Logan lives in Yulara

I have been told that there are about 700 people living in Yulara at the moment, and now Logan can be counted among us. Woot Woot! Loges arrived last Sunday, had a job confirmed on Friday and he starts on this coming Wednesday. Logan will be one of the new handymen at the “Sails in the Desert” hotel (the 5 star hotel here). We are all very excited for Logan, and very proud of him for getting a job so quickly.

Logan has made lots of friends already, his newest best friend being Darren. Logan has been going to the pool, the pub, socializing at different people’s houses (lots of house parties up here), playing cards, etc. The young women in Yulara are clearly quite interested in him, and of course Logan is loving that.

Kristy and I are taking Logan to the Residents Club tomorrow night for dinner because it is FIVE DOLLAR BURGER NIGHT! Kristy usually works on Monday nights, so she doesn’t get to experience this cheap burger-in-a-bun event, but tomorrow she has taken the night off because... we have the BIG METEORITE SHOWER OF DECEMBER 2010 tomorrow night.

If you are anywhere in Australia you should be able to see this meteorite shower. If you go out and look at the sky around midnight or so, chances are that you will see a meteorite. They are predicting about 50 meteorites an hour! We are all going to a big hill in the desert to watch the meteorite shower – it should be amazing. With the stars being totally unreal here every night, the meteorite shower will be wow!

Last Wednesday was the Resorts big Christmas party. It cost $25 pp to attend, and each person got a stubby holder (I gave mine away), a t-shirt (someone will be getting this sent to them for Christmas), food all night (hamburgers, cinnamon donuts, fairy floss, and something called dagwood dogs – uggg) and alcohol all night. Logan had a very good time with the free alcohol. Oh there was also rides! Dodgem Cars and some other scary whirly thing. I am not a ‘carnival-ride’ person, but Logan was on the Dodgem Cars until they closed them at 10pm (re-living his childhood?). Logan and I also had lots of dances on the VERY sticky, booze-soaked dance floor. And tell me this... why... after a number of drinks, does John Farnham’s “Your the Voice” feel sooooo good to dance to? Surely alcohol does not distort the senses THAT much!!!??!!

I won a prize in one of the competitions I have been entering! It was Take 5, or That’s Life (the prize and accompanying letter was sent to my mumma’s house so I am not sure exactly which magazine it was from). The prize is only a small one – a makeup set, but it is a beginning! Bring on the rest!! I was so excited!

Speaking of winning, I won the retail again this month at the Spa. Unfortunately (and unexpectedly, and unexcitingly) I was not given the dinner as the prize (as per last month). I must say, I was pretty disappointed, as I was truly under the impression that the dinner voucher was again the prize for selling the most Spa products. Oh well. So much for regular incentives.

Oh, and I have just finished watching the first season of Underbelly, on DVD. I know, I know, everyone else in Australia has already seen it years ago, but I hadn’t until now. It was a lot better than I thought it would be.

Latest Japanese word/phrase: “Garusu Irrimaska”, which translates to “Do you want a glass?” Also, “Me Tay”, which means “Look”. Oh, and also “Rakuda” which means “camel” (this is a good one to know in the desert, but not sure it will help me in any other place – I mean how often will I need to say “Rakuda Me Tay” when I am away from here?). Interestingly, I have have been speaking my Japanese with an Italian accent – not sure why this weird phenomena is occurring, but I’m putting it down to a past life thing (of course I am). Although, in spite of this, many of the Japanese tourist tell me that I do speak my small amount of Japanese very well and that I am very understandable.

Karen and Nardie – welcome back from your Europe Invasion – Yay you are both back safe and sound!

Happy birthday for yesterday Gayle!

Kristy and I are sending our thoughts and love to Annie. xxx

Arigato (thank you) for reading the blog.

Best Hump at Ayers Rock

Kristy and I had a camel ride last night, courtesy of Uluru Camel Tours and it was FANTASTIC!!! (contrary to my previous camel ride that I had elsewhere). The Uluru camel farm has just been taken over by two great guys, Chris and Mark and they are making lots of positive changes to the place. For starters they have brought from Broome many of their own camels, who have been like pets and are loved and spoilt. These camels just luuuuved to be cuddled (after we finished the ride, Kristy couldn’t stop cuddling our camel).

We were on the sunset camel tour. It was only a small tour, there was 6 of us all up, and the cameleer, Chris (he had a very dry sense of humour, which made it all the more fun). Our camel was Ned Kelly (he is a famous camel, as he was in the movie ‘Australia’ – you know the one, with Nicole Kidman). The next camel in line was Lazy Daisy (who is a male camel, and who is one of the fastest camels in Australia (an example of Chris’s dry sense of humour). The third camel was Connor, and he was named as such because he was caught at the base of Mount Conner (remember Mount Connor? It is the mountain that Kristy and I first thought was Ayers Rock – refer an earlier blog). Anyway, Connor is the most handsome camel I have ever seen (I know that it not saying a lot, as I have not seen a whole lot of camels, but I believe I can confidently say that he is one good looking dude for a camel). Lastly, there was Raji Red, but I don’t really know much of his story.

It was so grounding (is the closest word I can think of to describe the experience) to be sitting astride a camel, in the middle of the desert, in front of Uluru, at sunset. The desert is so quiet (well it was after I shushed up Kristy). I don’t think I have experienced quietness like that – the quietness of nature. The camel ride is probably one of the most spiritual-like tours I have experienced here in the NT, it was so earthy and real (I can’t find the exact adjectives to describe the experience, but I hope you get the picture anyway).

Chris and Mark also have an ‘old man’ camel. He is little and white and about 40 years old, and they have had him and loved him as a pet for over 20 years. 40 is quite an age for a camel, because most wild camels do not live beyond 30 years old (strangely enough, wild desert camels eventually die of obesity because there is so much for them to eat in the desert!).

I highly recommend if you come up here to go and have a sunset (or sunrise) camel tour with Uluru Camel Tours. You can ring them directly on (08) 8956 2444 to book your tour.

We finished up the tour with wine and snacks and chatted to the owners for ages. By the way, one of the snacks provided was Beer Bread, and it was delicious... here is the recipe:

Beer Bread(makes 2 loaves)

3 cups of self raising flour
1 can of beer
Pinch salt and sugar
Quarter cup water
Mix ingredients in a bowl (don’t knead)

Grease loaf tins and pur dough (should be sloppy, not dry) into tins.
Sprinkle with grated cheese, bran or sesame seeds (all are optional).

Bake in hot oven 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden.

Let it cool a little before cutting.

This bread was so yum! It is a bit damper like, and seems so easy to make. I am going to try making it tomorrow night. I will let you know how it goes.

Yesterday I stood on grass. There is no grass at all where we live here in Yulara, but grass has been planted for the tourists at some of the hotels here. So yesterday, when no guests where around, I took off my shoes and stood in grass. Ahhhhh... it was so so lovely to wiggle my toes in the cool, spongey greenness. I never really appreciated grass before.

Kristy and I had our free dinner late last week – my prize for selling the most products at the Spa. It was YUM YUM YUM!!! We don’t go out for dinner very much (for 2 reasons: 1, I can usually cook better than we get when we eat out, and 2, we are trying to save as much money as we can). But this meal was really, really nice. For entree I had Duck Wontons and Kristy had a Sushi platter. For main I had Chicken green curry and K had honey chicken. For desert Kristy had a fruit platter and I had banana spring rolls (there was no pastry in this meal, but the banana rolls were coated in a type of sweet breadcrumb with chocolate dipping sauce). And we had cocktails! Instead of ordering a bottle of wine, or any beer, we had 3 cocktails each. My last cocktail was a Toblerone cocktail – and I put on 4 kilos just ordering it (the other 10 kilo’s came after I drank it!). Gotta say though, it was worth it! Thank you Tali Bar! Thank you Spa for the prize!

We have a new friend Darren, and he has taught us a new card game, called ‘Frustration’. We luv it! Has Kristy won a game yet? No... not yet. Kristy stayed up last Wednesday with Darren, drinking until 5am! There were not many beers left in the fridge after that drinking session. There were 2 very hung-over people in Yulara the next day.

Kristy, in her job as Shuttle Driver, is making many friends (she meets people on the bus, and then brings them home... and I am not kidding). One of her new friends, Gracie, gave Kristy some banana cake (which we know is totally the way to Kristy’s heart!) and Kristy loved it so much that 2 nights ago, Gracie brought over some carrot cake for Kristy to try. I have to say it was the bestest carrot cake I have ever tasted. It is so good that I have paid Gracie to make us another carrot cake.

I am still working on learning basic Japanese, and can now say about 8 words, plus I can count to 5 in Japanese (Icki, Ni, San, Yon, Go).

Thank you to those who have sent us things through the post, it makes us happy to receive mail. Dave and Sarah sent us a lovely ‘thank you’ card, Suzie and Theo sent us a Christmas card, Tracy, Ben and baby Alex sent us a Christmas card, and Kristy’s mother sent us a Christmas parcel – yay!!!!

Logan is here on Sunday!!! Woot!!!! Yay Logie Bear!!!

Oh, and really... Victoria!?! You are now a Liberal state??? We leave and that’s what you do?????

Sayonera! (not really, because I will see you all again).

Full moon tonight - awesome!

Tonight I saw a full moon rise up over Ayers Rock. It was spectacular. I was working as a BBQ Assistant (3rd job) which is a BBQ given next to Uluru, and people pay something like $99 to come and eat and drink by the Rock. The night is quite good value and includes a pretty good BBQ, dessert and wine/beer. The main meal consists of a variety of salads, and barbecued meat, including beef steaks, chicken skewers, lamb sausages, marinated kangaroo fillets and garlic prawns. As staff, we also were provided with a meal, and I can tell you – the food was really good, the chicken was perfect, the garlic prawns were excellent (it has been a while since I have had a prawn) and the kangaroo melted in my mouth.

But the total highlight of the night was seeing that big full moon start to peek over the Rock, and slowly rise in the night sky. The moon was so bright that we could hardly see any stars in the sky. And, when we were driving home after the night was over, our driver turned off the car lights to show us that the moon was so bright we really didn’t need car lights (as it was after 11pm at night, I did say that, despite the glorious moon, it may still be a good idea to turn those car lights back on).

When the moon started to show over the Rock, the guests at the BBQ stopped eating their dessert and started snapping photo after photo. I wish that I had my iPhone or camera on me, so I could have taken some photo’s too. But even though I don’t have a photo, I will always have the memory.

Also, tonight, I saw my first wild dingo. After the guests had left and we were packing up all the tables, chairs, glasses, food, etc, the dingo was circling us, and sniffing around for food. He was the colour of a golden Labrador, and he was not shy at all. Nor was he scrawny, so I figure he must be picking up scraps of food every night from the BBQ.

Kristy is still enjoying driving the shuttle, and she sees many an interesting thing, some of which are quite x-rated and I cannot discuss here. Suffice to say she sees a lot, sometimes too much.

I now know 2 Japanese words – Kon-neat-she-wa ... wrong spelling, but that is how it sounds (means hello) and Arigato (which means thank-you). Which reminds me... Kristy was driving the shuttle bus and when the Japanese tourists would get off, they would say “Arigato” (they are so lovely, and so very polite). Kristy, however, does not know the Japanese language, and so she assumed that they were saying ‘goodbye’ to her, so then she started saying it back to them, thinking she was saying “goodbye” in return. So, the upshot was that they were saying thank-you” to her (for driving the shuttle bus), and she was saying “thank-you” back to them! Ahhh, i guess there are worse things she could have said. Oh, I also know another Japanese word, and it sounds like this – “Camp–Pie”. Basically, it means “Cheers” and the Japanese say it when they are giving a toast to something.

At the Spa this week, I have massaged 2 pregnant women! It is so beautiful doing pregnancy massages, because you have to be so light with your touch (no deep tissue or remedial massage at all) and it is just the most relaxing and beautiful experience. The mothers-to-be lay there, on their sides on the massage table, they are so serene, holding their bellies, soft music is playing, oil is being rubbed lightly on their backs, the blinds are down, the room is dim and it almost feels magical.

I gave Kristy her first facial the other day. I think she liked the experience, but she said that she didn’t notice any difference in her skin, but I defiantly noticed her face looking better. It just looked a little more glowing and uplifted. I am one of those people who think everyone and their dog should have at least one facial in their life (alright, maybe not the dog, unless you are Paris of course).

The most exciting news this week, though, is.... (please hear a drum roll in your head), my son, Logan, is coming to live at Yulara with us!!!! Logan feels like a change of scenery, and a bit of an adventure, and so he is going to try living out here for a while. Now is a good time to do it because it is easier to come out here if you know someone. Kristy and I are still planning to leave in a few months, and if Logan likes it here, he can stay longer (because by that time he will be established and set up) or if he doesn’t like it, then no harm done and he can head back to civilisation when we leave. Either way, good on him, at least he is being brave and doing something different. And of course I am VERY excited to be having him here. I have put his resume out there, and I am crossing my fingers that he picks up work quickly. Once he gets work, he will then get his own accommodation, and while it will be lovely to have him staying with us in the short-term, in the long-term we will all want to have our privacy.

I spoke to someone in the newsagency today, as I was buying my usual buddle of puzzle books. She told me that she has won three prizes from That’s Life and/or Take 5 magazines – the prizes being 1: A car!!!! 2: $1,500!!!! 3. Big screen TV!!!!! I felt that this news was a good omen and that I may soon hear about a big win from one (or more) of the competitions that I have entered. Winning something big means that Kristy and I can spend more time travelling and exploring, and less time working - YAAAAYYY!! So, everyone, take a big breathe and manifest me winning much $$$$$$ and big prizes (cars, TV’s, etc). Remember, everything that you wish for someone else, you get back tenfold for yourself.

And to finish off, as Kristy would say... arigato.

Helicopters, pool parties and macaroons.

I went up in a helicopter – OMG OMG OMG!!!! It was amazing! We did a sunset helicopter trip over the Rock and Kata Tjuta. It really was awesome. My first helicopter ride! For those who saw the pictures, you will see from the HUGE grins on our faces how exciting it was! I am sending the guys from Professional Helicopter Services (PHS) a big, big thank you. It has given me a really precious memory that I will always have, and will make me smile whenever I think about it. Kristy, of course, took a zillion photographs because (as you all know) we needed some more sunset pictures --- I am kidding Kristy, your photos are fab :)

The Spa is going well, although the tips have eased off (damnation!). It goes that way sometimes I guess. But, Karen is back in action (her hand/arm is better) and she is waxing and massaging everything in sight – Yay! And Kerrie is back in town (literally) – Yay!, and Erin has started work with us - Yay, so there is a full staff load at the Red Ochre Spa (which means I am back to 3 days a week).

Of course, I couldn’t just work the 3 days a week, and my 2nd job starts this Wednesday – working with the Japanese tours on the sunset champagne drinks. I am very excited and can’t wait to get started.

And my old place of work rang me! The place that was my original 2nd job (and will now be my 3rd job), and have asked if I can help them out a bit, so of course I said yes. So that is 3 part-time jobs now – fun!!!! And no- that wasn’t sarcasm, I really see that this will be fun!

Oh... our garden has expanded. I introduced Kristy to Donald - he has set up the most amazing garden, like it is majorly wow (he even has goldfish!!). And he gave us one of his hanging plants! It looks great out the front of our place, as do the solar powered, coloured, fairy lights that now adorn our veranda area (e-bay purchase from Ms Kristy!). She keeps assuring me that it is not a “permanency” thing.

There is a meteorite-shower party happening here on December 13th. It is going to be spectacular (providing of course that there is no cloud, rain, etc). At about 10.30 pm or so on the night of 13-12-10 a group of us are going up to a hill (probably with some esky’s, which will, of course, only contain soft-drinks) and will stay up on afore mentioned hill to watch the meteorites. This is going to be another amazing memory. I would never have done this in Melbourne!

There was a power outage in Yulara last Thursday. Both Kristy and I weren’t working, so we thought we would head down to one of the pools. It was a pretty hot day and it is no fun being inside without air-conditioning. A lot of people closed up shop for the afternoon here at Yulara (what did we do with the tourists?). Anyway, sooooo many people came to the pool – and it ended up being an impromptu pool party, and it was a hoot! I am not really much of a pool person usually, but this was different – very social, very relaxed, very easy. Although, because the power wasn’t on, that meant that the pool filter wasn’t working, so after a while, the pool became a bit grubby. As soon as that happened (the obvious grubbiness), I left the water, because I have an issue with germs and I didn’t want to be sitting in a huge petri-dish filled with mucky people bacteria and floating skins cells (yes, yes, I appreciate the irony! I know I touch people’s naked bodies all day, but somehow it is different – this time the germs were floating in water!). Anyway, it was still fun sitting beside the pool, reading my book and chatting to people. For those who are wondering, yes, Kristy stayed in the pool the whole time. She doesn't let a germ or 2 (or a 1,000) bother her!

My cooking experimentation continues, and this week I made home-made spring rolls (I don’t think the bacon made them authentic, but it did make them tasty). I also made coconut macaroons, and they were a big hit with Kristy. I found them to be a little too coconutty, but I will try to make them again – I need to perfect the recipe. Yes Mel – I will make them for you when I see you next (even though I know said you wanted a store-brought macaroon).

And... this was very exciting... this week I found out that people I DON’T EVEN KNOW are reading this blog – is that not Oh My God!!!!???? I was speaking to someone who works at the Resort here, and he asked me if I am writing a blog, and I said yes (first I asked him “Why are you asking?” I think I thought I might have been in trouble or something! Well, you know my motto – “When in doubt, panic.”) Anyhoo, I just want to say HI to Grant, and to all the crew at Longie and thank you so much for reading the blog. I feel a bit special about it! And, when are you guys coming in for a massage? I want to meet you all!

Kristy is LOVING being the night shuttle bus driver, and I mean LOVING it! She is able to meet people, chat, listen to music, stay clean, have air conditioning – it is all good! And she looks very cute in her uniform, especially now that she has peroxided her hair again.

Gotta go now, the little unit is a total mess, dishes everywhere, (all plates are dirty), clothes are on the floor, bottles, cans, etc. Sigh. I must clean up before Kristy gets home. Or maybe I shall go to bed and clean up tomorrow before I go to work. Choices, choices. To sleep OR to clean (ah yes, that age old question). Which one will I choose?

Tired, Tips and Trying new things.

This coming Wednesday we will have been back here at the Rock for 24 days. I will have had only 4 days off in that time (Mandy, I know this is typical of you, but remember, I am a LAZY girl)! And... at work for almost 9 hours per day sometimes! I am getting tired!!!!! My head is kind of spinning. Yet, I am still having trouble sleeping (you think I would just be crashing unconscious every single night.... but noooo!)

The reason I am working so much (remember, this is the job I was suppose to be working only three days a week, because, yes it is true, I AM a lazy girl) is because:

a) the gorgeous Karen (Spa Therapist colleague) has RSI (or something similar) in her wrist, so she cannot do any treatments (however she is doing a super trooper job of reception at the Spa - Go Karen!)

b) the gorgeous Kerrie (another Spa Therapist colleague) is on holidays, attending a family wedding

c) the gorgeous (I am assuming gorgeous, because I haven’t met her yet, but I feel she is going to be gorgeous) Erin, was meant to start last week at the Spa, but she has an ear infection and she cannot fly (fly to Yulara, not fly in general!!!!).

Therefore, I am helping out the Spa, taking on extra hours in the short term, to help them through this rough-ish, low-on-therapist's patch.

Yes, on the negative side, I am very tired, but on the positive side, I am getting even better at massage and facials! Also, the tips are rolling in this week (just over $100 for this week), AND I won the October ‘retail’ competition (although this happened before we went back to Melbourne, so doesn’t really have anything to do with the extra hours I am now working, but it is still EXCITING because I get a majorly good prize for selling the most beauty products).

I have found it ethically hard to compete against my gorgeous colleagues to see who sells the most retail products, as I don’t like winning at the expense of someone else losing. I spoke to my manager about this, and she was really open to including an incentive to the person who comes second in the selling.

Kristy (the girl that loves a good meal, and even better if it is free!)is mega happy that I won the dinner prize, because it means that her and I get to go to a fancy restaurant, and the prize includes dinner, AND all drinks, and there is NO $$$$ limit (although I have been told that it won’t be looked on favourably if I order a 10 bottles of the $500 champagne). Personally, I am looking forward to oysters and cocktails. And whatever else takes my fancy at the time. My mum has advised Kristy to not eat the bread rolls, as they are ‘fillers’ and they take away from the ‘real’ (= expensive) food.

Another exciting event is about to occur - Kristy, God bless her, has secured us an excellent discount (approx 20%) on a helicopter trip over Ayers Rock. So that is what we are doing next Thursday. I have never done a helicopter flight, and to do the first one over the Rock will be mind-blowing!! I am hyperventilating at the thought of it!!!!

Last Thursday, Kristy and I went to the Sounds of Silence dinner. I sent a number of people some photographs from that night, however due to size restrictions, some of you didn’t get the pics, or the email!! Sounds of Silence is a dinner, in the desert, with the Rock in view. It also involves a Star Talker, who points out the night sky constellations. Kristy and I felt so special on that night! We were firstly greeted with champagne, beer, wine and canapés. Then we all walked down to the dining site, where we ate and were topped up with wine and beer all night long. We were at a table with a honeymooning couple from Germany they were very funny AND they kept disappearing into the night (and the toilets!!!!) to do ‘you know what’), and another couple from Holland (she was terrified of bugs, which was interesting to watch her cringing as the desert bugs came out at dusk), and another couple from Malaysia (he set up a BIG camera on a tripod and snapped pics of us all night – of us at the dining table, not the naughty German couple!!). As usual, I ate waaaaay too much (it was there, what else would I do??) but this time I did stop myself before I wanted to vomit. AND... I got to see 4 of Jupiter’s moons through a telescope!

On one of my days off this week, K and I went to the closest pool (there are about 5 pools in very close walking distance) for about an hour. God, it was nice to submerge in water, to drink wine by the pool edge, to listen to music while basking in the sun. I need another day off! By the way, if you are wondering, yes, Kristy is still obsessed with the weather (mind you, that worked out very well for booking Sounds of Silence, because it is not very good to do on a cloudy night - no stars!).

Tonight, after my last client left the Spa, the gorgeous Karen layed me down on a massage table and tinted my eyebrows and my eyelashes. Now it looks like I am wearing mascara even when I don’t have any on! I love these little extra bits of this job! Ta Karen - you're a doll!

Kristy has changed jobs (thank goodness!!!) and she is now driving the Night Shuttle Bus. This is a free bus service for all guests and staff around the resort. Basically, Kristy now picks up very happy (which translates to drunk) people from whichever pub they are at, and drops them at their accommodation (or the next pub they are going to). She tells me that there is sometimes lots of singing on the bus (I am not sure it is worthy of Australian Idol, but I am sure that whatever it lacks in talent, is more than made up for in volume). And, Kristy even got a $10 tip on the Shuttle Bus the other night – which is very rare to get on the bus!

I made chocolate chip cookies last night. They were a disaster. One batch was very over-cooked (let’s be honest, quite, quite burnt) and the next batch had too much flour. They were all meant to be thrown away, but Kristy took them to her work, and all the bus drivers ate them within 2 hours! Greedy Gus’s!

Poor Kristy, she has been doing most of the housework for the last 3 weeks. I am working so much that I am just not home a lot. There are many days when I leave for work before she gets up, and I get home after she has left for work. K does have a 45 minute break on this new job, so she ducks back to see me then. And then we talk 100 to the dozen to get all of our news out to each other before she heads off again to work! Each night, I try to make her something to eat (tonight was pikelets with jam) so she has a snack for when she comes home... although there is an ulterior motive to this – because while she is eating, I get the chance to talk! We just have so little time for catch up, and K has lots to say, so I have to make sure that I get my 2 cents worth in too!

Kristy has made us a garden, outside of our apartment. To me, it reeks of permanency, which is very scary, because (while there is lots of great things about Yulara) I don’t want to live here permanently. However, the garden does look nice, and even the sharp sticks surrounding every plant kind of look cool (K put them there to stop the rabbits eating the succulents). Aside from a truck load of Aloe Vera, we also have Jade, chillies, spearmint, parsley and some other red leaf thing.

Tonight was another big storm in the desert. I sat outside, so I could ‘experience’ the fullness of the storm, in all its glory. The wind was severely whipping up all the red dust, the lightening was flashing at 360 degrees. The rain started coming down and it smelt delicious. By the time I got back inside, I was cold, wet, and covered in red dust. Seriously, I am still picking out the dust from my ears – true!

I like it here, which is lucky, because we are planning to be here until at least the end of Jan 2011, and it will be fun to do NYE at Ayers Rock, however I am REALLY looking forward to the West Coast, Perth, Coral Bay, Exmouth, Broome, Darwin, and all the other places here and there and in between that have sea and beach (and maybe shops every now and then would be good too).

Also there were two big weddings this month in Melbourne. Congratulations to Peter and Katrisse Wilson, we can't wait for your Thailand photos. And also a friend of Kristy's - congratulations to Kate and Paul! We can't wait to see your photos also. May you guys all have many years of happiness and love together.

Back at good ol' strange Yulara

Life has been so busy that the Blog has been on the backburner for a while! Damn those backburners – too convenient. Opps, that reminds me - I have garlic bread in the oven (I really do!)

We are now back in good ol’ Yulara. Good ol’ strange Yulara. We left Victoria on a Sunday morning, flew to Alice Springs and did a BIG grocery shop. I then had a little mini breakdown (Kristy will say that it was a BIG breakdown) because I had forgotten that the cheaper liquor stores (i.e. Coles Liquor, Woolworths Liquor) are not open on a Sunday due to the strict Alice Springs Liquor Laws, and, you know, I really, really needed some wine to take back to good ol’ strange Yulara. So, I was forced to go and buy my wine at the more expensive drive-through bottle-o’s (I am not kidding, there are only 2 bottle-shops open in all of Alice Springs on Sundays). However, while it was not all that cheap, it was still cheaper than buying alcohol in Yulara.

Once we got back to good ol' strange Yulara, Kristy very quickly (and very kindly) arranged for wine to be delivered here via internet ordering (I think she wanted to avoid dealing with me having another breakdown. Who can blame her?).

After the afore mentioned breakdown, and the grocery shopping, we drove 4 and ½ hours back to Yulara. I had to start back at work the next day, and we didn’t want to be driving at Kangaroo hour (which begins at approx 4pm), so we left as soon as possible. I had been hoping for some Pad Thai from Thongs (or maybe it is called Tongs) in Alice Springs before we left (there are no such Thai eateries at Yulara and I miss Asian food a lot), but of course Thongs (or Tongs)was closed. More tears from me --- remember, I WAS tired from being up before dawn to fly back to N.T.(that is my excuse and I’m sticking to it).

On the drive back to good ol’ strange Yulara, two exciting-ish events occurred. 1: I saw a baby camel (wild one) eating the leaves from a burnt tree on the side of the road, and 2: An eagle pooped on the van (it was kinda yellow in colour, just in case you were wondering). In the 4 and ½ hours of driving, the exciting events accounted for under 5 minutes. The rest of the drive was listening to Lady Gaga (love it), listening to K D Lang (very soothing), and listening (reluctantly on my part) to some screechy music that Kristy had newly purchased.

It was great to have been back in Victoria and see the family. Mel and Mick’s wedding was lovely. Mel looked beautiful, as did little Elle. It was a night of celebration and fun, with lots of laughing and dancing. My mum and Kristy and I then looked after Elle while Mel and Mick went on their honeymoon. Elle is such a beautiful little girl - she is pretty, curious, cheeky and very intelligent. It was lovely to spend a good amount of time getting to know Elle and enjoying her company. My mum and I loved it, not to mention Kristy (she is very clucky at the moment!)

While we were in Melbourne, we also did manage to catch up with a few people on Friday night at Jody’s house (thank you so much Jody for opening up your house for a group of rowdy women + Ryan). And thank you to Tara, Dustey, Ronnie, Debbie, Jodi, Fee, Caroline, Lisa, Casey, Karen, Nardie and Ryan for coming out to see us in Newport on a very cold and rainy Melbourne evening. Vik... next time! Jake ... next time!

Oh, and we saw The Twins! Debbie and Kylie have just brought little twinnies into the world – Georgie and Ryder! OMG! They are just the cutest little bubbies! Congratulations girls! Well done on such beautiful babies. And you know it made Kristy even more clucky!

Was also wonderful to catch up with the jestsetter – Ronnie. What luck that we were in Melbourne at the same time that you were Ronnie! And Ronnie... when are you and the kids coming to the Rock???? We are waiting...

Kristy also went to see her Nan whilst in Melbourne – her Nan is 90 years old, can you imagine everything that she has seen happen to the world in 90 years? PS: Hi Uncle Charlie, it was really nice to hear that you like reading the blog!!

We are having visitors come to Yulara while we are here. Woooo Hoooo!!!! Rachel and her children are coming up, and Karen and Nardie are coming up also. Remember everyone, if you have ever wanted to see Uluru or Kata Tjutua – now is the time... because of the discounts on accommodation that I can get you. Kristy and I miss our friends and family so come see us!!!!

My job at the day Spa is going well. I am still expanding my skills and now can include anti-aging facials (they really do make a difference) and full body scrubs as well as Hot Stone Massage and Cool Hot Stone Massage (this is basically massaging with hot stones over a dencorub type substance). The first hot stone massage I gave to a client, the feedback he gave to my manager was, “That was something else!” and he then gave me a $30 tip (I think the wine he had consumed before entering the spa helped get me the tip, but I am not saying that too loudly. Shhhh).

I am also selling lots of product at the Spa - moisturizers, scrubs, exfoliants, face masks, etc. Who knew I was so good at selling??! I am even amazing myself! The staff member that sells the most product each month gets a free dinner. Kristy REALLY wants me to win the dinner (ahhh, she loves a freebie!). But I am having trouble with the whole concept of competing against my colleagues. I am going to try and sell enough products so that all of us at the Spa can get a free dinner, not just me.

Speaking of food, yesterday Kristy said to me that she felt like a Red Rooster meal. I said no, because it is a 4 and ½ hour drive, one way, to any fast food outlets, and there just wasn’t enough time to drive there and back before starting work the next day. I know, I know, how unreasonable of me. If I could have ordered it online, I would have.

The weather is great here, lovely and warm. Even when we had the rain and thunder storms the other night, it was still warm. Thunder storms in the desert – very exciting (although Kristy once nearly got struck by lightening - when she was little - so she is not as keen on the storms as I am). On the topic of weather, one of Kristy’s biggest hobbies is googling what the weather is at Yulara. Seriously, if I am home, she tells me 4 times a day all about the maximum temperatures, rain fronts, wind velocity, cloudiness, etc that are happening and that we can expect. Personally, I find it so much simpler to just open the door and see if it is raining, or feel if it is hot!

Oh, I also have a hobby, which is bordering on obsession, like all good hobbies should (like Anita and her garden - come on Anita, admit that you are obsessed with the garden!!! I mean, it is looking gorgeous, but is totally your current obsession!). My hobby/obsession, however, is that I am addicted to competitions, like That’s Life, Take 5 and other Puzzle Books that have cash prizes (my brain is clearly seeking stimulation and exercise). I religiously complete any puzzles that I can and send them off. Now, I am waiting for the prizes to start rolling in. Everyone, cross your fingers and toes for Kristy and me, because the more money I win, the quicker we can resume our travels ( I am now HANGING OUT to do the West Coast, because I saw the photos that Gen and Trent sent through --- OMG!! Sooooo beautiful!!!!)

In the meantime, Kristy has got us another pot plant (and by this I mean a "plant in a pot" not a "pot" plant). That makes three now. The newest arrival is a bucket of mud in which Kristy has put in parsley seeds. We are hoping to grow some before we leave, but I have a feeling we will be feeding the rabbits, instead of us. The rabbits come out at night and eat the plants and flowers that people try to grow. I have seen rabbits, at midnight, stretching up on hind legs to reach the tastiest leaves on a pot plant.

The ants are something else out here! As we walk along the path from our van to our home, the ants crawl quickly up the feet and legs and then nip at the skin. The ants are really fast here. If there was an Olympic event for ants, these ants would win! Perhaps I should enquire about ant races. Someone, somewhere in the world must race ants. I could get some Yulara ants and save them, and put them in a world-wide ant race! And win! I wonder how long ants live. I wonder what ants eat? Bread crumbs? Ummm, I have just read back through this paragraph and have realized how much I digressed. JeeeeeeSUS! I HAVE become a strange Yulura person! (some people will argue that I was strange before I got here, but that's just mean!!). Anyhoo, as we walk along the path from our van to our home (yes, I AM continuing on with the story) Kristy spends most of the time jumping up and down, smacking the ants off her calf muscles, and swearing --- too funny!

Kristy is sooooo over her job at the moment. It is very physically demanding, and she does not like working nights. She is going to ask about her “options”, and see if she can do something else, or perhaps lessen the hours she does at night. Poor Kristy, she really thought this job would be a good one.

I, on the other hand, am about to take on a 2nd job. The other 2nd job I had, I ended up leaving and now I have been offered another one. It is doing something similar, serving champagne and canapés at sunset at the Rock, but this time I will be working exclusively with the Japanese tourist. So... konnichiwa. (That is “Good afternoon” in Japanese). With this job, I get to wear a Akubra hat - very Aussie, and you would think, very good. But no. I am not a hat person. Unfortunately when I put on a hat, my forehead looks huge (and do NOT tell me that is because I have a huge forehead, because I DON'T want to hear it). No, let's just say, for no particular reason, I am just not a hat person.

On a more serious, and political, note, today was the 25th anniversary of the handback of Uluru to the traditional aboriginal owners. This was quite a monumental event, but I couldn’t go to the celebrations as I was working. Still, it was good to be close to this event, even if I couldn’t attend.

Moving away from the serious note... two nights ago, I dreamt I kissed Oprah, and she was dressed as a man. I am not going anywhere near analysing this dream.

To finish, a little saying.... "everyday can be confetti day".

PS The garlic bread was burnt to a cinder and unable to be eaten. So I ate chocolate instead.

Beaming back to Victoria

The errant (I wish! – We have been working waaay too much to be errant!) travellers return to sunny (?) Melbourne tomorrow. Our journey back begins at 4.45am tomorrow morning, with a four and half hour drive from Yulara to Alice Springs. We will then pass the van over to Amanda (God bless her) and hop onto a shuttle bus which takes us to the airport. We board the plane to Melbourne at approximately 11.00 am. We arrive Melbourne at 3.05 pm. My mumma is picking Kristy and I up from the airport and taking us back to her place, where, after travelling for over ten hours, we will be able to relax. I am assured by my mother that wine is chilling in the refrigerator (I will need it). She has chocolate for Kristy (I may have some of that too). Please explain to me again WHY we are not flying directly from Yulara to Melbourne???

There was an amazing storm here today. I was massaging a guest, and was looking outside as the storm raced through. Lightening, thunder, wind whipping the trees, torrents falling from the sky, the works! That guest had a very memorable experience – getting a one hour massage while a storm raged through the desert!

Ummm... have just thought... hope there is road access to Alice Springs, so we make our flight. Perhaps we won’t be beaming back to Vic tomorrow after all! Nah, it IS the desert! The rain on the road will dry up quickly. All will be fine.

I am soooooo excited about Mel’s wedding. And seeing little Elle! It is going to be the best!

It will also be good to spend some time with Kristy, well I hope I can anyway. Between us, with our jobs, we are just not seeing each other. We leave notes to communicate now! Although K did come in and have lunch with me today, and it was great to see her, if only for half an hour. Both of us, though, have a lot to do when in Victoria, so even then we may not spend heaps of time together. Perhaps after the ten hours of travelling together, this will be a good thing??? Just kidding – Kristy and I actually travel really well together. We sing, play cards (sometimes both together!), do puzzles, eat, chat and drink lots of diet coke!

Oh I am back in Melbourne tomorrow! I get to see shops! Lot’s of shops! I get to eat Thai food! I get to order a pizza and have it delivered! I get to walk down the street and no-one will know me, or will wonder who I am! I get to see tame dogs and cats! I get to watch a BIG TV screen! I know I will miss the heat and quietness of Yulara, but it will be good to see civilisation again, even if it only for a short time.

Disposable underwear and other stuff

Q: Where do we now live??? A: It is Manta Walk, Yulara!!!

Kristy and I have moved from our “share-share” accommodation to “Manta Walk” accommodation. “Share-share” means that we have to share half of our accommodation with another person (the kitchen and bathroom), but Manta Walk means we have a whole one-bedroom unit to ourselves! And, it is the same rent as “share-share”!! We were up-graded with our accommodation because of my new job at the Resort Spa, and while our new unit is small, we like it because it is all ours. Moving to this new unit wasn’t hard - our new place is literally 10 seconds walk from our old place. The distance for the move was easy, but the rain on the day was a bit of a bummer, why does it always rain on moving day??????? We just did the ‘grab and throw’ move, we had to... the rain!! I have set up our new home as well as I can, given what I had to work with. And I have drawn some new pictures and blue tac-ed them up, draped blankets where I could (towels in some cases) and put desert flowers in empty wine bottles (plenty of those empty bottles, let me tell ya!!!) and spread the “vases” throughout the unit.

I miss Lizzie though, Lizzie is the blue tongue lizard that would sunbake out the front of our previous unit. We still see the family of rabbits, they hop everywhere at sunset! Bunnies!!!! Cute!!!

So, I have now officially started working at the Resort Spa. The first massage I gave, I was given a $25 tip! (Kristy was so proud – it was very cute!!) $25.00 is quite a big tip in this business – it is more than a Spa masseur makes in an hour! Masseurs who work for organisations/businesses (anyone who doesn’t work for themselves basically) get paid pretty low money, and this is incongruous considering that, for example, a one hour massage at the resort Spa that I work at costs a client $125.00!!! Yes, the mark up is huge. Once the Trip-Around-Australia (or as I like to say, the T.A.R), is over, I am thinking of starting up my own Spa, but of course I will be paying the masseurs and beauticians a very decent amount (like DOUBLE the current market rate!). I think well paid workers are more likely to be loyal and committed. Plus, they deserve to be paid for the work that they do!!!!!!

Anyhoo, despite the hourly wage, I am enjoying working at the Spa. Aside from providing Deep Tissue Massage, which I am already experienced and qualified in, I have now also learnt to do:

• 30 minute facials (called the “taster facial” - gives people a chance to experience the products)
• Aroma Stone Therapy (hot rock massage)
• Body Scrubs (great all-over- the- body exfoliation)
• Foot treatments (which include foot exfoliation and foot massage/reflexology) .

I have learnt new skills and I am glad for this (my list of quals and experience is growing evermore diverse and eclectic!) Although in the massage/beauty business, I am finding that my brain is HANGING OUT to be challenged. There is not a lot of brain work required for what I do, well... in comparison to my previous jobs in Melbourne, writing up units of competency for the DHS Diploma of Management. However, this is a short-term job, and while I am doing it, it can teach me to “get into the zone” and to meditate while I am massaging, exfoliating, scrubbing, ect (maybe the Universe is telling me to rest my brain?) . All of my clients say that I have great “energy” (or things along those lines), which is a good thing, because it would be pretty hard to give a client a relaxing experience if I had crap energy!

I have to say though, that while I am not being mentally challenged, I do like making people feel good, and I make sure that every client that steps into my treatment room is given the best experience I can possibly give them. I figure, they are paying so much money that they deserve to feel good. It is sometimes a bit harder with the arrogant clients, the ones that think they are “too cool for school” and treat me like a plebe, but I remind myself that they are paying a lot of money for the service, and it is not their fault if they don’t realise that I am being paid lowly wages, and it is not their fault if they haven’t learnt to be respectful and gracious to everyone, despite job or position. I work on being very kind and gentle to these people as I figure they deserve it (lots of people must really dislike them for their attitude!). But, on the other side of the coin, OMG – I had the most cutest of clients the other day – she was 84 years old! How awesome is that! She is 84 and she flew from the USA to see Uluru! I so admired her, and I made sure I gave her an extra good treatment! I love old people!

Oh, a slightly funny thing happened at the Spa the other day. I had just shown a lovely German couple into the change rooms (they were booked in for a double massage) and after a little while, the man comes out and calls to me, and says that he is not sure how to put on the disposable underwear (his girlfriend/wife is giggling behind him and he is beetroot red with embarrassment). Well... I wasn’t going to show him or help him, (aside from, ahhhhh...no! I couldn’t even if I wanted to because even I am not sure with the boy’s disposable underwear – it is some weird, paper g-string for the boys). I just handed him a new lot of the women’s disposable underwear, which is a very simple pair of black, high-waisted, crepe, strange leg-shaped panties (veeeeerrrry attractive! Must get a number of pairs to wear every day... oh yeah... right), and told him that these were “uni-sex”. While they are not appealing in a catwalk type of way (any type of way really), it is very easy to work out how to wear the women’s disposable underwear. Footnote: we mostly use the men’s g-string underwear as hair scrunchie’s for women who have come for a treatment but haven’t tied their hair back (they never know this, we tie their hair back when they are on the table!). And yes... of course they are clean ones! It is DISPOSABLE underwear people! Once we use it, we throw it away!!!!!

Oh, and the uniform that I wear – it is dark blue scrubs. Picture an operating theatre – I wear something similar to that (without the hat and foot covers). I love the Spa uniform so much that I am considering adopting it as my usual attire. Yes, it is very flattering... not.

I have now also started with my Certificate IV in Fitness (this is helping my brain to not atrophy completely). Have my first exam tomorrow, not sure if I am prepared, but will give it a go. Undergoing my fitness qualification means that I am virtually forced to go to the gym (one of the reasons I enrolled), so while I don’t go as much as I would like (working two jobs, and studying, cuts down on my time at the gym a little), I am still motivated to work out at least 3 times a week. I should have lost stacks of weight, yet, no, I have not. I blame Kristy. She keeps buying chocolate and leaving it in the fridge. What can I do but eat it??

With my two jobs, and Kristy working 5 nights out of 7 (note: she starts at 5.30pm and finishes anywhere between 1.00am and 3.00am), we can go days without really seeing each other (aside from a few hours from when she crawls into bed, and then I crawl out of bed when my alarm goes off for me to get up for work). Kristy leaves for work before I get home, and then I leave for work before she gets up in the morning! But we do manage to get a few days to spend together, not many, but some. Anyway, we are only stopping here at Yulara for a while, to re-energise, experience carpet (was surprised at how much I missed carpet!!), sleep in a bed without wheels, and to save some money before travelling the next leg of the journey.

I have to change my Victorian drivers licence! If residing in the NT for over 3 months, it is law to change your licence (and car rego) over to NT. I suppose it is about time I got myself another licence, considering how Kristy snapped my current licence in half (how embarrassing, and yet fun(!) it has been to hand over my licence in 2 pieces whenever I am asked for ID!). K broke it because she was trying to fix it (God I love irony!) To explain - my licence had a bend in it and so she decided to straighten it, and instead she broke it into 2 pieces.

I have now made a few additional new friends - my circle is extending! There is Darren (assistant manager of Sails in the Desert) and Mike (the star talker for the Sounds of Silence dinners). The Sounds of Silence is an activity where guests pay an extraordinary amount of money to eat a buffet, at night, in the desert, and while they eat, be told about the star constellations above their heads. Kristy and I are definitely going to do this (because we are here, and because we love a buffet, and because it would be fun, and because we might get a discount, and because we now know a star talker, and because there isn’t a lot of choice about what to do here, and because... well... why not!?) I just have to talk to Kristy about our schedules to see if we can synchronize our watches enough to make the dinner booking. Of course, I have also made friends with my co-workers at the Spa (Julie, Karen and Kerrie) who are just lovely and working with lovely people makes the day go by so pleasantly.

Kristy has been HANGING OUT for a bath (we have only been showering for over 4 months now), and today (on my day off from the spa) I made an appointment for Kristy and I to go and have a VERY flasho bath at the spa. We sat in the huge (big enough for 6 people easily), black (once you’ve had black....), roman-type, square bath, filled with luxurious, skin-softening products, looking up at the sky and gum trees, and soaking up the serenity. Ahhhh, this is the life. This bath normally costs $80 for couples, but because I work there, we got a bit of a discount. It was so bloody lovely to have a decent soak, and we are planning to do it more often!

If anyone is ever planning to come and see Uluru, then seriously guys, NOW is the time to do it. I can get you major discount on rooms at any of the hotels here. And I mean MAJOR discounts (100’s and 100’s and 100’s of dollars off the usual price). Kristy and I are planning to be here until at least the end of January 2011. Of course anyone who comes is welcome to stay with us if you want to pay nothing for accommodation, but if you want privacy or more room, I can get heavily discounted rates on the hotels here. Tomorrow I am finding out exactly the discounts I can get, so stay tuned to this bat channel and I will advise. If you are even vaguely planning, considering, contemplating, hoping for, imaging or reflecting on a trip to the centre of Australia, then email/text/call me and we can start working out the details of when and where. Come on... I know there is a number of you out there that are wanting to come to Uluru... don’t be shy... don’t be hesitate... just do it! (you know who I am talking about!!!). Is one life (that we remember anyway) so at least make sure that you see, in this lifetime, the iconic Australian rock!

BTW – how funny is The Big Bang Theory? We have just finished watching the first and second seasons on DVD! Hysterical!

Yulara... Week Two... What Did We Do???

Kristy is still working away like a crazy gal - washing zillions of buses - as she waits for her Police Check to be finalised so she can gain her H endorsement, which will enable her to drive buses (though she will probably keep washing the buses, as well as do some bus driving, because the money is very good as a bus washer!) Opps, I made a big, big, big, HUGE faux pas in the world of AAT Kings (who Kristy works for)... they get very annoyed if we call them “buses” – they are “coaches”! Apparently anything that has wheels AND a toilet is called a “coach”.

Yulara (our new home) is broken into 3 primary factions:

1. Tourists: Other than interacting on a working/professional level, the workers/residents of Yulara don’t have much to do with the tourists (note: the tourists appear to be broken into 3 sub categories – the campers, the backpackers and the ones that stay in the hotels).

2. Short-term residents: This is Kristy and I. Short-termers are anyone that resides and works here for no longer than 6 months (note: short-term residents can often unintentionally extend into the following 3rd faction).

3. Long-term residents: The long-termers are those that have been here at Yulara for more than 12 months. I have spoken to long-termers that have been here for 5 years, and even one guy who has been here for 10 years!!!!! I didn’t even know that the Ayers Rock resort had been opened for that long! You can always tell a long-termer – they have pretty fancy gardens (short-termers don’t bother with a garden).

Both the short-termers and long-termers (actually all the residents!) are so friendly. Everyone seems to know everyone, and the residents wave to each other, smile, call out, beep horns, whistle, invite you for drinks, etc. If anyone is likely to be rude, it will be a tourist. Of course, most of the tourists, are great, just some of them are obviously a bit stressed, and well... it shows sometimes. But us residents (or ressies as we are called) cannot afford to be rude to each other – we have to live and work with each other, and a lot of the time it is in very close quarters! For eg, Kristy and I live in “share-share” accommodation, which means we share a kitchen and bathroom with someone else (they haven’t moved in yet, so K and I have had the whole place to ourselves, and I must say, I have really spread out my stuff! Will have to pull it all back in again when the new guy arrives.

The majority of “ressies” have 2 or 3 jobs. Kristy is seen as strange as she only has one job! The guy I worked with last night, he has 5 part-time jobs! I don’t think he sleeps much.

I started my casual catering job on Friday. Was meant to start next week, but they rang me on Friday at 11.30am and asked if I could come in at 2.30pm (they were desperate). I said yes, because, hey, why not? So I had my first shift catering for 7 groups of tourists (this equates to over 100 guests) who had champagne and canapés as they watched Ayers Rock at sunset (this is called the “sunny” shift). The first night I had a really bad time – just felt like so much to remember and it was so busy and people and things everywhere and how would I ever know what to do? But then I worked again last night (Saturday) and it was fine! And I did remember everything, and I had fun! And now I know how to properly pour a glass of champagne (I did not know there was a proper way until 2 days ago!)

The BEST tourists are the Japanese and the Americans! While these are very different tourist groups, total opposites actually, they are both groups so friendly and appreciative. The Japanese groups always give the catering crew a round of applause when they are leaving. The Americans always say thank you.

The first night I worked the “sunny” shift, the Rock looked glorious as the sun set. Last night, it was total clouds and spitting rain. The Rock just looked rock-like. Oh, but the first night – excitement! Someone had hidden up the top of the Rock during the day and as the sun was setting, he parachuted off the Rock ! So there I am, pouring drinks and being socialiable and friendly to the tourists (“Of course I am happy to take your photo” and “Oh it’s your honeymoon, how lovely” and “would you rather red wine, or white wine?” and “no you cannot take the rest of the champagne on the bus with you!”) when suddenly, everyone is going ohhhh, and ahhh, and we are watching parachute man flying over and off the Rock. Apparently he will get a mega fine if the rangers catch him. I kinda hope he runs (or flys) free.

I have met new people now that I have started working (not just meeting Kristy’s work mates, which I have been doing until now). There is Erin who I worked with on the first night, who earlier this year was airlifted out of Yulara because a blood vessel in her brain exploded and she nearly died, and after being put in an induced coma, she had her head shaved and the blood vessel removed and the fluid on the brain was drained. She showed me pics of her head with the massive scars (she has hair now, so you can’t see the scars). It is strange, because Garry (Kristy’s boss) also had brain surgery (to remove a tumour) and he has a massive scar on his head (he has a shaved head, so it is easy to see his scars!) The next woman I met (Tara, I worked with her the next night) told me how she had been airlifted out of Yulara (sound familiar!?) with a woman named Erin (who she has actually never met, yet has shared a medical helicopter with – isn’t that strange!)! Tara was airlifted out because she had severe concussion, because when she was cleaning under a sink, the sink was loose and it fell onto her head and she was knocked out. Ummm, as I write this, I am sensing a theme... head injuries. I think I should invest in a helmet while I am here at Yulara, or at least take out some sort of medical insurance!

Kristy and I went out last Wednesday night and we partied (remember that Wednesday is the new Saturday). I drank a teensy, tiny, weeny bit too much and ended up with a teensy, tiny, weeny hangover the next day (translated, this mean I didn’t stop consuming wine when I should have, and I ended up with severe nausea and a massive headache the next day).

Many people drink hard here, and I should not try to keep up with them. I know I need to be stronger and sterner when I tell people, “NO... Do NOT buy me another drink!” Is hard, because we are trying to fit in here, and drinking is the way to do that, (and I don’t want to look soft either), but equally, I don’t want to feel sick the next day either. I will find the balance, I WILL!

Although a lot of people like a decent drink in Yulara, there are hardly any problems or fights. That is because if anyone messes up, or carries on, or causes trouble, they will be “48-ed“ by the resort. If you are “48-ed” it means that you must leave the resort within 48 hours. As no-one wants to leave (they have jobs, homes, partners, friends, etc) most people are pretty darn careful about their behaviour.

I went to the gym again today. I have now officially joined, I have had a program written up for me, and I go religiously every 2nd day. Today Kristy came with me, and we set up the table-tennis table and played table-tennis after we had finished the workout. It was fun. I lost, but that’s because I let Kristy win. We all know how she gets if she loses (omg, she is not going to like that I wrote that!).

I have officially enrolled in the Certificate IV in Fitness now, and I start the work on the course tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting stuck into it, and am hoping it will inspire me even more to be fit. I am already getting muscles, and like to look at my own guns in the mirror (yes, I have become THAT sort of gym person).

Thank you Anita, for putting together some DVD’s for us and sending them over. We haven’t got them yet, but we know they are on their way. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

If anyone else feels the urge to send us something (we accept all DVDs, books, cards, money, lotto tickets, jewellery, gold bullion, etc) the address is:

Linda & Kristy
C/- Yulara Post Office
Yulara, NT, 0872

Talking about DVD’s, they are selling them at the Yulara IGA for $2.00 each. Kristy couldn’t believe her eyes! But the DVD’s were all “who-the-hell-is-this-actor” movies. Still... we purchased 2 of them... well, they were only $2.00!! I think I was lucky to get out of the supermarket without Kristy buying the whole box (she likes a bargain).

The AFL grand final is coming up!!! Kristy has swapped one of her days so she can sit and watch it (and perhaps drink copious amounts of beer). I predict a Bulldogs/Pies grand Finale. Kristy tells me I am dreaming, but let’s just see!

Week One ... living at Yulara

We are settling into life as a resident of Yulara. Funny place Yulara.

It is strange the things that become sort after and important, depending where you are living. For example, milk crates are like gold here. Even I was excited when I found one! If you are asking why milk crates are so important, here is the answer... Milk crates can be used as book shelves, clothes holders, pot plant holders, seats, coffee tables, etc. Living in an area where the nearest furniture store is over four hours away, means that a milk crates are almost a currency. Of course we are not supposed to use them, which of course makes them all the more valuable!

Alcohol is another interesting thing here at Yulara. Despite alcohol being outrageously overpriced here, even with a resident discount card, (for eg, a 2 litre cask of wine costing over $24.00), people seem to be continually drinking. To combat the cost of alcohol, there appears to be ‘Alcohol Runs’ into Alice Springs, which are semi-regular drives to Alice (remember it is over 4 hours away, and that is one way!) which are for the sole purpose of stocking up on a number of peoples’ beer, wine and spirits - people put in their orders, pay their money, and then collect it a day or so later!

Weekends in Yulara are not on the usual Saturday and Sunday. It appears that Wednesday is the new Saturday, with a disco occurring every Wednesday night at the residents club (yes... a disco – please note that I have not attended this disco yet, although I am looking forward to remembering the 80’s). Most of the residents up here are busy working for the tourists on Saturday and Sunday, so I suppose that is why Wednesday has become the big night to go out!

It is very social here in Yulara. Kristy and I have been welcomed and embraced by the community here. They all want to help and they all want to chat. Everyone is very open and friendly. We have been out visiting quite a lot. Everyone is chat chat chat, so you can imagine how Kristy totally fits into this place! She is soooo not shy, just converses with everyone immediately and is talking with everyone about everything. I find I am not talking about myself as much as everyone else. Perhaps people think I am being dark and mysterious, but the truth is that I find it hard to get a word in edgeways! I think I am just going to have to take the plunge and just start yakking on!

Ohhh, and I had an adventure! I was at Garry’s and Sue’s. They live about 10 minutes walk from where Kristy and I live. Kristy had gone to work and I had dropped into Garry’s for a little bit, which turned into a long bit, where I was given food and wine. It was late when I left. They gave me a loaf of homemade bread for the road (as you do!). I was actually quite grateful for that loaf of warm, just-out-of-the-bread-maker bread because the desert at night is very f%#@ing cold and I was only in a singlet and shorts. I hugged that damn loaf of bread to me all the walk home. However, I got a teeny, tiny, little bit lost going home! I am not good with directions at the best of times, let alone in the desert, in a strange new place, at night, in the dark! I thought, “At least I won’t be hungry,” and then I realised that the loaf of bread (which was keeping me warm and assuring me of a meal) was also a beacon for any dingos in the area! I rang my mother, who spoke to me as I worked out how to get back home. I was not attacked by any wild dogs, and the loaf of bread was there for Kristy when she got home from work (and I am not kidding, she cut a slice that equated to a quarter of the loaf, covered that with jam and ate in within 3 seconds!)

Because I saw how much Kristy liked that home-made bread I decided to go all earth-mother on myself last night and I made my own bread (and I didn’t even use a bread maker!). It was good bread!

Kristy is liking most aspects of her job. She is still getting used to working nights. Although she has adjusted to sleeping-in in the mornings quite well! She just had 2 nights off work (her weekend is Wed and Thurs) and we kinda partied one of her nights off and then the other night, we stayed home and watched DVDs (mostly because Kristy was hung over and recovering from the first night off she had!).

I am doing the cooking at the moment. Last night I made Pad Thai, and it was an extremely chilli Pad Thai! Kristy is loving the chilli in the cooking at the moment, which is lucky because this one was a burn-your-face-off Pad Thai. We are now waiting for the burning ring of fire at the other end. To add to it, I made a curry tonight. Yep, we will sure be feeling that warm glow soon as those meals depart from our bodies.

It looks like I have two jobs up here – one a casual position and one a part-time position. The part-time position is working at the Resort Spa – yes, it is Linda Wilson, beautician (as Mel pointed out to me – it rhymes). I will initially be doing massage there, and the manager, Julie, is going to teach me how to do facials – HOW EXCITING!!! I have paid out many dollars over the years to get facials, and now I will be able to do them myself! Oh YAY!! I am also going to learn how to do body wraps, and maybe some other things. I am very, very much looking forward to this job (cross fingers it is as good as it sounds). Looks like I will have 3 days a week working at the Spa.

The other job that I will be doing is catering. I will be doing the catering for the sunset tours at the Rock, when tourist pay a lot of money to see the sunset and get drunk on champagne that I serve to them. I am quite looking forward to doing this job, even though the money is crappolla. It will be social, and I can chat to people I will never see again, and I can smoozz up to the Americans who may give me big tips!!!

I have struggles with iTunes tonight – it is driving me a bit demented. Not the iTunes itself, but the syncing it onto to my iPhone. Why won’t it play the game???!!! Grrrrrrr. I am, however, determined to have music on the damn thing. So I will post this blog and keep working on the iPhone/music situation.

Living next door to Alice... if you can call over 400km’s next door (and up here... you can!)

Right now I am living in the shadow of the Rock – Uluru. And I mean literally, not figuratively! I step outside and see Ayers Rock! How many people actually do this?? Excitement plus!

Mel and Elle came to visit us in Alice Springs for 5 days... and it rained... for 4 days out of the 5 that they were here. DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to show Mel and Elle such a good time, and it rained and rained and rained. At least (and this is a very minimal ‘at least’) Mel got to see the Rock as only 9% of people get to see it – with waterfalls on it! Little Elle, so cute, she so totally looks like Shiloh (Brad and Angelina’s daughter!)

The day after Mel left, we were staying at Amanda’s place as I was feeding her cat and Amanda said we could stay at her place (she was in Melb for a week) and that her housemate would not be home until the 28th. Kristy and I had settled in for a good, comfortable night. Picture this... I had done a few loads of washing, wet clothes spread all over the place to dry, some clothes still in the washing machine, a roast chicken (and vegies) were cooking nicely in the oven, a DVD was ready to go in the DVD player, the little heater was on, we had a soggy, soaking wet tent under the carport, our cold food was in the fridge, our breakfast shakes were ready on the counter for tomorrow, Kristy and I in our flannelette PJ’s (mine have blue owls on them!), my hair very fluffy (from a recent shower and I hadn’t bothered to use hair product), our stuff was spread out throughout the unit (as we thought we had a few days to sort through it), I am sipping a wine (of course), listening to the rain pouring down outside, when... all of a sudden... the housemate comes home. Aside from renting a room to Amanda, he used to be (I think) her boss. He also seemed quite arrogant, but he could have been just very tired from being on the road for ages.

To cut a long story short – he did not make us feel very comfortable for being in the unit. He had arrived home early from a tour, with friends, who were going to stay in Amanda’s room (where we were staying!!), and there was really nothing else to do but for us to leave. I was most unimpressed and put out that we had to pack up everything within 30 minutes, tote it all out to the car (in the rain) and drive off into the night, with no fixed idea of where to go! I was very tired, so I did what any self-respecting, tired, cold, hungry (the roast chicken had been thrown in a bowl and put in the back of the van) Leo woman would do – yes, that’s right, I burst into tears. Kristy was really nice to me (as always). She pulled the van over, patted my hand, and we searched on the internet for a cheap place to stay, but there was nothing available.

In the end, i telephoned the caravan park (G’Day Mate Caravan park) where we had previously stayed and they were soooooo nice, and even though they were packed out, they squeezed us in (when we arrived at the caravan park, David – the owner – came out to meet us, and he took one look at me and said, “So, you’ve had a hard night sweetie”). David set us up on a really good site, but still, we spent another hour sorting out the stuff we had thrown in the van (we had to sort it out so we could sleep on the bed in the van!) and then we ate the chicken and vegies, and they cold and not very nice. But at least we were not sleeping on the side of the road (thank you David and Allen at G’Day Mate)!

Did I make that whole story sound fun??? I hope so, because in reality, it wasn’t very fun at all! However it is fun to think about days later!

Finally, the next day, it stopped raining, and so we were able to dry off the tent and really get ourselves organised to head to Yulara, because KRISTY GOT A JOB! Yes, Kristy is working for AAT Kings, with the tour buses. We arrived here yesterday and she started work tonight. It appears that she will be home about 3am this morning! She has texted me, and she sounds like she likes the job, but oh my, she will be tired when she gets back here.

So... what is ‘home’ now? Well, when you work at Yulara, you are given accommodation. We are paying rent, which works out to be $80 per week each, and that includes water and electricity. We are renting in what is called ‘share-share’, as we share a kitchen and bathroom with one other person. We have a small lounge room and bedroom to ourselves – which gives us a good amount of privacy. We have a heater in here, and an airconditioner – essential in the desert! We purchased for ourselves a little TV which has a built in DVD player. Kristy has watched a lot of football since we got here.

Being a resident here (and I am classed as a resident because my partner works here) means we have other entitlements, for eg, the gym is $6.00 a week to join, we get free medical AND free medication, and because it is classed as a remote area, we get free university (I am looking into this tomorrow!). We also get 5% off the cost of groceries at the supermarket (this is not really a big deal, but it is something). There is also the ‘Residents Club’ which offers cheap alcohol and meals (eg, $10 roast on a Sunday).

Last night, we went over to Garry’s apartment. Garry is Kristy’s boss. He invited a number of other people over to meet Kristy and myself, and it became a bit of a party. Garry made home-made bread, and kept dishing out the wine and beer, it was fun to meet people! Everyone was so nice (especially the woman that had stabbed someone 10 years ago, I just looooove stories like that!!). Garry has been living in Yulara for about 9 months, he moved here because he had a brain tumour removed and because of that he realised that he wanted more from his life rather than work work work. He is still working (obviously) up here, but he is no longer running a huge business. It was a big wake up call for him, and though I didn’t know him before the brain tumour, I can honestly say that he looks pretty happy and relaxed now.

Kristy and I went for a walk this morning, I am trying to lose weight before Mel’s wedding in October, so I am gonna walk my ass off. We had the Rock in our view for 90% of the walk. We walked past a couple of guys who were walking their dogs – two dingo’s which were hand-raised from puppies. We came back and Bugs Bunny was sitting on the red earth out the front of our apartment. I have put on two lots of sunscreen today. Is fun being in the desert! I think I will like Yulara, for a while at least, until the next segment of the travels.

It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to... yet... I don’t want to... so I won’t! (That song is now stuck in my mind – damn it!)

Is my birthday - has been fab!!!!

Some of you know that it has been a bit stressful this last week, and I thank my dear friends that replied to my ‘venting’ email, or telephoned me to make sure I was okay (just all got on top of me for a bit there). I felt so down, and your kind words and understanding really cheered me up. Sometimes it just all gets too much hey.

This birthday morning started with PRESENTS from Kristy. She is so lovely. I now have a brand new pair of Ray Bans (sunnies), a new bracelet and many pairs of new Bonds underwear (Kristy is obsessed with Bonds undies – at last count she had over 70 pairs. She is banned from buying anymore for herself for at least a month, so she bought me some instead!). Kristy also organised me to have a facial – my first for a really long time! It was sooooooo good! Kristy has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure my birthday has been a good one. What would I do without her??!! She even purchased an additional bracelet, in case I didn’t like the original one she had got for me – how nice is that!!??

Thank you Anita and Mark for the excellent singing card (“Cant touch this) and the money (Yay – the money is going towards a new (and flash and comfortable and back supporting) camp chair (anything will be better than the $7.00 chair I am currently using). Donna, what was that camping chair that you recommend?

Thank you Mumma for the funny card, kind words and Powerball ticket (everyone cross your fingers, and if you really do cross your fingers, and I win, I may just share with you!). Mumma’s card read, “Looking great! Just goes to show that years of clean living...” (and now on the inside of the card) “aren’t really necessary!” Karen, Jake, Peter – you will relate to this!

Thank you Mel for the Snake Venom for my birthday (just to clarify – it is a new type of face moisturizer.. well.. a pre-moisturizer... supposedly very good on wrinkles – I will keep you all updated on if it really does work). For those that know me, yes, any face cream is an excellent present. The snake venom cream may kill me, but at least I will be looking good!

In addition, thank you to the following people for the happy birthday phone calls, text messages and Facebook messages:

• Sharon A – who also sent a card to me via Alice Springs post office – OMG you are a LEGEND!! Thank you thank you thank you!
• Karen – yes, I am the birthday princess!
• Jake –thanks for singing Happy Birthday on my voice mail. I luv you to bits too. Soon it is your day, you big Virgo you!!
• Amanda – and you rang with a job opportunity (perhaps) too! You are def my Alice Springs angel! I hope I get the job!
• Fiona & Karen – you 2 love birds were the first with birthday wishes!
• Ursula – loved the exhibition. Hope your flu gets better. I will remember to breathe deep.
• Josie – you sang Happy Birthday via text – so cute! Can’t believe you remembered!
• Vik – ahh girl, what can I say? You are such an inspiration.
• Wayne & Richard – you guys are the best! Yes, I got very spoilt today.
• Liv & Kim – hope you are enjoying living together, ta for the birthday wishes.
• Jodi – we have a powerful friendship. Talk soon. xx
• Virginia (Ginny) – definitely going to have you cook for me next time we are in town!
Lisa – I am not feeling old, so all ok. Lol.
• Gayle – yes, I feel warm and happy today. TY darl. Would be good to chat soon!
• Sue – loved your birthday wishes, all the way from Hawaii!
• Mandy – I did have a good day. TY again for the chat the other night.
• Margaret & Mark – thanks so much for remembering!! Was lovely to hear from you. See you in October for the wedding!
• Kellie – ta for FB message. Hope the kids are well!
• Suzie & Theo – thanks for singing Happy Birthday via email! When are we seeing you guys up here??? Come on Theo – let’s get organising!
• Craig – I promise I won’t do anything that you wouldn’t (don’t think it leaves me much!!)
• Carole (Dizzy) – it’s been ages, thanks for the birthday message on FB!
• Ra – you are a doll!
• Pete and Trisse – two of my most fav straight people! Well, two of my most fav people in fact! Love that you two are about to get married - can't think of a better, more in-love couple!
• Jodie – Thanks for FB message, and yes, it is a fantastic day.
• Elana – awwww, you lovely woman!
• Morag – so great to hear from you, hope you are well.
• Tony & Holly – all the way over in the UK – lots of hugs.

Also, Laura A (Was LOVELY to meet you - wish you were going to the wedding!!), Deb (such a nice message you left for me on FB!!!! I have touched your life in good way - so much thank you's for that!!), Simon and Michelle - you guys.... OMG - thanks for thinking of me today!

I also have to acknowledge Tania (spinnychick)- you and I have some memories and I am so glad to have you reading the blog. Thank you for your continued comments and good wishes. Big big hugs to you. Am so glad that your life is so full. xxxx

If I have forgotten to acknowledge anyone, I beg your forgiveness. xxxx

It was so bloody lovely to hear from so many people! I love travelling, but sometimes I can feel a bit separated from everyone so thank you all for remembering my birthday. It was like having an electronic birthday party, without presents, food or alcohol. Well... without alcohol for you (I am currently having a glass of vino).

Mel arrives in Alice Springs tomorrow, with Elle, and so have hired a campervan and we are all driving to the rock once they fly in. I want to show them both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon (if there is time) and a little bit of Alice. Unfortunately, the weather predicts rain and thunderstorms for the next few days – ahhhh, what do the weather forecasters know??!! Anyway, whatever, coz we will make the most of it, rain hail or shine (just like the postmen).

News Flash: Kristy passed her H Endorsement Test!! She is almost ready to drive a tourist bus. Just waiting on the Police Check – is taking a while, as these things do.

We will now probably be in Alice Springs, or Uluru (depending where we get work) until December. It will be good to settle here for a while. We will be back in October though, so for those that really, desperately, are-hanging, to catch up with us, now is the time to seriously book it in. I am so sorry to everyone that I didn’t catch up with last time we were in Melbourne, things just got hectic! Kristy and I are very open to comfortable overnight beds, beer/wine and good meals being cooked for us. In return, we will provide scintillating company, and will bore you with photos (did I say ‘bored’, I meant ‘enthral’). Also, we will be minding Elle for about 5 days, so if you don’t mind us arriving with a gorgeous and cute one-year-old, we will be doubly open and happy to seeing you ( Loving kids is a MUST if you want to see us in Oct!).

Can't think of anything else to write, although as soon as I log off I know I will remember something else I should have written!!!

Elllllllllle – we are coming... see you tomorrow!!!!

Wednesday 11th August. We leave for Adelaide tomorrow. I am so excited about seeing Mel and Elle, but sad to leave my Mumma. Kristy, Mumma and I played cards tonight. Kristy lost (she was NOT happy). The game went until after 11.30pm – neither my mumma or Kristy would give in!!

Monday and Tuesday nights we stayed at Kristy’s parents’ house, and this is where I witnessed the source of Kristy’s competitiveness. Yes...Mark... it is YOU! Kristy and her Dad (Mark) are like two peas in a pod, both on the Nintendo Wii, both aggressively wanting to beat each other!!! It was very interesting for Anita and I to watch. I didn’t really compete, didn’t see the point when I had no chance of beating either of them. I figure... it is not real bowling anyway (I know, I know, I am only saying that because I am hopeless at the game!!).

The wedding (Dave and Sarah) was lovely. No one noticed that I had an intensely bandaged thumb (if they did notice, then they didn’t say anything). Sarah had the most beautiful dress, and Dave almost cried – ahh weddings. Kristy took a truckload of photos (check them out on Facebook). It was so nice to see everyone. Kristy looked gorgeous. Due to a major mistake with trying to book a hotel room (my mistake, and an expensive one!!) Kristy and I had to catch public transport to and from the wedding – it added nearly an hour and half each side of the wedding. Luckily I am used to PT and lucky there wasn’t any naughty people on the late train coming back from the wedding. Also, lucky for me (is it luck, or was it just forward planning??!!) that in my handbag I had squished a pair of ballet slipper type shoes, so I could take off the high heels and slip my feet into something more comfortable when I was walking and using the PT!! Yes, Linda CAN be organised sometimes!

Kristy and I have also been to see Ursula’s solo exhibition – it was AMAZING!! I feel honoured to know such a talented artist! Go Urs, Ms Shebear!

I have spoken to my darling Jake a couple of times, she is now out of hospital and doing quite well and the surgery was a success. My Jake, I think of her every single day.

On Sunday night I saw a few people for dinner and it was soooooo nice. I didn’t realise I would miss my friends so much when I started travelling, I mean, I knew I would miss them, but didn’t realise it would be so much. I crave for news from home, the goings-ons, the ups and downs, the boring bits, the new bits, the sad bits, crazy bits, right bits and wrong bits – everything!! And just seeing familiar faces. Each time someone else arrived on Sunday night, I just wanted to cry. So... to the following people who came on Sunday night... I thank you... I know it was an effort to come out on a school night, and I don’t think that any of you know how much it meant to me to see your faces. And I THANK YOU big time:

• Jodi
• Fiona and Karen
• Suzie and Theo
• Peter and Trisse
• Leonie
• Helen L
• Karen Minns
• Normie
• Shelley
• Gayle

You guys rock!!!!! I know I really didn’t get ‘quality’ time with any of you, however, just seeing your faces was so great for me.

For those of you that I wasn’t able to catch up with on Sunday night, then maybe next time – it would be lovely to see everyone next time I am here, and I will try to plan it better, making time for more people (especially you Virginia!!).

My birthday is coming up, on the 19th August. Another year finishing, another year beginning. I will be back in Alice Springs for my birthday. K is planning to make it a lovely day for me – she is such a good girl! I feel a bit sad that I won’t be with family and friends to celebrate, but I feel glad that I will be somewhere warm (hope I haven’t just mozzed myself and it turns out to be the coldest day in Alice Springs since forever!). Mel and Elle are coming to Alice on the 20th, and that will be something to look forward to, whether my birthday is hot or cold!

Thoughts, thoughts, a word on thoughts... I was speaking to a good friend the other night and we both acknowledged that we ‘think too much’. I am certainly ‘thinking too much’ tonight. Does anyone else have that problem? And can anyone tell me why the ‘thinking too much’ often involves negative thoughts?? I mean, why don’t we ‘think too much’ about good stuff????? Maybe I need to stop thinking, but it feels like ‘thinking’ is a necessary part of living, damn it!! I am very tired, so maybe I just need to go to bed and get a cuddle from K.

Let me know how you are all going – if it is too hard to comment on the blog (and I have heard it is hard!!), then send me an email. As I wrote earlier, I am hanging to hear your news (Mandy and Sue, I never realised how important it was to hear news from home when you’re away for long lengths of time – I get it now girls!!). You gals from DHS (e.g. Suzie, Robyn, Marie, Quynh, Donna, Sally) are fab for writing to me, I luv hearing how things are going at work – so TY to you girls. Jim, I am waiting to see your name in my inbox once again – come on - you can’t just leave it to the women Jimbo!

Melbourne, Melbourne – why are you so cold??!! I only have two hoodies!!!!!

Today is Friday, 6th August. We arrived back in Melbourne on Tuesday. I was so excited about coming back ‘home’, but now I am not so sure where ‘home’ is – have I been travelling for too long???

Last time I wrote in the blog, I was unsure how I felt about Alice Springs, however since I wrote that blog, a number of things have happened that have made me feel slightly differently. One of the primary issues that I have had about Alice Springs is the racism that I encountered with the other tourists.

I didn’t expect so many white tourist Australians to be so awful about the local Alice Springs Aboriginal people – it has really upset me. And staying in caravan parks, and hearing people who are camping next to me saying negative things about the local aboriginals has bothered me hugely. I mean, I don’t understand – these people that are canning the blacks – they are just passing through, while the aboriginals – they live here! The aboriginal people are doing nothing to them, yet they won’t eat in the same place as an aboriginal??!! The aboriginal people – where we live, Australia, it is their land, and we (the whites) invaded them! And now so many white people judge the aboriginals, and put them down, and want them to live by ‘white-man’ rules. I don’t understand. And I don’t like it. However, as I said, some things have happened that make me feel differently about Alice Springs.

I have met Morris, who is this amazing man who is doing fab things working with the local community, working within the church and with choirs. Morris also works to raise a lot of money to combat poverty. Morris has inspired me. Morris restored my faith in the men in Alice Springs.

I have met Amanda, who Fiona (friend from Melb) put me in touch with. Amanda has lived in Alice Springs for a while, she manages a backpackers resort in Alice, she used to be a tour guide. Amanda took Kristy and I to the pub and got me drunk and chatted to me all night. Amanda told me that it is mostly the white tourists that are racist, and that the local whites are not racist. Amanda has been our ‘Alice Springs Angel’. She has stored our van in Alice (while we are in Melbourne), she arranged for us to get to the airport to catch our plane to Melb and she is helping Kristy find work. Amanda restored my faith in the resident women of Alice Springs.

I have met Helen up in Alice, who is my friend from DHS in Vic. Helen, Kristy and I went to Bojangles, a great pub, in Alice (thank you so much Helen, we seriously would have had trouble affording that other restaurant). Helen is a tourist (like us), but she thinks the same as I do regarding the aboriginal people. We had a great night, few drinks, good meal and lots of photos (Helen has the BEST camera). Helen restored my faith in Alice Springs tourists.

So these three people have helped me feel better about Alice Springs, and about people in general! Luv ewes!

K and I arrived back in Melbourne on Tuesday. I was so looking forward to coming back to a familiar place. I knew it would be cold, but I am used to Melbourne winters. My mum came and picked us up from the airport – this is a huge thing for my mumma to do, she is not good with driving. Our plane got in at 3pm, and by the time we picked up our baggage it was 3.30pm. My mum had been at the airport since 2.15pm – she wanted to make sure that she wasn’t late!! Ahhhh, mumma.

My mum has spoilt us a lot. She has given K and I her bedroom, and she decorated it in total pink – because it is Kristy’s favourite colour (not mine fav colour, because I am not 12 years old, but I know mumma wanted Kristy to feel happy about the room). She had also put many cans of diet coke in the fridge for us and set us up to watch the big screen TV, as she knows we haven’t really seen TV for a long time. I have cooked dinner for my mum since I have got here, as she likes the soup I make, and the salads. Kristy has clipped Lucy (mumma’s little dog) and has helped mumma move things around.

We are staying with Kristy’s parents on Monday and Tuesday night. Kristy’s mum, Anita, has organised HEAPS of movies and TV shows for us, and put them on disc for us so we can take them away and watch them on the computer – YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! We will be seeing Kristy’s family at the wedding tomorrow night – Dave and Sarah get married!!

I love weddings. I know... it is strange, but I do! No one expects me to love weddings, but I think I just love the love that is present at weddings, that whole ‘make a commitment in front of family and friends’ situation. Maybe I am a romantic at heart (shhhh, don’t tell anyone). Dave and Sarah are two awesome people, who have made me feel welcome from the day I met them, so I am rapt to be at their wedding! It is going to be lovely to see everyone too, it has been ages. I know Kristy is looking forward to seeing her family at the wedding. Kristy has got the best outfit, she looks stunning!

I was cutting up carrots today. I don’t like carrots, I was only cutting them up for Kristy, cos she really really likes them (can’t understand that... but each to their own). Then, I wasn’t concentrating (prob K was yak yak blah blah about something), and I cut my thumb. Deeply. I bled for about an hour, despite severe and intense bandaging (my mother is a nurse and she knows how to bandage). While the bleeding has stopped, I don’t think my thumb will ever be the same. Hope I don’t go to the wedding with a big, fat, white bandaged thumb – not the look I was going for!

On Sunday we have arranged to catch up with some friends, and it will be lovely to see them. I miss my friends so much. I love travelling, but I do miss my friends.

My friend Jake had surgery today. I spoke to her tonight, she is doing fine, though she is in a bit of pain. Jake, you have been in my life since I was 13 years old – I luv u. Always there darling. Will text you tomorrow and every day after. Remember to keep your eyebrows separated.

Day 58 of the Fittness Challenge. I did 58 pushups today. I did 40 pushups without stopping. I hope everyone is impressed.

Alice, Alice... who the f#@* is Alice (is anyone else old enough to remember that song??)

Today is Tuesday 27th July 2010 and what an exciting day!!!! I am being sarcastic. We had the van serviced (practicalities had to come into it sooner or later, but...damn it, didn’t I leave Melb to escape practicalities???).

For those of you who read the last blog, and who are salivating to hear how the camel ride in Kings Creek Station was... well... I do not have much to say. I was given the last seat on the last camel and I saw virtually nothing. I think that $85 could have been better spent. However, I DID do the rim walk at Kings Canyon and it was OOOOMMMGGG!!!!! It was hairy and scary walking up, and I cursed, swore and uttered blasphemy for much of the initial walk (‘walk’ is too gentle a word, ummm, a better word is ‘mountain climbed’ –ok ok, I am being dramatic, but for those who have done it, come on! It is pretty steep in that first section!!) Anyhoo, having made it up that first section, it was amazing to be at the top of the Canyon (is kind of like a mini Grand Canyon), and they even had a place called the ‘Garden of Eden’ up there, and it was aptly named – it was stunning.

We left Kings Creek and drove to Alice, not too bad a drive. We passed a tree covered with clothes (weird), we passed ½ a car being towed by two camels (weird again) and we got breathalysed by the police when there was 100 km’s of nothing either side of the highway (see how weird that drive was!). Kristy also hit a flock of wild budgies – cruel Kristy cruel!!!! Killer of Little of Birds!!

What can I say of Alice Springs??? I kinda like it, and I kinda don’t (not very committed am I?). I like the weather, although I was chatting to a guy the other day who said it is the coldest/wettest winter they have ever had, and that they have never seen Alice so green. This surprised me, as Kristy and I are walking around in shorts and singlets, thinking “Isn’t it lovely to be somewhere warm!” It will be 27 degrees on Friday, which K and I can’t wait for! Since her sunburn, I am ensuring that Kristy is covered with sunscreen, although I cannot manage the other things that happen to her, for e.g. today a flying ant (yes, it was a flying ant, I saw the body at the end of the debacle), landed on her head, got tangled in her hair and bit her on the head a few times. Imagine all this happening when the pizza we ordered had just been put in front of us and she is shaking and scraping her head, in town, over the pizza, yelling at me to “get it out!”.

I think Alice Springs will grow on me. Kristy is trying to find work here. She would rather work at Yulara (near the Rock), but she needs to get her H Endorsed licence, in order to drive a tourist bus. I also went to the recruiter, however I don’t think that they understand what I do, as they told me that they will look for ‘administration’ work for me. I think I need to find my own work, or maybe come back to Melb for a couple of months to top up my money. I know I can find contract work there.

Since we have been in Alice Springs, we have visited Emily Gap and Jessie Gap (lovely), and also Trephina Gorge. Trephina Gorge was totally beautiful. For those of you that have known me a long time – Trephina Gorge has the same energy as Commonground (one of my most fav places on Earth). Trephina Gorge just soaked into my heart and every step of the 2 hour walk was bliss (yes – even the steep bits!!!!) Oh that reminds me --- I must start using my pedometer --- whenever I think of a pedometer I think of you Robyn T!! Are you still using yours?? How many steps are you doing a day?

Last night we had dinner with Trent and Genevieve. They are now on their way to Darwin. We will miss them! We played cards with them on their last night in Alice – Go Fish, Memory and Old Maid (oh yes...we are quite the intellectuals!) We laughed so hard I was crying (although those tears could have been because of Trent’s burps – OMG they were foul!!!). Gen and Trent call me “Ms Linda” and they call Kristy, “Kristy Boner” (after that movie). We call them Gen and Trent... Although Gen has told us to call Trent ‘QueenTrent’. Trent referred to Gen as “A Cup” through the night, but I don’t think we will call Gen that. Hey guys... good luck on your trip to Darwin, and call when you get there !

We had a Vietnamese meal the other night (with Gen and Trent) and it was some of the best Vietnamese food I have ever had. Kristy had the chicken curry and she is still talking about it – and for Kristy to like something with the word ‘curry’ in it, well, that is amazing.

Today Kristy had to go to the Ladies Room while we were shopping. It cost her 50 cents to use the amenities. She returned and said she got her monies worth. I shudder to think what that means.

Alcohol is different up here. There are all sorts of restrictions, for e.g. any alcohol you buy requires ID. And... cask wine is not available to be purchased until after 6pm. Sigh. I had the choice to either cut down consumption, or buy bottles. Guess which one I chose?!

My friend Helen L is now here in Alice! Helen, who I used to work with at DHS! I love a small world – how is this - I was bringing up 2 boxes of lamps for a guy named Morris (friend of a Micks parents in Yack) and Morris is co-running the singing workshop that Helen is attending at Ross River! How strange that whole 6 degrees of separation is! Anyhoo, we are catching up with Helen for dinner while she is here – how great is that!!??

We are slightly screwed re future accommodation – apparently Alice Springs is holding the Masters Games in August (or Sept or sometime close) and everything is booked out! We have negotiated something vague with the caravan park that we are in, but I am slightly nervous. In Alice, they don’t seem to write anything down, they just give half nods, and phrases like “I’m sure we can work something out”. Well, we still have to move in a few days from the site we are on, so really... so much for the “working things out”.

Hey hey, and Mel and Elle are coming to visit on the 20th Aug for 6 days – YYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! K and I are so excited. Mel is excited. Elle will be excited when she gets here.

By Day 48 of the Fitness Challenge, the pushups are getting slightly tricky, but still we persevere. K tells me that my arms are looking stronger. I want to believe her, so I will. Kristy is definitely looking fitter and she is very brown. She likes to be browner than me.

I keep beating K at cards, and she soooo cracked it the other day, she threw herself out of the tent, into the van and sooked on the bed in there for ages. Sorry Kristy, the cards are just loving me at the moment.

I hope everyone is happy and having fun. We come back to Melbourne on Tues 3rd Aug, and are there until Friday 13th Aug. If you want to catch up, please email me. I will be back again in October. I think of my family and friends often – more often that you would know. I am having a wonderful time, but I miss my buddies. Please don’t hesitate to text or call.