Crikey!

The Map

2008-01-31T19:01:00.001-08:00

The above map has our route overlaid on it with a thin colored line. as it was logged via GPS. The color changes denote different days. Click on the map for all the excruciating details.

Photo Gallery

2008-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

Obligatory Video Montage

2008-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Home

2008-01-14T15:04:00.001-08:00

Eh, close enough

2008-01-13T20:27:00.001-08:00

I've been "on my way home" for 48 hours and counting

Blizzard 1, Andy 0

2008-01-13T11:26:00.001-08:00

Greetings from san francisco int'l. Apparently the northern hemisphere has this thing called "winter" going on. Flight was cancelled, in line to rebook.

2008-01-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia

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Author: Andy

"Passengers travelling with digeridoos, please alert the cabin staff prior to boarding."

2008-01-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia

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Author: Andy

We have AUD $2.37 voice credit left on our prepaid phone.

For the next 2 hours only, we can be reached at +61 04 4749 0800

Who wants to talk to us for a minute and a half?

First come, first serve. At 3:30pm local time, this number will pass into eternity. Until Telstra reissues it in 6 months.

2008-01-12T03:37:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia

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Author: Nick

Starting OdometerReading: 33010 km

Final Odometer Reading: 38047 km

TOTAL: 5037 km (3130 miles)

2008-01-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia

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Author: Nick

What I Learned:

1. Outback Steak House is better than the real thing.

2. Nescafe sucks. Real Australian coffee is just cappuccino.

3. Australians are sorry.

4. VB = GB (Victoria Bitter = good beer)

5. If there's grass on the wicket let's play some cricket!

6. The best thing about Cricket is the free WiFi!

7. Check over your rental car before you leave the lot.

8. Canberra = Trenton

9. Australians are very sorry.

10. Tell your credit card companies you are going on vacation BEFORE using your card on "Kangaroo Island"

11. "Waltzing Matilda" is NOT the Australian National Anthem. It is a song about a man who steals a sheep (whiskey in the Tom Waits version)

12. "Advance Australia Fair" IS the Australian National Anthem

13. When crashing a New Years party, bring pretty girls to guarantee admitance.

14. Best national park attraction name: "blow hole thunder cave"

15. The Great Wall of China was built to keep the rabbits out (or maybe it was the 4 "Great Australian Rabbit Fence" which, by the way, di not work.)

16. Dead Koalas are still cute. Just not cuddly.

17. Australians are very, very sorry.

18. There is only one free on-street parking spot in Melbourne, and it comes with free wi-fi

19. "Twisties" are Cheetos. Don't believe the hype.

20. one hectare = four bushels

21. The British started the Australian colony as a place to send convicts right after their old prison/colony stopped accepting inmates on July 4, 1776.

22. There's a reason Australia doesn't export kangaroo meat. It's the same reason the US doesn't export squirrel meat.

23. You see more dead animals than live ones during the day. The opposite holds true at night.

24. When climbing Uluru: "If you get hurt, or die, your mother, father and family will really cry and we will be really sad too." (Barbara Tjikatu, Traditional Owner)

25. Best National Holiday: Sorry Day!

2008-01-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia

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Author: Andy

Apparently we have all of this data usage left on our SIM card, so I put it in the N95 and uploaded a few days worth of shozu pictures (since cricket).

Our room in Sydney's got a nice view, and for some reason we find ourselves watching beach cricket on TV.

What's beach cricket? Well, what's beach volleyball?

Back in sydney

2008-01-11T23:57:00.001-08:00

Kings cross looking south

Back to sydney

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Aussie Trucker hall of fame

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Icons

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The only thing missing from this picture is the sydney opera house

"but we do."

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Japanese tourists reach the edge of nowhere

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Sculpture garden

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Coober Pedy

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Old timer's mine

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Road train

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Outback roadhouse

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Cricket

2008-01-11T23:40:00.001-08:00

GPS, at sea

2008-01-11T23:39:00.001-08:00

2008-01-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

There's a guy ahead of us at the airport check-in counter who is trying to check a unicycle. They made him put it in this big clear bag. I guess you wouldn't let someone carry it on, because you don't want someone on a unicycle taking over the plane.

2008-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Nick

Try http://www.bossaloon.com.au/

for Bo's website. Oh, and NT beer = PBR

2008-01-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Nick

Waiting for Andy to get out of the shower, then it's off to the airport. Dinner was OK. See Andy's transcribed review of the exotic meats. The steak sucked. How the hell do you screw up steak?

We went to Bodangles after dinner and stayed till 2AM (the other club was kinda lame... We met mostly locals, who were very friendly, with butterface or reminded me of dinner. Merryment was had by all. Apparently there's a webcam feed of the place if you want to see just how hopping the Northern Territory bar scene is - www.boossaloon.com.au

2008-01-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

It's just after midnight. I'm sitting on the east side of Todd St. watching a large Aboriginal woman scream "Fuck You!" over and over again into the window of an empty KFC. i'm not sure what to make of this.

2008-01-11T03:42:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

Nick's aussie meat reviews!

(we're at the famous Outlanders Steakhouse)

Crocodile: slightly fishy, but little flavor at all

kangaroo: chewy and tastes like flank steak

Emu: does not taste like chicken. Melts in your mouth. Tastes more like beef than any other bird. Unique aftertaste.

Camel: really weird. Very very tender. Sweet, smokey, has the texture of chicken.

2008-01-11T02:00:00.001-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

The native tribe of the area around Uluru (Ayer's Rock) considers it sacred ground. Every male member of the tribe climbs it exactly once, at his passage to manhood. Needless to say, they are not thrilled when a bus full of tourists show up and climb it all morning.

A sign in front of the path to climb the rock says:

"Listen! If you get hurt, or die, your mother, father and family will really cry and we will be really sad too. So think about that and stay on the ground."

- Barbara Tjikatu, Traditional Owner

2008-01-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

Transcribed from a road sign at the Northern Territory border:

REGULATIONS OF JOHN McDOUGALL STUART'S GREAT NORTHERN EXPLORING EXPEDITION IN 1862

Everyone must be up at the break of day

The bed clothes etc to be done up and put in their proper places

Breakfast to be ready at the same time, for which half an hour will be allowed

No one is to leave the line of march without my knowledge or that of the officer in charge

No one is to fire on the natives without orders unless it is in self-defence (sic)

When on the march no water is to be used from the canteens without permission from the leader

No swearing or improper language shall be allowed

No journal to kept or notes taken

Saddles are not to be sat upon

2008-01-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice Springs, Australia

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Author: Nick

Cheap WiFi in the desert! ($5 for 2 hours) Yay!

There are a TON of Japanese tourists here (and Coober Pedy, Yulara, and at most places we stopped in between...) Most of them have extremely large digital SLR's slung around their neck. Some standards stay true.

We saw a nifty Truck and Transport useum when we got into town. It had 79 trailers, 1588 wheels, was 1018.2 meters long and weighed 1072.3 tonnes. It was pulled by a Kenworth C501T Cab (600HP Cummins Signature Engine), owned by Gould Transport and driven by Steve "Stag" Matthews. Fuck.

Tonight the plan is to get a feast (called the Drover's Blowout) of steak, kangaroo, crocodile, camel, and emu at Overlander's Steakhouse, then drinks at Bojengal's (looks like the Cowboy Bar in Jackson, WY but without all the antlers...) and finally clubbing at Melanka ("the most popular nightclub in Alice" - I think it might be the ONLY nightclub in Alice...)

We were promised a Singing Dingo by the ads for Stuart's Well in the tourist brochure... No dingo. All I got was a really crappy burger. Apparently "the Dingo doesn't sing on Friday's." They did have emus in the front yard. Bastards.

I'm uploading the last of the pictures now. Our flight back to Sydney is at 12:45PM tomorrow. We have a 24 hour layover, and will be spending the evening in Sydney's lovely Kings Cross neighborhood. So this will probably be the last entry for me until I get home.

The trip has been fantstic, fun filled, and without incident. The pictures tell half the story, and I'll be happy to tell you the other half over a beer sometime. Just give me call or drop me n e-mail...

2008-01-11T01:09:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Erlunda, Australia

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Author: Nick

Just passed a road train with 3 trailers carrying cars. Total Tyres: 130

Nice...

2008-01-11T01:05:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Yulara, Australia

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Author: Nick

Big. Friggin. Rock. Espensive. Friggin. Resort. (I was warned, on both accounts...) So no real surprises here. That's a good way to sum up the trip - no surprises (and no worries mate!) Everything has been awesome and fun, but also well thought out and somewhat predictable. We'll see what Alice brings... As far as the rock goes, we watched the sun go down behind it last night, and got up at 5AM to watch the sun come up in front of it this morning. It was well worth getting up at dawn. I especially liked how the Aboriginals implore you not to climb Uluru (with signage to match) and the arrogant white man put a CHAIN RAILING up the sacred Aboriginl path to help you do the climb. Bastards! Andy and I chose not to climb Uluru.

2008-01-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Alice springs, Australia

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Author: Andy

Greetings from the "Red Centre" of Australia. On the way up from Yulara we stopped at Stuart's Well Roadhouse, which is famous for its singing Dingo. unfortunately, the Dingo was MIA today, so nick ate a cheeseburger and we drove the rest of the way up here.

On the way into town we stopped at the Road Transport Hall Of Fame. It's primarily devoted to the Australian Trucking industry, and has dozens of old trucks on display. They have all these biographies of "famous" aussie truckers on the wall, which were oddly fascinating to read. The place was very much by truckers for truckers. Although that meant i didn't understand half of what i read, it was still an enjoyable experience. Road trains are cool.

2008-01-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Yulara, Australia

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Author: Nick

Best. Rock. Ever.

2008-01-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Yulara, Australia

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Author: Andy

Got into a conversation with a guy at the hotel here. He had this tattoo of a bald eagle rising over a skull with an american flag in the background. I asked him about it, because he was clearly Australian.

He told me it was a mistake. He picked the design out of a book of black and white sketches and didn't realize it featured an American flag until it was too late. He said:

"you see, I really like eagles."

i told him the bald eagle is a good eagle, and the tattoo looked just fine.

2008-01-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Yulara, Australia

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Author: Andy

We're watching the sun go down by Ayer's Rock. I'm actually surprised we got a cellphone signal out here. This thing (ayer's rock, aka uluru) is pretty amazing. One of those things like the grand canyon that aren't done justice by postcards.

2008-01-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Marla, Australia

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Author: Nick

It's hot hot hot! 110 degrees at least... We're e route to Yulara, home to a giant sacred rock and an overpriced tourist village. We haven't seen a kangaroo today, living or dead. There's not much out here other than road trains... I got a picture of a big one - 4 tanker cars, 86 wheels. Over 200 feet long... Check it out.

2008-01-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Coober Pedy, Australia

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Author: Andy

Something i noticed last night:

it didn't seem like there were any australian guests in our hotel. It was all germans french and israelis.

It's almost as if aussies know better than to come here at this time of year.

As for me, i'd argue the best time of year to come here is when you're already in australia to begin with.

Sleeping in an underground cave plays some tricks on you. There's no sunlight at all so you have no real visual cue that morning has arrived.

2008-01-09T03:31:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Coober Pedy, Australia

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Author: Andy

We spent last night in port augusta, which is a major crossroads town in the middle of the southern coast. As we drove along this morning, we came to the intersection where A37 splits off from A1. One goes to Darwin, the other to Perth, each over a thousand miles away, in different directions. The intersection was marked with just a couple simple signs, not even a traffic light. And so we broke north into the outback.

The greenery began to rapidly dissipate, until all we were left with was vast flat fields of dry shrubs (think west texas but hotter). The highlight of the drive was when we saw two big kangaroos hopping across the horizon at full speed. It was a scene right out of the discovery channel.

Nick took over driving the second half of the trip here. We stopped at a "Roadhouse" which was basically a pub with gas pumps. Out front was a "Road Train", which is basically a series of 2-4 full size trailers hooked up in a chain to the same truck. En route to coober pedy, nick was able to cut our fuel usage when we realized that perhaps running the a/c full blast was diminishing our gas faster than we estimated.

Coober pedy is a weird town. The nearest human settlement is over 100 miles away. They mine opals here, and are glad to sell you some. we went to the Old Timer's Mine, where you walk through a real opal mine and learn about how these guys dug stuff up using only pick axes and cowhide buckets.

After the mine we drove by this sculpture garden which was amazing. It's just sitting there on this dusty hilltop in a nowhere town in the outback. This guy basically cobbled together a large series of clever sculptures using junk, largely discarded automotive and technology parts. There's a totem pole made of old keyboards and a junked car hoisted onto twisted railroad tracks. He has tv's and computer monitors in various states of disrepair integrated into dusty monoliths. I took lots of pictures and will try to upload a few next time I have wifi.

The people here mostly live in "Dugouts" which are basically homes they carve out of mountainsides or build into old mines. It is, simply put, way too hot to live above ground here. Our hotel is even mostly underground. Our room is a cave about 6 meters down. Cool stuff.

2008-01-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Coober Pedy, Australia

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Author: Nick

Made it in one piece without running out of gas (we did need to shut off

the AC and only do 110k/ph for the last 100km...) Road Trains are pretty

bad ass (and over 200 feet long) Check out the pix to see what I'm

talking about. I saw one that was 5 tanker cars long!

This town is right out of a Mad Max movie (Beyond Thunderdome was filmed

here...) Coober Pedy is an opal mining town, and most houses and shops

are dug into the hill sides to help keep them cool (it's 113 degrees

outside now...) Which is why I'm writing from a cave. We took a mine

tour and are about to go get some dinner at the local Italian joint.

Tomorrow, we're off to Ayer's Rock/ Yulara!

Staring contest (i won)

2008-01-07T23:52:00.003-08:00

Sheep!

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Emus!

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Kangaroo!

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Welcome to kangaroo island

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Cape jervis lighthouse

2008-01-07T23:44:00.001-08:00

Western victoria

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Victoria scenery

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Happy

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Queen victoria market

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In case you didn't know what your daughter would look like as a princess

Melbourne gaol

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Death masks

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Prison graffiti

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Prison tour

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In the news

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Melbourne

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No jacket required

2008-01-07T22:35:00.001-08:00

2008-01-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Adelaide, Australia

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Author: Nick

If there's grass on the wicket let's play some cricket!

So we're at The Oval in downtown Adelaide, watching Cricket and borrowing the 4th Floor Press Box's Open Wifi (thanks guys!)

Cricket is like baseball, but more boring and more backwards. But there's free WiFi!

This may be the last chance I have to communicate with the outside world until Friday (Alice Springs) or Saturday (Sydney)

If you don't hear from us by Sunday Night / Monday Morning, we're somewhere in the Outback, probably being torn apart by dingos or rabid kangaroos...

2008-01-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

DATELINE: Kangaroo Island, Australia

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Author: Nick

ON THE BOAT from Kangaroo Island

Got new tyres this morning ($240, paid for by Avis. Took 20 minutes, and

I'm in the the middle of no where... I need to raise my tyre prices...)

The old tyres were almost bald (1/32 inch or tread left) and we're about

to head into the Outback, with 1500 miles of driving to go. We're on the

boat from Kangaroo Island to Cape Jarvis now... This afternoon it's

Cricket in Adelaide, and on to Port Agusta for the night. I just saw an

ad for the Adelaide Fringe Festival; It reminded me of jut how gay JG

is. I wonder if he's read this far...

2008-01-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Kingscote, Australia

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Author: Nick

Wifi is non existant around these parts so I'll write now, upload later.

Kangaroo Island is 100 miles long, 25 miles off shore, and completely

isolated. Yesterday we went to Paul's Place, the best $12 I've spent so

far. Part tourisy trap, part wildlife park in some guy's large back

yard. We got to hold kangaroos, punch koals, get beat up by sheep, and

get accosted by emus. The pictures tell the whole story. I helped 3

Swedish girls get their busted old 1970's Mazda station wagon running

(3.1L Inline 6 with a very stuck and dirty choke.) Then it was off to

Flinder's Chase National Park on the far western end of the Island. Most

of the park has burnt to a crisp recently (and may still be burning...)

so we only saw a small corner of it - Remarkable Rocks and Admiral's

Arch. Thar be seals here! New Zealand Fur Seals... On the way back to

Kingscore we saw 5 or 6 'roos and dozens of wallabies, most of them

still alive (there was plenty or roadkill too...) Oh, and 2 sheep just

outside Kingscote, hanging in the middle of the road. They came pretty

close to becoming our new hood ornament... It was chip and a crappy

grilled ham sandwich for dinner since the pizza place closed early...

The sign said 11, and we were there at 10:45. Wankers...

2008-01-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Adelaide, Australia

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Author: Andy

We bought a bunch of groceries this morning in preparation For our big days of driving outback later this week.

Now we're in adelaide attending our first professional criket match. The adelaide oval is over 140 years old, and i wish there were that many spectators here. Apparently we're at a third-string minor league game that no one really cares about. One team just finished batting and they have 129 runs. I actually am not entirely sure what the hell is going on, but it's been a good learning experience.

Also of note is the open wifi hotspot SACA_Press_4th_Floor, which has enabled me to finally upload a few days worth of pictures to the blog.

Nick's gonna love this news, cause we haven't been really able to check our email for a few days.

Product placement

2008-01-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

National museum of australia

2008-01-07T21:52:00.003-08:00

Waltzing matilda

2008-01-07T21:52:00.001-08:00

Emu made of barbed-wire

2008-01-07T21:51:00.003-08:00

Outside old parliament house

2008-01-07T21:51:00.001-08:00

Aborigonal tent embassy

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Grassy roof

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Flag

2008-01-07T21:49:00.001-08:00

Don't spill your coke zero on it either

2008-01-07T21:48:00.003-08:00

Skylight

2008-01-07T21:48:00.001-08:00

House of reps

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Parliament house

2008-01-07T21:47:00.001-08:00

Summernats entrants

2008-01-07T21:46:00.003-08:00

Lavish accommodations

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Canberra

2008-01-07T21:45:00.001-08:00

This is what the capital of australia looks like. This picture was taken about four blocks from parliament

Eliot drives off

2008-01-07T21:44:00.007-08:00

Good name for a band

2008-01-07T21:44:00.005-08:00

One for logs, one for blogs

2008-01-07T21:44:00.003-08:00

Rental cars

2008-01-07T21:44:00.001-08:00

Nice.

2008-01-07T21:43:00.001-08:00

Your tidy bag

2008-01-07T21:42:00.003-08:00

Harry's pies

2008-01-07T21:42:00.001-08:00

2008-01-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Kingscote, Australia

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Author: Andy

Great day here on kangaroo island.

High point: feeding a baby kangaroo

low point: we had to eat potato chips for dinner because nothing is open on the whole island after 9

high/low point: getting head-butted in the knee by a sheep. I mean it was funny, but it still hurt.

2008-01-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Kingscote, Australia

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Author: Andy

I'd forgotten to tell mastercard that i was leaving the country, and as such, my card stopped working this afternoon.

So i call them collect from a payphone and i get patched through to the security dept. As standard procedure, they review the suspicious purchases that flagged your account.

"the next charge is 'kangaroo island', is that correct?"

2008-01-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Cape jervis, Australia

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Author: Andy

We're on a boat in the south pacific, headed to a place called "Kangaroo Island"

weird how you wake up one day and your life vaguely resembles the plot of King Kong.

2008-01-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Goolwa, Australia

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Author: Andy

Last night we made it all the way to Portland in western Victoria. We ran into some problems though trying to find a place to stay. Apparently since it is summer, the towns along the water are heavily booked. Moreover, after a certain hour, the registration desks close and it becomes almost impossible to find a place.

While Nick waited in the car, quietly resigning himself to sleeping there, i went into this weird roadhouse bar-meets-casino full of drunk middle-aged people. One of them overheard me explaining our plight to the bartender and recommended the caravan park at which he was staying. The bartender looked it up in the yellow pages and we called to confirm they had room for us. I punched the address into my n95 and we used nokia maps to get us there. The cabin itself was great; it had two seperate bedrooms and came with a big can of bug killer. There were some monstrous exotic bugs in there.

2008-01-05T00:52:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Port campbell, Australia

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Author: Andy

We just saw a LIVE kangaroo! In the wild! It was sitting on the shoulder of the Great Ocean Road staring at us as we drove by. It was about 4' tall and brown.

In other news, our nominee for best national park attraction name:

"blow hole thunder cave"

2008-01-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Apollo bay, Australia

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Author: Andy

Right now i'm about as far south as i will ever be in my whole life.

2008-01-04T15:53:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: 440 la trobe street, Melbourne, Australia

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Author: Andy

currently at a tram stop waiting for a tram over to chinatown. We just spent some time browsing the Queen Victoria Market. I bought a $4 boomerang and a churro.

2008-01-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Melbourne, Australia

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Author: Andy

As we left canberra, we assumed we'd have to stop for the night somewhere short of melbourne and then finish the drive this morning. Instead, we made it all the way into town. Once we hit the edge of town, I called in a reservation to a hotel in the fitzroy neighborhood and fired up GPS on my n95 to get us there. The hotel was this charming victorian guest house across the street from the melbourne museum.

Finding parking was it's own adventure. We circled a residential neighborhood for a while until we finally found a parking spot that had no time limit and was not permit only. And to top it all off, someone on the block had an unsecured wifi connection, so we were even able to check our e-mail. I still haven't been able to get the n95 reliably onto a wifi network since eliot's place, so i have about 23 pictures queued up for the blog.

Today we started our day at the old treasury building, which houses the city museum of melbourne. Even though we are getting a bit museumed out, it was a nice place and i learned some good background stuff about this city.

Since last night's hotel was booked for tonight, we wandered around a bit and eventually found a new place to stay which is not as nice but not as expensive. We're probably not going to give up our free parking space until we leave town, so soon we're going to walk back over to the car to get our stuff and bring it over to the new hotel.

Nick wanted to go read in a cafe, so i went to the old melbourne gaol. It's a decommisioned prison, and is famous for being where ned kelly was hanged. Yeah, i didn't know who he was either. It was a bit touristy and a bit pricey, but i enjoyed it. You start out getting "booked" in a simulated arrest. A sgt screams at you to stand in line and then she sticks everyone in dark cells and slams the door. Hey, it's a schtik.

Next i went on a tour of the courthouse used for several decades and then went exploring the prison itself. Lots of interesting macabre exhibits there. They have a big collection of death masks of the 137 people who were executed there. In each cell on the ground floor there's a death mask and that person's story. They even have the original gallows set up.

On my way back to the hotel i passed by a pet store. I noticed they were selling something called "roo jerky." i guess that's for dogs to nibble on. I'm still waiting to see a kangaroo in one piece.

2008-01-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Melbourne, Australia

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Author: Nick

Stayed at "The Nunnery" last night (google it). Interesting place...

Found the only free on-street parking spot in Melbourne, and there's free wi-fi to boot (blogging curbside now... almost had my feet run over...)

Spent the day at the Melbourne museum (cool old gold vaults...) relaxing, shopping at Victoria Market, had some Pho (yes, real honest to God Pho!) and a couple pints of Victoria Bitter (VB)

It's Friday Night, so we're going to hit the bars in St. Kilda... Tomorrow, on towards Kangaroo Island!

2008-01-03T00:52:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Strathbogie, Australia

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Author: Andy

FYI, in case you ever go to australia:

"Twisties" are Cheetos. Don't believe the hype.

2008-01-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Jugiong, Australia

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Author: Andy

We started today with a quick breakfast before heading over to New Parliament House. It's actually a pretty amazing place, and the tour was very informative. They finished the complex in 1988 and it is massive. It's shaped like a hill, more or less, and the roof is mostly covered in grass. So from the outside, you have no way of really knowing how big it is. Inside it's very clean and modern. On top they have a giant flag being supported by 4 metal beams that reach out from the 4 corners of the roof.

Next we went to the National Museum of Australia on the other side of the lake. I was surprised i hadn't heard of it before. It's very modern and the buiding itself is fantastic. Lots of great exhibits on australian geography, environment and politics.

We just saw our first kangaroo. It was on the side of the road and had been torn to pieces by a vehicle of some kind. So please allow me to revise my #1 wildlife goal:

i want to see a LIVE kangaroo.

2008-01-02T03:49:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Canberra, Australia

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Author: Andy

This town is alot like Trenton, NJ. Just sayin'.

Apparently there's a big car festival in town called Summernats. There are all these souped-up classic cars driving around. And burly swearing drunk guys with goatees. Our hotel in particular has got quite the social scene going on right now in the parking lot.

One funny thing about driving here is that the turn signal is on the right. So half the time when we try to signal a turn, we turn on the windshield wipers instead. We've left a lot of confused aussies in our wake, but our windshield is spotless.

Here are some mantras we've been using to cope with driving on the wrong side of the road:

"right is the new left"

"left is the new right"

"there is no spoon"

Bondi art

2008-01-02T00:45:00.001-08:00

Made from plastic cups shoved in a chain link fence

2008-01-02T00:29:00.001-08:00

DATELINE: Canberra, Australia

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Author: Nick

Saw our first koala today. Unfortunately it was headless roadkill. Maybe tomorrow we'll see a dead kangaroo!

2008-01-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

DATELINE: Canberra, Australia

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Author: Nick

Saw our first koala today. Unfortunately it was headless roadkill. Maybe tomorrow we'll see a dead kangaroo!