Sunday, September 22, 2013

Pan-Australia Trip Schedule



Ladies and gentlemen, after 6 months of laboring and 3 or so weeks of contemplation, I have completed my plans AT LAST!


I'm so excited about this I can barely contain myself.  This is, by far, my greatest travel creation :)  Not sure I'll ever surpass this one, actually, but I guess that remains to be seen...

(so don't be jealous!  I'm guessing I could sit in an apartment until I'm 95 after this and still be content:)


And it all starts... tomorrow!




THE BIG TRIP PLANS:

[NOTE: Actual city areas are underlined so you can better read exactly where I'll be geographically, MOM :) ]



Sep 23 - Sep 29: Fly into Alice Springs in the Red Centre of Australia, take a 3 day camping tour of and around Uluru, then another 3 day camping bus tour up to Darwin in the far, foresty north.

Oct 30- Oct 8: See Darwin and take a day tour of Litchfield Park and a 2 day camping and 4X4 tour of Kakadu.

Oct 9 - Oct 23: Fly into and see Cairns, then learn how to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef! Also a 2 day tour up into the Daintree rainforest of the Cape and a 1 day tour of the Atherton Tablelands and its waterfalls.

Oct 24 - Oct 27: Take the bus to Airlie Beach, hang out, and then take a 2 day/2 night sail about tour around the infamously beautiful Whitsunday Islands.

Oct 28 - Oct 31: Take the bus to 1770 (name of a town) and do "scooteroo"(surfing and motorcycles:), then head to Hervey Bay for...

Nov 1 - Nov 3: a 3 day 4X4 tour of Fraser Island (another infamously beautiful island) with plenty of camping, snorkeling, and beaches.


[NOTE: after this point all plans are tentative in terms of time.  Only the flight to Perth is solid.  Probably going to be back in Sydney a little earlier and longer than 1 night]


Nov 4 - Nov 8: "Gagaju"some sort of swamp camp. Might skip this. Then also some exploring of Noosa, the notorious hippie town.

Nov 9 - Nov 11 : Might stay longer, might not, here I'll see Brisbane :)

Nov 12 - Nov 19: Taking the bus down to Byron Bay and spending somewhere around a week trying to learn how to surf.  Unless the dirty, mooching hippies make things uncomfortable, as some people claim.  Then I'll be staying less than a week.  Kinda doubt that.  We'll see.

Nov 19 - Nov 21: Full day bus ride back to Sydney, staying a couple nights, then taking a flight to Perth on the West Coast.

Nov 22 - Nov 28: 7 day tour of the West Coast up to Exmouth, then back to Perth.  Dolphins!  Possibly more scuba diving!  Definitely more beaches!

Nov 30 - Dec 2: 3 day tour south of Perth and back.  Margaret River, Giant Tree Forrest, hopefully Wave Rock.

Dec 4 - Dec 12 or 13: Flying to Melbourne and hanging out with Nadine and fam :)  Then heading to Sydney whenever it seems safest.  Haven't booked this flight/bus yet.  Still need to check on seat availability for the flight home - the toughest part : /

Dec 17 or 18: The last days I figured it was still safe to fly back to the states on standby :)  Any otherwise,   I'm guessing I get stuck in Australia until ..... well, possibly until my visa expires?



:)

Let the adventure begin!


6 Months Already, Really?



 Question: How do you make 6 months fly by quickly?

 Answer: Work 3 of them on night shift. The 4th will be spent recovering. The fifth, in this case, in religious practices/festivities. The 6th will be like nothing at all after all that. In the end it felt like I only worked that last month.

 I realize I have talked very little about my job here, so I feel like I should say something about the recently-ended gift that was:

 It was completely and unexpectedly great - especially considering I spent 2 months not knowing if I even COULD find work. I got to work with nice people, get experience working in Human Resources (yet another new field of work), and work in a professional atmosphere at the top of a building with a beautiful view, and a beautiful sunrise and sunset nearly every day (and I usually either saw one or the other)...

Since I may not have mentioned it before, I got to stay with the company for the full six months because my contract was re-extended about 3 times due to newly discovered need.   I became sort of "the last temp standing" - and was I ever lucky for that.  These people essentially have "cake day" once a month to celebrate monthly birthdays, and they always made sure one was gluten-free.  They even got me a card when I left and a gift card to a book store.  A co-worker bought me some cake from a "famous Sydney bakery".    I'm still kicking myself as a reminder of how blessed this has all been.


That and, of course, I've been able to save a ton of money.  And I will be spending it, probably all of it, on a round-the-country trip which, just to make this post even cornier and more cliche, I must call SUPER AWESOME.

Details to come.

And a great, great many thanks to my friends and former co-workers at Lend Lease :)