The Outback

OK where to start,we hopped on the Overland in Southern Cross station at 8:30-ish and the trip just rolled over. The train started sort of slowly (well, it'd never been real fast during the whole trip) in the suburbs but I soon started to struggle to recognize the names of the suburban train stations.
As soon as we got bored of taking photos of each other we are in Geelong, this city did not look nice from the train station but I loved it when I watched it from the top of hills down the coastline the first time I saw it years ago. This is actually only just the second time. The Overland then turned northwest towards the border of VIC and SA. We are in Bordertown not long after midday, which is already a few km's into South Australia. I realized that I forgot my cell phone charger back in Melbourne, which is far too late... I switched off the phone immediately though, tried to save the battery, I managed to get it working when I want during my whole trip.
Nothing much that exciting onboard but there is a German guy taking out his lunch which amazed us... He brought on toasts not spread with jams, peanut butter and Nuttella, but whole jars instead! Well, we stalked him for the whole time he spent on his lunch, although sometimes we would be distracted to the herds of sheep and horse and cows and stuff.
The most exciting thing in the afternoon would be that we saw the Murray for the first time. On the Murray Bridge. Really beautiful river, although whenever I press the shutter there would be an iron bar appearing at the centre of the picture which is quite disappointing, we did get a couple of reasonable shots of the river. I would consider the Murray definitely worth a visit, in depth. We arrived Adelaide at dusk and just in time for my friend Will to pick me up in the station. I haven't seen him for two years now...

Adelaide is a big town instead of a city, as many people had told me. A pretty nice and quiet one though not to my surprise. Will drove us around after dinner and I could feel that it'd not been long after I realize we are going pass the same places over and over again. The next day was basically Glenelg, the beach. As our onwards travel of the Ghan set out at midday, we didn't see much of Adelaide in the daylight at all.

The Ghan is not quite a pleasant to travel on with a seat, but that's all we could afford.
Beautiful scene along the way though. with the introduction to the towns we passed, and impressive country style scenes until sunset when we reach Port Augusta, the 'crossroad of Australia' and once almost chosen the capital of Australia. Just off the station we stopped aside a sort of tree-lined road, still, for more than an hour for some reason, and when we set out again, it was all dark. I was amazed we still made it on time to Alice Springs.
We had our dinner in the diner that evening, not as bad as I'd imagined luckily. What actually annoyed us was that there are kids onboard kept faking their cries, without a proper reason even after the light's dimmed for sleep, the seat is not anywhere close to comfy for sleeping, I struggled quite a bit to fall asleep and I didn't get much of sleep at all that night.
I slept pretty poorly and started realizing the very first light out the window, the view has definitely changed, with some sort of grass and rock-like stuff (which later proved to be yet another kind of weird vegetation with more light) moving quickly past the window in the twilight.
We are in the outback.
I pictured the whole process of the sunrise although it was not quite impressive with my digital compact camera with so little light available. When the day brighten itself up, the sort of savannah view amazed us. We were imagining nothing but desert on this land, but well, the arid vegetation still exist and they did adapted themselves up to this sort of impossible environment. The SA-NT border was not far after dawn, which is no more than a weird sign.
I picked up a Latte in the diner which is tasteless while Shandi's still asleep. We crossed Finke river just before approaching Alice Springs, the so-called river is just a sand bed, no water at all, the riverbed is actually sandier than anywhere else in sight. When arriving in Alice springs at around 1pm, we are all shattered with hurtful bones...

Adelaide would have been a metropolis if it were comparing to Alice Springs, but anyway I was here for the outback instead of the skyline. It is obviously a quiet small town brought up almost solely by tourism. We were too tired to wander around it yet after the night on the train that we head straight to the inn we were staying, picking up some junk food from McDonald's on the way.
We decided to find something fancy for dinner that night in Alice Springs, and we picked a restaurant randomly from the local tourists' handbook we got from the information centre. Well the dinner was not cheap, but we waited for 45 minutes before we got any food after ordering, and I decided not to tip.
On the way back there was a few aboriginal people wandering around the street but we just kept going until we are back in the room.

The following day was supposed to be a relaxing one. And it is, probably more relaxing than I've planned before. I woke up around 10AM and went around the main streets of the town scouting, confirming our tour the next morning in the shop where I got the first non-mobile internet access in a few days.
Going back to the inn Shandi's still sleeping. We finally set off on the streets and I finally lost my virginity on Red Rooster, although I've went past it quite a few times and wondered if I should go in. Well I actually appreciate the fillets there, way better than the ones sold in KFC I have to say.
After brunch we went out wandering around the streets in town again, visiting all those gallery/art store of the aboriginals we could. I wasn't quite interested in the Royal Flying Doctor thing and the Reptile Museum, but rather the old telegraph station, but when Shandi heard that it was a 40 mins walk away she just refused to go... We went to Woolworth's for some snack and water that we were supposed to bring with us the next day on the tour. In the evening, junk food in KFC, not impressive hey, we've had all the junk food we could in town, except Hungry Jack's which is too far away in the highway.

The next morning we had to wake up at 5AM, we've been waiting at the gate of the inn for like 40mins before the bus arrived and picked us up. Well this is probably the only dissatisfying thing happened during the next 3 days of our tour.
The tour guide/driver Hayley had always been an energetic girl and whenever she speaks she start with 'Wee~' or some sort of opera, cute. Well anyway with her guide our 3-day tour'd been a really exciting and fun one.
Well I'm obviously not suppose to remember everyone elses' names, even if I do I wasn't keen to list. Just see them pop out later.

Day 1 was to visit the King's Canyon, which is 5 hr drive away from Alice Springs. Had a pretty light lunch on the tour bus and we are ready to climb that thing! The first part of the tour was called 'heart-attack hill', which is quite physically demanding with intense and steep uphills. It wasn't very hard for me at all so I was among the first 5 to reach the top of the hill in our group. Shandi barely made it and headed back later for the easy walk, shame.
The canyon was in sort of a surreal atmosphere, with sedimental domes and wicked vegetations along the way. It'd been really hard to capture the depth of the canyon with a camera standing atop, that you will have to experience it. Very dangerous to get close to the edge though as Hayley says, the canyon itself was formed by all those sediments chipping and falling. I got to know a pretty nice guy called Andy from Germany in our group during the climb and found ourselves going on pretty well.
After the climb up such a wonder we headed off to the campsite close to Curtin Springs, Along which we went into a bush to get firewoods for the night. We got quite a few of them that Hayley started to call us 'greedy'. The fire that night was nice and warm and we actually saved our time collecting firewoods the next day as the woods we collected lasted that long.

Day 2 was Kata Tjuta, this is the mot magical day of our tour, although we paid for it. We didn't suppose we would catch a rain shower here, not even a shower, I would rather call it drizzle. Kata Tjuta is so much different from whatever postcards it had appeared on. It is the rain that made this tour so much different. Streams of water started to run out of the holes on the domes and the whole scenery started to look like Lijiang in Guangxi back in China where the mountains and water was considered the best in such drizzles. The price for the rain is, well, my postcards and stamps got all soaked although there wasn't much of them at all... My only jacket brought out for the tour was also soaked, as well as my tee changed in the morning. I was surprised that my MiniDisc player was not affected although it was also wet and I didn't realize that until I am on the flight back Melbourne days after.
Luckily the sun's out after lunch, when we were supposed to visit the cultural centre of the aboriginals where we were introduced to their world...

***
Well sort of my own opinion towards the aboriginals in central Australia, they are mostly polite and nice as far as I see, although they smell funny. They don't actually do harm unless threatened. But there is something about there religions which practice strict gender segregation such as men and women must use different tools and there are sacred areas which if owned by men, women must not see. Heavy penalties would be applied if such rules are broken, including blinding the offender's eye etc. They say they never climb Uluru but there're actually paintings left all over the rock since the ancient times and they actually admit that it was their ancestors who did the paintings. There are places on Uluru where photographing is prohibited and penalized while although they were not happy they still allow climbing of the rock when the condition allows, which might seem a more severe insult to the rock than photographing, suggested Andy. This might sound ridiculous towards the general public, but still, we are to appreciate and applause for the difference as we could.
***

I sort of rushed my visit in the cultural centre actually as the sun's out, and headed outside to get my jacket sundried, it did not long after. And I am pretty happy with that.
The sun was hidden again when we arrive the sunset deck for Uluru for a bit of fun, the rain started to fall again but just when we were bit disappointed the most amazing thing appears - rainbows beyond Uluru, not one, but TWO! We were all amazed by this and we just can't help taking heaps of photos of this wonderful trio. My lens was not wide enough to get the whole of them though it was already a 28mm.
We spent the evening in the camp area in the national park, where we shared some alcohol and stuff, and when it gets late we started asking each other those wicked questions which no one's gonna solve. Well I've only got some easy ones though.
The dew soaked the outside of our swags the next morning when we were heading to the sunrise, and Andy told me I was snoring loudly the night before...

So the last day was all about Uluru, the sunrise and then the base walk. The weather was pretty pleasing that they actually allow climbing of Uluru, most of us chose not to though in the respectation of the customs of the aboriginals.
The base walk was generally calm and even uneventful. with many places marked as sacred sites which were not to be photographed. I was still regretting that I couldn't take a photo of a wicked face like cave on the rock, as it was a sacred site. Uluru showed us the other side of it, far from the impression we've all got from those postcards, and far from just a rock, you'll totally have to see it to know what I meant here.
The trip was getting to an end after the walk and we drove back to Alice Springs. I attended the dinner with some of the mates I met in the tour and Hayley, the food and beer was both amazing, we went to Ryan's house after that for his birthday the next day. What a night!

The day after we wandered around Alice Springs again and were really depressed to have found out that the beanie festival was too far for us to attend as our flight would leave pretty soon... And there was a shop in Todd Mall selling all those wicked beanies and displaying the winners of the years before, it was really sad that they are not for sale but we took a few pictures in them anyway so that we would regret less.

Tiger Airlines was pretty stingy and greedy that they are probably the only airline that actually weight your hand luggage, but it does its job anyway, so we arrived Melbourne quite a bit earlier than expected. The kid sitting next to me showed me some wicked scenes from the Incredibles with his portable DVD player, although I don't actually have the sound they seem pretty funny. We made the right decision in the airport to have used a cab instead of bus as it was proved cheaper and way faster, which doesn't actually need to be proved.

Another Blog?

I am actually considering opening another blog, which will be in Chinese. BUT, this new blog is probably pure political and anti-China. I don't actually think that I have such a brave heart or anything like that to be attacking my shamefully 'own' country while I am still practically its citizen. What I have in hand is my own conscience to fight against those brain-washing state-run media and education within the country and the brain-washed pitiful youths turning a blind eye to all the facts, believing only in the lies that they were told by the government. I wasn't actually willing to do this, their minds have virtually nothing to do with myself except that I might recognize and get annoyed on the internet their ignorant and shameless comments about almost anything.

College students in China are educated as if never, both academic and lifestyle wise. Plagiarism is the basic form of assignments all the way up to master degrees, and probably even some of the doctorial degrees. Not cheating in the exams is rare. For those arts degrees involving history, politics or philosophy, the government's voice is the only one. Don't get surprised if you ever read Marxism as a compulsory subject for mechanical engineering students in any of the universities in China. While the intakes of universities are increasing every year, the already underpaid graduates are placed in even harder situation in terms of finding a job. Reverse-elimination is the rule of the society that hypocrites get promoted while the real hardworking people never would have a chance until they learn the art of hypocrisy and bribing. Scums take the leadership of the country.

If I did open such a blog I might have to reduce the frequency of update in this blog, which I currently set to myself as at least once per ten days on average by the month. Or actually, I should just write all I wish to in English although mine's not the perfect so that I am letting English speaking people know more about what China is like in the fact. Yes I do have access to more facts than most Chinese people as I am out of the government census of the internet in China.

What Am I?

I often wondered. What am I to have been such a devil, hypocrite and slut? I love to do things that insult myself and then going back of them to insult myself again, such as writing about them right here right now. I always do something inappropriate in the wrong time and wrong place that force people to have fake impression of myself, and when I realizes that and wished to correct it always get worse until the exact point of the collapse of friendship, relationship or whatever. I fall into any random person's embrace, without thinking of what impression would I get from my loved ones. Yes they don't love me, but I am making every effort to image myself worse to them and then hoping like an idiot that one day they will turn to me. How ridiculous!

I am actually camming someone at this time, you were pretty drunk at 4AM and horny before going to bed. Saying that you 'lied' when requesting me to show face only and is now asking me to take everything off. doesn't have a cam yourself though and I've already shown you this time last week while he was drunk just like today. Well I did it again anyway... Hoping that I won't be that stupid next week to have answered you in facebook. Yes I do feel shame for myself doing that to someone I've never met in person, let alone having any feelings. That person's still only a few pictures and some flirty words, not much more than that if there's any at all to me.

About telling the truth, I wasn't aware so far what should I actually tell and use white lies or other truths to cover truths that I don't wanna tell, making the impression that I've never lied. This is probably a classic hypocrite trick but as far as I know most people does that, whether they do aware or not. Well what was real amazing was that I am able to tell a truth which sounds like I'm telling a lie without awaring what would that statement affect the person I was talking to, especially the ones that should be covered by other truths.

I don't know if people talk to themselves like me when no one's noticing. I would talk to myself while I was walking alone on the streets or something like that, I talk to myself about everything, the things I see on the streets, where am I going, even gossips and speculations about people. I would be extremely embarrassed while caught doing that, I myself, on the other hand, never caught anyone doing that so I supposed this might have been the problem with my own self.

Love, what a word! I don't know if I am still believing in it. I'll have to have a reason to do that, and I've already got a few reasons like that and believed, and when the reason's gone my belief's gone. And I started to doubt what should I actually do when facing another reason, if believing is always finally turning out doomed, why should I still believe? Yes there are examples around us, but who knows if it was the bubbles just last long enough for a lifetime, given more, it will still break into those powdery droplets? Well, wishing for a bubble like that sounds like a choice, but it is none the less a bubble, not the so-called eternal love.

My heart? Astrology would suggest that Cancers would always put someone they used to love deep in their heart, which is why they will shed a tear passing by the long bench they dated 30 years ago. This is partially true to me. The ones I used to have loved, I mean with my life, seems to always occupy a corner of my heart, while thinking of them I could easily get moved. But none of these people had actually have a relationship with me. Those who have, I actually know from the start that they are not what I want, I go ahead for various reasons, whatever it is, after the relationship goes to an end, they would always be replaced by new ones. I just haven't met anyone whom I had a relationship with that I loved with my life, or if I were to show my positivity towards life, not yet.

Ups and Downs

Haven't been feeling this way for quite a long time now, and there's too much happening these days... Don't even know where to start...

Sad things first then. I thought I did not bad, really, although I wasn't looking at the highest grades, I mean, at least I don't deserve a fail for that exam. I did study, I did those sample questions, I did attend the revision session, I did think I know how to answer those questions and I did have enough time for them as I was actually the first to have handed in the paper. The results of that exam have been delaying and I haven't been panicking because I thought I did OK. And now at the end of the semester I got my result as failed and was told that there's a hurdle on that (so I practically failed the subject but only if I did well in the finals I stand a chance for a supplementary or probably a straight pass (which is implicated by the lecturer but obviously not the sense of hurdle))? I can't imagine that.

And the second one is barely my own stupidity. I was attending a ferry party and was required to dress formal, so that I went shopping for a jacket or something after work on Saturday. Well I was planning to get something warmer before that as well. What did I finally get? A pretty slim fit long Brooklyn, not warm and not quite formal... It was nice to be worn in that party, but it wasn't of much more uses, I can't even cycle in it. And I've thrown $299 on this thing which is definitely not worth itafter I realized I was paying retail for a beautiful crap. Yes it does look nice, just not worth it. And the sales terms in Politix was fucked up that they don't accept my return addressing that I've worn it... Well I was thinking of selling it on eBay for say $200 or just keep it to myself... I still do want a warmer jacket and a more formal stuff though, as my graduation's approaching that I might have to start hunting for jobs.

Yeah mentioning jobs, I was surprised to have seen that the Australian economy has escaped recession by increasing 0.4% of GDP in the first quarter of 2009, that was not necessarily a good thing for me honestly. A delayed recession? that means I'll be in a worse situation when I graduate by the end of the year. Otherwise if Australia is actually in a healthy growing and barely dipped into recession it'll probably be better for me. So I would say we'll have to wait for the report of the second quarter to decide.

OK some good news, probably not news anymore. I've already booked everything for our trip to Uluru so it is now all confirmed. Will be departing 20th of June, early in the morning on the Overland, and arrive in Adelaide in late afternoon. There will be an overnight stay in Adelaide but I don't think we could see much at all. The next day we'll be on the Ghan by midday and head for Alice Springs. If we were lucky we'll definitely go for the whistle tours on the way. Arriving in Alice Springs the next afternoon, and we will go around the small desert town for a relaxing day the day after I think. And on 24th we'll be up early again for the camping trip to Uluru for three days, which I'm sure they will arrange well for us. Back to Alice Springs on 26th and stay overnight again then flight back to Melbourne the next afternoon, hopefully in time for the course dinner in Docklands with classmates?

The place I've just moved into was a pretty large house, with two homestays (a boy and a girl) and me as a tenant, plus the landlady and her parents, such a big family... The house was pretty nice I have to say, and rent is acceptible. The only thing would be that a friend of mine is asking me to take a house with him, which means I'll have to move soon if that was the case :S It waas until this moving time that I realized how much stuff I've actually got with me all these two years living in that shabby flat! I still haven't unpacked my Wii after moving to this house for 5 days, maybe I'm getting over it? Who knows.

I should be studying for today but I spent much of the time typing all these stupid stuff... I have sinned!