From Gunlom in Kakadu (Northern Territory)—Out in the wide open dust (Monday, 2 June, 2008: 10:30am)

It’s late morning in the Great Kakadu National Park, the top of the Top End in the Northern Territory (NT is not a state of Australia and is owned in part by Aboriginal communities), where even time is unique (the time zone here is shifted by 30 minutes, when it seems the rest of the world goes by 1 hour increments). The past few days have been really fantastic and have felt really different from previous trips. The big difference is that we hired a campervan—our usual small sedans would actually be much more expensive! I was reluctant to get the campervan at first, particularly since they seem like such the ‘tourist’ thing to do, and also because I had never been in one before, but after the first day I really loved it. Overall, I feel much more relaxed during this trip than on any other trip. Seth and I have joined the ranks of old retirees; cooking, sleeping, and living out of our vehicle, and not even considering staying at a hostel or backpackers. (Although our campervan is really more of a van with a high roof than the lavish RVs retirees tend to opt for.) We have a tiny sink (which holds a few liters of water), mini fridge, gas stove, and appliances (which can be used if the vehicle is plugged in). The back also folds into a double bed, and when the boot/trunk is open to the cool night air, provides the best sleeping experience we have had in months. In fact, with the exception of staying at the hostel in Coffs Harbour, this camper is the most bed-like thing I have slept in since leaving New Zealand at the end of February, and sure beats sleeping on the ice-cold floor of my frigid share-house in Canberra! In addition, the camper eliminates those things I dislike the most about traveling, including trying to fight crowds and find accommodation, needing to be checked out by 10am, having to pack and unpack every day, and having to get to the next hostel on time. Plus, we only pay about $10-15 per night to camp, while we would be paying $40-50 to stay at a hostel. In terms of fuel economy, so far it hasn’t been too bad. I suppose we do miss out on staying at cramped, dingy backpackers with dozens of German youths delighting us with their stories of world travel, but I suppose I will make do.

Our campervan

When we arrived in Darwin late Thursday night (after nearly missing our flight out of Melbourne due to the long, sluggish queue… stupid Tiger…), we slept in the airport. The next morning Seth went running and showered in the arrivals terminal, then we took a taxi to the rental place to pick up our van. We drove out of town to the nearest Woolies, stocked up on all our groceries for the week (thank goodness for the little fridge!), and took off south to the nearby Litchfield National Park. We spent the day driving down the main out-and-back road through the park, visiting the field of giant magnetic termite mounds (each mound built in a north-south angle to reduce late afternoon sun exposure), Tolmer Falls, and Wangi Falls. We spent the night in a town just south of the park, called Adelaide River. We were so exhausted that it was hard to make it and it got pretty late, but it was great to find a place to stay, which ended up being at the local show-grounds, and we parked right beside a ‘dodge’m’ (bumper) cars rink.

Magnetic termite mounds, Litchfield National Park

Giant termite mound, Litchfield National Park

Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park

The campervan park at the Adelaide River Showgrounds

On Saturday morning we went running up a hill from town, through a historic rail line, which lead to some old, overgrown WWII ammunition buildings and bunkers. The scenery was pretty crazy—the town was both dry and lush with palm trees, and also dumpy and rough yet well maintained. The run took us through an old side road used during the war, and near the end we heard something in the bushes, and as we stopped and watched, a brown snake came out and crossed right in front of us! Well, at least we think it was a brown snake; but either way, it sure freaked us out!

Old war buildings, Adelaide River

After the run we hung around town for a little bit and I tried calling home, but kept getting disconnected. We also stopped just outside of town to look at some birds (little woodswallows and rainbow bee eaters), before returning south towards Katherine, passing brumbies (wild horses) along the way.

Adelaide River general store

Rainbow bee-eater

Road trains

Katherine is a fairly rough outback town, full of Aboriginal people and dotted with loud tourists, many of whom, I’d hate to say, sounded American. We stopped for petrol, Seth got heckled by an intoxicated Aborigine, and then we checked out an Aboriginal art gallery. We had been wanting to buy local art, and it was the perfect place to do so (we would probably have regretted it if we returned home completely empty handed of any sort of Australian ‘souvenirs’ after living in the country for two years). We bought two paintings on canvas and a wood-burned boomerang (cheesy, I know, but it looks pretty neat). These are the first real decorations for our home when we return to the US.

Katherine

From town we turned off to Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park), where we camped out at a rather crowded campground. At least we stayed at an unpowered site so we were able to keep out of very densely populated ‘caravan country’.

From Melbourne Airport—Leaving Canberra (Thursday, May, 2008: 2pm)

Seth and I are finally relaxing after several consecutive weeks of anxiety. We are at the Melbourne airport, waiting for our evening flight to Darwin. The process of getting to this point was so stressing that it blanched the fact that we were leaving Canberra permanently. The trip to Sydney over the weekend was a break from it all, but when we returned it was a non-stop whirlwind of meeting with friends to say good-bye, selling everything possible (and giving away the rest), returning lent items, applying for visas, arranging taxes and refunds, etc… I feel particularly under-prepared for this trip, but at least it will be more straightforward than the previous ones.

As I mentioned before, the hardest part was trying to fit everything we want to have with us for the next three months (which is when our sea mail is supposed to arrive in the U.S.) into two medium-size suitcases (each with a total weight limit of 15 kilos, or about 32lbs.) and two backpacks. We spent yesterday desperately trying to dump everything we didn’t need, leaving us each with just a few clothing items: for me, three very thin long sleeve shirts (we won’t need warm clothes anymore—our winter will soon become summer), 1 pair of light pants, 2 pairs of tights, and just a couple of t-shirts and singlets. I even dumped a few extremely loved and very old items, including a black fleece pullover, only pair of very worn-thin jeans, walking shoes, and brown boots I have worn for the past nine years! At least this will give me an excuse to buy nice new clothes when I get back home :o)

I had never before felt so anxious and slightly panicky before a flight: we knew we were a few kilos over-weight, but no single item in our bags weighed more than a few hundred grams, which would mean having to dump a lot of much-desired stuff. Our tricks included Seth stuffing his pants pockets with shirts and wearing two pairs of thick wooly socks, and me wearing all three leggings and belt (even though my pants did not even have belt loops) and six layers of tops, including a raincoat, which had its pockets filled with smaller items. Seth nearly peed himself laughing when he saw how much clothes I was wearing, though at least I won’t have to dump the things I manage to wear. The very strict fee for over-weight luggage was $20-33 per kilo, so we really did not want to go over!

Our tricks worked and we managed to pull out enough stuff from the suitcases to reach the limit (after dumping our sunblock), but we were worried that Tiger Airways was also strict about their carry-on baggage limit, which was rumored to be 7 kilos. If this were the case, we would have had to dump our most prized items from our back packs. Luckily, they did not enforce this rule and we made it on to the plane!

I can’t believe this issue of packing dominated the past three days. I really do wish I could have enjoyed soaking in Canberra and seeing our friends without this and other stresses. Nonetheless, it was still very sad to say good-bye to everyone, most of whom we got to see one at a time. We were lucky, though, that we were able to meet up with nearly everyone, even sneaking in a dinner with Kim and Stephen on Tuesday. I trust, though, that since most of our friends are big travelers, we will see quite a few of them again sometime down the road.

I can’t believe at one point Mom and Dad wanted to come down to Canberra for a visit during this week. That would have been REALLY crazy. It is equally hard to imagine soon being in Crocodile Dundee land, followed by visiting a developing southeast Asian country, and finally hanging out with Synni in bustling, densely populated Hong Kong before going to Rochester, Minnesota! With all this, it will still be nearly six weeks before I am in Raleigh, NC. I hope I make it!

This morning felt really weird, probably because we only got about 3 hours of sleep (about the same amount as the night before). I normally don’t run before big trips (usually because that means waking up at some terrible hour, which Seth does without question), but I decided to not pass up this last chance to run through the nice familiar trails near Mt. Ainslie. It was still black outside and very foggy, and we even took a detour to drop off a bottle of wine at Oanh and Hawk’s house (we stuffed it in their mailbox, without a card or label)—we meant to drink it last night but did not have time to enjoy it. The run was so stereotypical: full of kangaroos, rosellas, galahs, white-winged choughs, magpies, peewees, and rabbits. When we got back, we rushed to try to pack a few last-minute items and throw away a few others, then Julien was kind enough to take us to the airport. It was weird abandoning food in the cupboards and fridges, as well as the stereo in my room (the one valuable thing I could not sell), and leaving dirty dishes in the sink—once again, I wish we had more time to leave the house properly! We quickly said good-bye to the housemates, then flew to the airport.

Last night in Canberra

Wow, so much for a nice, quiet night in--there is so much to do and it is already so late! Between selling our bikes (including Seth's Cannondale he has has for about 10 years!), giving away items, and meeting with friends, there isn't much time tonight for relaxing.

The biggest issue in packing has DEFINITELY been trying to meet Tiger Airways' 15kilo weight restriction (7kilo carry on limit). We shipped via sea two large boxes, nearly 20kilos each, this morning, but now we are having a hard time with the rest... Here are a few quick pictures from the last week.

Coffee with Johns Internationals

Pakistani lunch with Fahad at B&G

Flight with Warren, Antec, and Suzi

Last day at Dash (with Conor)

Finished my thesis!!

Seth and me with Naomi and Rob (my supervisors)

Sydney's Darling Harbour

Waratahs rugby game

Carlos' rugby game

Paola Coluzzi's house (in Bondi)

The Coluzzi family

Running near Mt Ainslie (Canberra)

Someone is watching

Meeting with Stephen and Kim

Last day out in Civic (notice the Starbucks!)

Final trip to Sydney

Our final trip to Sydney ended up being especially fun and memorable. Sunday morning I went with Carmen and Shelden to watch the rugby match Carlos was playing in. (Seth had a late night, schmoozing with celebrities in the Corporate Box at the Waratahs match the night before and couldn't get running by 5am to make it to the early morning game, haha). It was great fun to watch Carlos, with Shelden as the team's assistant coach, especially since Seth and I had been wanting to do so for months now.

For lunch Seth and I went to visit the Coluzzi family. We met them in September after stopping by the wildly popular establishment, Bar Coluzzi, located in Darlinghurst (there is also one in Randwick and one in the International Terminal at the airport). The espresso shop was started 50 years ago by the champion boxer, Luigi Coluzzi, who had immigrated from Italy. There are very few Coluzzis out there, and the ones that we know about are all from a few small towns just outside Rome, so we figure Seth is somehow related to this Sydney line. We went to Paola's house overlooking Bondi Beach, where we met with her father (Luigi), mother (Elena), husband (John), brother in law (Derek), and daughter (Elenore). We had been meaning to see them before leaving Australia, so it was great to finally catch them. Maybe one of them will soon be able to put together the puzzle of their relatedness!

In the evening Seth and I cooked dinner for Shelden, Carmen, and Carlos--a big mix of food from the Americas, complete with quinoa, polenta, black beans, and steak--and that night indulged in some Eurovision!! It is an annual music competition involving all the countries of Europe, and can be best described by one word: Kitsch.

Yesterday morning we said goodbye to Shelden and his family. We are going to really miss those three! They are so friendly, easy-going, and cool about everything, which always makes it great to see them and stay with them while in Sydney.

We managed to go running down the canal, pack up our bags, and hustle into the City with just enough time before our bus back to Canberra to pick up a few buns from our favourite asian bakery, Saint Honore, and grab dumplings with soup from the AWESOME shop, Da Niang. We have to eat at Da Niang at least once every time we are in town, which goes against all our principles of eating out, but when the food is good, all rules go out the window!

It was a great trip, and I will really miss Sydney and hanging out with Shelden's family. We will definitely have to come back for a visit in the future :o)

Back at the Jolimont in Canberra I saw Merick (spelling?), the friendly and soft-spoken bum who would come around every day. He must have spent a lot of time at the map shop next door, because he really knew his geography, particularly of the US. I had to tell him I was leaving to go 'back to Carolina' , and I think it made him a little sad. I will miss him, too!

Now that we are back, we have two days to pack and say good-bye to a few more friends before starting the big move home!

Handed In!

Yesterday morning I handed in my thesis!! I am officially no longer a student :o) However, I also don't have my degree; I still need to wait for up to two months for my reviews.

The past few weeks have been a lot of work but I never really felt rushed or overly stressed. There was no big build-up or dramatic last-minute disaster, so I can be thankful for that. However, I did originally aim to finish a few days early, but it didn't quite happen as planned--and at one point I even wanted to hand in several weeks early so that I could give a final seminar, which for some reason was never required of me...

Yesterday, after I handed in, my supervisor, Naomi, and her partner (who also happens to be one of my advisors), took Seth and me out for a swanky lunch at Cafe Vivaldi, located at the ANU Union. Naomi won't be in next week, so it was the last time I will see her, unless I bump into her at an international conference, so it was a bit sad to say good-bye. She has been so fantastic and gracious to me that I will probably go through some sort of 'supervisor-withdrawal'. At least I will be able to keep in contact with her and get her advice while I try to publish a paper or two and hunt for jobs.

The past week Seth and I have been trying to meet up with friends for the last time. A few days ago I met with my 'field assistant', Julian, for lunch and a good chat in the Union, then ran into Sam, my running/biology buddy. Before this, Seth and I went out for coffee with the international students at Johns, whom we hadn't seen since we left last semester. At first I felt strange about meeting up with them, particularly since our lives in Downer seem so different from what they were at Johns, but once we saw them, I began to really miss everyone and started to regret not visiting. That group of friends has been something else--so happy and generally carefree, yet each person has such a unique background and culture to contribute. For example, on Monday Fahad invited us over to B&G (a self-catered residential hall he recently moved to) and we had some Pakistani food for lunch, which included an awesome dahl and curry. Things like that are always very memorable. Gosh, I'm really going to miss those guys!

Yesterday I met with Warren for coffee for the last time, then last night Seth and I finally got together with Oanh and Hawk for an Italian dinner at probably the cutest restaurant in Canberra. Despite our attempts, we hadn't seen those two since we moved out nearly 16 months ago! That also made me a bit sad because Hawk, in particular, is the neatest guy, being extremely quirky, sarcastic, yet overall a big friendly softy. I wish we got to see him more since moving out :o(

We are continuing our mission to meet with people and so are spending our last weekend in Sydney. We caught an early bus to the city, then had a few minutes to wander around Paddy's Market before going to Darling Harbour to see an old high school friend of Seth's. She had been living near Sydney with her husband and little girl but this was the only time we were able to visit them!

They dropped us off in Leichhardt, and as we waited for Shelden, Carmen, and Carlos to return, we enjoyed a FANTASTIC mocha at Bar Italia (on Norton St), one of our favourite places. It struck me then how comfortable I feel in Sydney and how much I will miss it. However, Seth ensured me that Boston will be even nicer, so at least I know that I won't be missing out when we leave Australia.

We finally met up with Shelden, and he and Seth took off for a rugby match (apparently it is a big one), and Carmen and I had dinner in, while Carlos (her nine-year-old boy) went out to watch the new Indiana Jones. It was great to hang out with Carmen--I hadn't realised it sooner, but it has been a really long time since I had a chat with a girl! I hope when we move to Boston that I am able to make some good friends, or at least visit Bo while she is there!

Catching up

To begin, Seth returned from the US last week! Also I want to congratulate him on his second big job offer—this one, for Brandeis University, is even more exciting than the first! Not only is it in a great location, just outside Boston (where it is academically stimulating and also full of friends and family), but the job itself is tenure-track (which is pretty exceptional for a new graduate in the field) and the university’s music department is among the strongest in the nation. This would be one of the highest appointing jobs for a recent graduate of UNC’s music department in recent memory. Wooo!

After this, everything else that has happened seems rather dull, but here goes:

Yesterday a friend from BoZo, Warren, invited me and another girl, Suzie, for a flight around Canberra, piloted by a friend who wanted to keep his flight hours up. The plane was a tiny Cessna, which was barely able to seat the four of us (the interior was smaller than that of most cars), but it was actually really smooth and not too scary. We just did a few loops around town, getting a surprisingly close glimpse of the Inner North, the Telstra Tower, Parliament House, Woden, and many other of those dazzling Canberran icons. I will post pictures asap!

I have also finally started to purchase flights for our trip at the end of the month. It is an exhausting and extremely time-consuming search, but when planning for a big trip and dealing with that amount of money, it really needs to be thorough. However, it felt GREAT to have a few dates and tickets set in stone, and I feel more excited than ever about traveling and going home! I should, with luck, be back in Raleigh by July 7^th, less than two months away :o)

An additional, yet unnecessary, distraction keeping me from writing my concluding chapter has been major computer problems, such as having to re-install Windows, plus all my programs (many of which I won’t bother with because my computer is probably on its last leg anyways). Thankfully, however, I didn’t lose any work!

But besides this, a major consumer of time has been working at Dash a few nights a week—however, tonight was my last shift! I helped myself to a few Dash keepsakes, and as the icing on the cake, tonight we had a crazier-than-normal guy come in to the Jolimont. Even though it is located in sleepy old Canberra, the Jolimont is still a bus station, which naturally attracts some really nutty people. We get TONNES of junkies, ‘agros’, and general loose screws, and tonight was no exception—a guy mumbling and yelling to himself rather aggressively. At one point he yelled at Conor that he was “going to jump over the counter and rip [our] ***ing heads off”. A bus driver thankfully called the cops and they took him away. Not all crazy people episodes end with cops, but I wish more had.

In honour of my last day at work, here is a list of the top 5 most memorable crazy people who have come to Dash:

1) Guy who recently got out of jail who kept trying to sneak in the back door (which does not lock from the inside) and would whisper things to Conor every time Conor would have to go outside. I don’t know what he said to Conor, but he was freaked out and tried blocking the door with milk crates. We were tempted to call the cops ourselves before leaving work.

2) Pair of jail birds who hung around the station for about three weeks and would try to get free food from us every night after closing. One spent a lot of time looking for his pet mouse.

3) This guy we had tonight *see above**

4) Man who tried buying a hamburger with chocolates. When asked if he had cash, his answer was, “It is in the bathroom, let me get it.” He went to the bathroom and when he returned, he had cash.

5) Woman who totally flipped out when she bought a veggie sandwich and discovered the eggplant inside was marinated and not fresh. After a long bout of yelling back and forth with Conor, she shouted, “I want to see your supervisor!” He shouted back, “I am the supervisor!”

Just working

Last night Brian had a party at the house to celebrate his birthday (the big 28!). I am not much of a party person and usually try to avoid them, so it was weird wanting to go to bed but not being able to escape it. At least it was mostly people from BoZo, so I recognised a lot of faces and said hello to a couple of people. Brian was cool about trying to keep the house from getting too out of hand and he started kicking people out at a decent hour so I was able to get in a good amount of sleep despite the revelries.

Lately I have just been pretty much trying to get as much work done as possible. Now that 98% of my stats are worked out for my thesis, all I have to do is write. The bulk of my intro has been done for a while, and last week I handed in a full draft of a chapter to be read by my three advisers. I hope to finish my second big chapter within a few days, then all I will have to do is the discussion chapter, revisions, formatting, and other odds and ends. It will be only four chapters, but they will be pretty darn meaty :P

I have also been working at Dash Thursdays and Fridays (unfortunately, no weekends). Yesterday I put in my two-week notice, which I don't think the new owner noticed (seriously, no joke!). It will be interesting to see what will happen when I leave, and Conor, who works every day, will probably leave soon after as me. I realised the other day that besides Conor, I have been working at Dash the longest. When Michael took over, everyone quit and he didn't bother to hire any new staff; there used to be about 12 or 13 working, now there is only 7, including myself! If they don't hire some new people to be trained by Conor before he leaves, they will surely be in a pickle :P

Now back to work!