Alice in Oz

Wow, it's been an interesting past few days. I took a Boomerang tour to go from Adelaide to Alice Springs. It was 2 days of driving and, surprisingly, quite a few of the people from that trip went on into my next one.  The next one was called "the Rock" tour.  It was 3 days and 2 nights.  I was, unfortunately, not prepared for this. It was reaching up into the 100's during the day and down to the 40's at night.  I hadn't gotten the chance to get shorts so the first day I was in jeans and sooo hot.  That night, since I had brought a thin summer sleeping bag, and we didn't sleep in tents we slept in swags out in the open, I was a bit cold.  The stars were amazing though, and I saw a few shooting stars.  It was also nice to just enjoy the utter quiet of being in such a remote location.  The best place I think we saw was Kata Tjuta (or also known as the Olgas).  Uluru (Ayers Rock), on the other hand, wasn't as spectacular as I would have hoped.  It was pretty, but really touristy.  It was nice getting back to civilization yesterday; to take a shower, to use electricity, to sleep in a bed, and not to have to get up at 4:50am to join the train of tour busses taking people to see the sunset and watch Uluru change colors.  Today, I go to Perth, and I am so happy I'm going on a plane. I don't think I could take another 12 hour bus ride.  It will also be nice to be on my own for a while and not part of a tour.  :-)

The Real Outback Experience...kind of

So just to give you all a quick update, I am currently on the "Boomerang" tour.  The drive today was long to say the least (912 kilometers), and my butt is sore to prove it.  Tonight I'm staying in Coober Pedy.   They produce 80% of the world's opals, to quote the tour description, so I will be taking an exciting mine tour tomorrow before I get to spend another ridiculous amount of time on the bus on my way to Alice Springs.  This is perhaps not the most exciting tour I will be on, but I have gotten some pretty awesome pictures watching the scenery slowly change to the nothingness of the outback. I will try to post them, but I have been having internet issues as of late, so I can't promise.  In any case, I will update here again soon.

Blowing in the wind...

I wanted to give a quick update tell you all about my first 2 tours.  The Great Ocean Road tour went pretty well, but had a rough start.  The first day it was rainy and windy.  It was so bad that I had trouble holding my camera still to take a picture.  Then, one of the guys on the tour threw up on the bus.  We had to stop about 3 more times to let him be sick.  The weather finally started getting nicer when we left the coast to go explore the Grampians (a mountain range).  The people I met on the trip (including the guy once he started feeling better) were really nice, and I'm happy that I've been able to hang out with a couple of them still now that I'm in Adelaide.  I also have some really great pictures.  

The second tour I took today was the winery tour.  I didn't really connect with any of the people from that tour, and again the weather was rainy and cold. I seem to be catching the poor weather on this trip :-/.  We went to four wineries, including Jacob's Creek which I believe most people will recognize.  I enjoyed tasting all types of wine, but there really wasn't one that stood out as spectacular.  

Tomorrow, I have a free day, and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet other than sleeping in.  All that wine has made me tired!  My next tour will be a 2 day tour, taking me up to Alice Springs, and I'll let you know how that goes. Here's hoping the bad weather doesn't follow me!

Melbourne with an Irish twist

I am here! I am tired. I got maybe about 2 hours of sleep, but I met 2 Irish blokes on the bus which helped make the time pass. I guess I just couldn't get away from the Irish on this trip. So, when I got here I thought I'd take a quick nap to help me get through the day. Well, I slept through my alarm and suddenly it was 1:30pm. I get the feeling I'm not going to see much of Melbourne. Yet, I did anticipate this might happen since I knew sleeping on a bus wouldn't be comfortable.
Now, to describe Melbourne...It is a bit cooler here than Sydney, and it also feels a bit more laid back. From what I've seen so far, there are quite a few newer buildings mixed in with European style buildings, but it does sort of have an American feel to it (in other words, you could believe you could find a town like this in the States). There's also a more artistic feel here. As I'm not too much of a city girl, I haven't felt much inspiration to break out my camera, but I will try to take a few pictures to capture the feel here.
I've got a bright and early start tomorrow, 6:45 am, but I'm so excited to see the coast. That is what I can't wait to take pictures of. I'll try to stay updated, but being on a tour, I may not find internet access. Check back regularly though, as I will be updating as often as I can.

Just a quick update

I apologize that I haven't updated my blog in a while. I have been super busy working at 2 jobs to get enough money to go on my travels.  It has been a relatively great past couple of weeks.  The people at both jobs have been really nice, and now I'm super excited to be starting my next adventure.  The plan is, I'm going first to Melbourne, then Adelaide, then Alice Springs, then Perth.  I'm going to be taking a few tours, so there will be places in between that, but this is the rough outline.  I will be taking lots of pictures, and I will try to post some of them, but it will depend on how often I can get internet.  I also plan to try and keep updating everything as often as possible so keep checking back!