Still not dead! Still too lazy to write in anything more complete than bullets!
Since leaving alice for Darwin:
*Drove 900km, enjoyed the nothingness, slept at the Daly Waters pub. Great decorating aesthetic there: people leave whatever, and it gets stapled to the wall. There's an ID section, a badge section, tshirts, hats, underwear (mens and womens), sandals (thongs in oz-speak), etc.
*Drove up to Darwin, went on a 3-day tour of Kakadu national park. did one ~20km off-trail hike all over the place. saw numerous gorgeous waterfalls. did a croc tour on the south adelaide river. wait for a picture of the big guy. can't say i'm scared of typical australia 'murderous' animals - jellyfish, snakes, sharks, spiders, scorpions, what have you - but i'm still scared of crocs.
*Five-day 3200km drive from Darwin to Cairns. Much of it on single lane highway, and I don't mean a single lane each way. Add an oncoming to road train and be afraid. Gorgeous scenery though. Flatter'n kansas in the tablelands. Highlights include
- Paying $1.70AUD/L for gas in Cape Crawford (at the Heartbreak Hotel)
- Blue tongued skink on the Barkly Tablelands highway
- Chillin in Karumba
- Lava tubes in Undara NP
- Other things i've already forgotten
*Three-day scuba liveaboard trip on the Great Barrier Reef. Absurdly good diving, got my Advanced Open Water cert, and met some fantastic people. And had a hilarious but morally bankrupt evening of incredibly insensitive jokes. We were this short of writing up a checklist of demographics to offend, but I think we hit all the high notes anyway.
*Rented a motorcycle, and had a frighteningly good time riding the Gillies Highway (~260 turns in 19km) and the Atherton tablelands. Beats every road I've ridden in California, hands down. Which is saying a lot. And the bike (1984 Yamaha RD250R) was a pure hoot. A two-stroke motorbike screaming murder at 11k rpm while it claws its way up a twisty hill is more fun that should be allowed. On an unrelated note, I owe QLD's finest $150AUD. Moving on...
Shab's done with his stupid-awesome dive trip with Undersea Explorers (one of Nat Geo's top 10 adventure trips), and soon we'll probably pop up the coast to Cape Tribulation (I love visiting places with unfortunate names) and then bomb down the east coast to Sydney, and then make for places where the people are browner and their english worse. Probably gonna skip En-Zed for the time being, but I'll make it back with a motorcycle someday. Pictures later. If you're lucky.
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