melbourne pics, tassie and sydney stories... but i'm in cairns now

holy crap. i'll have been on an airplane for about 7 hours on my way home this time next week... it's really come up fast. well oz has been great. i'm still really enjoying myself here. i'll be broke when i get home, but that's what working is for... right? umm. yeah. so i don't even remember where i left off last entry, so i apologize if i repeat myself or anything... let's see. melbourne was really relaxing and quiet? even though it's not quiet at all... i was just pretty quiet there. besides a couple of nights of drinking...

for some reason, all of these computers suck and none of them will let me upload photos... so i manages to get 10 up while in sydney (internet was expensive there)... and these ten aren't that exciting, but they're of melbourne... so here they go:

here's the beach of st kilda:

and here's some of my friends, holly and doug:

and a great shot of us using the timer on the camera:

here's the little 8 person dorm i stayed in for a week:

here's me looking semi-emo for some reason... maybe it's the headphones and random "sweet" shirt and "interesting" hair:

here's a bus sign i liked:

haha. this one makes me laugh. here's me trying on a very expensive ($250 AUS) dress. don't worry i didn't buy it and i don't know why i'm showing you guys:

a city shot i liked:

same thing again:


and most importantly, here are my current favorite activities:

(and i do mean reading the book, and not that i am participating in the act of sex and drugs and cocoa puffs... though i did eat cocoa pops this morning, which are basically chocolate rice crispies... yummy... and i guess that is a beer... so you could consider that drugs, but i don't. it's not. :)

so on to tassie:
i went on a tour of the west coast which rocked my socks off. i have some mind blowing photos, but the internet is preventing me from showing you. it was great. let's just say that the tour guide called me paris hilton because of my sunglasses (really nancy's sunglasses). anyway, since jason did that, then i got to make fun of him and basically we got along really well. which made the trip much more entertaining. we saw lakes, waterfalls, mountains, went canoeing, walked on sand dunes to beaches which had whale bones.... soo fucking cool i never imagined i'd ever see that. ever. and we saw more mountians and drank and ate food and you know. we had a blast. my tour group was really fun and we all became friends. you know how it goes.

so on my last two days there, i went to coles bay and did some hikes in this national park there... and that was great... besides the fact that there was NO transportation to the park or in the park... that really annoyed me. at one point, i hitchhiked onto a tour bus, which was really fun. anyway, then i went back to hobart (a city in tassie) and flew to sydney.

sydney was also great. but for different reasons. before the plane left in hobart, i made friends with this amazing lady, colette, from canada. she was a flight attendant (on vacation) who had missed her flight in the morning and was now flying to sydney to catch the next one the next day. we ended up hanging out and she ended up inviting me to stay with her in a really nice (like really freaking nice) hotel room in sydney. the give discounts to flight attendants there... and you know the kind. people open doors for you and there's all kinds of goodies in the hotel room. and a pool and a spa and whatever you like. it was right down town by the rocks and the opera house and all that stuff. we lived it up like amazing women should.

then she left and i went to the blue mountians for the day, where i hung out with these other two guys (who also happened to be flight attendants... strange, eh?). we had so much fun touring around and we had dinner together at this nice restaurant... and they got me properly drunk before i took the train back (alone) to sydney. it was such a great day/night. then i spent the next day wandering the city.

then today i flew to cairns, where it is humid and hot and rainy. but i'm not down about that... it should be fun here. and i think i might go to the movies or something. we'll see. i'm going to try to go diving soon... i'll keep you updated. but i'm excited. there's lots to do in this little tourist town. and i promise i will spend no time at the hostel because i'm not using any air conditioning here...

hmm. so i think that's all. i know i'm forgetting lots, but you're probably bored by now... so that's all i'll tell you.

i'm really excited to come home. i'm counting down the days. it'll be nice because it's so hot here.


replies: (note: they just started playing eminem in this cafe, so i'm going to be quick so i can leave... blah!)

stella: i have the new cat empire cd... i don't know if i told you, but it's sweet! i'll give it to you when i get home. i'm not a badass climber... i only climbed that weekend and haven't done any sort of exercising since... unless you count walking or drinking beer... but i will totally try out that slack line! it sounds badass. i'll see you soon!! i hear you guys are going to red rocks now? (that's what mom and dad said) awesome!!!

nancy: i'm stoked, too. we're going to rock our socks off. seriously. can we go on a date immediately? and did you write the comment about john's mustache? because that was hilarious. and i love you. and i just immed you a bunch of times... hehe

jack's smirking revenge/jack's raging bile duct/emily: i love you so much. your comments made me laugh so hard that, like usual, people turned and gave me the what the fuck look. i love that. and you. we have to go on a date when i get back, too. maybe you me and nancy can combine it... but if not, i'm up for as many dates as possible. and also, i'm hanging out of my pants too. or at least i feel fat... ick, but i'll hopefully fix that soon... hehe.

seanners: i hope the photo above cleared up the st kilda sands apperance issue ;) it's not as nice as the sydney beaches... but from what i've seen of cairns, it's very nice... hehe. and i'm sure it's not even close to the east coast beaches where you lived... but i did like the sands of tasmania... they were so mind blowing... and not crowded. anyway. update me on your life. i'd love to hear it. talk to you soon.

jay: that's great you've found a climbing partner. that always makes it easier! i'm sure you will run into me at the red or something. i haven't climbed in it seems like ages since arapiles... but it'll all come back soon. i'm super excited. keep up the hard work at school! you're awesome and way smarter than me.

climbing at mt arapiles/climbing in the oven

it was insanely hot... that's all that really needs to be said... i mean it was over 100 degrees every day. we tried to hide from the sun... but failed at certain key places... like belaying ledges and things... the result... i was very hot and enjoyed sporting some ridiculous hair styles due to an attempt to cool off...

so you all remember john and mica... the two australians who i climbed with at paynes ford/golden bay in new zealand? well they live in australia and just so happened to be around melbourne when i was arriving, so they picked me up from the airport and took me out climbing at mt. araps... they are totally badass and it really was lots of fun...

here's the sunset and some sprinkles of rain as we drove from the airport to the climbing place:

here's the scene i woke up to... excellent beautiful trad cliffs... and this is only a part of the whole place... (it was dark when we drove in):

here's mica before we did our 5 pitch route:

here's me belaying john up the first pitch (don't worry... i've dealt with the mullet since that photo... now i clip the back up):

the view from the second belay ledge. i think. could be the third...

the sun was really hot... and the route below here is really cool:

me looking stupid from one of the belay ledges:

john doing a step across to start the third pitch:

john doing a chimney to start the fourth pitch:

john looks hilarious with a mustache on the 4th belay ledge:

a better photo of this classic route i want to do next time i go there... the only scary part is the wrap rings are on that precariously balanced boulder on top... who the f thought of that?

clearly the heat has warped my mind:

john wraps down:

i am miserable in the car (no ac and the windows down just blows hot oven like air in from across the flat planes):

this really fun route john and i did (here's john leading it):

and you can see i got to lead belay double ropes... it was fun:

here's me sunburning on top:

the sun made me feel like this:

also i think i look like a funny prep school boy... anyway, here's me on top again... i was bored while i was waiting for john to play around with one of the pieces i couldn't get out...

here's how that climb made john feel (it was a solid 5.10 trad lead route... not to mention really hard for me to climb and clean... sooo tiring... the gear was all really good and hard to get out):

and this sums up mt arapiles:


so yeah. i still love climbing. but i think the lesson of this story is that i never wish to live in or near a desert/really hot place in summer or whenever it is hot... which rules out austin and australia and all places near the equator. so that's productive...

now i'm in melbourne... i've been on the beach at st kilda for a week now... i'm leaving for tasmania tomorrow and i'm going hiking there/chilling out for a week. then i'm off to sydney for three days then i'm off to cairns for 5 days to snorkel or something then fly back to melbourne so i can fly home... whoo. it's going to be busy. i'll try to put up some pics soon in tassie or syndey...


notes/replies:

stella: that's excellent that you and a snow day. i am insanely jealous because i never got anything of the short... besides the time the truck ran into the telephone pole and cut electricity and we had half a day off... even the tornado didn't cancel any of my classes.... but i suppose you were there for all that... anyway. yeah. hugs and kisses.

nancy: glad to hear that you are happy for snow. i'm going to try to watch the videos, but i might not be able to until i get home... so remind me. i bet they're sooo freaking sweet and hilarious. i miss you a lot. just so you know. oh and that drink is v... if i remember, i'll try to carry a bottle on the plane with me (they have it in aus), but they'll probably not let me do that...

jess: i love you too. and i can't wait to play. xoxoxo

team awesome and akaroa!

where to start?! this past week has been completely mind blowing! before you get too excited, i'm going to tell you that i haven't done anything crazy or exciting in the sense that it couldn't be done in little old ohio... anyway. long story short, i've been in akaroa for the past week (well, a bit less) and it's been fucking awesome! i stayed at this hostel: the cher la mer. anyway, here's akaroa from the hill:


and near the beach... but this isn't the nice beach:


and what made it so freaking sweet was the company i had there. i needed some time with some really awesome people to give this trip a nice conclusion. the weather was great the first day and a half, but then it was all cloudy the rest of the time, but my spirits soared. i first met this great british guy, mark, who was super cool and who i played shithead (a card game) with for many hours. we also went to see this french movie: the valet... which was hilarious.

i also went sailing in akaroa... i got a tour of the bay and saw lots of dolphins and cool rock stuff and cool seals...




so here was the boat i was on:

then colin came along... and he somehow was totally a perfect addition to the card playing, movie watching, music chatting group of mark and me (and occasionally tim... a guy who worked on the sailing boat and lived at the hostel) we named ourselves, TEAM AWESOME and we conquered the town (which was so small... there was no town), so we really just played shithead all day and night and took turns cooking feasts for each other... here's the boys (well mostly colin that night) cooking:

and the result: (yes, i'm the one with the wine and the beer... tee hee)

we went to le bons bay one day and wandered around... super cool. mark evaluated the sand quality:

and colin checked out the surf...

then he found this guy was having a bad hair day:

i found a bone:

and we went to the movies and saw volver... which was also great (the movie theater in this town was sweet!!)

we adopted a stray cat... who in turn brought us a dead mouse... we named him charlie:

and we really got along with everyone at the hostel... so we drank until we could drink no more the night before we left...

and when we were leaving, one of the staff actually said, "you guys can't leave... you're like the furniture." i was touched. it such a perfect chill place and the guys and the other people we hung out with were all really awesome. i mostly chilled with mark and colin, but i also had long chats/played shithead with the guy named tim, who has had a sweet life of lots of sailing and who worked in denali this past summer doing restaurant work... we had so much fun talking about that place... here's us playing shithead and talking films and religion with tim:

i also met this bad ass girl from juneau, alaska... stephanie. she has traveled the past 2 (american) winters to norway and other cool places and who is a glacier guide in ak in the summer... and she was only 18... crazy. anyway, it was sweet!!! yay for akaroa... anyway, the plan is to go to the farm tomorrow and hang out for the day, have a bbq on the beach if the weather is ok and then drive to chc on thurs and take off. it'll be really sad to leave... but since hanging with colin, i kind of want to come here and do a year graduate diploma in wine making/selling... hmm

anyway. i love you. xoxoxoxo!


replies:

stella: you are so totally sweet. i have nothing new for you since i facebook messaged you. thanks for enjoying my last story. it really looks like you're living up your senior year, which is soo freaking awesome. i'm super excited for you and everything. and if i haven't told you yet, your hair looks sweet! do you wear dresses and things like that all the time? because it is totally sexy. i think i'm getting a mullet again... tee hee. anyway, i'm still super excited to hang out... even if it is a week or two later because of silly spring break schedules... poo

nancy: you're right. i hope school isn't killing you... hugs and kisses. miss you girl.