KANGAROOS!!!

I heard the funniest joke today. There's an Australian comedian named Carl Baron or something almost exactly like that and I saw him on TV. "I liked a girl in grade three. She was Chinese...She probably still is actually." HAHAHAHA! That has nothing to do with my stay here, but I thought it was worth sharing. Moving on...

Yesterday, I went to the Blue Mountains with four other girls. I cannot possibly describe how beautiful it was. Pictures only do so much justice. We rented a car for the weekend and left at 7 Saturday morning. First stop: Hungry Jack's. It's pretty much a Burger King. Then we stopped to get gas and when Nichole (Wilmington) walked in, the guy behind the counter was singing at the top of his lungs. She said something about being on American Idol and then "had a chat" about Australian Idol. The other lady working there turned to Nichole and said, "Where are you from? England?" Here's your sign.

I also went in to grab a plastic spoon for my yogurt and they looked at me like, "Aren't you going to buy something?" Nope, just needed a plastic spoon, thanks.

The two girls who have international licenses were going to take turns driving. Astrid started out and was fine until we got to some pretty steep curves around the mountains. The car was a stick shift and we definitely burned some rubber in the middle of the road before coming to a complete stop. I got a great picture while we were stuck, though.

On the way, we had the windows rolled down and the weather was perfect. It was one of those moments where you smile to yourself and think "this is life." You don't want to close your eyes because you might miss something. Those are the moments that make everything worth it...It reminds me of that quote: "It's not the number of breaths we take that matter the most but the moments that take our breath away."

Next, we stopped in a teeny town to go to the ATM and search for muffins because Megan hadn't eaten breakfast. When we walked out of the store, we saw this spastic girly girl try to cross the road in the middle of traffic and almost get hit. It was actually quite funny because she yelled really loud and looked pretty clumsy jumping back onto the sidewalk. I'm sure I would have contained myself if she had actually been hit.

We made it to the mountains in about an hour and a half or so and stopped at Scenic World to get railway and skylift tickets. The railway is an extremely short ride on this roller coaster looking thing that claims the steepest slope in the world. It goes slow, but it almost goes straight down to a platform where there's an absolutely IN-CREDIBLE view of the mountains. On the left is the Three Sisters, a rock formation that looks like three pillars on one side of a mountain. The legend is that three sisters fell in love with three men from a different tribe, but marriage was forbidden and there was a battle. A witch doctor turned them into stone to protect them, but was killed in the battle before anyone could turn them back. Tough luck. There were statues of the sisters and the witch doctor in front of Scenic World.

The formations were made by water getting into the rock and making indentions in the mountain. Eventually, they'll be completely eroded away. That makes me sad.

After we took pictures at the platform, we hiked around the mountain a bit. Well, three of us did because the other two saw a snake and went back, haha. The mountains are near the town Katoomba and along the trails, there were a lot of signs about the mining history of the area.

When we were all good and glowing (girls don't sweat, they glow), we took the skylift back up the mountain. That was a LOT of fun. I took a video going part of the way up.
Then things got a wee bit sour. We got back to the (again, rental) car and someone had keyed it. I mean a big scratch along the back door. We were collectively upset, but Shy was outright MAD. She's petite and usually a very calm, sweet person, but she got into it with the manager because there was a sign right next to where we were in the parking garage that said "24 hour surveillance" and the manager said there's nothing he could do. He explained it's really for watching people go in and out and used mostly in case of a stolen vehicle. She's half his size, but she was all over him about it. I agree because the sign is misleading and not completely true, but I occupied myself with buying souvenirs while they argued.

We think it may have been keyed because the license plate said Queensland. All the others said New South Wales and apparently the two states don't get along very well. We were asking the lower manager (the boss man's son of course) why there's such a rivalry and he said it mostly has to do with the rugby leagues. How silly. He added that Queenslanders charge New South Walers more for bananas, too. They call them banana benders. Oh my gosh, that's ridiculous. Funny, but ridiculous.

We paid insurance on the car, though, so everything should be fine. We ended up eating our packed lunch in the parking garage and didn't feel bad about the shredded cheese we dropped in our parking spot.

The next stop was another lookout point that took our breath away. You can see the mountains for miles and miles. They're called the Blue Mountains because of the blue haze the eucalyptus oil creates when it seeps out of the trees. There was also an "aboriginal" man playing the didgeridoo, which reminded me of a Ricola commercial. Shy said he had a London accent and my RA said aboriginals aren't allowed to have their pictures taken because they believe it sucks their souls out. So I guess he wasn't a true aboriginal, but he sure looked like one and I got a picture with him anyway. He called me Tif and kissed me on the cheek. 5% scary.

Next we went to the Jenolan Caves. Let me just say that if I had been the one driving the road to get there, I would have wet my pants. I've never seen a steeper, narrower, curvier road. Thank God Shy was driving. I don't know how she did it. Astrid entertained us to get our minds off the nerve-racking drive by telling us about her hampster that was accidentally thrown in the bin when it was still alive. They later found out it was just sleeping. She cracks me up.

We eventually got there and the caves were amazing. I took a lot of pictures, but of course cave pictures aren't going to be spectacular. There was one section that the discoverer named after his wife in 1881. They wrote her name on the cave wall. It was gorgeous. The limestone and crystal was so sparkly and there were sections that looked like a stone sheet draping from the ceiling.

The total cost of the trip per person: $85.50. Go us. That's a rental car, gas and groceries to pack lunch plus $16 for the mountains and $22 for the cave.

By the time we got back to the car and up the mountain again, it started pouring. We were driving about 10 under the speed limit and I was still afraid we would hit a kangaroo because they come out when it starts getting dark. If one had come tumbling down the hill and hit the side I was on, I would have been traumatized.

Passing a farm, I saw this thing lying sideways in the grass and asked, "Is that a dead cow?" I had never seen a dead one before (not counting on my plate) and it was on its side with its legs in the air. Megan, a die-hard animal lover saw it and I thought she was going to cry. I was trying to make her feel better and told her maybe it had Mad Cow Disease.

But then...the best part of the entire trip...we were just driving along and I looked to the right...KANGAROOS!!!!!!! I smashed my face against the window and yelled. "Kangaroos, kangaroos, kangaroos, kangaroos!" Shy thought the back seat was going to explode. It was THAT exciting that I named this blog after the 5 seconds out of the whole trip that I saw them. I swear one looked right at me! :)

Now I can go home satisfied.

(This is really long).

For dinner we went to a Lebanese restaurant. Shy is Muslim, so she has to eat a certain meat. I tried hummus and had this stuff called falafel. Not too bad.

Last night, Megan and I ended up staying at Shy's. Miss Canadian Wilderness Megan darted to the other side of the room when we heard a massive possum outside the window, but no one can blame her. I think it fell off the roof or something. Their possums look different, too. I've only seen pictures, but they look evil. And kind of prickly.

We stayed up talking about religion, which was really interesting because Megan doesn't claim one, Shy is Muslim and I'm Baptist. I feel like we should be on a commercial about respecting each other's beliefs, holding hands and swaying to "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

Today, we all hung out again and ate pizza in the park downtown. Much better than the last pizza and really cheap because we all split the cost. Oh, and Nichole bought me a Cadbury egg! I had mentioned how I wanted one earlier, and she got me one at the store. :)

I ended up going to a Baptist Church with Nichole. This past week, BCS (Baptist Christian Students) had a barbecue on campus and I met a girl who put me in touch with Naomi. She lives in an apartment ("flat") right behind me and picked me up to go to church. It's a very small church and one of the only Baptist ones in Bathurst. People wore jeans and left the windows open because not many buildings (or older cars) are air conditioned here. Much different from my church, but everyone was so friendly. We went to the evening service because that's when most of the college students go. Nichole and I may join a small group.

Afterwards, back to Shy's for fudge cake and Grey's Anatomy, then a taxi to take us home. Taxis, by the way, aren't cheap.

Alright, well this is plenty long so I'm going to make a list of some random things I've written down the past few days to put on here...

1. I've found a lot of people here have either visited, want to visit or have relatives in America. Several of them know where North Carolina is. As an exception, I told one girl where I'm from and she asked, "Is that near Maine?"

Most people notice pretty quickly that I have an accent and I told Nichole we need to make an index card with all of our info because we get the same series of questions over and over. Where are you from? Oh, really? Where's that? How long are you in Australia? What are you studying?

2. The bird I mentioned in my last blog is a magpie. The ones that sound like Scuttle.

3. I haven't gotten used to people passing ("overtaking") and driving on the right. I can't even cross a street properly because I don't know which way to look. Roundabouts don't help, but they do eliminate traffic lights and stop signs.

4. I don't think I'd be good at rugby. One guy tried to explain it to me and apparently you can only take 8 steps before bouncing the football. 8?! I'd lose count. There's too much to think about. Plus, when you bounce a football, you're not guaranteed the direction it will go.

5. A barbecue is not what I thought it would be. When people here say barbecue, it's usually putting some sausages (that look like hot dogs) on the grill (the actual "barbie" or barbecue). Sometimes there's steak, but definitely no pork with barbecue sauce. :(

6. Everyone knows our president and I sure didn't know their prime minister's name before I came here. (Shy lives next door to where the old Prime Minister Chifley lived). In fact, I think Cheney is in Australia right now or was a couple days ago. Some people rioted in front of the U.S. Embassy in whatever state he went to, but most people here are really laid back and don't hate America or anything. I've heard a few Bush jokes while I've been here, but I've also heard jokes about their own prime minister. A lot of people are against the war here and in other countries and when it came up on the way to the mountains, I said my piece.

I really wish we had more international news in America. I rarely know anything about other countries and I feel so ignorant when I come here and Australians know as much or more about my country than I do. I've only had one person directly ask me my view on Bush and the war, but I know close to nothing about their politics. I mentioned that to Myles (my RA) and he said America is a big country with a lot of different states to be informed about. True, but I still need to keep up more.

7. On a lighter side, I really appreciate everyone leaving comments. I love reading them. I hope everyone is enjoying the blog and sorry for making this one so drawn out.

8. So I left my address a couple blogs ago and I don't know if it makes a difference, but NSW should follow Bathurst on the address. That stands for New South Wales. I changed it on the other blog. It's just something I didn't think about.

Alright mates. It's 1 in the morning here and I start classes tomorrow, so wish me luck and 'ava g'night.