways, send good karma vibes my way and check back because one of the few things i am capable of in my weekend state is blog posting :)

Penicillin, Advil, Tea, Breakfast of Champions

Hello there! Looks like Lucky Number Slevin won by a LANDSLIDE too bad it didn't do as well in the box office but I suppose none of that famous cast is really hurting from that one.

It's a beautiful sunny day here in the ACT and I come to you having just sent about three hours driving over the countryside of New South Wales with a Scotswoman who shouts like a Glasgowian (not sure of the term) taxi driver at any who have less than stellar driving skillz. This, my dear readers was after the third and final installment in my Tumut field trip series. 

The country was beautiful and the company lovely, the skies clear and the stars bright; there were but two blights on my lovely trip and because I love to complain you will hear of them in detail. Problem one: I was/am sick. I apparently came down with the flu shortly after my trip to sunny Queensland which i would have gotten over except that I then contracted a bacterial infection (strep) in my tonsils also known as tonsillitis here, no one understands me if I mention strep throat. 

Now I understand that the American medical system is incredibly flawed etc, etc. but let us face it, when i get sick at USC I can go to the health center and see a doctor. The doctor may dish out whatever drugs i ask for without much care, but the point is I see and MD and get what (lets all hope) I need. Here you need an appointment to see anyone and most appointments have to be booked a week in advance. When confronted with this problem I left the medical center and resolved to heal  myself through a seasoned blend of sleep, tylenol, tea, and stubbornness but to no avail. I finally a week later (ironically on the day i could have gotten an appointment for the week previously) waited with the tired and sick in a line in front of the clinic to get any cancelled appointments. 

I got there at 8:45 and there were already about 8 people, God knows how long they had been waiting. at 9:10 I was given an appointment for 12:10, I filled out my paperwork and biked back home for a quick 2 hour nap before returning. Then I slept through the appointment. The two short 10 minute bike rides had tired me so much that i slept until 1 pm, I feel terrible to think i cheated one of the people who cane in at 9:15 from an appointment and then booked a spot with a private practice to avoid showing my face in the uni medical clinic ever again.

Anyway, without any symtoms of sore throat or couching, i was diagnosed with the illness mentioned above and prescribed penicillin, which I scurried across the street to procure. They didn't have generic brand penicillin. Ok, it only cost me $15 AUS which is, roughly, let me calculate, about $15 US but it is the principal of the thing. Penecillin was discovered in 1928 for crissakes (yes i looked it up, wikipedia is awesome) it is a common treatment for tonsillitis which is much more common than, you know, plague or something, so how in 90 years have pharmacies neglected to stock the generic brand! What is this madness? 

I lost valuable minutes biking home with my healthful elixir because i couldn't remember whether i was allergic to it or not. I'm not, but I had to check with the parents; both of them because Dad's hesitation before answering he didn't think so was a bit worrying. (Sorry Dad, I know I am 20 and should know what I am allergic to) Anyways, 5 days in to my treatment and my throat hurts like it didn't when she first diagnosed me, so I can't decide if i am fulfilling my doctor's prophecy or i have the worst case of sneaky strep ever. The result of the illness was that i spent most afternoons napping in my tent instead of painting and then was clucked over by the many many older women in my group for most evenings.

Problem 2 with my trip: She who shall not be named. It is unfortunate when you meet someone that thoroughly ruins their name for you forever. Luckily in this case it was my Mom's middle name so i had a good association to keep it from being poisoned. This woman is a Martyr and yes, with a capitol M. If it isn't her bad luck with affordable housing, her mothering, her dyslexia (which gets worse when she eats apples, true story) it is her recent bad haircut. I am sorry, but if you live in project housing and have two children, WHY would you try to start a career as a painter and pay to dye your very curly hair bright fuscia and ask to have it cut in the shape of a diamond? Honestly when she mentioned the diamond shape i immediately imagined her as someone from the simpsons and had to leave the room to maintain dignity. It wasn't the broad sweeping insults, 'cake for dessert every night, how AMERICAN,' or the unwanted advice, which she gave often. It was the whole package that made my shoulders tense for an entire five days. (Including the two days that my friend and I had to chauffeur her around, with the windows down to keep her from 'drying out' or the formaldehyde in the air from getting to her)

I digress, I spent some lovely times in the streets of Tumut, my friend bought a yellow and green owl tea cosy and I purchased a ridiculous brightly colored Australia beach hat and some hot pink wool socks. We had high tea, and devonshire cream with raspberry jam on warm croissants with peppermint tea (served from a pot with an owl cosy) is my new version of heaven. The formaldehyde made some lovely mist in the mornings that blanketed the hills, and I saw a live wombat (several dead ones preceding it unfortunately) and possibly a white kangaroo. I also saw the milky way, the Southern Cross, Scorpio, Orion, Sirius, AND Leo on one stargazing adventure. We also bought sparklers and took slow exposure photography and drew things with them. 

We had cake every night, played a card game called shit head (similar to Lena's 'idiot', and taught similarly too, 'oh, BY THE WAY, you can lay down cards that are the same as well') Also one woman had brought her husband and young baby (not really to the sitting on his own stage yet so pretty little) who was extremely entertaining and lovely. It is so fun to watch eye hand coordination happen right before your eyes, if you aren't the one on the receiving end of the baby food that is. (the poor parents got much child rearing advice from She who shall not be named, as did I by proxy as someone who will eventually have kids. I logged every pearl away in the back of my mind of course)

I didn't really do anything productive except on saturday when i talked with a lovely aboriginal woman named Phyllis and then learned to make pine needle baskets from a lovely woman named Jan. Sunday, today, we drove home taking pictures of lawn ornaments and washing for my friends project (many an older woman came out the front door to see what we were on about). We also had cheeseburgers, chocolate milkshakes, and a pack of strawberry Hubba Bubba. I won the bubble blowing contest, needless to say. I find my scotswoman companion increasingly delightful because she is unafraid to fawn over ceramic gnomes, have victory dances for small victories, and write her name with sparklers.

Anyway, sorry for the long bouts of complaining and sorry i have gone so long without pictures, i just couldn't be bothered to dig out my camera from the pile of things on my bedroom floor, but once i sort out travel plans, write a 2000 word essay on Madonnas with Child, and heal, I'll get right on it I swear!

PS when i got home after a long day, I found a package from my Grandma with a lovely letter and my favorite oatmeal cookies in it! Thank god the Australian quarantine inspection let them through because they came at an absolutely PERFECT time. Yay for grandmothers and mothers everywhere, Happy Mothers Day from down under!

How I Spent My Summer, I Mean, Winter Vacation...

Well it has been a very long time since I updated this blog, and I apologize for this but as is to be expected when one is both in school and in a foreign country, I have been very busy.

About two weeks ago I flew with my two Scottish friends to Brisbane and then spent the next week and a half driving back from Brisbane to Canberra. This drive takes about 18-20 hours in one trip so we thought that over 10 days we would have no trouble. The original idea was to enjoy the balmy subtropical weather of southeastern Queensland for a while before we headed back to wintery Canberra. The weather during this time for about the last 12 years has been sunny and in the 70’s (Fahrenheit, thank god). So, accordingly, we packed our swimsuits, shorts, tank tops, sunhats, and summer tents and flew north.

We stayed in a cute hostel called the yellow submarine that promised free sailing on Wednesdays. We arrived on a Wednesday but discovered the wind was up to several knots, aka too fast for us to sail, and we a little disappointed but at the same time exhausted from travel crashed in our three bed room for a nap. We explored the city a little in the afternoon and I liked it a lot. It’s industrial and apparently undergoing a huge economic boom because there was construction everywhere. There was a river going right through it and a river/bus public transport system that was quite fun. At this point in the trip both of my friends were writing papers for their schools back in Scotland, and we spent a lot of time in the Brisbane public library, which had free wifi (so nice!), which was unfortunately right next to the public daycare center. One of the girls finished her paper quickly and she and I explored the city while our other friend spent most of the first 5 days of our trip on her computer. The public services here are really nice, free museum access and free library access, all really nice buildings to boot. We also got some shopping done and I got some very fun heels and a dress (yes, I was weak and bought a dress if you’re judging me now this is going to be a long post for you)

Brisbane was lovely and sunny the first day we were there, from then on we spent our time gambling with our health and belongings taking outings in the rain. On one such venture it POURED rain while we were walking across a bridge to the library, laptops in bag. We had no shelter and by the time we got to the library the rain stopped, but we were soaked; we had to get a cab back to the hostel just to change and walk across the bridge again. (Don’t worry, all of our laptops survived)

The other fun thing we did in Brizzy was go to Chinatown, which was kind of like a row of buildings from the old west that just happened to have Chinese restaurants. Seriously, they should shoot the next Shanghai Noon there. We had a huge amount of Chinese food in an arcade/restaurant where they sold HUGE bottles of Singh Tao (can’t remember exact spelling) but almost liter bottles of beer, it was ridiculous. It was the sketchiest Chinese place I’ve been to in a while, but quite good.

On Saturday we took a tour of Frazer Island, and thank god we didn’t try to tackle it ourselves. This was in my opinion the highlight of our trip because we hadn’t yet had our hopes completely and repeatedly dashed by the rain, it was beautiful, and we didn’t have to drive. We rode in a 4x4 bus to Frazer with a German couple, and a group of 6 Midwesterners. It is bizarre suddenly hearing a familiar accent after a few months without, and let me say these people were nice, but exactly the reason people hate American tourists. It was two couples, and the two daughters of one of the couples who were respectively 20 and 22. I mention their age specifically because until I talked with them I though both of the girls were in high school. I realize that when traveling with family children are bound to act more like children, but seriously. One of the men actually bought a pair of bright yellow crocs and put them on while on the bus. Turns out the reason I recognized their accent so well was that they were all from St. Louis, my frequent stomping ground, and lived in Creve Coeur. One of the girls went to St. Louis U and had just finished a semester at some school in Queensland.

Anyway, the tour. It was run by a middle aged Aussie man who loved making jokes about Americans and generally making fun of anyone in the group, usually in poor taste. (I could just be sore because he made fun of me for being American AND for being short). He actually asked one of the women if her husband ever ‘played’ Tarzan when we saw actual swinging vines (I tried to climb one to the amusement of the group, I have no upper arm strength anymore sadly). The island itself was made entirely up of sand that had built up on some ancient mountain that had been covered by the ocean. It had freshwater from mainland AUS because it was still a part of the water table, and the water was so sweet because it was filtered through hundreds of feet of sand over about 10 years. Oh, and the sand is silica sand so it was really soft. (I actually managed to impress our guide because I knew they used silica for computers and makeup, I guess all Americans aren’t dumb. And by not dumb I mean some of us have memories for useless facts.) Anyway the island was beautiful but all off-road driving, in the rain. Thank god we didn’t drive it ourselves or we would have been turned over in a puddle within 10 minutes.

The rest of the trip we were dirty and constantly damp. None of us had packed for cold weather, which resulted in several opp shop (good will) purchases, including a faux sheep lined jacket by myself and a koala wooly jumper (sweater) by my friend. We all bought pants (underwear, that one caused lots of miscommunications. The Scottish call pants trousers or jeans if they are in fact jeans) because we had no laundry facilities and were constantly soaked, and lilos (I have no idea how that one is spelled, but it refers to inflatable sleeping pads or mattresses.) Our tent leaked so our grand scheme of saving money by camping and spending hours on the leach was ruined. By the way, small beach towns are cute and have endless possibilities for activities UNITIL in rains. We ended up renting and borrowing a lot of movies in a lot of hostels.

Cute towns:
Surfer’s Paradise: this wasn’t cute but deserves mention because it is so advertised. The area around it is home to Queensland’s major theme parks including movie world. It’s got famous because it allegedly is rain free 300 days of the year (ok, it didn’t actually rain, but it threatened) and has surfable surf year round. It was terrible; imagine Orlando plus Mexico plus terrible buildings. The beaches were actually empty, so that was nice, but I think that was more the weather.

Byron Bay: south of Surfer's, it is a really cute semi commercialized beach town with lots of shops and pretty beaches, this was pretty much the last time we saw the sun on the coast. We did more shopping, because of the rain, and I got a necklace as my one big this is my way to remember Australia purchase.

Coffs harbor: we camped here, oh my god it was rainy and boring. Thank goodness we got inflatable mattresses. However it seems I was the only warm one as I had a winter camping sleeping bag and neither of my companions did; also they were both tall enough to touch each end of the tent with heads and toes so I think they got dripped on a bit. I of course was snug in the middle of them curled up and slept probably the most of all nights on the trip.

Maclean: pronounced ‘maclane’ this is a small settlement of people who were given free passage to Australia after being driven out of the highlands. Because of a recent heritage project, all of the townspeople’s tartans are painted on the electrical and telephone poles. There are also several heritage things posted about haggis and other stereotypical Scottish traditions. People here seem really repulsed by haggis, but since people from the southern US used to and probably still do eat chitlins it doesn’t really faze me. And to be fair, anything more foreign than a burger or sausage seems to distress Australians. They do not understand the sweet + savory concept, as is highlighted by their fear and distrust of several American traditions: PB&J, cheddar cheese on pie, French fries “chips” dipped in frosty, pumpkin pie, jam on toast on the side with eggs. Anyway, maclaen was cool and a bit of a homecoming for my Scottish friends. Plus they got to laugh every time I mispronounced something.

Newcastle: cool industrial town, our spirits were broken by the time we made it here because we drove in the dark in the rain to get there and were sooo excited to stay in a hostel indoors only to find a leaky roof and uncomfortable spring mattresses. We stayed two nights hoping the rain would clear. If we had actually been able to walk around a bit I think we would have liked it; it was surrounded by water and was originally a prison town built for people who committed crimes AFTER being sent to Australia for other crimes.

After these stops we drove the 5-6 hours to Canberra and relished our own beds. We had the car for an extra day and proceeded to go to places like the hardware store where we couldn’t normally drive. We also saw a local landmark, the Telstra tower. Which to me is one of the main problems with Canberra. Their two major landmarks (the other being the capitol building. I mean, it's pretty on the inside but the flag pole is ugh. Also, they built it inot a hill with the idea being that the government is 'on the same level' as the people. a really good sentiment, but forgettable building) are simultaneously not that attractive and forgettable. Who cares about the Telstra tower when there’s Uluru and the Sydney harbor bridge and opera house to see?

After a long grey trip, we found that not only had it been warm and sunny in Canberra the whole time, but that it was once again sunny in Brisbane. People were flabbergasted, as they hadn’t had that much rain in 10 years! Yay for them, the end of the Australian drought had to begin on our beach holiday. Now that we are home we have all managed to get pretty sick, I guess it is all the rain.

On the bright side, I am getting to do something I haven’t in a few years, experience fall. The leaves in Canberra right now are gorgeous and I actually get to wear my sheep wool lined coat, scarf and hat as more than just fashion accessories! I love how brisk it is until I get home and realize my bedroom has no insulation. This morning I left the house bundled up only to realize it was colder inside my room than outdoors. (I just bought an electric blanket, what an amazing invention!)

Well this has probably sounded like a lot of complaining but we did manage to enjoy ourselves a bit. People from Ireland and the UK constantly harassed us. (The Scottish draw them like magnets.) I got a newsboy hat that apparently screams ‘steal me or mess with me in some fashion!’ to every stranger around. And at times we were so giddy from our exhausting misfortunes that little things like dry socks and electrical outlets sent us to the heights of ecstasy.

No pictures for now because apparently my household has a bandwidth limit I was previously unaware of. And because I stopped bringing my camera out after Byron bay; when my friends give me pictures, I will ammend this post.

Cheerio!