i wouldn't have picked you for a grub-eater...

so, effectively 3 days on the bus there, and 3 days on the bus back. 5 day in central australia.
was it worth it?
i think so.

i had a good time, despite the major/minor misfortunes that seemed to plague me on the trip. like how my sport shoes fell apart on the first day of the trip. on the bus. having not done any walking. and how my replacement $25 shoes from big w gave me blisters, all around uluru. and how my sleeping bag inexplicably got very, very wet, right in the middle bit, when we were camping miles from civilisation. not even civilisation. we were miles from the closest road. in a valley totally surrounded by cliffs and steep rock-faces.

the thing that made it a good trip was the people who came. people from brazil, venezuela, colombia. from france, germany, norway, italy, uk. from canada and america. from hong kong and new zealand. and me, from malaysia. kinda like a pick-n-mix bag of lollies, all jumbled into each other, tossed together and sent to the outback. everyone was relaxed, easy-going, friendly, willing to do have a go at everything. it was great!

as u do in the bush and in the outback, there were lots of peculiar bonding experiences. going to the 'toilet' [as in, 'i need to pee, pass me the shovel' type toilet] in pairs, and trying not to look at your friend while she does her business. by the 3rd day we were really uninhibited, both in our toilet habits- hey if u gotta go, u gotta go- and in our conversation. at various times, we talked about tampons, the need to get more fibre in our diet, automated japanese toilets with a bidet function and its implications for a hairy butt, and much, much more.

the scenery was great too.

so to sum up the trip- filthy but happy. filthy cuz sometimes we didn't shower for 2/3 days, and it was hot and we had been sweating from hiking, but happy, cuz even though u're peeing behind bushes, u look like absolute crap and u realise if someone points out another bloody lizard u will actually punch them, u're having a good time.

oh, and i ate a whichetty grub. it tasted good, kinda like popcorn, when cooked.
kangaroo tail is gross though.

and my shoes were practically the same colour as the ground. they still are.