Okay, so I haven’t wrtten in a long while, but I was indisposed and the website went down for a bit (and I’m still trying to pick up the pieces).
But here’s what I’ve been up to….
Flew back to Melbourne on the 6th of April. The fligh was at 6am, so I needed to be at the airport at 4:30 (when it opened). Instead of paying for a dorm room that night, I hung out in the lounge of my hostel, taking power naps every now and then. Landed in Melbourne fine and caught up with friends during the next few days.
On Easter Sunday, I left on a 3-day touring bus for Adelaide. We spent the first day on the Great Ocean Road, a scenic highway built after WW1 by the returning soldiers. The coast is mainly sandstone, and so towers and arches have formed in the ocean as the land has eroded away. About 5000 people were at the 12 Apostles, the most prominent tower and arch spot on the road. Lunch was in a small tourist trap, but I started to get to know the others in the bus (there were only 11 of us).
The next day, we drove throught the Grampians - a very old mountain range. We hiked to the top of one of the peaks, Mt. Sturgeon, and saw wallabies along the way. At other times, we saw koalas, kangaroos, and emus!
The third day was mainly driving, though we did stop in the morning to walk in “The Grand Canyon” - but it was more like a very small gorge. The rocks looked like elephant skin. We also stopped to see albino kangaroos. These guys live in a protected area, and live very short lives because they get skin cancer (from not having any pigment).
When I arrived in Adelaide, I connected with a swing dancer I knew from Melbourne (who was in Adelaide teaching a medical course). We got a beer at a pub and listened to some pretty hard jazz. After a few songs, we gave up and crashed.
The next day (14th, now), I walked around the city center and stopped in to look at a few shops. I ate lunch at a small mom-and-pop cafe called “Smoking Joes”, and they used the Stones’ toungue as their logo. That night, I connected with Adelaide dancers (as the Melbournian was returning) who put me up for the next few nights. We made pizza for dinner and martinis to drink. It was great fun, and it was nice to dance after not having done it for last 5 weeks.
Thursday, my hostess took me for a drive in the hills just east of Adelaide as we ended up a lookout over the city. 1 million people take up a lot of space! In the evening, we went to a swing workshop being taught by the pizza and martini duo. After that was a social dance, much enjoyable. I’m getting excited for Perth’s Lindy Exchange.
Friday, Chris (Mr. Martini) takes me in to his place and we spend the day relaxing. Pizza over at his friend’s house, then return for movies and CD burning (he’s taking some of my music to use for dances).
So that about sums it up, except for the biggest news:
I got the position in Japan! I’ve been accepted, and now I have to jump through quite a few hoops (with deadlines attached) to secure my spot. That’s going to be difficult. In Perth, I need to see a doctor for a general bill of health (and a chest x-ray!). Uf.