So I was thinking, if two days passed in my frame of reference and three days passed for the rest of the world, I am now a day younger than when I left. This has happened to me before, (and all travelers, too,) when I've crossed the International dateline, but I've always gained the day back upon the flight home. But this time, I'm never heading east, my plans are to continue west country by country until I get home next year, so I'll never regain that day! The world has left me behind by a day. Since my birthday is supposed to arrive 365 days after the last one, from a personal biological perspective, my birthday is now March 28th!! The rest of the world will be celebrating the 27th, but I will know the awful truth - that I've now come unglued from my Birthday. I expect some therapy will help me with this... The good news is that I have now discovered a fool-proof, (but expensive,) way to stop the aging process - get your airline mileage points programs ready!
Australia is a wonderful country - scenic, friendly, and so much to do, and Jenn has made me so welcome. I cannot thank her enough. She has housed me, put up with me falling asleep at odd moments as my body adjusts its clock, and taken time out from a really hectic post-grad study schedule to play tour-guide and dive-buddy with me. We've trekked into some beautiful wilderness, dove one of the best wrecks in the world, and ferried out to a scenic tropical getaway isle for a day of secluded beaches, hikes and VB's at sunset.
And I'll write more about them later when I've got the pictures out of my camera. For now, I thought I'd entertain you with some Aussie observations and stories, OK?
First, something near and dear to my heart - beer.
They've got it good here - lots of variety - Victoria Bitter, XXXX Gold (my fave)XXXX Bitter, Toohey's, Carlton, Cooper's, (and I'm sure I'm leaving some out,) and they all have been really good. And Foster's which is the only Aussie beer I don't like, is nowhere to be found. I guess they ship the crap to the Americans with a slick ad campaign. No hard feelings, there's a bunch of KFCs and McDonald's here so it's about even.
I expect that when Starbuck's arrives Down Under, the Australians will have to retaliate in some way, and I'm afraid I know what that will be... The men here sure like shorts. Short shorts. Reno 911! shorts. Almost hotpants shorts. And they wear them with dark socks, too. And it's not just an old man thing, it's everyone. Imagine this coming to America and catching on
On Thursday, Jenn and I rented a car to explore some of the "Bush" nearby. (It's not a lame president here, it's any wild areas that are not quite the Outback, which is REALLY out there.) As Oz is a former UK penal colony, they drive on the left and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, which led to some entertainment. Oh, don't worry, the driving went fine (traffic circles are hair-raising, though,) the pedals and dashboard are all the same, but there are some definite differences. The stick shift is in the middle, so you use your left to (try to) find gears. I got used to that easily, probably thanks to my Dad who used to let me shift from the passenger seat as a kid. The rearview mirror is now on the windshield to your left (weird feeling,) and the most aggravating difference of all was that they flip the turn signal arm and windshield wiper controls, too. So anyone driving around us was under the clear impression that I was pursued by micro rainshowers every time I tried to make a turn. This never got better.
Another driving related peculiarity was that the taxis here have a light bar across the top as if they were the police. Once again, drivers around me were probably wondering what I was doing hitting the brakes at (to them,) random moments.
Finally, the scariest driving moment of all occurred late in the afternoon as we were playing rally car down a dirt track after a beautiful hike to Jourama Falls on our way to a town called Ingham to find an Italian restaurant for dinner (or any restaurant... We failed by the way. Jenn's guidebook was wayyyy wrong.) Our little (really little!) Hyundai was doing 100, (don't panic - it's metric!) power sliding around corners and drifting through the gentle turns and leaving a hugely satisfying dust cloud behind us... Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of something approaching from the left and bounding into the road!!! Literally bounding because it's a kangaroo! (Which are not small animals!) In a second Jenn is making strange noises and I'm standing on the brakes as much as I dare as this terrified looking 'Roo completely cuts us off and continues up the track right in front of us! Luckily, I've slowed us enough and it's fast enough that we miss by about five feet and the kangaroo hangs a right and disappears into the sugarcane. Back in the Hyundai, there is some heavy breathing and startled, nervous, adrenalin-fueled laughter as we contemplate what the rental car would have looked like with a marsupial hood ornament. Then Jenn decides to educate me, "Yeah, you've gotta watch out around dusk - that's when they come out!" Thanks for the timely advice, Jenn.
I'll do a whole entry about the scuba diving tomorrow if I get the pictures downloaded, but I wanted to mention that we took a ferry over to Magnetic Island yesterday. Captain James Cook named it on one of his voyages when it affected his compass, maybe he was into the grog because noone since has had a problem, but the name stuck. What a beautiful place! Two thirds National Park with a couple of small villages and resorts sprinkled around, I was strongly reminded of St John's in the US Virgin Islands. We hiked to some picturesque and romantic deserted beaches, took a guided nature hike and saw Koalas, pythons, crocs and all manner of exciting wildlife. I even got to eat an ant! (Citrusy and subtle with a touch of earthiness, must have been a good year...) Then we settled into a beachside cafe and toasted the beautiful sunset before catching the ferry back to Townsville.
That's all for now,
Ciao and take care,
C
