Adventures in Australia, Part I - Enroute
I'm really not quite sure how to explain how I got here. I suppose it started off with a friend from last deployment taking a cruise to cage dive with great white sharks. Perhaps even before that with a social studies lesson of the country in 7th grade. And perhaps even earlier when some part of the roma blood that I claim (without complete assurance) decided to overcome the sedentary Polish bucolic upbringing, and urged me to search for things that are distant, unseen, and unknown.
And so it came to be, that after finishing Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country (which apparently is required reading in high schools in New South Wales) I made a decision to take up the Army's free plane ticket leave program, and travelled to Australia.
And here I am, getting delightfully, gloriously, stupendously sunburnt. In Australia.
So, yes! A new continent, a new country to tick off the list, and a new language (contrary to popular belief, Australian is a completely different language than English. I hold the same conviction about Appalachain dialect, though the rest of the South is questionable, depends on the ratio of y'all : yonder : ain't. Midwestern English is passable enough, despite the differences in common nouns. Don't even get me started on Boston (and you though Welsh was bad...). Its much more infectious of a dialect than most others. Somehow I managed to escape North Carolina without more than a dash of Southern flavor to some amalgam of Milwaukee and Ohio twang. Even around British or a thick Scotsman's slur I've held my own. But down here? I'm even starting to think in Australian. I can't explain it. It just feels... natural. Like saying Cairns (like the Cannes film festival) the right way is just so much easier. Perhaps I'll grow out of it. But at the moment, its taking over my tongue with a linguistic force of nature I've never before reckoned with.
But Australia has become more than a check in the box. Its vast reaches call like a incessant, but sonorous bell, demanding that I make my way in to its distant, dangerous, desert reaches, full of mystery and possibility. Its hazy forests and weathered rocky coastlines are too engaging to the imagination to pass up. And Sydney itself is a city that I could enjoy for each unique district and still never find myself having completely explored its reaches.
My journey began in the cold, winter snows of Afghanistan. Its hard to believe that a short time ago I was wrapped in the embrace of frigid winds, oncoming blizzards, and threat of frostbite. For days it seemed I was mired in transportation stagnation, waiting in one small base terminal or another. From Kabul to Qatar to Kuwait. And then finally I could leave my uniform behind and shoulder some semblance of normalcy.
Kuwait airport was astonishing, especially considering the culture shock I was in for. Even late at night, the place was teeming with people. Glittering stores and retail shops were catching at every corner, but the night paled in comparison to Dubai. Flying in to the UAE was stunning, especially considering the immense amount of build up going on around the city. I bought some Johnny Walker Black at the duty free (more to have something to celebrate with upon reaching Sydney). Then, a long flight across the Indian Ocean to Melbourne before a final hop up to Sydney.
Flying in to Australia literally took my breath away. Even the Persian Gulf was cool compared to the sweltering humidity and bright sun of Sydney. Before long I had changed in to shorts found myself lost in the crowds of the downtown business districts and the tranquil beauty of Hyde park.
more in Part II...
And so it came to be, that after finishing Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country (which apparently is required reading in high schools in New South Wales) I made a decision to take up the Army's free plane ticket leave program, and travelled to Australia.
And here I am, getting delightfully, gloriously, stupendously sunburnt. In Australia.
So, yes! A new continent, a new country to tick off the list, and a new language (contrary to popular belief, Australian is a completely different language than English. I hold the same conviction about Appalachain dialect, though the rest of the South is questionable, depends on the ratio of y'all : yonder : ain't. Midwestern English is passable enough, despite the differences in common nouns. Don't even get me started on Boston (and you though Welsh was bad...). Its much more infectious of a dialect than most others. Somehow I managed to escape North Carolina without more than a dash of Southern flavor to some amalgam of Milwaukee and Ohio twang. Even around British or a thick Scotsman's slur I've held my own. But down here? I'm even starting to think in Australian. I can't explain it. It just feels... natural. Like saying Cairns (like the Cannes film festival) the right way is just so much easier. Perhaps I'll grow out of it. But at the moment, its taking over my tongue with a linguistic force of nature I've never before reckoned with.
But Australia has become more than a check in the box. Its vast reaches call like a incessant, but sonorous bell, demanding that I make my way in to its distant, dangerous, desert reaches, full of mystery and possibility. Its hazy forests and weathered rocky coastlines are too engaging to the imagination to pass up. And Sydney itself is a city that I could enjoy for each unique district and still never find myself having completely explored its reaches.
My journey began in the cold, winter snows of Afghanistan. Its hard to believe that a short time ago I was wrapped in the embrace of frigid winds, oncoming blizzards, and threat of frostbite. For days it seemed I was mired in transportation stagnation, waiting in one small base terminal or another. From Kabul to Qatar to Kuwait. And then finally I could leave my uniform behind and shoulder some semblance of normalcy.
Kuwait airport was astonishing, especially considering the culture shock I was in for. Even late at night, the place was teeming with people. Glittering stores and retail shops were catching at every corner, but the night paled in comparison to Dubai. Flying in to the UAE was stunning, especially considering the immense amount of build up going on around the city. I bought some Johnny Walker Black at the duty free (more to have something to celebrate with upon reaching Sydney). Then, a long flight across the Indian Ocean to Melbourne before a final hop up to Sydney.
Flying in to Australia literally took my breath away. Even the Persian Gulf was cool compared to the sweltering humidity and bright sun of Sydney. Before long I had changed in to shorts found myself lost in the crowds of the downtown business districts and the tranquil beauty of Hyde park.
more in Part II...