Where in the world is Ashley Churchill?

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

So Antonia, her friend Pa, and I all went to Mardi Gras over the weekend. Its Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. Very similar to Toronto's Pride Parade, except this one happens at night. So its even more flamboiant than Toronto's. One of the first things I noticed was the religious costumes present. I noticed a guy dressed as Jesus getting funky to Culture Club's 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?'. Another one that I saw is the one I dubbed as 'Steve'.

The rhyme that religious homophobes often say is that "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." With the apple and snake, I figured he was Steve.

Tones of outragous costumes of varying designs.

Suddenly, home didn't seem so far away.

We all had a pretty good time supporting our friends that swing the other way.

Peace
AC