Travels with Andy

Dear All,

It's Saturday, December 13th. I am in Port Douglas which is a small town (Pop. 3800) about 62 km north of Cairns (the northeast coast of Australia).

I just finished a quick tour of the outback, taking an awesome tour to Ayers Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. At Ayers Rock, while watching the sunset, there were not many people present in our trip who were into drinking and since the tour provided free champagne for the sunset viewing of the Ayers Rock, between 6 of us, we finished off 3 bottles of champagne. We were pretty pissed! One of the guys I traveled with (Craig from Seattle) took some photos of our appearances. Thankfully, I will NOT run into him again for fear of that photo leaking out to all of you.

I've truly lost track of time. I partied like crazy in Alice Springs (on a Wednesday and Thursday) night, but slept in on Friday night here in Port Douglas. I'm having a difficult time keeping track of who I've met. There are some seriously crazy travelers out there. I partied with this one woman named Katarina from Sweden. Every time the music changes to Spice Girls, La Bouche or ABBA, she just starts grooving and it's impossible not to let her drag you onto the dance floor. I'm going to keep this e-mail PG-13 so I'll leave end the story here. I thought I was a bit off kilter traveling for 7 months around the world but I'm at the low-end of the curve here. I've met some guys from Scotland who've been on the road for years and most others are spending 1 year here in Oz.

Before I forget, Cat, you owe me $3. :)

I have yet to see a kangaroo cross my path, but we did see lots of cows while driving on an unsealed road from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs. Part of the tour included an "authentic outback barbeque" consisting of kangaroo burgers and camel. The camel was a bit tough and the kangaroo tasted strongly of sage. I could see myself eating 'roo again, if I can get the image of 'roo from Winnie the Pooh out of my head.

I'm truly loving it here in Australia. Thus far, except one bitch here in Port Douglas, every person I've met has been so friendly it hurts, so relaxed, so "no worries, mate" that it's incredible. Even I am starting to pick up this attitude as I have thus far missed my snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef today and had to stay a day extra in Port Douglas to catch the trip tomorrow. No worries, mate.

That's it for now, I guess. I just wanted to let you know that I'm ok.

Andy

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Last updated: 22 February 98