To the outback!

This post written August 11, 2008 but internet was unavailable until now.

I am flying again -- on my way to Alice Springs.

Melbourne was excellent and I'm happy that it is where I will be returning to later when it is time to make some money.

Since the weather is so mild everything about the setup of melbourne seems to be about taking advantage of the outdoors. Almost every restaurant has an outdoor area--even starbucks and Burger King (which is called Hungry Jack's here) have tables on the sidewalks.

A little FYI to Plaid... I spotted the PwC building within about 10 minutes of leaving the airport! They use the regular logo longways on the side of the building and the little icon on another side of the buildling. And it is impossible to miss.

Its a good thing I gave myself 3 days in Melbourne before heading to the outback, because it took that long to get a bank account, cell phone service, extra straps for my backpack, find new transport to uluru, unpack all my stuff and debate if I needed to ditch some wieght and then just pack it all back up again etc.... It wouldn't seem to be the case but when you decide you need to buy something its not just as easy as googling to see where the closest chain store that you are already familiar with is located... you have to first find out the name of a store that would even sell that type of thing... and then google it to find it's location.

I checked out a few banks for my best checking account options and ended up with NAB (National Australian Bank). Obviously they have to mail you the check card and when you are a homeless nomad like me, providing an address is not so easy. So I told the woman I would be back with an address that afternoon. Of course it was Friday, the bank was closed all day Saturday and Sunday and I was leaving at 8am Monday so there was a clock to compete with as well. My plan was to call the volunteer office in Alice Springs to ask if they would accept mail for me. However, this is not so simple either when you don't yet have cell service or a landline available to you. The hostel could sell me a calling card for $10 to use with the phones in the building but this was more than I needed for this call. So I found a $5 one at 711 (they are on about every street corner) and called from a pay phone. The guy assured me the mail could be sent there, but still I'm not putting any money in the account until I have my card and pin.

Next I was off to get service for my phone. At the Telstra store the dude with the clipboard directed me to a salesman from Kentucky on the premise that "he speaks your language." I ended up with a prepaid plan that allows me to make affordable calls within Australia as long as I continue not to have any friends who I might want to talk to for any more than 5 minutes. It is great for my current purposes of making reservations and calling bus companies to come back to get me after I am late and miss my 6:30 am pick-up.

The hostel I was at in Melbourne was called Greenhouse Backpackers. It was like a flashback to college except that there are no windows in the rooms and sometimes your roommate might be a senior citizen and that there is no class so some people stay up drinking till 7 am and sleep all day... oh wait that IS like college.

The first night I paid a little extra for my own room incase of severe jetlag.. It was a little freaky being alone in this room with no windows, no tv or radio to break the silence, and lights that go off automatically after an hour (to save energy) occassionally leaving you stranded in the pitch black. But after all my banking and cell phoning excursions, (not to mention traveling half way around the globe in one 36 hour mega day) I was pooped. So at 6:15 I full-out went to bed and slept until 5am -- with periodic time checks on my phone since with no windows I had no way of knowing if morning had arrived.

On the second day I moved into a 6 person bunk where my roommates were a girl who slept for 22 hours and two asian girls who I don't believe spoke any english. At least if they did, they didn't give in to letting me know while they hovered over me watching me struggle with a lock and wispering to each other in an unknown language. Once I finally got the lock open, my explaination as to what the cause of the problem had been, was met only with half smiles and a little laugh.

On the third day the sleeping girl got kicked out of the hostel (perhaps for sleeping and not paying) and the mystery asian girls checked out. My new roommates were an older woman from New South Wales, a girl from Tiawan and 3 English med students who were spending a few weeks traveling in Australia before going to New Zealand where two of them would be working in a hospital for 2 months. Helen, Laura and Anna--who were excited to get a mention here in my blog--allowed me to join them for dinner in chinatown and a drink at an irish pub. Such a relief to have a meal with people, and they just happen to be interesting and fun people too!

Thanks girls! I had a great time and I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

I have now arrived in Alice Springs... stay tuned.