A Patriot in the Outback

So apparently I am patriotic. I never would have considered myself to be "pro-America" if you asked me, but the more time I spend away, and the more foreigners I meet, the more I find myself standing up for my native country and being called Patriotic by those around me. Generally speaking, America does not have a good reputation abroad; we are known for our elaborate pop culture, celebrity obsession, unsteady presidency, extreme obesity, loud obnoxious voices and an attitude of "our country is better than yours." When I asked a group of Candadians excitedley if they were American (their accents sound extremely similar to Americans), they replied "no!" in disgust. My Swiss friend said her teacher in school taught her that Americans were stupid, mainly referring to the "valley girls"from California. My Danish friends told me that although everyone in Coppenhagen wants to be like Americans (dress, culture, etc.), in school they watch all the Michael Moore documentaries ("Bowling for Columbine", "Supersize me", etc.) and think this is how Americans live - that most people will walk into a bank at some point in their lives and buy a gun, and will always supersize will eating MacDonalds once a day. An English friend asked me sarcastically what I thought of our "perfect new President", and another Englishman engaged me in an hour long debate, stating that 1,000 of the best English Soldiers could crush 1,000 of the best American soldiers in a fight. Although Americans are generally considered close-minded, I find that most of the people I meet are more close minded in their views of Americans than we are of any other country. It doesn't help that so few Americans actually travel (I think it is some astronimical statistic like only 20% of our population has passports), to give other countries an accurate view of what our people are really like.

I mentioned above that Americans are known to have a better-than-you attitude, and let me tell you that after hearing about the governmental systems and political structures of other countries, I might want to abandon my patriotism and make my home somwhere else. In Australia and New Zealand everyone recycles, they are so environmentally conscious it is ridiculous (even the toilets give you an ecological option - push a button for #1 which will use less water, or another button for a #2 which of course will use more). In almost every country 6 weeks vacation time is standard, and many employers will offer their employees to take paid weeks or months of absence every year. People are encouraged to travel (at all ages!) In Denmark, granted they pay about 50% of their wages in taxes, everything is free: doctor, hospital, schooling, etc. (The government even gives people up to an extra $2,000 a month in spending money when they choose to go to University!) Although Patriotic, I am beginning to think we should take some advice from our foreign neighbors and make some changes to America!


Well anyway, enough political rambling. After my stay in Melbourne I caught an early bus with a lot of new faces, on a 3 day tour headed along the Ocean road to Adelaide. My new friends from Denmark said the first morning they met me at 5am they swore I was drunk (I was extremely energetic, introducing myself to the bus as the co-pilot!)

Our first stop was to a town called Torquay where the company Rip Curl started and made their headquarters (huge surfer town) and then onto Bells Beach where I caught my first glimpse of Koala bears, which are actually boring furry blobs that sleep all day. We did a treetop walk through the rainforrest called the Otway Fly and then headed to look at the 12 Apostles, large rocks jutting out into the sea (although there are only 8 left!)

The next two days we did more driving along the Great Ocean Road looking at sandstone and more sandstone, hiking in Grampians National Park and a place called Hollow Mountain and even checked out a beautiful waterfall called Mackenzie Falls. When we arrived in Adelaide they were having their yearly month-long festival, but it just looked like a plain old carnival to me, except with more freak shows (there was a man who could breathe through his eyes?!)






We spent two fun days in Adelaide, and then I began my 6 day Adventure Tour to Alice Springs. Now sitting comfortably in my air conditioned room in Alice Springs, I can finally begin to enjoy the Outback. Don't get me wrong the sites I have seen were amazing, but holy cow the outback is hot, infested with flies, and unfortunately a lot of drunk aboriginals. In America if there is one fly buzzing around you its annoying, now imagine that times 100. I have officially become a licensed Fly Killer and slaughtered 58 (yes I kept count) unsuspecting flies in the past 6 days. My travel around the world flip-flops have now become my weapons of choice. The flies are so bad, we all had to wear fly hats everywhere we went, and the one time I forgot my hat a fly kamazazied right up my nose (no joke, and it still hasn't come out.) After we left Adelaide we hiked the Dutchman's Stern for stunning 360 degree views of a town called Quorn, Spencer Gulf and the Flinders Ranges, hiked Wilpena Pound, checked out the salt lakes (Australia used to be covered by an inland ocean, and these dried up salt sheets are whats left) then we spent two nights in Quorn. For dinner on our first night we ate Camel Sausages, Emu Burger and Kangeroo Steaks - yummy!!






Coober Pedy is a small town, built basically in the middle of the desert by Opal Miners, who after getting here decided it was too hot to live outside, so they put their village underground. I am pretty sure no amount of opals could get me to live here! After an afternoon of feeding Joeys (Kangerroo babies), we spent the night in an underground bunkhouse and headed out the next morning at stupid o'clock for a 500KM drive to Yulara a town that has built up next to the famous Uluru (Ayers Rock.) We caught sunset at Uluru but what I thought would be a beautiful display of nature, was eclipsed by the 40 other tourist buses, and the massive amount of tailgating going on (each bus provided its passengers with champagne and appetizers while they watched a rock do nothing.) I did keep it interesting by hitting on one of the hot bus drivers (and earned $10 from by crew for getting his phone number), and Adam (who I met up with while in Alice Springs) actually turned out to be a great guy!


The next two nights we slept in traditional Aussie Swags - a waterproof sleeping bag- under the stars (hoping a grasshopper, stink bug, super duper large ant with the biggest pinchers I have ever seen, or snake didn't crawl into bed with you). It was actually the best nights sleep I have had in a while. The next day we woke up again at the ass-crack of dawn (breakfast at 4am!) and headed to Kings Canyon to do a 3 hour hike before the sun got too hot. In the middle of the canyon is a swimming hole called The Garden of Eden, where I took a dip in my clothes because I accidentally dropped my camera down the rock embankment and although I thought it might be lost to the deep water, was able to wade out and find it. Luckily I know myself well enough and took a shockproof/waterproof camera with me before I headed on my travels. Overall it was a lot of driving, but exceptionally beautiful scenery and lots of laughs. Tomorrow we head out at 5:10am for our 6 day adventure to Darwin and Kakadu National Park!