Happy Birthday to me

It's hard to express the joy I feel when I hear that merry tune "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ariel, happy birthday to you" Notice that there is only ONE name mentioned in the song. It's a strange feeling to have something that you've shared all your life with someone else all to yourself, and the theme song to that something is music to my ears. It's what I've always wanted, a birthday all to myself (you twins know what I mean:)) And it's been the best ever. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it special.


So I paid my final visit to Melbourne this week. I came up for my birthday and to meet with Rotary for the start of Safari. I visited the Coles, had a birthday tea with the family, Annie and Pete and Amelia. That's like celebration number 4. . .I've turned 17 like 5 times this week!! I had the same problem with the candles here. . .the last one just wouldn't go out!! AND this time I made sure to touch the plate with the knife, I really really wanted to kiss Dane :) Jenny was even clever enough to buy me a hat that matched my scarf!! The plan is to make that hat last through three weeks of camping. . .it's wrapped in my St. Kilda scarf nestled in the corner of my bag. . .we'll see how that goes. . .

My cake had the cutest smiley candles. . .it's kinda creepy actually, they're STARING at you :) This is cake number. . .5? I made a pav, Dia made a chocolate mud cake and a chocolate mint cheese cake, I had this cake with the Coles, I had a cake with Jacqu and Asha last night and I'll have some more tonight with all my exchange buddies!! What can I say? I'm well celebrated :)


Jacqulyn had a great idea and got me a cake that didn't' need blowing out. . .thank god. . .I've got enough of these 'persistent boyfriends' running around the place. . .Rotary was starting to get worried for a minute there (wink wink John)

This is Asha, she's coming to America next year. Or so she says. . .We're gonna road trip. . or so she says. . .I'll believe it when I see it. . .But I love her anyways :) Safari starts tomorrow. YAY Three weeks of little sleep and immature exchange students! YAY!! Really, it's not so bad as it sounds :)

I made a PAV! Yaahhooo!!

See, look how sick that is. I'm officially an Aussie Chef :) Note the T-shirt too. It's a tourist T-shirt in disguise if you didn't notice. . .instead of just saying "Australia" straight up, it only looks like Australia. Clever eh? I though so . . .

Anywho, today we celebrated something wonderful. 17 years of Ariel. Couldn't get much better than that :) For once in my life, I had my own birthday. I'll have you know that this year, I'm 16 and a half hours older than my twin. . . due to the time difference . . . And, I'm so amazing that it took about 8 attempts to blow out all my candles. . .and apparently I have 7 boyfriends. . .and the last one is real persistant :) It's an aussie thing, after your frist attempt at blowing out the candles, however many are left alight is the number of boyfriends you've got. And ya know how in American we make a wish when we blow out the candles, well here, in the wonderful land of OZ, you make a wish when you cut the cake. And if you touch the plate, you have to kiss the nearest boy. When Timmy heard that, he ran for his life :) which was really dissappointing, cause I really wanted to give him a big, fat smack on the cheek :)

Yesterdy I went to the Footy out at Kyby, my favorite of my three hometowns. . .right. . .anyways. . .I went for the Footy, in which Kyby absolutly smashed Borders. And just an FYI for all you Yankee's, Footy is the most amazing sport ever. You are missing out cause you have no idea what I'm even talking about. . .And I won't attempt to explain cause it's far to confusing unless you're watching it on the telly or out at the oval. Anywho, it turns Kyby into a hotspot. Once every now and again, there are acutally people out there. Rather than the usual feral dogs, three neighbors and the entire Bartosek famliy (Great Aunt, Nan and Pap, Aunt's and Uncles, immeidate family etc), there are about a hundred who come for the sport. It's a real community event.

Oh, and this morning, I went to church for the first time in my adult life. It was an intresting and suprising emotional experience for me. Seeing all those people joined by something so simple as a belief, was kinda cool to see. But I don't have a photo of that one. . . sorry . . . I sang hyms and learned about some passage in the bible. . .it was intresting, an experience for sure. Like the last 10 months have been an experince, with every day presenting something new.

Even in the Outback I'm SEXY!!

See, even in the middle of nowhere, literally the middle of no where, my good looks prevail. I've just spent the last two weeks sitting in a car. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Cause I'd totally be jealous if I were you. . . wake up with the sun, spend 5 hours waiting for the family to get moving, then spend another 9 hours in the car only to drive between 400 and 500 k's. Trip of a lifetime eh? Well, it was. To all you Yankee's out there, you probably have no idea what I'm on about so I'll throw in a few links to google maps along the way :) Now, this is quite the tale to tell. It's gonna take a while, there will be lots of photos and plenty of useless rambling on my part. So bare with me.

Once upon a time, there was a girl called Ariel. She had beautiful red hair and fins instead of legs. Her best friend was a fish called flounder and she had a fascination for a faraway land. . . Wait, holdup. . .I don't have red hair or fish scales. . .sorry, wrong fairy tale. . .okay, so Once upon a time there was a girl called Ariel. She lived in Australia and her cruel Host Parents forced her to go on a trip to the outback. . .(that's better, sounds a bit more like the truth :) haha) Anyways, my trip started from Adelaide, Andrew and Karen started in Naracoorte. On our first day, we passed this sign.

And that's about as exciting as Day 1 gets. . . As you can see, I'm jumping with joy :) We stopped for the night in a seaside town called Pt. Broughton. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Naracoorte+SA&daddr=Port+Broughton+SA&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=-34.170129,140.748989&sspn=0.094307,0.153809&ie=UTF8&z=7 our first days drive) The next day, we piled back into the red van and drove up to a place called Parachilna. God knows how bloody long it took to get to Pt. Augusta, but once we did, things finally started to get interesting. The scenery changed, there were actual hills instead of just flat, flat and flat. We were in The Flinders Ranges, heading for a town with a permanent population of 8. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Port+Broughton+SA&daddr=Port+Augusta+SA+to:Parachilna+SA&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-35.279445,139.33645&sspn=5.953681,9.84375&ie=UTF8&z=8 Day 2)

Parachilna is famous for it's pub. They serve Emu, camel, goat and kangaroo. When you drive up, and of course it was well past dark when we did, there are about 5 lights and only two or three permanent buildings. But a paradise none the less. When you've been driving for countless hours without seeing another living breathing human being or a building with electricity and plumbing, it's an amazing sight. This is Steve and his dinner. I ate Emu liver that night. I'll never eat an animal organ again. . . This is the road sign just out of Parachilna. In two days time we would be in Birdsville, only we would be getting there by plane. That story comes later.

Now, you people in America don't even know the meaning of the phrase 'the flies have gotten bad'. In the outback, you bathe in Aeroguard and live in a fly net. Yes, it looks silly but I'd rather look like a bee keeper than have 45 flies crawling in out of my noes, eyes, ears and mouth.

Once we finally left Parachilna, we wound (sorry, drove for countless hours over never changing landscape in the same direction with nothing interesting to look at, but it was beautiful all the same) our way through the outback up to a place called William Creek. In less than 400 kilometers, we managed to break a window, travel 12 meters (that's like 50 feet) below sea level with out getting wet and have a family melt down. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Parachilna+SA&daddr=William+Creek&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-32.36649,138.09866&sspn=3.080589,4.921875&ie=UTF8&ll=-30.016787,137.37854&spn=3.157993,4.921875&z=8 Day 3)

Once we got to Marree, we were officially on the Oodnadatta Track. Marree is the turning point where you chose your travels. Either the infamous Birdsville Track or the ancient Oodnadatta Track, lake Eyre sits between the two. Oh, right you don't' know what Lake Eyre is. Well basically its a big salt lake in the middle of Australia (because Australia used to have a giant inland sea) that only fills up once ever forty years and this year, my year in Australia, it's full. So we went for a visit. We chose the Oodnadatta Track as it led to William Creek, our destination for the night and base camp for the next 3 days. This Track as it is called, is nothing more than a semi level slab of ground with tire tracks in it. And that's how we managed to break the window. The road got rough, stones started flying, and then there was a loud crashing noise. The family melt down came soon after. It had been a long day and we were all getting annoyed at how long we had spent in the car. So there was. . .yelling. . .sort of. This is a photo of the sign labeling the Oodnadatta Track. On some other sign in some other tiny outback town there was a list of million things you HAD to have with you in case you broke down. We were in the outback you see. And because there are idiots out there who wander away from their cars in the event of the breakdown, there are numerous warnings telling you not to do so. In case you thought that was a good idea. . .

Anywho. . .the pub in William Creek was, well, a stereotypical outback pub. Yet, ironically, the only one we saw like it. There were bras hanging from the ceiling and money from all over the world pinned to the walls, people's old drives license and credit cards. License plates, hats, fake arms, you name it and you were bound to find it on one of these walls. Even the front door was covered in scraps of paper people had written 'Rachel was here! Canada to Australia 1993'. I added my mark to one of the walls, left a Rotary Business Card and a note with some crap about Ariel the little mermaid and water being in the outback. . . To much time in the car was making me go crazy. . .Every other pub we went to was more, classy if you will. Basically they didn't have bras hanging from the walls. . . This is Steve and Lisa (friends of the family who traveled in a separate car but did the trip with us) and Karen getting to know one of the locals.

So this entire trip was about Lake Eyre. It had water in it for the first time in decades. We were gonna drive up and fly over the lake in a light aircraft to a place called Bridsville Queensland, eat at the pub then fly further north to a place called Bedourie and stay the night. The next day we would hop back in our plane and fly down to the Mungerannie Roadhouse along the Bridsville track and have lunch at that pub. Then fly across the southern end of Lake Eyre and over the Painted Hills then back to William Creek. All for the small cost of $600 AUS. Cheap for what we did. And Google Maps is useless when it comes to showing you exactly how that worked. So you'll just have to imagine how big that lake is and how far away Bridsville is from ever other kind of civilization. . .Bedourie is even further away. . But this is the best I can do http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=William+Creek&daddr=Birdsville+QLD+to:bedourie&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-28.99935,135.64792&sspn=1.595058,2.460938&ie=UTF8&z=7 We flew over the lake in the middle. Zoom out to see where that is in comparison to say, Sydney.

This is our plane. We were about to spend the next two days sitting in here. Yay for limited leg space and constant turbulence. I can't tell you how excited I was. Seriously, I can't. Taking off was exhilarating. Here we are all cramed in, minus me and the piolt of course. And we had an amazing piolt. Luke was his name. Absolutly wonderful.

Lake Eyre generally just sits in the middle of Australia as a giant salt plane. Only when it floods in northren Queensland and the water manages to make it's way all the way down to South Australia, which is a bloody long way, does it flood. This time round it was 65% full. Which is pretty brilliant to see. Lake Eyre in on Annacreek Station, the largest cattle station in the world, it's about the size of Belguim

We landed at Birdsville for lunch at the pub. Birdsville Pub is also famous, it's one of the most remote places in the world. And because Rotary rocks so much, there were a number of club banners from all over Australia and the world hanging from their ceiling. Pretty epic I'd say

Then we got back in our plane and flew over the channel country. This is how the water gets from Ther very tip top of Australia, to the middle of it. Thousands upon thousands of little rivers that make the land incredibly green and flood numerous towns along the way. Seeing this made the trip, the outback is known for it's dryness and red dirt. It was truly amazing to see it so green and full of water. A once in a lifetime experience.

We stayed the night in a place called Bedourie. Where, we happened to meet a distant relative of my Host mum karen. What a quinki-dink eh?

The next day we got back in our little light aircraft plane and made our way back to William Creek via the Mungerannie Roadhouse along the Birdsville Track and the Painted Hills, which are on the Cooper Peady side of William Creek.

And we landed in William Creek. With another amazing experience under our blets. Problem is, that's only the first half of the trip. There was still four days of driving ahead of us. This is us with our piolt at the end of the trip. Look at our faces if you can. Note the pure joy on them.
Now, we were on our way to Melbourne. Yes, piratically the other side of the country. This is a map of our entire trip. Look at the amount of ground we covered in less than 10 days. Minus hte part where it takes us up to Alice Springs. We retraced our steps when we headed out east in the plane and flew back to William creek. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Naracoorte+SA&daddr=Port+Broughton+SA+to:Parachilna+SA+to:William+Creek+to:Birdsville+QLD+to:Bedourie+QLD+to:Coober+Pedy+SA+to:Port+Augusta+SA+to:Renmark,+SA,+Australia+to:Ballarat+VIC+to:Leonard+St,+Tootgarook+Victoria+3941+to:Frankston+VIC+to:naracoorte&geocode=%3B%3B%3BFWAFR_4dFUggCA%3B%3B%3BFY9ORf4d_jAICA%3B%3B%3B%3BFYJxtv0dXB-iCCk_ZGXPb8rVajE9Im8W6o_qTw%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=pe&mrcr=9,10&sll=-30.562261,140.405273&sspn=24.994321,39.375&ie=UTF8&z=5

We were going to the Melbourne area for a 50th birthday. Don Cole is one of Andrew's best mates and my adopted host dad. I've never actually lived with these guys but I've been away on holiday with them enoug to make them count as family :) So we got to catch up and have a big party. Which was good. On the way to this party we stopped in Renmark where I got to visit one of my really good friends, Nic Crouch. YAY!! I love that kid!! After the party, we crossed the bay on a ferry and visited my Host sister who has just come out of hospital because she had her tosil's removed. It was a bloody LONG two weeks!!

And then last night I made mexican food. Real American, Mexican food. If that makes sense. YUMMY!! Kat came over and we had a ball eating Fajitas, and I had a burrito, the kind with refiredbeans. Which Australian's hate. Yes, it looks like spew in a can. But it tastes like heaven. I suppose it's a bit like Vegimite for Australian's. It's the most revolting thing to me, but they love it. It's yeast that they put on toast for God's sake! YUCK!! But refried beans are spew in a can that I put on a tortilla. That's pronounced tor-tiya :)