Random Pictures/Stories

I finally sent a few of the pictures from my iPhone to the netbook so that I could share them with y'all (as Kendra would say) :) can't wait to see you dear!!! Anyhow, earlier in the blog....day 1 of this adventure, I said that Andy owed me about our whole Visa dilemma....well we ended up evening the score rather quickly. As we were on the bus to the Outback, I handed him the camera to take a picture and the "no memory card" message popped up. I left it in the netbook at the hostel after loading the pictures the night before. HOWEVER, the pictures that follow are all from that day, and my iPhone camera instead...and I think, they are actually better quality than our camera, but I guess I'll let you be the judge of that. (For the record, Andy stayed very calm after realizing we couldn't use the camera in the Outback.)

Here I am standing in the middle of the highway that stretches through the Outback. The road honestly is endless. I was more worried about being run over by a camel, kangaroo, or random biker (pedal bike, not motorcycle) than a car at this point. (Yes, Andy woke me up at one point on our bus ride because out of everything that we passed in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, we passed a guy on his bike...talk about dedication...or craziness...)

Sidenote: Our bus drivers/tour guides for the day were two of the biggest knuckleheads ever. It's a surprise we didn't end up stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the Outback being chased by wild Dingos...

As we were watching the sun set over Ayer's Rock, our tour bus (from the 1970's....no joke) which was parked, but running, starting accelerating very quickly, and loudly....our bus drivers, Dumb and Dumber as I will now affectionately refer to them as, ran faster than I ever thought their legs would take them to the front of the bus and jumped in the driver's seat trying to "solve the problem". Talk about killing the peaceful ambiance...well let's be real, the Contiki Tour bus full of drunk 18-22 yearolds also managed to do that for us. Pretty sure most of them didn't even know (or care) what they were looking at as the sun went down. There were a few cheers and champange glasses in the air from their crowd though as our bus nearly exploded.

Andy just hanging out at one of the rocks in the Outback....this picture was taken before the near bus explosion, when our biggest worry was that we weren't able to understand what one of the tour guides was saying because of his accent.....oh how the priorities changed as the day went on! :)

Speaking of priorities, health code does not seem to be one of the priorities in The Outback. On our drive home, we stopped at a rest area where there were public restrooms, a gas station, and a restaurant/bar. As I was sleepily walking from the bus to the toilets, I absolutely freaked out when I noticed there were little mice running EVERYWHERE in the parking lot and bathroom. But I really had to pee, and god knows the 1970's bus toilet was non-existent....so I trekked through Mouseville as quickly as possible....and then decided to take refuge in the restaurant for the rest of our break. Little did I know.....


Yep, you've got it......mice running everywhere in there too!!!!! In the States, the place would have been shut down due to violations starting at the front door. I booked it out of the restaurant, sprinted across the parking lot and found safety in the bus....ha, go figure!! (By the way, the mice didn't seem to bother any of the customers eating food in the restaurant....)





You can see Ayer's Rock in the distance, this was on our drive out there, when we were still in the mindset that we would be "conquering the rock" later in the day. When we arrived at the Rock, the climbing was closed due to "high winds at the summit". I'm pretty sure that had our tour guides not stopped us, Andy would have made the climb too and risked the $5,000 fine. (I'm glad Dumb & Dumber were there, otherwise it would have been up to me to stop him....) So anyway, back to this picture, the red sand everywhere made it feel like we were on Mars. Literally, the middle of nowhere...Mars.

No, it's not a deer.....and no, Andy is not cutting off its air supply. This little guy is the Kangaroo that LOVED us because Andy kept shoving food in its mouth! (Okay, I'll admit it, I did too.) Once again, this is one of our "Get in here little kangaroo, Jen is going to reach out her arm and snap a picture of the three of us" pictures. LOVE IT!!!

The only thing missing from this shot, would be the skateboard underneath Andy's feet. Thank you iPhone. (Another reason for Andy to get his own iPhone....the ability to snap amazing photos, like this one. Or, I suppose, I could take the credit for the amazing shot...afterall, I did take it! Feel free to compare it to the next picture, that Andy took. You can be the judge.)

Now granted....I wasn't posed as perfectly midair as Andy....I think he secretly does some skateboarding in his spare time.

Little did I know when I was jumping off this bench....that when this day was all said and over with, I would return to our hostel (where we had a private room, but shared a bathroom and kitchen with one other room) and would be introduced to the coolest roommate ever! (Note: 8th Grade Teacher Sarcasm in full swing!!) Now, I'm not sure what this man looked like.....I couldn't tell you his name....his age, or even what country he was from....the only thing that I know about him, is that he LOVES to hock loogies (spelling....I just had to look that up on Urban Dictionary.... I've never typed that phrase, nor did I ever think I would have to....) The minute we walked in the door, it started and I swear, the sound vibrated through the wall into our room. It sounded like he was hacking up a lung, only grosser. Anyhow, once he fell asleep, it stopped (and I was truly missing the Germans from the night before....their noise was much more tolerable.....think young twenties/honeymooners.) but our friend woke up at 4:30am, probably for a hiking tour.....He must have set his alarm an hour early so that he could spend 60 precious minutes hocking loogies, because that is precisely what he did. When I got up that morning and found a dead cockroach the size of a Reese's PB Cup near my bag, I barely flinched, because I survived the Loogie Hocker, and I knew, that if I survived that....I could pretty much get through anything! Seriously....that guy needs to see a doctor.

And finally, here we are hiking around the rocks. (Really? How do I smoothly transition from Loogie Hocker, to this??) We may have spent more time on the bus than we did exploring the Outback, but the drastic scenery is unlike anything we will ever see again....camels, kangaroos, bikers, near bus explosions, mice everywhere, Mars....what a wonderful day in The Outback. :)

Fond Memories (and Love) from the Outback---

Jen & Andy