Week 33?: An amusing adventure (Karl)

The last couple of weeks have been pretty insane. Where does one begin? How about our trip to Northern Territory...

For those of you who don't know, Northern Territory is the state in Australia that lies right smack dab in the middle of the country starting at a little more than half way down and runs all the way to the top (north). For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, get a map! The Northern Territory covers 1/5 or 1/6 of Australia's land mass and only holds 1% of its population. Let me tell you, this was a thrilling adventure!

This was a long trip; so I don't want to bore you with details...as we tend to do. I'll first give you a lay out of how our trip went, and then I'll give you the highlights and low lights.

Here we go...

Our trip started on Thursday night in Melbourne (our home city) by train to Adelaide. We stayed in Adelaide for several hours, jumped back on the train and headed to Alice Springs. Alice Springs houses about 25,000 people...not too much to see, but it's a good starting point. From there we "hired" (rented) a car and drove to Rainbow valley on our way to Uluru AKA Ayers Rock! While in the Uluru area we visited the Olgas and Kings Canyon. All three of these are basically red rocks that are very imposing land masses. After we left Kings Canyon we drove on a back road back through the MacDonnell Ranges to Alice Springs. We filled up with some fuel, and on we went to Katherine...a little town that is about 1200 km from Alice Springs. That was an extremely long ride (kinda like this section of the blog). We went canoeing there, looked at didgeridoos, and left for Litchfield National Park (waterfalls and natural pools). And finally, we drove from Litchfield to Darwin and spent 3 marvelous days in Darwin before we hopped on our plane home at 12:40 am!

Sorry about the boring details, but I won't mention our paths again (hopefully)...

This trip was filled with many ups and downs, so I've picked a few choice words to describe most of the scenarios that went down.

Ready?! OK!

Stupidity

As defined by the Webster's online Dictionary, stupidity is a condition or state of being given to unintelligent decisions or acts. Stupidity ran rampant in our ten day excursion.

On the train...

Stupid is waking up at 4:00 am to talk loudly to the person sitting next to you about your grand kids for 3 1/2 hours while every one near you is sleeping, and then wonder why your neighbors are still trying to sleep at 8:00.

In Adelaide...

Stupid is not being able to speak audibly when you are confronted by a TV camera and drilled with questions about some show you've never seen.

Even more stupid is the fact that amongst 4 people, no one has heard of the show!

In Alice Springs...

Stupid is giving 3 girls and 1 moron 2 keys to a rental car and expect them not to lose at least one of them in the end (or everyday for that matter).

Stupid is paying $5.50 a gallon for diesel.

Stupid is complaining about the heat in the desert.

At Rainbow Valley...

Stupid is going to an unfamiliar place and not doing enough research to realize that the flies there are insanely brave.

Stupid is realizing this and going out to take pictures.

At Uluru...

Stupid is walking around the world's largest rock, in the desert and not drinking enough water to the point where people have to perform CPR in order to save your life...Who knows if he lived.

Stupid is, again...the flies

At the Olgas...

Stupid is hiking in sandals among loose rocks, not wearing sunscreen in the desert, and being blonde and European! Nothing against blondes or Europeans.

At Kings Canyon...

Well, I guess at the Olgas and Kings Canyon we weren't surrounded by morons. At least they weren't visible if they were around.

On the Drive to the MacDonnell Ranges...

Stupid is driving at 60 mph on a 4 wheel drive track. But God is it fun!

At Alice Springs again...

FUEL!!!

On the 10 hour drive to Katherine...

Stupid is driving 10 hours to Katherine. There's nothing there!

At Litchfield National Park...

Stupid is picking up an opinionated person who has already been in the area.

At Darwin...

Stupid is assuming that it costs $7 per night to camp when it really costs $12.

Stupid is camping at a hostel.

Stupid is paying $2000 for a car that has a tent on its roof and not use it.

Stupid is not telling the people camping in the back (while you sleep in your bed) that the backyard of the hostel is gravel. And you'll be sleeping there!

Stupid is not killing the person who showed us around Darwin! (but we did have a good reason...)

Stupid is losing the key and assuming you're not the one who actually misplaced it.

Stupid is not checking your bags until you got home.

Flexible

As defined by Websters online Dictionary, flexible is characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements.

Flexible is reading a blog written by Karl when you should be working!

Train...

Sleeping on the train for two days with a person in a seat next to you, in front of you, and behind you without sleeping on the ground.

Putting up with stupid people!

Uluru...

Waking up at 5:00 am to see the sunrise even though it's cloudy...and not complaining!

Putting up tents in the dark without a flashlight.

Lighting a grill without a match.

Cooking in the dark and liking the food even though it wasn't Karl's famous cooking!

Living with three high maintenance women...just kidding!

Brittney in a tent! hahahahahahahahahaha! Just kidding?

Avoiding a man who may have been dead.

King's Canyon...

Doing a 3 hour walk when the first 45 minutes are straight up hill.

Drive to Katherine...

Paying $6.00 a gallon for diesel.

Taking pills for motion sickness every time you get in the car.

In Katherine...

Waiting patiently as Karl looks for a didgeridoo (all F@#$ing day)

On the way and in Darwin...

Changing an entire schedule that you spent 2 or 3 months working on because one person didn't recommend it, and you were out numbered (by women!), and too weak willed to defend yourself. (I was tired from all the driving and not sleeping)

Putting up with a friend's suggestions on where to go because it'll make another member of our crew happy to be with her!

Winning a limbo contest, completely sober! Nice work Britt!

SLEEPING ON GRAVEL!!!! Way to go Carol!

Flexible is not rearing back to slap the taste out of a certain someone's mouth every time she spoke.

Again with the didgeridoos.

Spending more than you thought you would on a didj!

Breathtaking and well worth it!

The whole freakin trip! except for the ladies sitting next to us on the train. They were morons.

We got to see and do a lot of great things...even in Darwin. Our time in Darwin was some of the most fun we had on the trip. Definitely well worth it!

Would I do it again?

Hell no! did you not read the part about the Stupidity!

As for the breath taking part, we'll have the pictures up shortly for you avid readers who can't wait for my email to tell you to come look. We only took about 500 pictures on our camera. Carol ran out of space on her 1 Gigabyte memory card. Yes, that's a big memory card.

Since we've been back, Brittney has been stressed out with Rotary and school...more stupidity! I on the otherhand have been very productive. For those of you who don't know, I'm getting paid to eat and ride a bike (basically). I finished day 1 of 2, and, unofficially, I've made $719! As of right now I'm in the lead to take the $250 grand prize.

Besides that, our lives are pretty lame.

Time to get going. We have to pack to go to the Great Barrier Reef. I don't know if anyone's heard of it, but it's one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. For you Kentuckians, it's up there with Mammoth Cave National Park!

Less than 2 months until our arrival into your lives.

God Speed!

Karl



Words of the Week:

We paid an arm and a leg every time we stopped at a servo to fill up with petrol.

Service station/Gas Station and Gas!