observations, 4

PAPERWORK. PAPERWORK. and more PAPERWORK.

i thought communist vietnam was bad. then i thought they'd learned their penchant for inane bureaucracy from the french. oh my, was i wrong. the aussies have them beat.

i'd write more but there is paperwork to be shuffled.

on the road again, aka, "kanga watch"

kp and i had grand plans for an epic brisbane-to-canberra road trip... but we both had big projects that needed wrapping up, so in the end, we only had 2 days on the road. bye-bye surf lessons and spa sessions. bye-bye leisurely hikes amongst the eucalyptus trees. hello long hours on the road and late-nite schnitzel and beer at the local pubs (not a bad trade actually). we'll call it a recon trip since we've now made a list of all the places we'll hit next time we make this drive.

bonus, we set out on bastille day, and we picked up a couple of hitch hikers along the way. what with françois hollande at the helm now, i guess ol' sarko and marine le pen didn't have much else going on...

destination #1: byron bay

byron bay is a hippy haven along the northern coast of new south wales. it's pretty popular amongst the backpackers too, and it's not hard to see why. we arrived late in the afternoon on a lousy winter day... and we were immediately won over.

destination #2 waterfall way/armidale, nsw

from byron bay, we decided to cut inland, which was a crap shoot. i feared kp was excited about this plan because of his special fondness for really disastrously boring/bizarre/lame adventures. i don't quite know how to explain it... but i knew part of the charm for him in opting for inland armidale over another fabulous beach spot for day 2 was the potentially hilarious story he would later tell about how utterly terrible a place it was. 

we didn't see as many waterfalls as i thought we would, but it was really beautiful, and we had lunch (mussels and homemade broccoli soup!) in one of the loveliest little towns i've ever seen. AND our b&b in armidale had complimentary port waiting for us in our room! très classy.

and the early morning drive out of armidale alone was worth the detour away from the beach:

all in all, it was a lovely 2-day haul. and thanks to another random kp detour - even further inland! - we also got some pretty stellar road souvenirs. i'll post pictures soon.

the most striking part of taking to the aussie roads, however, is without a doubt the late afternoon "kanga watch." imagine spending 6 hours on the road, only to have another 3 to go. it's late afternoon, the light is fading fast, and there are kangaroo signs EVERYWHERE. i spent those three hours scanning the road immediately before us - back and forth and back and forth... till my eyes were completely shot. and kp thinks i'm exaggerating, but i SWEAR we almost got hit by one who suddenly sprang from the bush. i nearly peed my pants. this is going to sound comically obvious, but i am horrified by the idea of plowing down a kangaroo. horrified. and not simply for the basic trauma of it. but also because according to one of our colleagues in brisbane, you have to check the pouch for the joey you've just orphaned - you evil human -, which would never survive on its own, and which you need to take immediately to the authorities... this same colleague wasn't sure what the current thought was on carrying a knife in the car to finish off the dying kanga... WTF? it's a different breed over here, y'all.

and living in the "bush capital" means that the kanga watch is on all the time. apparently, i'm lucky i haven't crossed one on campus yet!

love from down under

we're still alive. busy and out of sorts (it turns out that EVERYTHING is a bit upside down here, and lb's still trying to get with it), but we promise to send a proper update soon.

xx,
l&k