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.
