Perth, Australia

I think I might be a rain god. Or some kind of rain avatar, at least. I've had rain probably once every three days I've been in Australia. Keep in mind this is the driest continent on Earth, in the middle of their summer. I've been rained out of resorts in Fiji, and a drought actually ended when I showed up in south eastern Australia. I got rained on at night while camping in the DESERT.

It's raining in Perth today, so I'm whittling away my afternoon on the internet and travel planning.

So I did a three day tour from Alice Springs to Uluru (a distance of about 750 km) with The Rock Tours. A really good time, good guides, good people, an all around awesome experience. The first day we hiked through Kings Canyon, that I mentioned earlier. A three and a half hour hike, and I have never been hotter in my life. Thank God halfway through we come upon a waterhole known as the Garden of Eden. We all have a good splash and cool down. After Kings Canyon we grab some beers and head to our camping spot for the night.

We had one place to go, but our trainee guide Bree got a little lost in the night time, so after driving through the bush in the dark for half an hour and having to unhitch the trailer so that the bus could turn around, we go to a different camp spot, which turns out to be a construction depot. More funny than anything. We roast up some kangeroo tail, get rained on in the middle of the desert, and have the construction foreman come up and tell us the place in going to full of trucks and tractors in 10 minutes, so we have to get out.

The next day we make a couple more stops, see some kangeroos and wild camels, and hike through the Olga mountain range, just outside of Uluru (and actually part of the same geological event). After yesterdays Kings Canyon adventure, most of the group doesn't feel up to a 8km hike through this mountain range. Their loss. For the 7 of us (out of 21) who did the hike, it was absolutely stunning. These red domes raising out of the desert and circling you all around was really something to see. The people who did the hike, Natalie, Julian (my bus bench buddy and time wasting game opponent), Sean, Jerome, Horshct and the old German couple (never did learn their names...) all had a great time.

That night we went to watch the sunset over Uluru and have a couple beers. Probably the most chill and awe inspiring part of my trip so far. We sat there for about an hour and a half and watched the clouds and shadows play along Uluru's alternating jagged and smooth edges. That night we camped at the nearest campground, had a shower, went for a swim in the pool and ended the night with some games, Sleeping Bag Sumo and The Box Game (pick up a box with your mouth, without touching your knees or hands to the ground). Natalie won the latter easily. Turns out our 18 year old German is also a ballerina.

The next day we watched the sunrise over Uluru while having breakfast and started the drive back to Alice Springs. We made a few notable stops. I bought a painting from an aborignee who came to see if we had any leftover bread after our lunch at a small town stop, and then rode a camel, an hour out of Alice Springs. Man, those guys have a rough gait. And getting down from a camel is a whole new experience in fright.

That night we all got together for drinks and dinner. We exchanged names and email addresses, had a few laughs, some interesting conversations, bought a shot for a British birthday girl. A good end to a good trip.

So now I am in Perth. So far, I am not terribly impressed. Apparently really everything good about Perth is actually outside of Perth. I walked through the downtown area yesterday, which was bland. Even the riverside was pretty meh. I was going to check out the edgier Northridge area today, but, like I said, it's raining. It also doesn't help that I'm in a YHA (Australia's version of HI hostels, for those who know what those are). Basically, it's a very large, very impersonal hostel/budget hotel that has no real style and doesn't have any nice small, intimate areas that facilitate meeting people. I met one guy, Lee, in my room and that's been it. A rude Frenchman was thrown out of my room at about 2am last night, but neither Lee nor I have any idea why. It's surprisingly hard to find accomodation in Perth, so moving would be tricky. I might do another tour in a couple days, and then book a different hostel for after that, but Perth doesn't seem to have many reasonably priced tour deals. And of course, all this bitching and complaining could just be because I'm coming down off a high after a really good trip to Uluru.