And then there were eight
I flew into Melbourne with Natascha, picked up by Tassie Tom in a 4WD, off to his house for breakfast and then on to the Great Ocean Road. The winding cliffs are like California's, only facing south and the OCean is more angry and colder. We went climbing in caves and rainforests and even saw my first kangaroo in the wild. No koalas however, they kept hiding in the trees. That night, after a sumptuous meal of fish and chips, we camped and drank around the fire while Tom played his songs. I got Roses from my friends by Ben Harper on camera, which is, as always with Tom, spectacular. I tried out my new very own tent, and what a good tent it is. Morning we woke up, went down to the coast. Their coast is quite different, with the most beautiful sand beaches with interjections of rock piles here and there. I got Natascha to stand way, way, out on the edge of a rock in front of the ocean, and snapped a picture with a wave looming over her in the backgruond, seconds before it crashed and soaked her through.
That moment reminded me of Saves the Day, Take Our Cars Now.
We drove along the coast and hiked and stopped at the Twelve Apostles, the most famous stretch of hte road. They are these big chunks of sandstone that stayed while the beach cliff receded, and so are left standing there. 20 million years old. I snapped a picture of them and one of tom pretending to push it over. We drove home to his house (surfing capital of Australia) where I got an angry e-mail from the environmental manager of the Mining Company, and so I'm not in the best of positions.
Tom dropped us off in the morning and we caught a bus to Melbuorne, walked to St Kilda. Here, the bay is so still and the pier is a perfect recreation of the one in requiem for a dream. Smooth water, a calm drifting sun, it lulls you in a hynotic sort of way. We sat on the pier for over an hour just watching the sun and sunset before heading off.
After two packed days and nights with virtually no sleep, Natascha leaves up to Sydney while I refrain from doing anything more. I see in a news article that one of the twelve apostles crashed on Sunday morning, two days after I saw it. After 20 million years. And then Tom pretended to push it. Maybe he really did.
I lounge around reading all day, then catch an overnight train to Sydney, get there at 7 AM and wake up Anna who is anxious and happy to see me again. We're planning on / (if I can manage to get out of going to Tasmania - I don't really want to, it would mess my vision of the place up) flying to Cairns (north tip of Aus) and hitchhiking down or simply going to Brisbane for a week, where it's warm and we can get lost. Tassie will be cold as.
I'm going down to Canberra (the capital) soon to do some interviews with some professors there.
Nights have been quiet, me cooking my meals, reading, then going to sleep. Anna now has an array of men chasing after her, which include:
a 50+ year old actor who wants her to move in with him, takes her out for drinks
a 24 yr old russian who is very very rich
a 65+ Greek who has lost more teeth than he currently has, and told her "I just won some money at the races today. I'll buy you anything you want"
an American navy boy
When I explain what each of them want, she says, "No...", like a 65 yr old man is simply looking for friends. Young, Scandanavian Female Friends. It's quite cute though.
Sydney is full of desperate men. Natascha has been hit on just as many times.
I made a friend the other day.
It was an Asian man in his late twenties, wearing a beanie. I'd just exited central station and he said, "what's up?", and struck up a conversation. I immediately clamped up, scared he would mug me. However, Australia relaxes people so I thought I'd give friendship a chance. I just walked as he walked alongside talking about this and that, was quite a nice bloke. He asked me where I was from, and I replied, as usual, San Francisco. We talked and it wasn't too terribly forced, but still awkward. still scared of bieng jumped, I told him I was coming home early because I'd spent all my money at the bars.
We walked on.
"You want to come up to my place?" he asked. Natascha, being a social worker, has taught me a lot of good (and bad) things about trusting people. But I figured, why not. However, I came back to my old self and lied.
"I'm going to NEwcastle tomorrow morning. Gotta get up early."
"you sure? I could drive you home?"
the thought was less appetizing than the previous one, and so I made my departure time even earlier in the morning.
"What's your name?"
"John".
"Good to meet you, john, I'm Ted."
I stuck out a greeting hand. He took it and spoke to me in a dove-like coo: "wow. your hands are so cold. let ME warm them up".
he began pulling me towards him and made an attempt to bring me in to an embrace. As I began moving in, it all made sense...
I had been singing in train exit and had my scarf on, and probably, looked noticeably flamboyant. San Francisco sealed the deal.
I snapped out and made a hurried response, rushed home in a fit of laughter. Well Ted, you always wanted someone to do that, be careful what you wish for.
I couldn't understand for the life of me why there were so many American males in Sydney until I realized an aircraft carrier was in port. So many young kids. we talked with some. I think of niles somewhere among them and wonder how he could ever fit in.
Friday night will probably be spent at the opera house.
The Cat Empire is quite good. I like Aussie bands.
That moment reminded me of Saves the Day, Take Our Cars Now.
We drove along the coast and hiked and stopped at the Twelve Apostles, the most famous stretch of hte road. They are these big chunks of sandstone that stayed while the beach cliff receded, and so are left standing there. 20 million years old. I snapped a picture of them and one of tom pretending to push it over. We drove home to his house (surfing capital of Australia) where I got an angry e-mail from the environmental manager of the Mining Company, and so I'm not in the best of positions.
Tom dropped us off in the morning and we caught a bus to Melbuorne, walked to St Kilda. Here, the bay is so still and the pier is a perfect recreation of the one in requiem for a dream. Smooth water, a calm drifting sun, it lulls you in a hynotic sort of way. We sat on the pier for over an hour just watching the sun and sunset before heading off.
After two packed days and nights with virtually no sleep, Natascha leaves up to Sydney while I refrain from doing anything more. I see in a news article that one of the twelve apostles crashed on Sunday morning, two days after I saw it. After 20 million years. And then Tom pretended to push it. Maybe he really did.
I lounge around reading all day, then catch an overnight train to Sydney, get there at 7 AM and wake up Anna who is anxious and happy to see me again. We're planning on / (if I can manage to get out of going to Tasmania - I don't really want to, it would mess my vision of the place up) flying to Cairns (north tip of Aus) and hitchhiking down or simply going to Brisbane for a week, where it's warm and we can get lost. Tassie will be cold as.
I'm going down to Canberra (the capital) soon to do some interviews with some professors there.
Nights have been quiet, me cooking my meals, reading, then going to sleep. Anna now has an array of men chasing after her, which include:
a 50+ year old actor who wants her to move in with him, takes her out for drinks
a 24 yr old russian who is very very rich
a 65+ Greek who has lost more teeth than he currently has, and told her "I just won some money at the races today. I'll buy you anything you want"
an American navy boy
When I explain what each of them want, she says, "No...", like a 65 yr old man is simply looking for friends. Young, Scandanavian Female Friends. It's quite cute though.
Sydney is full of desperate men. Natascha has been hit on just as many times.
I made a friend the other day.
It was an Asian man in his late twenties, wearing a beanie. I'd just exited central station and he said, "what's up?", and struck up a conversation. I immediately clamped up, scared he would mug me. However, Australia relaxes people so I thought I'd give friendship a chance. I just walked as he walked alongside talking about this and that, was quite a nice bloke. He asked me where I was from, and I replied, as usual, San Francisco. We talked and it wasn't too terribly forced, but still awkward. still scared of bieng jumped, I told him I was coming home early because I'd spent all my money at the bars.
We walked on.
"You want to come up to my place?" he asked. Natascha, being a social worker, has taught me a lot of good (and bad) things about trusting people. But I figured, why not. However, I came back to my old self and lied.
"I'm going to NEwcastle tomorrow morning. Gotta get up early."
"you sure? I could drive you home?"
the thought was less appetizing than the previous one, and so I made my departure time even earlier in the morning.
"What's your name?"
"John".
"Good to meet you, john, I'm Ted."
I stuck out a greeting hand. He took it and spoke to me in a dove-like coo: "wow. your hands are so cold. let ME warm them up".
he began pulling me towards him and made an attempt to bring me in to an embrace. As I began moving in, it all made sense...
I had been singing in train exit and had my scarf on, and probably, looked noticeably flamboyant. San Francisco sealed the deal.
I snapped out and made a hurried response, rushed home in a fit of laughter. Well Ted, you always wanted someone to do that, be careful what you wish for.
I couldn't understand for the life of me why there were so many American males in Sydney until I realized an aircraft carrier was in port. So many young kids. we talked with some. I think of niles somewhere among them and wonder how he could ever fit in.
Friday night will probably be spent at the opera house.
The Cat Empire is quite good. I like Aussie bands.