Day Six: 2,021 km later, back in Perth

The next day we awoke in Monkey Mia at 7:30 AM sharp to check out the dolphins. The justification for the entire resort is the fact that every morning, wild dolphins swim in from the shore and hang out. The people at the resort feed them, but as you can tell from the photos, they do come quite close. The only downside is that there isn't much else going on in the morning, so you have large crowds lining the beachfront. It didn't bother me too much, and it was a fantastic experience watching dolphins swim two feet from where you are standing.

The dolphins even seemed to know who the biologists were, as they would swim up to the two women who were explaining different aspects of the dolphins and what their habits were. The dolphins acted like dogs, almost groveling for food at the feet of the biologists. At first, there were only two or three, but by the time the resort employees got around to feeding them, the number of dolphins had grown to seven or eight. Some of the dolphins chowed down on the fish they were given, others declined the offer of food. As soon as the feed was done, we hopped into the car, with a long drive ahead of us. Not before seeing this gigantic pelican.

The drive went by quickly. Well, the first leg did at least. Dave drove and probably averaged close to 160 km/h, as there was hardly any traffic or anything to be seen. We had thought about trying to stop somewhere along the way for lunch, and then another location to break the trip up. If Hutt River wasn't 30 km off the main road, Dave and I were totally down to go again, this time to visit the prince (he had been at the dentist last time). We didn't agree on anything up until Geraldton, when Becca's suggestion of going to see the Pinnacles was wholeheartedly accepted. The drive was long, so I'm going to mostly use pictures to describe what went on.

This was our stop at the Pinnacles. They make no sense, as it is essentially a bunch of rocks in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a desert that reminds you of cornmeal. It was a really cool place, and totally unexpected.

After the Pinnacles, we stopped at Kangaroo Point, a beach about 10 km from the Pinnacles. There, we spotted and chased around a group of what we thought were Kangaroos, although they may have been Wallabies. Not sure.

After that, our long drive continued, and we spotted one of the most brilliant, vibrant, sunsets that I have ever seen. Pictures weren't enough to describe it, so Dave took a video seen above. Remarkable. I can't put into words how gorgeous it was, and to make it look even cooler, there were wind turbines in the foreground.

The sun now set, the drive became quite hairy. Dave took a picture of me lying in the road, and I resumed driving duties all the way to Perth. The night through the outback was some of the most stressful driving I have endured. You don't know what is lying in the bushes, and one mistake will mean trouble. Help is far, far away, as towns were sparse through this drive. We made it to Perth, found our hostel, ate at Fast Eddy's, a late night diner, and I made a few phone calls and checked email. The drive was now complete, much to my relief.

Day Five of the trip: No more trains, plenty more of nothing

Our long driving journey continues. The destination du jour is Monkey Mia, a dolphin resort in Shark Bay, some 800 kms from Perth. No small task, but I’m so used to travelling long distances that it didn’t seem to even bother me. However, today’s highlight was also visiting the Principality of Hutt River. This is a real country in the middle of nowhere in WA. A man by the name of Leonord seceded from Australia in 1970. He had a farm that covered roughly 20 square kilometers It was a 30 km drive off of the main road, half of which wasn’t on a sealed road. Dave navigated us there shortly before 11, and Princess Shirley (who is in her 70s or 80s) showed us around for about 10 minutes. The Province itself was no more than vast, red, dry farmland that seemed to span for eternity. The buildings that made up the ‘capital’ of Nain consisted of the Government Office, a Chapel, a welcome center, and a souvenir shop. I tried as hard as I could not to laugh the entire time. There is even a wood bust of Prince Leonord as you drive in or out of the main city. High comedy roams here, but the people of Hutt River take it very seriously.

I took over the wheel after Hutt. And it was pretty difficult. Mile after mile of the same desert. It is remarkable that people inhabit even the small towns that we came across during our road trip. We stopped in Billabong that consisted of a gas station and a café. The drive continued, and we made it up to Shell Beach, the next destination. This is one of two beaches in the world that is entirely made up of seashells. The water was incredibly warm, unlike anything I have experienced in a long time. Dave walked out a hundred meters or so and it was the exact same depth the entire way out. On top of that, the three of us were the only people on the beach. Unbelievable really.

Post Shell Beach meant that we were almost at Monkey Mia. Nearing Denham, I noticed that the gas light was on. I panicked a little bit, realizing that if we were to run out of gas things were not going to turn out well. Fortunately, I worried for no reason as we made it to Denham with plenty of gas left (I guess). After a nice $60 fill up, the short drive to Monkey Mia took around 15 minutes, where I am sitting writing this with no cell phone, no Internet, and no worries. Except for the thousands of flies that constantly seem to bother me. I am a fly magnet. Not kidding. Tomorrow we’re driving 800 kms or so back to Perth. Should be a lovely time.

Day Four of the train ride: First by train, now by car

Day Four
Hour Sixty-Six: Two hours left on the train. I’m at a loss for words really, in disbelief that I’ve almost completed a train journey over the entire continent of Australia. I knew it wouldn’t be that bad, but it has definitely been no walk in the park. I’ve worn the same clothes almost the entire time (as I predicted) and have yet to take a shower. All wonderful facts for those travelling with me.

I slept fairly well last night—say about six hours—and am ready for this new day. Ready to be off a train and to drive far in a car. Because we’re heading up to Geraldton, maybe 450 km north of Perth. I think I may write once more summing up the trip.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 7:09 AM

Hour Sixty-Eight: Perth! At last we have pulled into the station, ending our long and arduous journey across the great state of Australia. I’ve arrived in one piece, surprisingly with all my limbs and sanity together. The trip was definitely worthwhile, as I’ve seen more of one country than I think I ever have before. This ends the running diary of my train experience; however, I feel it worthwhile to keep tabs on the rest of my exhaustive journey through Western Australia.

After grabbing the rental car—this look longer than expected because Budget didn’t want to let Dave take a car so far—we hopped in and drove to Geraldton, our first destination. It took a solid five hours, with a random stop in Catay, a town that was literally just a gas station. I ordered a hamburger that turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The drive was similar to the train ride—passing nothing for a seemingly infinite amount of time. Once we made it to Geraldton, we checked in, went down to the beach, and jumped in the Indian Ocean. The water was quite warm, although the flies just plain awful. Our accommodation was aptly named “Foreshore Backpackers”, and it was certainly a low-budget accommodation. Sort of like a poor man’s YHA. We ate dinner at the Freemason’s Hotel. Dave ordered steak that was served on a heated stone—he cooked it himself! I had a delicious pizza and Becca ate Kangaroo for the first time. Dave’s steak was one of the best I’ve ever had. The night ended when I passed out at 10:30, exhausted beyond belief and asleep with both the door open and the lights on.

Day Three of the train ride: Smashing my head against the window is fun

Day Three
Hour Forty-One: The second night is complete. I got about five hours of sleep and it was pretty straight through the night as well. I grabbed my stuff and headed into the lounge and watched the country go by. The train went through Barton, a small town that consisted only of a small shack in the middle of nowhere. An Aboriginal man named Ziggy lives in the shack with no electricity or running water. He has helped to maintain the track, with engineers chucking cans of Milo at him. We’re approaching the 423 km stretch of straight track that is the longest in the world. Today will be another Scrabble-filled time.
Monday, March 24, 2008, 8:36 AM

Hour Forty-Four: I just finished one of the most astounding experiences of my life. We had a stopover in Cook, South Australia. When you hear the phrase “ghost town,” it brings to mind a desolate, un-inhabited place with a few abandoned buildings. Well, as we pulled into the station at Cook, it was announced that the town had a population of 5. It had at one point stationed the Royal Flying Doctor Service, but presently is only used to service the Railroad.

So now you can only imagine what sight greeted me when I stepped off. The whole town was in view. No one had lived there for a few years, so a number of buildings were nothing more than empty skeletons. I walked to the edge of town, being sure to look down with every step I took. Wearing flip flops had not been the best idea, as any snake that felt like chomping down on my foot would have an easy time with it.

Anyways, there was nothing for miles and miles surrounding the town. Just dry, Australian landscape with the barren foliage and red soil as far as the eye could see. Quite remarkable to think just how big this entire country/continent is and how little consists of so much.

We marched around Cook for about 20 minutes, completely blown away by the surroundings and the nothing that surrounded the horizon. Vacant. Everything. It was mesmerizing. As the alarm sounded, we got back on the train, and pulled away from Cook. I don’t know if I’ll ever be in a place like this again. To be surrounded by nothing in the middle of nowhere? That’s quite an ambiguous statement to make, but I don’t know of a better way to describe it. Check out the picture below to give you an idea of what it was like:
Monday, March 24, 2008, 10:14 AM

Hour Forty-Seven: I’m not even sure what hour it is at this point. We just changed time zones as we went from South Australia into Western Australia. The signpost commemorating it was a big rock along with a sign. The expansive landscape continues to be rocks, small, dry bushes, and red soil, mixed in with nothing. Not a living, breathing thing for miles. The train is rattling along at a steady pace, and I’m sitting here writing and watching 30 Rock. Trying to work on my Israel trip piece too. It’s gotten to 21,000 words, with five or six days left to describe.

An announcement on the train said that we had travelled more than 2,300 km while still 1,300 km from Perth. Amazing to think that in the time that has elapsed, a plane could have flown me from Perth to Sydney and back like four or five times at least. I will now forever be thankful for planes and the speed at which they take us in modern day travel.
Monday, March 24, 2008, 11:22 AM (switched to Australia Pacific Time)

Hour Fifty: Less than twenty four hours until we arrive at our destination. The travel is starting to get to me as I feel like I am constantly staring at the same scenery over and over again. The train passed through the town of Forrest; by town I mean a landing strip operated by two people. You read that correctly. Two people live in the town of Forrest. I don’t even know if that’s possible to call it a town.

Things are getting so difficult that we arrived in a town named Rawlinna and I marvelled at the fact there was something else to look at. Other than staring at the barren wasteland, I lost another game of Scrabble and have almost watched every episode of 30 Rock. The Israel writing is chugging along as well. I’m not struggling to keep my sanity, but it is definitely being eroded away, bit by bit.
Monday, March 24, 2008, 2:58 PM

Hour Fifty-Three: We are passing through Boulder a town near Kalgoorlie. Apparently, Kalgoorlie isn’t just some smack in the middle of nowhere ghost town. But it’s a town smack in the middle of nowhere with a population 30,000 people. That’s quite a surprise. The last few hours have been just miles and miles of endless desert. We went through the 478 km of straight train track that seemed to go on forever. My mental state is still decent. My stomach hurts from the microwave burger that I ate combined with gross snacks. Ew. I’m hoping to see some roos tonight.
Monday, March 24, 2008, 6:36 PM

Hour Fifty-Eight: The train is now pulling away from Kalgoorlie, WA (streets pictured above). What an underwhelming town in the middle of now where. We basically marched around the block twice, and saw nearly all that the center had to offer. It was similar to Broken Hill, in the sense that the majority of it consisted of strip malls with different shops and pubs. They even made you chuck any fruit or other foods that wouldn’t meet quarantine. State to state quarantine is ridiculous. It’s all the same country.

With so little to do, we managed to find a place to eat. Dave, Becca, and I ended up at the Exchange Hotel, at the “Wild West Saloon” which basically meant that the bartenders were wearing nothing but underwear. And they were all women. It was such a bizarre experience, as I had never before seen anything like that. It made me cringe to look at the reality of what life is in such a broken, far off part of the world. Those poor girls thought that wearing nothing but lingerie to pour drinks is something that is okay. And it is far from it, in my opinion. We still ate there anyway and the food happened to be quite good. While Becca and I ordered, Dave took a picture of us at the bar. The girl taking the order flipped out, as apparently you aren’t allowed to take pictures of the girls as that objectifies them. Faulty logic anyone? You can’t really claim to be objectified when you are already walking around with no clothes on. Such a puzzling fact of life.

I’m feeling good about the trip. It’s on the final leg, the last night of trying to sleep in a seat. I’ve gotten to see such a huge part of the country, and while it has been difficult more than it has been easy, the payoff is incredible. It gives me a sense of what life was like 100 years ago or so, when the only way to reach Perth was, well, you couldn’t. Amazing to think that the technology and developments of the last century have opened up a massive world. And this is only train travel here. Planes can take us pretty much anywhere in the world. Despite this technology, there is such an ugly side to life itself, and one ponders the origins of that, without accounting into it any measure of sin or God in the picture. Just something to think about: shouldn’t the advancement and “evolution” of the human race be marked by new levels of peace and harmony? How come as we get to a high level of technology, should our social patterns be reflected in the same manner? I could go on and on about this, but I’m about to play Dave in Scrabble. I really hope that I beat him, and that I get to talk to Sarah tonight. I only had service for the first time in 19 hours in Kalgoorlie and don’t know how long it will last here. The best part? This statue of a guy who was a water fountain:
Monday, March 24, 2008, 10:57 PM

Day Two of the train ride: Hanging On

Day Two
Hour Fourteen: First sleep of the trip. It went alright. Sporadic is the best adjective to use to describe exactly how it went. One or two hour rounds of sleep was all I could muster. It’s still dark out even though it’s nearly seven. We should arrive in Broken Hill at 7:30 AM, or so they say. The sun is now trying to muster the courage up and rise already.
Sunday, March 23 2008, 6:54 AM

Hour Sixteen: Just spent a lovely hour at the delightful township of Broken Hill. Let me tell you, there is jack squat here. A few buildings here and there, maybe some houses. We walked around for a few minutes, I convinced Becca and Dave to have beers at around 7 AM. Good times were had all around, minus the fact that Broken Hill has nothing. Bill Bryson got off the train here too; he apparently rode in the sleeper cars. He’s got nothing on me.
Sunday, March 23, 2008, 8:09 AM

Hour Twenty: The scenery has really opened up. Australia is flat. I don’t think words can aptly describe how barren it is here. Just miles and miles of nothingness. The fun part about this morning has been the “spot the animal” game where we looked around to see if we could spot any kangaroos or emus. We had a few sightings here and there, as it was a bit late in the day by the time we were on the train again. Tomorrow morning should prove to be full of roos and emus. The long travels continue and I still feel pretty strong. The task is difficult, but we’re nearing the halfway point. Well, in fourteen hours or so. We’re about four hours away from Adelaide.
Sunday, March 23, 2008, 11:13 AM

Hour Twenty-Seven: Our time in Adelaide has just wrapped up. We had around three hours to get off the train and explore the small city, managing to have a nice Easter dinner at an Italian place. Dave being of Italian descent, it’s a family tradition of his to eat Italian food on Easter Sunday. He enjoyed himself, although I’m sure not as much as he would have back home on Long Island.

The train journey is set to resume shortly. Two nights and one full day are all that stand between Western Australia and us. I would rate the trip fun so far, with lots of interesting people and even some families. It’s kind of a mystery to me why anyone would bring their entire family on a train ride as long as this one. Even the Adelaide-Perth leg is a not too shabby 40-some hours. The nicest thing is not being on the Internet; I’m learning how much time of each day I waste looking up unimportant information and that I could be doing better things with myself. Let’s see what lessons I can take from this trip other than that.
Sunday, March 23, 2008, 6:20 PM

Hour Thirty-Two: Well, with five hours passed, not much has changed. We just stopped in Port Augusta around ten minutes ago and people actually got off the train. Kind of a shocker is you ask me to see people get off the train at this hour. I just got beat by Dave at Scrabble (again). There wasn’t much to look at in terms of scenery for the last few hours as the sun set at around 7. No Kangaroos or Emus at dusk, although we were in town. I watched a few episodes of 30 Rock and don’t really feel like going to bed right now, seeing as though I’ll probably not sleep a whole lot. I could always just wait til tomorrow during the day, when I have nothing to do and sleep then. I think I’m going to grab my book and come out here too read. Most of these entries are just as boring as the experience is. Nighttime isn’t the most spectacular hour on board the Indian Pacific. Next stop is tomorrow morning in Cook at around 9 in the morning. I hope to not be up for that at all.
Sunday, March 23, 2008, 11:12 PM

Home Again/Day One

I did it! Somehow I completed a trip by train, car, and plane. But before jumping into what's going on in the here and now, the next series of posts will outline the journey. I recorded the journey, from the train ride up until landing back in Sydney. One of the most incredible journeys and one of the best weeks I've ever had. Here is the tale as it unfolds (unedited):

Day One
Hour Zero: We’re on the train in Central Station, waiting to begin the trip. I’m not sure what to expect. The entire trip is scheduled to take 68 hours, culminating with an arrival in Perth Tuesday morning at 9:30 AM. It’s going to be a long journey. There’s a group of American girls who are studying abroad at UNSW who are sharing the same car as Becca, Dave, and myself.

The layout of the train is neat. There are two cars with about 40 or 50 seats each. Behind that is the lounge car, which is a outfitted with couches and tables that will hopefully be a relief from the chairs we sit in all day and night. Next after that is the diner car. The design of it reminds me of a diner from the 50’s or 60’s that you see in the movies. It’s awesome.
Saturday, March 22 2008, 2:55 PM

Hour Three: On the train, already in the middle of a hilly country. Not a soul in sight, and the only indicated of humanity are a few barbed wire fences and sets of powerlines running parallel to the track. My head slightly hurts, and I’m hoping that won’t interfere with sleeping.

The weather outside is poor. Rainy and a bit foggy out. When we passed through the Blue Mountains, visibility was all for naught.
Saturday, March 22 2008, 6:36 PM

Hour Six: On the train. Still. Ate a train-created dinner—not too bad—and played another game of scrabble. Can’t see anything anymore, although the scenery from a couple of hours ago was brilliant. Feeling confident about the trip, although a bit of a headache. Shrek 3 is playing on the video entertainment that is provided. The big test is coming up shortly as I prepare to sleep in these seats. T-minus 20 minutes to sleeping pills, so I doubt that I’ll have anything to say until tomorrow morning, when I wake up to look at Kangaroos and Emus frolicking outside the car. Or at least that’s what they say might happen.
Saturday, March 22 2008, 9:11 PM

Epic Trans-Australian Journey

This is it ladies and gentlemen. In a little over two hours I will depart Central Station in Sydney and go on what should be a once in a life time journey across the great country of Australia.

The trip will cover 4,352 km, taking approximately 68 hours. We stop in Broken Hill, an old mining town in New South Wales, Adelaide on Easter Sunday, Port Augusta, Kalgoorlie, and last but not least, Perth. Stayed tuned for updates once the trip is completed. I'm planning on doing a blow by blow account of the journey, including the part where I snap, go crazy, and pull out all my hair.

I am the man who loves you

It's still warm here. Fall is officially here despite the fact that it's March. It must be weird living in the Southern Hemisphere. Everything is upside down. Imagine growing up and going to school, learning that winter lasts from June-August, Spring is September-November, and summer is something like December to March. I can't begin to wrap my head around that.

Lately I've been preparing for the deluge of work that I'll be facing head on after Perth. I'm planning on going with lots of work to the other side of the country to ease the pain. But enough whining.

The past weekend I went to the Game 5 of the NBL grand final. Don't know how much I mentioned last post, but over 10,000 people headed out to catch it at the entertainment centre in Darling Harbour. It was a good time, although a crap game that Melbourne won 85-73. Australian fans don't know how to really cheer for basketball. Funny enough.

Other than that I've been going to class and going to work. Except last night. Wilco came to town and played a delightful show at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown. It was a 10 minute walk to watch 2 hours of delightful music. Good times.

Last but not least, I watched The Simpsons episode Bart vs. Australia again and again. It's at least 1,000 times funnier after living here. Go watch it somehow. Right now.

T-minus three days til the epic overland journey begins.

Classy

The first two weeks of Uni are complete. And after this week, I get a week off thanks to Easter break. Thanks Australia, you really know how to challenge your students academically.

As I've revealed on this site previously, I've planned on a trip to Perth and other parts of WA. What those other parts will be have yet to be determined. I think we're going to push all the way to Shark Bay, which would unfortunately call for driving 1600 km round trip. That would be a bit under 1,000 miles in the span of roughly three days. Not sure if I'm up for that after cranking out a journey across the heart of the country. Decisions, decisions.

The first two weeks of class have been interesting. I'll be editing manuscripts, making magazines, learning about digital publishing, and most likely intern at this magazine. On top of that working on another book for OTTN plus my job as an editor at Thomson. Crikey. Pretty much after the next two weeks my free time will equal nothing. More to come this week, before a blow by blow account of my trip.

Awesome

To provide a recap of our New Zealand trip, here is a movie my excellent girlfriend put together from our little vacation. It's spectacular!



Train ride in t-minus thirteen days. Yao's almost finished. Class work yet to build up. Real sunny and hot here.

Don't Stop Believing

Ah the first week of class is over. So nice. I may have mentioned that during my last post. I failed to mention that on Sunday I went to a Cricket match with a friend from work. It was India vs Australia in the final of some tri-series tournament. As my addiction to sport continues to be nourished here, I enjoyed myself immensely. The entire match lasted about 8 hours or so; I was only there from around 5-10:30 PM. Indians do love their cricket, and won comprehensively. I got to see the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar, nab his first ton in a one day in Australia. Pretty cool. Also had sweet seats in the member's pavilion, real close to the players.

Classes were great this week. I'm excited for what I'll be doing and learning this semester, as well as what I get to put on my resume. I need to stop making that my sole focus of what I do in the present and enjoy each day where I am. I don't think enough people take solace in the fact that they are living, breathing, walking, talking human beings. That is a perspective that I try and take each and every day.

This week I also bought tickets for my train ride across Australia. Dave, Becca, and I are taking the Indian-Pacific across the country to Perth during our week off. We depart Sydney on March 22, get to Perth on the following Tuesday, and then drive somewhere along the coast. It's going to be awesome, despite traveling on a train cross the country. This is my litmus test to see if my Europe-Asia overland project can be a reality.

Dave and I are also working on organizing a trip to Uluru. We've found cheap airfare and are plotting three days for the trip. Again, totally awesome. Things here are going well. Work is great, classes are fun, my girlfriend is the best, and I should hear about my internship next week. Oh, and Yao Ming is almost done.

Back to School?

Well I've managed to do it. Four months of summer vacation was rough, but someone has got to go through the agony and stress of a trip to the U.S., New Year's Eve in Sydney Harbour, and a delightful trip to New Zealand with the best girl ever. It's a shame to have to endure all of that, I know. Really, I wish that I had just mustered up the courage and jumped headfirst into the dredges of the working world. But hey, I did work a lot. Seriusly though, four months off was awesome. And today, it came a stirring conclusion, when I had two courses. And how good were they!

Honestly, the jury is still out. Posts will detail classes further. Big trip coming up: train ride to Perth. It'll be epic.