A World Class Adventure into the Interior

To my good friend Yabo, I have three words to say to you...YES and YES! I'm not sure if everyone has been following the comments to my blog as well, but my good friend Chris (aka Yabo) has challenged me with a couple of tough questions. And after many nights of research at the local pubs, I have found out that Kangaroos are excellent swimmers and I have seen a Koala fly. But Bo...did you know that Kangaroos can't move backwards? Neither can emus. I bet you didn't know that. But I have to give credit where credit is due...your recipe for my diet was the only one I've followed to date. Natigo (aka Tim)...pushups, situps, jogging...what kind of crap is that? I think I'll just become a crack cocaine addict as they all seem skinny. Thanks to Gabrielle and Sasha for at least giving me some helpful insight. Where are you other blog readers? A Canadian boy is in need and you don't come through...6 comments only...that hurts!

I'm sure everyone has already seen a million shots of Uluru (Ayers Rock), but I guess one more won't kill you. Based on a lot of urging from many new found friends here in Australia and good ole Dave Szasz back home...I bit the bullet and went to see Australia's interior. And I have to admit...it was definitely worth the trip. Sleeping outside in the desert and seeing stars like I've never seen before was pretty cool. I could have done without the 40+ degree weather and the flies...THE FLIES!!! As for sights...I think I enjoyed King's Canyon and the Olgas more than Uluru, but please don't tell the Aboriginals. It also didn't hurt that on both tours I took...women outnumbered us guys by 4:1. And yes...many were quite attractive...kudos to Team Germany, Team Sweden, Team UK, Team Switzerland , Team Italia and others.

Both tours found me in Coober Pedy which is in the middle of nowhere, but is world reknowned for 80% of all opals and home to many people living underground. It was quite entertaining to see how the locals (mostly men who don't get out much) reacted when our tour (OK...just the girls) entered the local pub. I'm typically not a people watcher, but it was priceless and yes I had to save a few girls from over zealous miners. Another good deed from Team Canada.

Why did I entitle this post "World Class"? That's easy...our tour guide JP called EVERYTHING on the tour "world class". That went from the tourist sites themselves, to the food he prepared, to the non-existant towns we stopped to use the toilets at, to the little bushes that are everywhere, etc...etc. I saw a lot of red dirt on my travels to the interior. We covered 1500kms in two days from Adelaide to Alice Springs on the first tour and the other tour covered over 2500kms on the 5.5 days back to Adelaide. However, I was surprised how many trees and bushes covered the landscape. I'm not sure why, but I only expected to see red dirt. What do I know? We also saw feral camels, feral horses, emus, kangaroo roadkill, cows and lots of sheep in our travels. And no...the sheep didn't run scared when I was close by. I figured I beat you guys to the punch with that one.

I usually found myself being the last one to go to bed most days on the trip and was a little shocked to see a dingo no more than 10 feet from me as I was heading to bed the one night. I knew then that I was "one with nature". So that night I just slept on the ground without any sleeping bag or swag. In hindsight, I'm sure that wasn't the smartest thing to do since there are a lot of nasty things out there in the Outback that bite. However, the Embro boy lives to fight another day!!

As usual, the last picture has me testing my photography skills. But I would like to say...I need a new camera...especially one with a sunset mode. I would be standing beside someone taking a picture at the exact time as myself and their's turned out gorgeous and mine when to the scrap heap. But don't worry...Tim the English bloke has promised to send me some good shots that I can share with you later.

With that said...I'll apologize for this rather boring posting (are you guys getting tired of the same old pictures and stories?...let me know) and await my adventures in Melbourne. I arrive Saturday which just happens to be Australia Day. What could possibly go wrong??

FYI...I'll try to spice up the next posting a little more.