The other day I decided to try running some new trails. It was supposed to be about an 8 mile loop but of course I managed to miss my turn. I love exploring and being out in the bush and was not concerned about this and decided just to keep going a little while longer. I hadn’t intended on being out so long and when I looked up and saw vultures circling over my head, I decided it was probably time to turn back. The ground was slick from all the rain we had been getting and the hilly trails were made for pretty intense motor bike riding. I don’t really have the appropriate running shoes for this terrain and after a few good slips and falls I decided to take it a bit slower. I was trying to find the turn off to get back on my loop and after trying a few I realized it was getting late and I was going to get lost. I decided to go back the way I came- I had already come about 9 miles and knew it would be past dark by the time I got back. As long as I could get back to my familiar trails I could find my way back in the dark easily enough. By this point I needed water desperately so I decided to go down one of the trails that I knew a creek ran through. Watching for snakes, I made my way into the creek and drank my fill. I took off again and a couple hours later it was past dark and I had made it back to familiar trails but I had no reception out there and no way to tell Em I was ok. Of course, back at the lodge she was freaking out by this point and had gone off looking for me. When she couldn’t find me she called Michael. It was almost 10 now. The two of them set out in the Rhino (kind of like a gator). It was pitch black and I had decided to stick to the longer trail that stayed out in the open so I had more star and moonlight to try and see by. It was a couple miles longer though and very steep downhill. Almost impossible to walk upright if you are taking it coming down. I knew by this time people would be out looking for me so I was listening intently and sure enough before long I heard Em and Michael calling me from way out in the distance. I called back as loud as I could and told them I was ok and was almost home. My yells were so loud and broke the dead silence of night so abrubtly that I think I gave a few kangaroos heart attacks. I heard them take off on my left. A few minues later, I met them at the bottom of the hill and we headed back to the lodge for a couple beers to calm poor Em’s nerves. Michael was highly amused, thank God, and not upset at all. When I told him about where my adventures took me for the day he told me I had probably covered almost 20 miles of some of the toughest terrain in the area. I had been gone eight hours. Sorry Em! Won’t do it again!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Una Puna at the Lodge
Living in the middle of nowhere has never been a problem for me. Life at the lodge is pretty great, but after returning from being surrounded by people in the city we were particularly aware of how alone and even vulnerable we can be up here. It was a rainy night and we had heard something out front, most likely a wombat or some other critter moving around and it put both of us a little on edge. Later that evening, while Em was taking a shower and while I was brushing my teeth getting ready for bed, the lights went out. I found this odd since the generator had been on most of the day and the batteries should have had a full charge. Remembering the noise we heard earlier, my imagination immediately conjured up the image of an intruder possibly cutting our power and wandering around the lodge. Em immediately fed off of me and hopped out of the shower, wrapped herself in a towel and pulled out a pocket knife from her toiletry kit, lol. We grabbed our head lamps and made our way through the house checking the rooms for the possible intruder and collecting weapons along the way. We made it out to the garage and put more petrol in the generator and got it going again. The lights came on, and upon further inspection of the lodge we realized we were indeed alone.
Of course, we laughed at ourselves that night but made the mistake of telling Shaynee about our scare the next day. Shaynee, of course had a field day and couldn’t stop telling everyone the story about the Una Puna (the Aussie version of Bigfoot) visiting the lodge and Em and I wandering around the lodge in shower towels, head lamps, and of course leathermans ready to take him on. As if we don’t already get enough grief as it is for being Yanks… Geez.
Of course, we laughed at ourselves that night but made the mistake of telling Shaynee about our scare the next day. Shaynee, of course had a field day and couldn’t stop telling everyone the story about the Una Puna (the Aussie version of Bigfoot) visiting the lodge and Em and I wandering around the lodge in shower towels, head lamps, and of course leathermans ready to take him on. As if we don’t already get enough grief as it is for being Yanks… Geez.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
On Holiday!
Last week Em and I left the country behind and made our way into Melbourne and Sydney for an absolutely fantastic holiday. We started off with a little time to kill in Melbourne before connecting to our Sydney flight Monday night. We arrived at Spencer Street- basically the city center with our luggage, jeans, and t-shirts excited and clueless and proceeded to wander back and forth on Spencer Street for about 40 minutes amidst all the glamorous city people who were all decked out in the latest fashions. I am sure there had to be onlookers sipping their coffee at one of the restaurants we passed who noticed these two incredibly out of place American girls pulling roller boards back and forth about 20 times before finally disappearing into the city. Somehow, we found the general area we needed to turn off into and made our way to the free tourist shuttle which we took to the Botanical Gardens, the Art Museum, and Federation Square. After cramming in two days worth of sight seeing into three hours we hurried back to Southern Cross Station to catch the tram to the airport.
We arrived in Sydney exhausted and quickly found a shuttle to take us to Kings Cross. Emily and I were highly amused by the experience- our driver hardly spoke English, but spoke more than about half of the other passengers. Repeated miscommunications led to a ridiculously nonsensical ride home as the driver tried to drop off one of our shuttle mates, a Spanish lady at about four different locations before actually arriving at the correct hotel. Once she was finally dropped off the driver managed to get lost up some very narrow alley ways which he then had to back out of with his luggage trailer attached. By this time Emily and I were seriously considering taking our chances on foot. We decided to stay put and eventually made it to our accommodations.
We couldn’t have had a sunnier few days in Sydney, which is now quite possibly my new favorite city. The Botanical Gardens, Sydney Harbor, the Sydney Bridge, and of course the Opera House were all brilliant and even better than I expected. We explored the whole area all day long and took a million pictures. That evening we had dinner at a very fancy (much fancier than either of us belong at) Chinese Restaurant overlooking the Harbor. We sat down and to my utter amusement, the waitress took my napkin, unrolled it and placed it delicately on my lap. Dinner was wonderful and we decided we were ready to head back to our hotel and see what was happening on Kings Cross that evening.
We found an Irish pub that looked promising and made friends quickly. Before my first beer was finished I found myself in the middle of a game of darts with some friendly Aussie guys. Several drinks later, when my dart throwing was getting more and more precarious and after meeting more friends- a Dutch girl and a Canadian girl we all went to a table and enjoyed a few hours of laughs and good conversation.
We woke up the next morning (much later than planned), threw on our swimmers and beach clothes and headed to Manly Beach for the day. We took the ferry across Sydney Harbor and arrived at easily the best beach I have ever been to in my life! The day couldn’t have been more perfect for it and as soon as we claimed a spot on the beach we marinated ourselves in sunscreen and took off for the water and the waves. The waves were huge and we spent hours jumping into them, being tossed and nearly drowned numerous times. After a couple hours of this I laid out on the beach and napped for another two hours and then headed back for more fun in the waves. Hundreds of Aussies at the beach that day, and the waves crashed us right into Adam from Kansas City, quite possibly the only other American on that beach. (We were shocked at how few Americans we have met so far) Adam was in the army and was on his two week leave from Iraq and was just starting his second week in Australia in Sydney. He joined us for the rest of the day as we did some window shopping and got dinner overlooking the beach and then some Ben and Jerrys for dessert. We found a guitarist who was absolutely amazing. He was just playing in front of the docks and reminded me of Carrie playing her guitar. We just sat and listened to him for about an hour and then headed back. We had a fantastic night view of the harbor and Sydney night lights. Perfect ending to the perfect day!
We flew back to Melbourne next day and found a backpackers hostel to stay at for a couple days. We bunked with about eight other people that were looking for work in the city living the nomad backpacker lifestyle. It felt like we were back in college again living in the dorms but I absolutely loved it! By far the cheapest way to travel and a great way to meet travel companions. By this time, we were on party mode and met up with our friends that we took on a two day luxury ride a couple weeks before. We met up with two French girls who were living in a beautiful apartment just a couple blocks from our hostel. Our international group consisted of a Swiss guy, two Brits, Three French, and two Americans. I am still trying to figure out how we go on holiday in the city and meet almost no Aussies. Not that I am complaining, it was a great group and we headed to a karaoke bar for the evening and much later we got back to the hostel and quickly decided to extend our stay for another night.
Next day we went shopping- me shopping! And I actually wasn’t dragged. I bought the cutest new dress that was priced at $60 for $19 and of course had to get new shoes to match. We headed back very happy with our purchases and clueless as to whenever we would possibly wear them and were absolutely not concerned about it.
That night our luck ran out weather wise and we got a small taste of the rain that has been plaguing the northern regions. We decided to head back the next day so we hopped a bus back home. We were ready to pass out and recover from our travels. Little did we know that a group of motor bikers had come out for the weekend and were jamming out on drums and guitar by the bonfire when we arrived that night. I love Australia.
We arrived in Sydney exhausted and quickly found a shuttle to take us to Kings Cross. Emily and I were highly amused by the experience- our driver hardly spoke English, but spoke more than about half of the other passengers. Repeated miscommunications led to a ridiculously nonsensical ride home as the driver tried to drop off one of our shuttle mates, a Spanish lady at about four different locations before actually arriving at the correct hotel. Once she was finally dropped off the driver managed to get lost up some very narrow alley ways which he then had to back out of with his luggage trailer attached. By this time Emily and I were seriously considering taking our chances on foot. We decided to stay put and eventually made it to our accommodations.
We couldn’t have had a sunnier few days in Sydney, which is now quite possibly my new favorite city. The Botanical Gardens, Sydney Harbor, the Sydney Bridge, and of course the Opera House were all brilliant and even better than I expected. We explored the whole area all day long and took a million pictures. That evening we had dinner at a very fancy (much fancier than either of us belong at) Chinese Restaurant overlooking the Harbor. We sat down and to my utter amusement, the waitress took my napkin, unrolled it and placed it delicately on my lap. Dinner was wonderful and we decided we were ready to head back to our hotel and see what was happening on Kings Cross that evening.
We found an Irish pub that looked promising and made friends quickly. Before my first beer was finished I found myself in the middle of a game of darts with some friendly Aussie guys. Several drinks later, when my dart throwing was getting more and more precarious and after meeting more friends- a Dutch girl and a Canadian girl we all went to a table and enjoyed a few hours of laughs and good conversation.
We woke up the next morning (much later than planned), threw on our swimmers and beach clothes and headed to Manly Beach for the day. We took the ferry across Sydney Harbor and arrived at easily the best beach I have ever been to in my life! The day couldn’t have been more perfect for it and as soon as we claimed a spot on the beach we marinated ourselves in sunscreen and took off for the water and the waves. The waves were huge and we spent hours jumping into them, being tossed and nearly drowned numerous times. After a couple hours of this I laid out on the beach and napped for another two hours and then headed back for more fun in the waves. Hundreds of Aussies at the beach that day, and the waves crashed us right into Adam from Kansas City, quite possibly the only other American on that beach. (We were shocked at how few Americans we have met so far) Adam was in the army and was on his two week leave from Iraq and was just starting his second week in Australia in Sydney. He joined us for the rest of the day as we did some window shopping and got dinner overlooking the beach and then some Ben and Jerrys for dessert. We found a guitarist who was absolutely amazing. He was just playing in front of the docks and reminded me of Carrie playing her guitar. We just sat and listened to him for about an hour and then headed back. We had a fantastic night view of the harbor and Sydney night lights. Perfect ending to the perfect day!
We flew back to Melbourne next day and found a backpackers hostel to stay at for a couple days. We bunked with about eight other people that were looking for work in the city living the nomad backpacker lifestyle. It felt like we were back in college again living in the dorms but I absolutely loved it! By far the cheapest way to travel and a great way to meet travel companions. By this time, we were on party mode and met up with our friends that we took on a two day luxury ride a couple weeks before. We met up with two French girls who were living in a beautiful apartment just a couple blocks from our hostel. Our international group consisted of a Swiss guy, two Brits, Three French, and two Americans. I am still trying to figure out how we go on holiday in the city and meet almost no Aussies. Not that I am complaining, it was a great group and we headed to a karaoke bar for the evening and much later we got back to the hostel and quickly decided to extend our stay for another night.
Next day we went shopping- me shopping! And I actually wasn’t dragged. I bought the cutest new dress that was priced at $60 for $19 and of course had to get new shoes to match. We headed back very happy with our purchases and clueless as to whenever we would possibly wear them and were absolutely not concerned about it.
That night our luck ran out weather wise and we got a small taste of the rain that has been plaguing the northern regions. We decided to head back the next day so we hopped a bus back home. We were ready to pass out and recover from our travels. Little did we know that a group of motor bikers had come out for the weekend and were jamming out on drums and guitar by the bonfire when we arrived that night. I love Australia.
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