Thursday July 16th, 2009 : They say SA is the driest state in Australia…

I don’t know if I believe them. It was raining again today. So another vegging day, doing not much of anything. I know I should have been updating this blog, but I am lazy, so what, I’m getting to it now aren’t I?

Wednesday July 15, 2009: Harry Potter Opening + Kids on School Holidays = NO GOOD

Today Dave, Mary and I headed into Marion Mall to the movies. Dave and Mary wanted to see “Angel’s and Demons” before it left since they had just been to Rome and had seen a lot of the places featured in the movies. I thought about seeing Harry Potter but since it was opening day and kids are on school holidays, there were long lines. Not every showing was sold out, I actually probably could have gotten into a showing at like 1-ish (it was 11:30 when we got there) and I didn’t want to wait around for an hour and a half, nor deal with a bunch of kids. Plus here they give you assigned seats when you buy tickets, it’s not general admission theatre. So even if I had gotten into a showing around 1, I probably would have been up close in the first row, craning my neck. I figured, it’ll be out for a couple weeks, I’ll just see something else I’ve been meaning to see. So I saw ”The Proposal” instead. I’ve been meaning to see that and “The Hangover” but they hadn’t yet come to Husky. “The Proposal” is cute. I like Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds is just hot. Him half naked is worth the price of admission alone. After the movie Dave and Mary had some errands to run, so I decided to walk around the mall and catch public transportation back home.

That evening Dave and Mary’s oldest son, Chris came over for dinner. He works some computer job and is pretty much what could be described as a computer geek. He was talked about work and I didn’t know 90% of what he was talking about. He was nice though, must get that from Mary. I am actually gonna go stay with him for a few days next week when Mary has her next set of four days off, so Dave and Mary can spend some time together. Chris actually lives with Steven, the youngest son but he is off snowboarding in New Zealand for 2 months, so Chris has some space available. Don’t know if he agreed to take me in because he wanted to or felt guilted into it, either way I’ll be there next week for a few days.

Tuesday July 14, 2009: Rain

Rained and drizzled all day today so just hung out at the house and helped Dave unpack boxes that arrived yesterday from the house in Husky.

Monday July 13, 2009: Venture into Adelaide

Today was a nice day so I jumped on the train and headed into the city to just walk around and check it out a little bit. The city is pretty small and is flanked by four main streets on the outside, North, South, East and West Terrace. Outside of these streets is parklands. A whole green belt around the city. The main train terminal is on North Terrace so I got off and walked down Main Terrace a bit, then walked back through Rundle Mall, a bit shopping area. Did pop into one store and buy a new shirt. Wanted to get back on the train before 3 because it is cheaper, so didn’t walk around the whole city, I figured I’d do that another day. I have a couple weeks here, so I’ve got time. Tonight we headed to a free roll poker game that Mary frequents on Mondays. I did decent, went out in 5th place, got taken out by Dave, who eventually went on to win. I didn’t have much money though, so my blind ended up being all in and I got dealt pocket 8’s. But wouldn’t you know it, Dave flops trip Kings. Ahh well, still did half decent, 5th ain’t too bad.

Sunday July 12, 2009 : Onto Adelaide!

After waking up and being cooked a delicious breakfast by Marlene, we had our stuff packed and were ready to head the last couple hundred km’s to Adelaide. Before we left Alan was showing us some of the different types of grapes they grow and some vines still had edible grapes on them so we tried the grapes, right off the vine! Tasted pretty much like a grape. But of course my palate probably isn’t defined enough to be able to distinguish too much difference between species of grape. We drove the couple hours through some really nice scenic landscape. It consisted of vines, vines and more vines. We drove through a small section of the Barrosa Valley which is a famous wine growing and producing region here in South Australia (SA). I plan to do a day tour of the valley while I am here. We passed the major winery of Wolf Blass, which apparently is a big deal, maybe they export it to the states? Someone who is reading this, check it out and get back to me. Finally we were out of the plains and into the hills! We finally pulled into Adelaide early afternoon. Mary was sleeping because she was working the 7 pm- 7 am shift (she is a paramedic). Spent the afternoon unpacking and relaxing. Dave and Mary live right on the Port River, technically they live in New Port which is right next to Port Adelaide, which is northeast of the actual city. They do however live 100 meters from a train station that goes into the city in 20 minutes. They have 3 stories with 3 balconies that overlook the river. Now Port River actually has resident dolphins that live in the river year round and they come all the way to where Dave and Mary live so when it’s nice they sit out on the balcony in the morning and watch the dolphins swim by.
When Mary headed to work we headed over to Dave’s friends Mark and Rachel’s for a barbi and to watch the final day of the first test match of the Ashes. Had a good time at Mark and Rachel’s. They had some delicious food, lots of alcohol and a bit of a crazy house. 2 rabbits, 2 (maybe more) cats, a dog, and goodness knows how many kids (there were also neighbor kids over so I’m not sure how many were actually theirs, 4 maybe?) It was a good time.

The only downer was the result of the cricket. A tie. Yes, a tie, apparently that can happen in cricket. Each team gets 2 innings to get runs. There’s the batting team and there’s the bowling team. The batting team is trying to get runs and a batter stays out there as long as he’s not out. The bowling team (who is also fielding) is trying to get wickets (which is an “out” in baseball terminology). Like there are 3 outs in baseball, there are 10 outs or wickets in cricket. So a team stays out batting until the bowling team gets 10 wickets or 10 people out. Therefore if the bowling team isn’t getting wickets, a team could stay out for a day or 2 or more, all 5 days possibly, although they would probably declare, which is what happened in this cricket. So Australia batted first, got how many ever runs, then England batted and got how many ever runs. Then it was Australia’s turn again. They got to where England had gotten 6 wickets against them and instead of keep batting till they hit 10 wickets, they declared. Basically said, we have enough, we’re done. Because how it goes is if they get to the end of the 3rd day and no one has finished off the other team, it’s a tie. They don’t just end after 5 days and go, whoever has the most runs wins. Since England was batting last, Australia had to get their 10 wickets against England before the fifth day ran out or it was a tie. That’s why Australia declared so they would have enough time to get the 10 wickets against England. Well England was way behind and after Australia got a couple wickets England figured there was no way they would win so all they had to do was last till the end of the day to draw the tie. So instead of trying to really hit the ball far to get runs, they just had to block the ball from hitting the wicket posts. That’s exactly what happened, Australia got to 9 wickets but they couldn’t get the 10th wicket before time ran out on the fifth day so the teams tied, even though Australia had a ton more runs. So yea, they play for 5 days at 6 hours a day (2 hours, then a lunch break, another 2 hours, then tea break, then another 2 hours), that’s 30 hours of playing and no one wins! Crazy huh? That’s test cricket for ya. There are shorter versions, of the game 1 day and 20 over (an over is 6 bowls of the ball) versions which are more exciting because people have a shorter time to get runs so they really go for it in the batting.
So anyway, now that you’re fully aware of cricket, either that or just skipped that whole last paragraph, the point is, Australia and England tied, boo for ties! Dave and I spent the night at Mark and Rachel’s because he’d been drinking. We had planned for this anyway, since Mary was gone all night at work anyway. So my first night in Adelaide and I’m sleeping on an inflatable mattress! It was a good night though. Good food, good people, good times.

Saturday July 11th, 2009 : Are we in Nebraska?

We headed out early this morning to get back on the road across the plains. Not too long after we left we hit the Hay plains. Nothing but flat land all the way to the horizon in either direction. No trees, not even any tall grass since its winter. A few cows here and there, but not too much else. I would guess it’s very much what one would see traveling through the central part of the US, but since I’ve never been to any of those states, I can only speculate. We did have a bit of drama again today. Another flat tire!

The same tire as yesterday, well not literally, but the spare tire we used to replace the tire from yesterday. It wasn’t too surprising, I mean, who knows how old the spare was and what kind of condition it was in? Once again though, this happened as we were cutting close on time. Usually if things are open on Saturdays, they close at noon. This second blown tire happened at 11:15 am. There was no way Dave wanted to drive the entire rest of the way with no other spare and NOTHING would be open on Sunday. So another quick tire change and Dave was on the phone with his wife Mary, asking her to do some research as to what was in Mildura, the place we would be stopping that night. She was able to get a hold of a wreckers that had closed, but the guy was still there and he had a tire and agreed that if Mary paid via credit card over the phone, he would leave the tire outside (in a hidden from the street place) for us to pick up when we got there. So all we had to do was make it to Mildura without blowing another tire. Thank goodness we did make it. Whew! We were able to find the place and the tire so we were set for the next day in case we needed it. On the way in we drove past the Murray River, a huge waterway here, where we saw several houseboats floating their way down the river. As well as stopped by “Lock #1.” There are like 11 locks in the river used to control the river flow. We also passed fields and fields of citrus trees. We even stopped on the side of the road to buy mandarin’s for like $1.50 USD for a bag.

We spent Saturday night in Mildura because Dave’s in-laws live there. They’re not actually his in-laws, they are Mary’s brother’s wife’s parents. Did ya follow that one? At any rate, they graciously welcomed us into their home. Mildura is a city in the state of Victoria, that is covered with grape vines as far as the eye can see. All throughout this area there are grapes grown for both making raisins and sultanas (dried grapes, but they are a different kind of grapes than raisin’s, but taste the same. Even the cereal Raisin Bran is called Sultana Bran here) as well as grapes to sell to wine producers for wine. Not only do they sell the grapes to large scale wine producers but there are also wines the locals make. Marlene chopped up some veggies in like 10 minutes to throw together a soup for Dave and I because her and her husband, Alan were headed out to a dinner thing that evening. The soup was so good! I envy people who can throw together things in minutes and taste delicious. I wish I had that skill. Then again, she does cook things from scratch every day, out here on the “farm,” so I guess the more you do it, the better you get. Since I never cook (well rarely) it takes me longer and probably wouldn’t turn out as good.
They actually have grapes growing all around their house, for a couple acres. They used to have a lot more, but sold much of it off, after getting older and not wanting to deal with all the upkeep. We tried some of the local wine made by one of Alan’s mates, not bad. After Alan and Marlene headed off to their dinner Dave and I ate soup, drank wine, and watched more footy and cricket.

Friday July 10th: Left alone on the side of the road in nowhere New South Wales with a boat

Today Dave and I left for Adelaide. We were going to leave yesterday but Dave had things that needed to be finished and by the time they did it was noon-ish and since it gets dark at like 5, we decided to push off leaving till today. We got started out at 9 or 10-ish. The drive today was nice, you go up over the mountains and through Kangaroo Valley which is quite nice scenery. Then it’s a nice drive through some rolling hills. It wouldn’t be a roadtrip without some drama though right?

Well at about 4:15 pm, we got a flat tire on the boat trailer (yes, we were towing a sailboat). Dave had been kind of moving over to the shoulder to let people pass because he was going slower than normal while towing the boat and there was only one lane. He must have picked something up on the shoulder that punctured the tire then it must have gotten caught in the mud guard because this thing was shred-ed! I mean, totally torn apart, I took a picture, I had to. Dave grabs the spare, the jack and the wheel brace. Well turns out the brace was for the lug nuts on the truck, not the boat trailer, so of course it doesn’t fit! Since were only a couple km’s outside a small little town, Dave decides to go in and see if there are any service stations he can borrow a brace from. He doesn’t want to leave the boat alone on the side of the road for fear of looters…cut to me, standing alone on the side of the road with a boat, waiting who knows how long for Dave to come back. So yes, folks, I got ditched on the side of the road. We had pulled over in from of the guys little farm and he outside in the garden. It was an older gentleman with the cutest little dog. So I chatted to him for a few minutes, told him we had a tire, and jack but the brace was the wrong size, well of course he had one we could have used had we asked. But of course Dave was already gone. I chatted with the guy for a few more minutes, not understanding all of what he said (he had a really thick accent!) be he was very nice. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for Dave to come back, he was only gone for 10 or 15 minutes. He came back equipped with one of those 4 sided braces that looks like a spoke. He then performed what I think may have been the world’s fastest tire change. Because you see, we were using the spare, so we didn’t want to drive a whole lot farther without getting a new spare. It’s now like 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. EVERYTHING shuts down on Friday at 5 and not everyplace, especially in the middle of nowhere Australia is open on Saturday. So we were trucking it to try and get the tire changed and get into the town to get a new one. First we drop the brace we borrowed back off at the servo’s (service station) then head to a wreckers (kind of like a salvage yard) and they didn’t have the right size. Then we went to a tire place and they didn’t have the right size. Then we tried a second tire place and got there just as they were about to close. Luckily they had the right size so they were able to fit the tire on the old wheel, we stopped at the car supply store next door (which actually was open till 5:30!), picked up one of the 4 sided braces and we were back on our way! We pulled into Nurrandera, our stop for the night at 7/7:30-ish. Grabbed dinner at the local RSL and headed back to the hotel to watch some footy (Aussie Rules) and cricket…

Yes folks I’ve learnt about cricket. I know the rules (not all, but a bit), how it’s played, what the point is. You see, there’s this big event going on right now called “The Ashes.” It happens every 3 years. It’s a competition between England and Australia. It is in “commemoration” of the first time Australia beat England in cricket. It was a huge event, seen as the end of English cricket, the “convicts” had beat mother England. Someone took and burned the wooden wickets and collected the ashes and now they’re kept in a small little urn. So now England and Australia play every 3 years for the right to be awarded this little tiny urn of ashes. Of course it’s more about pride then the actual ashes. Three years ago the Ashes were in held here in Australia so this time they’re being played in England. It’s 5 5-day test matches. So on this evening, we were watching day 3 of the first test match and Dave was teaching me about what the hell I was watching. Which was good because there is much more cricket watching to come.

Sunday July 5th : Out and about in Sydney

Checked out of the hostel early and decided to walk around Sydney before heading back to Husky. Walked through the botanical gardens to the peninsula next to the peninsula the opera house is on, so got some really good views of the opera house and bridge. Today was actually a really nice day, clear and not too cold, actually a bit warm. Then heading over to Circular Quay, a series of jetties next to the opera house where all the ferries across the harbor leave from. I sat in a café and had a coffee and a slice of banana bread for breakfast that cost about 3 times what it should have, but I guess that’s what happens when you sit at an outdoor café overlooking the harbor. I jumped on a ferry to cross the harbor to go over to north Sydney, where I walked around a fair bit. Not much was going on because of course it was a Sunday morning, but I can tell that even during the week this part of Sydney is more relaxed and low-key then the CBD. I don’t actually really like the CBD very much, it’s too busy and hectic and dirty. After walking around a bit I made my way down to the water’s edge and walked along the water back towards the harbor bridge. I came across a little amusement park for kids. Rather a quite large complex. It had ferris wheels and a bunch of other rides as well as games and what not right there along the “boardwalk” next to the water. It would be a great place to bring kids. I think it was called Luna Park and had great views over to the bridge and opera house, so of course I stopped to take some more photos (I think I now have about 20 million pics of the opera house from all different angles). I made my way to the base of the bridge and walked up a bunch of stairs to get to the bridge itself then started the trek across the bridge to get back to the southern side of the harbor. So of course got more wonderful views of the harbor, city and opera house, so more picture taking ensued. Walking across the bridge is really neat, if you are ever in Sydney, I recommend it. It’s not too long and you get higher up and get great views of the surroundings and of course it’s free and you can stop and take as many photos as you want. I got to the southern end of the bridge and headed down the stairs to head back towards Circular Quay to catch the train to central to get the train back to the south coast. I ended up passing through the area known as the rocks. Side note: they are building a new YHA there that will be in the most primo spot, on the water, with views of the bridge, Quay, city, opera house, hell of a sopt for a budget accommodation!). I saw a mall that I popped into and guess what I saw for the first time in Australia, a Coach store! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in this country with a Coach bag except for maybe the occasional woman who is obviously from somewhere in Asia. I wasn’t even sure if they had them here, well they do! So of course I had to go in. Well, you think the prices in the US for Coach are expensive? They are even more expensive here! Say you are looking at a small wristlet that in the states would be $60 US, which of course, is already atrocious. Here it’s the equivalent of like $150 US for a tiny wristlet! How anyone would play those prices is beyond me! But at any rate, they do have them here, but apparently they are only for the super rich. I caught the train to head back to central and then in turn back to Nowra to be picked up by Tom. All in all, today was a pretty nice day. Much better than yesterday. The weather was good, I got to see some different areas of Sydney, take the ferry, get some good views of the harbor, etc. Even though I had only left the day before it felt good to get back “home” to Husky.

Saturday July 4, 2009 - Worst 4th of July ever.

Let me just apologize right now. I am finally finish and posting this on July 21st. I've started this post like 3 different times as you see by the commentary below. I am going to try and get quasi-updated in the next day or 2 with the past couple weeks. Of course things may be a bit of the shortened versions but I really don't do anything too exciting anyways, so you probably will only be missing my rambling.

I’ve actually had a lot to update about lately but I’ve been in a bit of a funk and in no mood to sit around for an hour at a time and just type. I am going to try and update though, even if it is only the reader’s digest version. I was supposed to leave for Adelaide today (this was written on the 9th), but things got a little behind with Dave’s check-out of his rental, so we are gonna leave tomorrow instead. So I guess I’ll use some of the extra time to update the blog.

4th of July weekend didn’t go exactly as planned. I took the train into Sydney Saturday morning, checked into my hostel near the train station and shortly thereafter headed out to Bondi where I was supposed to meet up with some people from a travel blog website I belong to, TravBuddy. I get to the hotel where we were supposed to meet and asked about the bar we were going to meet in. Turns out the bar doesn’t exist anymore, they got rid of it. Well, I didn’t get the organizers number because since I wasn’t coming late, I figured I wouldn’t need it. So I wander around trying to find the organizer who was supposed to be wearing a name-tag. Now there wasn’t that many people around but I see no one wearing a name tag. I could have gone up to everyone in the place, asking for Shaun (the organizers name) but I am just too shy to do that. Of course I hadn’t gotten Shaun’s number because I was there on time and didn’t think it would be a problem finding him (some people who planned to meet up later had gotten his number in order to later locate the group).

(Ok, so now I am writing this on July 21, 17 days after it actually happened, I’m a bit behind)
So instead I sat by myself inside the bar drinking a beer, watching rugby and footy (Aussie Rules) peeking at everyone who came in to see if they were wearing a nametag. No such luck. After sitting there till 6:30 (which had been planned for people to hit up the bistro to eat, of which I still didn’t see anyone coming in) I decided to just pack it in. At this point I was starving because I hadn’t eaten all day. I had passed a tapas place on the way in and those were really sounding good. So I walked up the street, passing numerous other restaurants, which looked decently full, but none packed. When I arrived at the tapas place and went in, I said it was just one and got the dreaded questions, “Do you have a booking?” Of course I didn’t, I didn’t expect to be there. So of course, the one place I want to eat, is full and you can’t get in without a booking. DAMNIT!!!!! Why can’t something just work out? At this point I’m at the end of the strip of restaurants and stores, almost at the bus stop. I didn’t want to turn around and find another place. I was just so dejected and upset I just wanted to get out of there. So I took the bus back to the depot at Bondi Junction, grabbed some McDonald’s right before they closed and trained back to the city. Now back at the hostel, it’s like 8:00pm. I thought about going to find a bar and just sitting or something, but I can’t bring myself to sit alone in a bar again for the second time today. So I literally was in bed at 8:30. Then just sat there trying to fall asleep.

I just kept thinking how it’s the 4th of July and people are back home, getting ready to watch fireworks tonight in the nice warm weather and how I’m here alone in Sydney in bed at 8:30.
It really was a loooong day. Doing so much sitting by myself, at the bar in Bondi, lying in bed at 8:30 pm, gave me a lot of time to think. It wasn’t good thinking. About what am I doing here, how I’ve applied for a bunch of jobs and got no interest back on ANY of them. How I feel so alone, not just here (although it is worse here not having at least co-workers to converse with) but also at home. With all but one of my good friends being so far away from Northern VA. Not having ever been in a relationship and wondering what is wrong with me, why don’t people like me, you know, typical self loathing things one thinks when depressed. I mean, I knew I wouldn’t just be able to stroll over, get a job and live this great existence, but this is not what I had in mind when quitting my job to move to the other side of the planet. I’m just homesick and bored and need a change. I’m hoping my trip to Adelaide cheers me up a bit, sometimes all you need is a change of scenery.

I know - I'm wayyyyyy behind PS - I need your thoughts on my next travel plans!

I apologize if you check this blog often. I know I am way behind on updating. I ned to write about my busted up trip to Sydney on 4th of July, my road trip to Adelaide and my time here. I will try to catch up in the next couple days, I promise.

In the mean time, I am thinking about heading to SE Asia for a month in August (Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Singapore, Vietnam (Saigon), Cambodia (Angor Wat) and Thailand (Bangkok, river Kwai and other various places). It's only a $200 USD round trip from Australia (I'm thinking out of Melbourne, into Perth, maybe into Gold Coast then up to Cairns to visit Meghan???), to Kuala Lumpur. Seems like too good a deal to pass up. It would cost like a $1000 USD (give a bit, depends on food costs) for 25 or so days. What do you think??? Give me your opinions people!

Wednesday July 1, 2009: Why Does Everyone Have A 4 Day Work Week?

I found myself asking this question when I saw on facebook everyone commenting they had a 4 day week. It took me a minute to realize, wait July 4th! It that a bit sad? I mean, I knew Independence Day was coming up soon but I totally didn’t connect the dots that it was this weekend. Which is weird because I actually have plans for this Saturday, the 4th. I am meeting up with some people from a travel website I’m on. I’m looking forward to socializing with new people.

Haven’t done too much the past couple days, just hanging out. Weather’s been nice though, it gets to high 60’s during the day. Today was a bit windy, but other than that, it’s been nice.

If I don’t write again, I wish everyone a HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!! Don’t drink and drive and enjoy the fireworks. I’ll be thinking of all my fellow Americans on that all important day.

Cheers, Cathy

Saturday June 27, 2009 : Back to Sydney for Poker

I woke up at 6:45 to catch my 7:30 am train to Sydney. Unfortunately, there was track work going on between certain stations, so I had to get off at Penrith station and take a bus to Granville where I would then get on another train to go the 2 stations to Guildford where I would get off for my poker tourney. So whereas the train between Penrith and Granville should have taken like 15 minutes, the bus took more than 45 minutes. I guess because it can’t go as direct of a route as the train tracks. I then caught the next train to Guildford, then of course had to walk uphill again, with all my gear to get to the club. On the map there was only like 2 blocks between the station and the club, too bad the blocks were forever long and there was several other streets that weren’t on the map I had looked at. I did make it in time though, that was my major concern. They make this big deal that registration ends and the game begins at 11 am sharp, so I would have been pissed had I come back to Sydney from the mountains and not made it in time. Of course we didn’t end up starting till 11:30 and they were pretty much accepting registrants right up till that time. Way to stick to the strict 11 am deadline. I ran into some other people I play with down in Vincentia on Tuesday nights and was able to snag a ride home. I realized the other day, there will probably be others there from where I live, that I can try and catch a ride home with. That way, I won’t have to take 3 different trains to get back to Nowra, where Tom would have to pick me up then drive the 25 minutes home. It would take like 4 or more hours total. Whereas if I caught a ride home with someone it would be 2.5-3 and I would get dropped off at my door. Thomas who I play with graciously agreed to let me tag along in his car. I did okay in the tournament, made it till after lunch when we were merging to one big group (as opposed to 2 groups, the upstairs and the downstairs).

Friday June 26, 2009: BEAUTIFUL Day in the Mountains

Since I went to bed so early last night, I woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30 this morning. There is complementary breakfast (or brekkie as they call it in Australia) starting at 8. So I grabbed some toast and coffee, got my stuff together and headed out for the day. Today I headed east towards Leura, the next town over. Once again, I started out going downhill. I swear the Katoomba train station (which my hostel is very near) is the highest point around. You go in any direction and it’s downhill. Which means, when coming home after a long day of hiking, you are always heading uphill, no matter what direction one is coming from. Anyway, I met up with the cliff walk trail which goes by some waterfalls. First I went by the Leura Falls, which I could partially see from the trail, at least the top of it. There are a couple other waterfalls that I think I could see if I started heading down a bunch of stairs, but I really didn’t want to walk back up all those stairs. So I just kept making my way around the cliff walk. There are a bunch of lookouts to stop at. Several looking out over the valley and several overlooking the main falls in the area, Bridal Veil Falls. Today was a gorgeous day. Bright, sunny, mild. I actually got overheated and had to peel off one of my layers. It was a great day for hiking. After all the walking yesterday and 4 hours of walking today, my feet were feeling pretty tired, so I headed back towards Katoomba. All uphill, of course. Stopped at Coles and picked up a chicken breast, a potato and come cauliflower to steam for dinner. I got back to the hostel around 1, ate some lunch and caught p with what is going on the world. You know, where celebrities keep dying. I also have been working on the blog, trying to get it updated. I would have like to spend more time outside, considering how beautiful it was, but I was tired, congested and my stomach was a little out of sorts. I am currently watching “Old School” and trying to figure out my plans for the next couple days. I’m heading back into western Sydney on the 7:30 train tomorrow morning to go to the state poker tourney, then I’m not sure what my plans are. I had originally planned to bring my stuff with me then head back down to Nowra on the train and have Tom pick me up. I am throwing around the idea of heading back here after the tourney, spending another couple days here, then heading home Tuesday. There are some caves 30 or so kilometers away, that can toured. Getting a tour picking up here in Katoomba, going out to the caves, touring the main cave and heading back. There is also some other hiking trails that can be done. So I’m not sure whether to head back, or go home. One thing that I am thinking about is next Saturday the 4th, I am heading back into Sydney to meet-up for dinner/drinks with some people I’ve met through a travel blog website. So I don’t know if I want to train back to Husky on Tuesday (what would be like 5 hours straight on a train) then get back on a train for another 3 hours on Saturday, then again on Sunday. There would really be no money saved by staying here while I am already here, as opposed to coming back at a later time, maybe during the spring. But then again, realistically, how many times can I say, I’ll come back and do something later. Time’s going to run out eventually.

Blog entry continued (July 1, 2009)
I ended up deciding to return to Huskisson after the state poker tourney. There’s no public transport to get to the caves, so if you don’t have your own car, you have to take an organized tour from Katoomba. Just to get the bus from Katoomba to the caves, is $50 AUD, for an under 30 km ride! Then you have to pay admission fee to the cave(s) of choice. There are like 8 caves and you can pay per cave to get admission. Admission to the Lucas cave, which is the best general, if you can only visit one cave, cave is like a $30 AUD admission. So if I returned just to go to that one cave it would have been like $75-80 and I didn’t want to pay that. I mean, the transport there is so overpriced! I you have your own car, you can drive there, which would obviously save a ton of money.

So after I returned from my hiking on Friday, I just kind of hung out at the hostel, watching tv, cooked some dinner, chatted with people. I ended up playing Trivial Pursuit with 5 other people that evening. It was interesting, because it was an Australian version from like 20-30 years ago. There were very specific questions about Australian history and culture and the questions were a bit outdated. I am however proud to announce that I took the victory. Those of you who know me well know I am competitive about everything, whether it be sports, board games, card games, trivia, I always want to win. So I was excited I was victorious, even though it was just a friendly game between fellow travelers. I packed all my stuff up nice and tidy because I planned to catch a 7:30 am train the next morning.