(Ok my posts are out of order - this should have come before my Bali post yesterday...nothing like a good vacation to get you disheveled in all the best ways...)
It took me over 40 years to get there. My fascination with Australia started with Olivia Newton John in Grease. I thought if I could get there one day, maybe I could look like her. No such luck. But Australia delivered on every level. Even though I still do not look like Olivia Newton John. Nor can I now magically sing. Although that doesn’t stop me...
I spent the last 12 days there and I have to say that it would be hard to pick a favorite part. I loved it all. Every single ounce of it. Well, except for that cunt I met in the outback at the petrol station. Only shitty person I encountered the entire time. There always has to be one! Even in Australia.
I enjoyed the beaches North of Sydney. Took the ferry from Manley Beach to the Opera House and back again. Took naps as the cool ocean breeze wafted over me in Bungan Beach. Attempted to drive the coastline down to Melbourne, which is harder than it looks. Unlike California, you can’t just drive along a road that flanks the ocean. It is more of an inland road with tiny outroads to the Ocean. Regardless it was spectacular.
I traveled the Great Ocean Road and fell in love with Skeens Creek. I would move there tomorrow and never look back. But I say that every single time. There is also a place in Ireland that holds another part of my heart and soul. And I would move there tomorrow also. I am nothing if not one who easily falls in love...with places, places! Not people.
I saw kangaroos, koalas, black and brown wallabies, cockatoos, crocodiles (freshwater and saltwater), curlews, giant fucking spiders, giant fucking spiders that fly, kites, vultures, northern rosellas, red collared Lorikeets, magpies, bustards, splendid fairy wrens, Australian eagles, a dingo, an Australian feral camel, echidna, sand gonna, laughing kookaburra and I am sure I am leaving something or someone out! I saw a lot of wild life which was an honor and amazing.
I watched the sunset and emblazon the evening sky then literally turned around and watched the full blood moon rise over Ayers Rock. THAT was a spiritual experience. To be there for that shift in day to night, sun to moon. I can't describe it, it was just life altering. I left a different person than the one who arrived.
I drove three days solo through the Outback and fell in love with the dangerous, wildness of the people, landscape and road trains. I passed many road trains which makes me feel like probably more of a badass than it should.
I swam in the Pacific Ocean, crystalline blue thermal springs, a couple swimming pools, a river (NOT in the Outback), and a waterfall. The waters heal here, but perhaps that is just waters' purpose...to heal that which ails us or at least relieve of us of the burdens of living for a little while.
I landed in Darwin and watched the sunset over the ocean while rain fell in the distance. My last day in Darwin the sky opened up and poured rain like I haven’t seen since I lived in Florida. The similarities between the Northern Outback and Florida are striking. Anyway, I got soaked to the bone and got to drive to the airport in a full on thunder and lightning storm. That was probably the most dangerous thing I did the whole time.
I fell in love here. With the land, the fauna, the people, the history, the very many divergent parts of a continent that is as diverse as it is large and magnificent.
I met a couple amazing people who I imagine will remain friends for life. There is something about the connections you make on the road, when you are alone and bereft of routine and the comforts of home. A kind word, a cup of coffee, a dinner out, all mean so very much to me when I am far from all those who love me and put up with me.
My time in Australia was too short...although I am sure I could live the rest of my days here and never get to see enough to satisfy my lifelong passionate love affair with Australia. I love it and I am sad to be leaving. But I will be back. I need to visit Queensland and the WA. I am already conjuring my next trip...
I am grateful to the travel Gods, United Airlines and Jetstar for getting me safely to and around Australia. I am humbled by this mysterious land that beckoned me so patiently for so long.
I’ll be around...g’day mates. Good on ya and all that Australian stuff. I never once answered “How ya goin?” correctly. For some reason, it always caught me off guard! But anyway, it was lovely and I am forever changed and altered by the experience!
Now, off to Bali...yet another place I have always wanted to go...
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