We had about 35 students that went on this trip, and we were divided into two buses. Katie and Carrie were also on this trip, and I was glad that we chose the bus that we did. The two drivers were Al, who was kind of the dad of the group that kept all of the details together, and Libby, who was kind of like a cool big sister or aunt or something. She was really funny. Al was our bus' driver, and Libby drove the other bus, which was very loud. They would have sing-a-longs and nicknamed themselves the platybus, which I still don't understand. They kept calling us the snorebus because we just slept the whole time, but then we came up with the koala bus because all we do is sleep and eat. :) I've always wanted to be a koala! The koala bus consisted of Al, Sean, Portia, Paige, Sam, Cait, Steve, Le Ni (at least that's her facebook name and she's German so I'm not sure...), Connie, myself, Carrie, Katie, Ignatius, Viktor, Sascha, and Flo. (I went by where we sat, which is why I'm in the middle.) Everyone on the trip was either from Germany or America except for one person from Finland and one from Denmark.
Overall I had a lot of fun, despite some hiccups that I would rather have done without, ie: getting sick! Here's the breakdown of what happened each day, and I'm uploading the pictures to flickr, which may be a while... (and a fun fact, my battery went 10 days without being charged and still had 1 of 5 bars of battery left!)
Day 1- Friday, 27 August:
I woke up at 6:15, got ready, finished packing, and met up at carpark 6 at 7:15. We weren't supposed to leave until 8, but they wanted to get everything packed and everyone was there, so they told us 7:15. When I got there Katie and Carrie were already there along with a few other people that I didn't know yet. We mostly rode in the buses and stopped at roadhouses for petrol, bathroom stops, and if you wanted snacks. We stopped at one that said that it was open 25 hours a day! We then went to a park on the beach for lunch. It was sandwiches, along with every day for lunch after that, so I just ate some peanut butter and celery. It was crunchy peanut butter, which I don't really like, so I mostly just ate the celery. We drove some more and stopped at a place with a lot of stores. They had goon on sale, so almost everyone stocked up!
We finally drove into a sheep farm where we were staying for the night. Carrie and I stayed in a tent together and Katie had her own. There were no more 3-person tents when we got there. Carrie and I decided to do some 'splorin' (aka exploring) around the farm and just walked around. They also had 2 cute dogs, but I can't remember their names any more and forgot to write them down. We then stayed by the fire until dinner was ready. They like to eat really late here or something because dinner was almost always after 8. We had sheep curry since we were on a sheep farm. I had never actually had sheep before, but it was good. It tasted like beef, only chewier. We all sat at a long table that they had in a shed type area and it was funny to see that many tables put into one long group. After dinner, everyone just hung out around the fire until we went to bed.
Day 2- Saturday, August 28:
I forgot to write this down until the next day, so I forgot some things. We woke up at 7 and it was freezing cold since we were still so far south! We went to see Nature's Window in Kalbarri national park. It is a bunch of really pretty gorges and cliffs. There is one part that is called Nature's Window where the rocks make a window frame.
We also saw some kangaroos, wallabies, and a dingo that crossed the road at different times throughout our trip. We went to a beach/park area in the morning. I swung when I first got there, but then Carrie and I went out to sit on the dock. It was beautiful out there. We then made a stop at the store and came back to the park for lunch. I don't really remember much else except we went to the next place where we were staying the night and set up our tents. This was actually a camp site where there were other people.
Day 3- Sunday, August 29:
We woke up at 5:30ish to go to Monkey Mia and Shark Bay because we had to leave the camp at 6 to get there and see the dolphins. The feeding was at 7:30 and we just saw the tail end of it because it was raining and we tried to stop everywhere to get people ponchos. They should have just been prepared with rain coats! But we did get to see the second feeding after we ate some breakfast. I just ate some plain white bread. The feeding was really cool because a lot of dolphins came in and one woman who was working was sharing information about them. One of the dolphins was even pregnant! They have a weird ritual from mating, but this post is long enough. Some people got to feed them, but I wasn't picked.
After the dolphins, Katie, Carrie, and I walked around the beach, went to the shop, relaxed, and went in the Jacuzzi. I'm still not sure if we were allowed too, but no one yelled at us! I got a new waterbottle at the gift shop because my sucked and now I have one that doesn't taste like soap! We then had a sausage sizzle for lunch and Russ had us all count off into 4 groups to make cooking groups that we also played games with. After lunch, Katie, Carrie, and I, along with some others, got ice cream at the store before our boat ride. Our boat ride had a net thing at the back that you could ride in, which of course I didn't, and we went to a black pearl farm. The guy that worked there showed us the process of getting the pearl and how the make them. He also showed us a natural pearl and said that if you find one, you will generally find some small ones with it. He gave the 4 small ones to me and bet me $100 dollars that I'd lose them all before I got back the to beach, but I still have them all. :) They also showed us their jewellery that they make and they are currently doing the centre for the Miss Universe Crown! Our boat, the Aristocat 2, also went out to the turtle area and we saw some dolphins and a sea turtle.
When everyone got back from their various activities that day, we went to shell beach. It is a beach made entirely of little white shells no matter how deep you dig! They also told us that it is extremely salty water and it will start to burn you if you don't wash it off within an hour! We then went back to camp and they made chicken stir fry. It was my favourite meal of the entire trip! I then stayed up late with Katie and the Germans (the German guys on our bus, who will henceforth be known as the Germans: Sascha, Flo, Viktor, and Ignatius). They were playing cards and drinking while I was mostly watching. Katie had a bit too much to drink, so Flo and I helped her back to her tent.
Day 4- Monday, August 30:
Katie was still drunk this morning, which was very entertaining to me, since none of my friends at home drink and I've never dealt with that before. Al, Libby, and Russ yelled at all of us because apparently we were being too loud and it woke up the other campers. I really don't think we were any louder than the first night, though. We then walked to see the stromatolites, which were cool because they have been living for 3.5 billion years! It was kind of anti-climactic for me, though because I thought the picture in my biology book was these cool huge things, but they were just these little things in shallow water. They are still interesting, though. After that, we drove and saw some emus walking along the side of the road. Then we stopped at a natural ice cream place. Katie bought me a strawberry popsicle because she kept saying she wanted to make up for being drunk and buy me ice cream. :) We drove passed the Tropic of Capricorn, went to a store, and had lunch at a park. As we were driving more, Libby's bus stopped to see a thorny devil, a weird looking lizard, so we went back to have a look too. It was so weird, but cool. They said that they are really rare and most Aussies have never seen one!
We eventually got to Coral Bay. We set up our camp ground, and then walked out to the beach to see the sunset. It was gorgeous and the water was cool because it is only up to your mid-thighs about 20 feet out, but big fish swam right up near the shore because they know that it's a preserve and you can't fish! After sunset we came back to camp for dinner and Russ got a bunch of expensive fish for free from some old guys in the camp ground. They just randomly offered him fish, and Al said that it was probably $150 value! We saved the fish for the next day, though.
Day 5- Tuesday, August 31
Today was my parents anniversary, and even though I couldn't call them, I still thought about them. :) We woke up at 7 and could do a bunch of different activities at Coral Bay. We decided to go on the 3 hour glass bottom boat tour. Everyone went to the beach and got our tickets for the different boat trips during that day. We shopped around a bit and then went to the beach. I had to stop back at camp before our boat to get some stuff. It started down pouring when Katie and I got back to the tents and we walked back and met everyone at the stores. Carrie, Katie, and I decided to eat at Finn's Cafe and then Sascha got some stuff and sat with us. We stayed there until it stopped raining and it was time to go on our boat. Luckily, when it rains here, it isn't for long. There was also 2 opportunities to snorkel on the boat, but I didn't. They said that the water was freezing anyway, so in a way, I was glad. It was awesome to see the Ningaloo Reef through the bottom of the boat and Katie actually went under the boat for a bit so I could take a picture! We got to see a bunch of turtles and a lot of different reefs and fishes. We just missed getting to see a tiger shark, too.
In the early evening, we played the first of our group games. There were butt quarters, dizzy bat, orange pass without hands/arms, and picking up a box with your mouth. I didn't play, but took lots of pictures. I think I was the only one that did! My team was then in charge of dinner and I helped cook the burgers with Connie. We then ate and hung out with Katie, Carrie, and the Germans. Later we all went to Backpackers, which was a lounge area at a hostel. You needed to have a person who is staying there sign you in to get drinks, but most people couldn't find someone who was actually staying there, so it was quite funny.
Day 6- Wednesday, September 1:
Driving day... We mostly just drove, but some exciting things were one of the most isolated public bathrooms in the world and the world's most isolated, and expensive, gas station. We stopped for lunch at a park and I just ate an orange. One girl from our group accidently stepped on hot coals from a fire that used to be there, and she burned her feet. She consequently had to be carried every where for the remainder of the trip. We then stopped at the small town of Tom Price to go to the store. Finally, after dark, we got to our camp ground a Karijini national park. It apparently is a place where dingoes come out at night, but I didn't get to take a picture of that beware sign because it was too far from our camp. We were also told to watch out for red back spiders on the toilets. For dinner we had steak. After dinner, I watched Katie, Carrie, Steve, and the Germans play Mau-Mau, a type of German Uno using a real deck of cards.
Day 7- Thursday, September 2:
This morning, I woke up with a sore throat, but didn't think much of it. We drove to the Gorges and then hiked down them. It was a very scary hike for me and we had to get wet at parts. We also had to climb barefoot at parts and I cut my big toe pretty badly and it still hurts. I didn't know that it was cut until after I put my shoes on and was taking them off again, though! It was quite cut up, though. Libby helped my bandage it up. I didn't want to go to the harder part to climb or to the pool or water, so I just waited there, took pictures, and laid in the sun until they came back. I wasn't sure how I was going to get back over the water part where I cut my foot without hurting it more or getting it wet, but Libby took me a special way that they used to go, but have since put up no hiking signs. It was quite scary, especially for somewhere as scared of heights as me, but I'm still alive and my foot didn't get more messed up! We then went over to a lookout to see all three gorges before heading back to camp.
When we got back to camp for lunch, I decided to just lay down because I was feeling tired. I skipped lunch and woke up very sore and my throat hurt more. I decided that I didn't want to go to the afternoon gorges and I had Carrie get Russ so I could talk to him about it. I then slept all day, but I would wake up on and off and just fall back asleep. I was too sick to get out of bed, but Carrie said I had to eat, so she brought me some noodles and chips from what they had from dinner to the tent. After forcing food down, I went back to sleep.
Day 8- Friday, September 3
Another driving day, at least I didn't miss too much from being sick! I helped a little bit with packing up our tent, but I mostly let Katie and Carrie do it while I slept on the bus. I was still really sick. We stopped in Newman, which is a mining town and we went to a grocery store. They had this crazy public toilet! It was all automated with buttons and it also talked to you and played music while in the bathroom. The toilet also flushed once you started washing your hands and there was a 10 minute limit before the doors would just open. That'd be kinda awkward if you were in there for more than 10 minutes, haha. It also self cleaned. It was quite fascinating to me. We then stopped at a park for lunch and went to a visitor centre after. I got some stuff, including a metal iron ore necklace. It's supposed to increase energy levels, reduce pain, and reduce stress, so I'm definitely wearing it the whole time I'm sick. Normally I don't believe in that stuff, but my muscle pains definitely started decreasing when I got it. It's also nice because it is magnetic, I can also wear it as a bracelet, just wrap it around my wrist more.
We then got to camp and we finally had showers again, since we didn't in Karijini. Everyone kept getting in line, but I knew that I wanted to take a long shower since I was sick, so I waited. I slept in the tent for the rest of the day after we set up, and the others were playing group games, but I was too sick to move. Carrie brought me an apple for dinner again in the tent. When everyone decided to go to the bar, I decided to get up and shower. I was still very sick, and had to wait for the showers, which was not fun. I felt like collapsing, but I had to shower, so I leaned on the tree until one finally opened up. The shower felt so good, but I had no way to dry my hair and my scalp hurts when I'm sick, so I went to bed with unbrushed wet hair. I was happy just to be somewhat clean again, though.
Day 9- Saturday, September 4:
It was again a driving day. We stopped at some roadhouses and a park for lunch. We also went to the store in Meekatharra, which is definitely my new favourite town name. It has a population of about 300, it consists mostly of aboriginal people, 98% of which are unemployed. Despite being run down, it still has an awesome name! The other bus saw some feral camels at the side of the road and Al told us about Australia's feral camels. They actually provide the racing camels for United Arab Emirates. The other bus also stopped to look at a dead eagle and pick feathers off of it, which I just thought was disgusting! We then got to another farm that we stayed at. Sam, Katie, Carrie, and I walked around at took pictures of the weird scrap metal statues around. It kind of reminded me of Padnos, but the statues weren't nearly as cool. We then ate dinner and had a drag queen contest between the cooking groups. Dan was the drag queen for our group and I think we should have won, but we got second place. Overall for every competion, our team got last place, but I can't complain because I was sick for half of them and just took pictures during the rest. The platybus then had an annoying sing-a-long thing that the whole koala bus hated and the Katie and I went to bed because we were tired and I left my flashlight in the tent so I had to go back with someone. It was only 9 when we went to bed.
Day 10- Sunday, September 5:
Today we got to come back! I had a horrible night's sleep last night. I was starting to get better, but I could not breathe through my nose at all, but I kept trying to and I think I just stopped breathing for a while and it would wake me up. Eventually I had to show tissues up my nose to stop trying to breathe that way, and just through my mouth. I also had to flip over to use my bag to prop my head up. I also kept getting really hot, but I eventually did sleep. I woke up to having no voice, though. That never happened to me until about 1 month after my brain surgery and I think I've lost it about 6 times in the 2.5 years since! I helped Carrie put away our tent and got everything put away and went on the bus to lay down. Everyone made their lunch at breakfast and put it in a bag to eat on the bus so that we wouldn't have to stop. We only stopped for gas and got back at 2:45 instead of the 5 that we were supposed to get back.
When I got back, I checked my email and tried to nap for a while, but I just couldn't, so I got up and made some Maggi noodles (like Ramen noodles) for lunch/dinner. I then went on to try and upload pictures to flickr and write this post which took forever. I also won't be surprised if my pictures take all night to upload and still aren't done when I wake up in the morning. Hopefully they will be, though. Oh, I forgot that I also came back to the girl's bathroom being disgusting and I don't know what happened to it, but for now I have to use the boy's bathroom, which is surprisingly grosser than the girl's was when I left! Well, I'm going to try and shower and try to edit my paper that I have to turn in tomorrow and hopefully I can wake up for class tomorrow. I hate reality and sickness :(
1 comment:
Sorry to hear about your sickness, but it still seemed like an awesome trip. I am officially jealous.
The pictures you took are incredible. Is there a link somewhere so other people can see them on Flickr? Also, for some reason your post about youf blog update did not show up in my feed - strange.
Get well soon!
Love ya,
Poppy
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