Where in the world is Ashley Churchill?

So I'm currently in Sydney. I came back over to grab my stuff before heading to New Zealand. I can't beleive how much stuff I've accumulated since coming to Sydney. Two suitcases stuffed to the point of bursting plus my 84L backpack. I brought them to the airport first thing in the morning and put them in storage. The last thing I wanted to do is drag those suckers an hour before my flight is set to take off. I'm not entirely sure if I have everything I need to enter New Zealand. I do have a ticket, just not with me. I was sent to Canada. I have a document from my bank saying I have the required cash, I'm just not entirely sure its good enough since I printed it from the web. Worst case scenario, I have to stay in Australia a tad longer, to get everything in order for sure. But enough about the drama I manage to cause for myself.

While in Brisbane, I made a detour to Fraser Island. Its a little, picturesque island on the east coast. Fraser Island is what is know as a 'Sand Island'. Basically, your going to bring back half of island with you no matter how hard to try to keep your clothes sand free. One thing I was not expecting was such a rough drive up there. There are about 50 round-abouts on the way up, and everyone had to sit sideways in the car. Everyone was feeling a bit naucious, but we made it there alive and well. One of the first beaches (Fraser Island has MANY beaches) was the 75 mile beach. Basically, its one really long beach. We later walked through Eli Creek. I didn't have a bathing suit with me, and I didn't want to get completely drenched. So I ended up walking back when it got too deep for my comfort and took the trail back to the beach.
My favorite beach has to be Mackenzie beach. You walk through bush land and just come across this absolutely pristine beach with pure, white sand and super bright blue water. Very beautiful.

We went to several other beaches, but Mackenzie was deffinately my favorite. Another highlight of Fraser Island was the bush walk throught the rainforsest. We don't have too many of those in Canada, its great to get to one eventually.

After Fraser Island, I took off to Alice Springs in Nothern Territory. Despite the absolutely numerous hotel and hostels in Alice Springs, there is not much to the city itself. Its there pretty much to support the tourism that the natural wonders of Nothern Terriory brings. The tour bus hit the road at 6 am. There is alot of driving in Nothern Territory. The first of the landmarks that we went to was The Olgas. It is illegal to climb the Olgas, but its ok as far as I know to walk around them. Fine at first, then I stepped on a sharp rock or something of that nature and put a hole through the sole of my boot.
This is day one of a three day trek. Oh the joys of being me. After several hours of walking around the Olgas, we headed to Ayers Rock to eat dinner while watching the sun set over Ayers Rock.

We had camel stew for dinner. He could have told me it was beef and would have been none the wiser. After dinner, we headed to our 'camp site'. I'm not entirely convinced that it was a legit camping ground. He just sort of drove into the middle of the desert was like "Ok guys, this is where we're spending the night." And yes, I said CAMPING. I probably haven't been camping since I was in the Girl Guides. And not in tents or cabins, we slept under the stars. It was still fun. Despite the 30*C days, NT get damn cold at night. Luckily, we had a person on the tour with a small case of pyromania. He started building the fire and sung I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter... I don't know how he got a hold of it, but he found a peice of wood that looked like it was better suited for a railway than a campfire. We all saw it and said, "Somewhere in Central Australia, there is a train derailing."

Despite the freezing nights that haunt the Northern Territory, I had a good time.
The next day we went straight to Ayers Rock. There is some controversy as to if it should climbed at all. The aboriginals preferr people to not climb it. I climbed it. It was sort of tough, but if you're in decent shape, you can climb it.

At the top of Ayers Rock, those are the Olgas in the background.

We spent the night at an actual camp site. However, our resident pyro got a his hand slapped a bit when he got hold of this enourmous tree to put it in the fire pit. Boys will be boys I guess.

Next day, we went to Kings Canyon. It had a much more difficult climb in the beginning, but it was for only about 15-20 minutes. Then it was just kind of rocky. There is a point in the walk where a piece of rock kind of sticks out over a canyon. Well, I can't say I haven't done stupider things in the past.

The walk took several hours and we were all wiped in the end. We later headed back to have lunch and pack up our stuff before heading back on the road. The ride back took atleast 5 hours. I slept through 4 and a half of them. One thing is certain, with 3 days of sweat, dirt and all other kinds of nastiness caked to me, the first shower when we got back to the hostel was freakin' euphoric.

Like I said, not much to do in Alice Springs. The hostel was looking for people to help clean the place, so most of us volunteered. I vacuumed the rooms, cleaned the communal kitchen and mopped the bar floor. Later on, a bunch of us went to Anzac Hill to watch the sun go down before grabbing some discounted wine to bring back to hostel. Little did we know, the hostel as a NO BYO policy. So we did our best to keep it hidden. Next day I flew back to Sydney to get my stuff.

It was a bit nostaligic going to the old apartment. My roomies moved some of the furniture around. It looks better the new way. We spent half of the night drinking and half if the night trying to think of card games to play. We all had games in mind, but forgotten most of the rules in order to play them. We ended up playing Chinese Dragon and Chase the Ace. Both reccomended by Amy. I, by the way, made a killing in the process. Sofa Hog #1 played 52 Pickup, which isn't even a game, just a formulated way to make a mess. My very last day I had a few errands to run. Drag my super oversized bags to the airport and stow them, bought new boots, printed out my itinerary to exit New Zealand, figure out what a bebo page is and make it public(http://ashleychu.bebo.com), update my blog. Well, I guess I'm done. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in New Zealand.

From the merry ol' land of OZ,

AC

PS, Remember to email me people! The road can get very lonely! ashleychurchill@hotmail.com.

I just arrived in Alice Springs. Its... nice. I'm going on a tour of Kings Canyon, Ayer's Rock, and neighbouring attractions tomorrow. Early next week, I'm heading back to Sydney to pick up my stuff and haul ass over to NZ. I have no idea what I'll do there how long this leg of my tour will last. We'll see. Then I'll be heading to Asia for about a week and a half. Then home. Its sad to think that my Australian tour is coming to a close. But that only means that I'm getting closer to my next abroad adventure. Which, based on my much I'll like it the first time, will be New Zealand for a second time. My visa will still be vaild, so why the hell not. I just got back from Queensland. I spent some time in Brisbane. People kept telling me that I'd be bored out of my mind, but I didn't think it was that bad. I really enjoyed all the animal attractions the city has to offer. I also went to Fraser Island for a few days. One thing to keep in mind for the ladies out there. If you go to Fraser Island, WHERE A SPORTS BRA. Or else you run the risk taking somebody's eye out. Trust me on this one. I'll add some photos to my blog later on. You check most of my photos out on my facebook page. You have to be a member to view people's pages. BUT ITS FREE! And everyone loves free stuff. I think you can reach my site here>>> http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510854249
But if you can't, search 'Ashley Churchill'. If you need to enter a network, type in 'Toronto, ON'. I have loads of photos and stuff on there. Don't be afraid to 'add me as a friend'.

Peace out homies.

AC

My time in Sydney has come to an end. Sort of. While I have ended my time as a temporary resident of the fabulous city, I will, however, be returning for one night only. I'll come back to pick up my two stuffed suitcases before heading to New Zealand. I spent my last(ish) night on the town with my old roommate, Antonia.

Did the usual celebratory parting rituals. Picked up some incredably fattening pizza, drank more alcohol than we should, and headed to the closest bar that meets our notoriously high drinking standards. Which ended up being 3 Wise Monkeys.

The cover band was really good. But there was this one guy that kept bothering us. We were 1 "So where are you two ladies from?" away from the usual fraudulent lesbian act.

The night eventually came to and end around 1am. Hugged like pubescent school girls and blew kisses when the elevator doors closed and officially ended our last night together. I had to get up early to do my last minute packing and greet the girl that will be taking over my bed. From what I know, her name is Melody and she's French. She seems very nice. I hope she has a good time there.

Peace Out.

AC

PS, if any of my old roomies are reading this and wants to contact me, my email is ashleychurchill@hotmail.com. And DO SO! Its always great to hear from friends when you're travelling solo.

The couch that was in the flat when I first moved in, for lack of a better word, sucked. And it still in fact, sucks. Its damn ugly. Metal poaks you in places I won't mention. The cushioning is paper thin. It just sucks.

One of my room mates, Thomas, had been complaining to the landlord in regaurds to our rather unfortunate sitting situation, with no luck that I could see. Fore he despised the couch more then anyone. Until eventually, the landlord caved (sort of) and agreed that he would reimburse for the couch for up to $150 if we found it ourselves. So I started looking for couches the second the deal was made, since I hated the couch only slightly less than he did. It was pretty slim pickings, so I was about to give up. And since I was about to move out anyway, why would anyone bother continuing? But one day I casually mention the couch situation to a former room mate and she told me of her current room mate and his available couch. So I hounded this mystery room mate in an effort for the couch. I got in touch with him eventually and brought the couch to its new home.

And the best part, he was only asking $100, making me $50 richer. The sad part is that I was only able to enjoy the couch for a few days before moving out. Thomas and I called dibs the second I brought it in the house and have since been affectionately dubbed "The Sofa Hogs".

I am now in Brisbane, not quite as boring as I was lead to believe. But I loooooooove animals. And Queensland is THE place for animal lovers.


One very unfortunate occurance since coming to Brisbane happened only a few hours ago. The reason why I am in Brisbane at this point, is to see James Morrison, who's music I love. When I came home from the Australia Zoo today and went online to find out how to get to the venue, it had been declaired cancelled. Mr. Morrison had come down with laryngitis. Bastard. Not a total loss though. My hostel has cable, and there was a special called "Comedy Gold". A two hour long special all about comedians from the Great White North. Dan Akroyd, Martin Short, Wayne and Shuster, Mike Myers. All the greats. It was great to see. I really miss my hoser humor. Anyhoo, the next time you hear from me, will be sometime after I climb, or atleast look at with great appreation, Ayers Rock.

Be good.

AC

So its been quite a few weeks since my last posting. I know. My sincere appolgies to the three people that regularly check my blog. So whats happened since Mardi Gras? Well, quite a bit I guess. I'm going through room mates like tic tacs. Antonia had to move out a while ago. But she only moved a few floors down. McCrazy (Elizabeth) moved out a few days later. Then Julia(Germany), moved into McCrazy's bed. Then Sandrine (Switzerland) moved in, then moved out 2 weeks later. So now Amy (England) is occuplying one of the beds. I went to Perth for the weekend before last (April 19). The day after I arrived, I went to a Pink concert. I have never seen a concert quite like that. Very theatrical.

If you ever decide to take a trip to WA, there is absolutely nothing in the city of Perth worth seeing. But there are a selection of activities to choose from in the outer suburbs. I went swimming with wild dolphins in Rockingham, which was pretty awesome. I tried to take pictures from the boat, but I my camera has a small delay and those dolphins are damn fast. Most of them are of open water with a small disruption in the waves.
I also went on two wine tours. The first one was a cruise along the Swan River to the wine region of Swan Valley with Captain Cook Cruises. Swan River is lined with a great deal of absolutely goreous real estate. We did some tasting on the boat and went to two wineries for some further tasting. The next day, I went on my second wine tour by van with Out and About tours. I liked the second one much more. We went to 5 wineries, a 'brewry' and a chocolate company. When I got back to Sydney, I pretty much fasted for two days.

Last Saturday, I saw Billy Talent preform in Sydney. If you're not in the know, they're a band straight out of T-dot (thats Toronto for all you international folk). It was really cool to see them. They are deffinately an act that is worth seeing live. I saw them in Switzerland last year. I think they're playing at The Molson Ampitheatre(In Toronto) in July. If I'm home by then, I'm deffinately going.

Then I went to the Blue Mountains on Sunday. That was really cool as well. They get the name 'Blue Mountains' because all of the eucalyptus plants give the mountains a blue haze when you look at them from a look out point. And did you know that 'Kangaroo' is aboriginal speak for "I don't understand."? The first European settlers saw them and thought they were giant rats. They would ask the aborigials what they were, but they didn't understand the language. So they said 'kangaroo' in reply.

The day after the Blue Mountains, I went to Melbourne for a few days. It was ok. I went to see Silverchair perform. I always wanted to see them when I was in high school, but never had the cash when tickets went on sale. The Silverchair related void in my heart is now full. I also went to the immigration museum and the National Gallery of Victoria. They had a Bollywood exibit that was very interesting. Bollywood has always been pretty foriegn to me, but its twice the market that Hollywood is. So I should deffinately considering tapping into it. When I got back from Melbourne; I invited Antonia, Emanuella and Emanuella's boyfriend, Mitchell over for dinner. We drank 5 bottles of wine between the four of us. I don't know why, but I never get hangovers. Its like some kind genetic mutation or something.

Pretty soon, I'll be off to Brisbane, then Northern Territory, then New Zealand. I'll deffinately miss Australia once I'm gone. I kind of miss it already and I haven't even left yet.

Anyhoo, ciao.

AC