Not of the blog, although I finally figured out that I could get 7 hours free internet at the library, but this post marks my triumphant return to......................
COSTCO. I start Monday. I am thrilled. Just thrilled.
Going to be working in the "Sydney" corporate office, doing whatever they want to pay me to do. I say "Sydney bc its about 12 train stops outside of Sydney. I am actually very happy to be back at Costco, where I know I will be taken care of, its just the working part that is no good. Best part of the interview, "We work from about 8ish to, ah heck, whenever they let you go."
I am going to try my best here to recap what has happened since Fraser Island. Surely I am going to miss stuff and will fill in the blanks on future posts. I also have an exciting segment of "Wow, Kim, Wow" hilarious quotes from my mom, and a post about backpacker life for those who have never had the pleasure. I might throw those in here if I have time. Library closes soon.
I forgot to mention that I have added to my animals seen list since last post so here is the running tally.
- Saw some possums (not opossums) in the park. A 12 year old kid was feeding them apples and trying to hold them.
- I smashed a ??? driving up to Cairns, we briefly saw it and heard the crunch
- The car in front of me smashed a snake and the guts got on my windshield a bit, Ill count that as me killing a snake.
- FINALLY, saw a shark snorkeling the Whitsundays. Was with Karly, saw it, and took off after it. It was about my size and would have chomped me in two if I hadn't had my serious face on. We stared into each others souls and knew if either attacked we'd both end up dead.
- Bats, duh
- Eels, creepy
- Turtles, they don't do much, I don't really see the fascination
- Bulls on the road. Kinda like the Rage Against the Machine song, "Bulls on Parade," but not like that at all cause they never move.
- Roos
- A suicidal wallaby that attached us for our chips. I have hence stopped eating chips.
- Huge lizards, slightly smaller then the ones in the last Bond movie
- and a tree in the Sydney botanical gardens that when it heats up the nectar ferments and the birds that drink it get drunk and fall out of the tree. I didn't "see" this cause its like 65 here, but imagining it was funny, and Ill be back to that exact spot when it heats up to watch.
Well, F, I just tried to load all the pictures that will make all this funnier and they are not allowed by my system admin. SO, I will do it at Costco "after" my shift is over. Sorry, maybe that will lead to my all photo blog post.
Since Airlie, Karly, Kim and I headed on a terror drive up the coast stopping to sleep twice. Once in a tiny motel that had amazing wifi (funny what you judge places on these days). And then stopping again once we got to Cairns to sleep in the car. Big ups to Kim Hall for sleeping in a car for a night. I mean we got there at about 4:00 AM and didn't really have a choice, but still impressive. The next morning we also killed the battery, were late returning the car and had no place to stay. Leave it to me to find the Avis car return and place to stay. I wish I could take credit for this, but as luck should have it they were right next to each other. NEXT DOOR, in a fairly large city.
If you google maps the drive from Sydney, NSW to Cairns QLD, I think its about 28 hours give or take. I drove about 26 of it. The girls were a great help-disadvantage!!!
The Halls made a brieif stop in the hellhole that is Airlie Beach for a quick day trip into the Whitsundays. We snorkeled, ate on the beach, and kinda just putt around for a bit. It was a nice break from the car. After that it was straight to Cairns and the 10 day or so stay. We stayed at the Koala something or other and had a nice big room. The sun and rain were off and on so I was not able to get my tan back before heading back to Sydney, which was a bummer since I am headed to the office for the next 6 months. I have other Cairns stories, but will save them until I can post these pictures.
We flew back to Sydney on a 5:50 AM flight and moved on to our amazing sleeping quarters atop The Strand Hotel (hotel means bar in Australia). So, this place is a dump and I am still here. The price is right and since I am going broke (Spent $100 the last 5 days and that is including $76 for a room), I am calling it home until I get a paycheck.
The girls had 3.5 days to see as much of the city as they could and we about saw it all. This was my third tour around town, so I was getting much better at getting around. We stopped at the Opera House and even took in a one man show of all three Star Wars movies. It was pretty good, but overpriced. Saw the bridge, botanical gardens, Darling Harbour, Paddy's Market, and some other stuff.
Time for some bullet points
- I am no longer addicted to Candy Crush, due to the fact that I have extended the date range on my phone past 2030 and I cant get anymore lives. I was lazy and when I needed more I just moved the date ahead a year, thus tricking the game into giving me more lives as it thought time had passed, well you run out of space at 2030 on I pods, so I quit. I am not starting over (I will, lots of train rides in my future).
- Finished another Ender Book. That makes 6 of 8. Please link over to my other blog of Ender's Game reviews to see my full thoughts. For now, "They are pretty good" is all I have to say.
- The rooms in the Whitsundays all have a flag on them; there are about 170 of them or something like that. We had the American Flag room. Top 10 happiest I have been on this trip.
- TOP 3 KIM HALL QUOTES
3. "What was that first Finding Nemo movie called?? Was it Little Mermaid?
- Kim Hall, while trying to list as many Disney movies as possible for a mother daughter Amazing Race
2. "Is there a West Virginia"
- Kim Hall when attempting to name all 50 states in the same challenge. Karly and Kim are teachers. They got 43/50, quit and took the 7 penalty drinks. They missed 7!!!!!!!!
and this is barely a quote but the situation was amazing
1. "Karly I am going to need your eyes...."
Karly- Cuts Mom off and replies "They are on your head"
- Kim and Karly as mom was about to ask for her daughter's help in finding her glasses. Sad, funny, senior moment, anyway you look it, I laughed for about 5 minutes.
- Kim cut my hair and I am surprised I was hired at Costco, they obviously do not have hair standards. Can't wait to meet the rest of the staff.
- During our European trip Karly discovered Arrested Development, well on this trip it was Modern Family. She cruised from season 1 to finishing season 3 in about 3 days.
HUSKY FANS
- We arrived the the Koala and were greeted by some nice girls at reception. I was greeted with a go Cougs, as I had my UW shorts on. I turned and began talking to two girls that went to WSU. One even went to Skyline. So that is UW/Issaquah talking to WSU/Skyline. The next day that same girl came to clean my room. I could not help myself.
"So you took the advanced cleaning up after UW grads class while at WSU and skipped serving me fries." Day 1 of her cleaning
"This has to be the highlight of your vacation, cleaning my room" Day 2.
- She never came back............
Things I need in a care package
-Gum (picture of how much it costs coming in next post)
-Right Guard white deodorant (They only use spray here and someone needs to tell them it only lasts about 2 hours)
-Diet Pepsi, doesn't exist
Ok, that is it for today. Next up, pictures, backpacking insights, and my first day/week of work.
Pray for me,
Scott
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