A Very Brief Update

Update (Dec 10th): Well, still alive, but stuck in the Phoenix airport. I may be running off to Grinnell for a few days (assuming I someday make it home), so I may put off the promised updating flood for a few more days. It will happen sooner or later, I swear.

As requested, an update to let you all know that I'm still alive. I'm in Hobart, Tasmania at the moment. I'm here until the 7th, when I fly back to Sydney, and then home on the 10th. I'm having a lot of fun, and I assure you all I will have plenty to write about once I'm back home and have unlimited internet time and nothing to do with myself.

I'm in Melbourne!

No time to be verbose because I'm about to run out of internet credit, but I am in fact still alive. And in Melbourne. Many more updates later.

Tentative itinerary between now and December 10th

• Tomorrow: Finally go to the beach (weather permitting)
• Saturday-Tuesday: Another backpacking trip along the Heysen Trail, this time along the Fleurieu Peninsula south of here.
• Wednesday-Friday: Study for and take my last final (I took the other three earlier this week).
• Saturday the 18th: Pack up, fly to Melbourne.
• 21st: Take a train to Sydney.
• 24th: Fly to Cairns.
• 30th: Fly to Hobart (Tasmania)
• Sometime after that: Fly back to Sydney.
• Dec 10th: Fly home.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited, but also a little nervous, as it's my first time traveling extensively without parents to plan everything. Kyle (our new friend from William Jewell) is going to be in Melbourne with us, and Katherine is traveling with me until the 30th, when she'll go home and I continue on to Tasmania alone (everyone else is going home soon after school ends). That's all I can think of for now. I'm going to get back to trying to find places to stay and go.

Wonderful Fauna

I've mentioned the dazzling array of deadly animals in this great country several times in my previous posts, but since I'm short on material (it's hard when I can't just show travel photos), I'm going to put up something I wrote to a couple friends a while ago.

"For those of you jealous about the koala and kangaroo pictures, here's something to make you feel better. Notice how there's one section for deadly Australian snakes, and one section for everywhere else. Also notice how the most venomous non-Australian snake comes in at 11th or 12th amongst the Australian ones. I swear everything in this country is either fuzzy and adorable or incredibly dangerous. The snake responsible for the most deaths is the Common Brown Snake. Excuse me? This thing kills people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they call it the Common Brown Snake? Only Australians would be so nonchalant about it that they would think that is a suitable name. More aptly christened is the Death Adder. Yeah, you know what's in store if you tangle with that bad boy. However, notice that the list refers to it as the Common Death Adder. Once again, excuse me? Just your normal, run-of-the-mill Death Adder. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to, say, get worried about."

In closing, I'd also like to link you to a wonderful little song that encapsulates the Australian experience flawlessly. It's by the Scared Weird Little Guys, an Australian comedy group who are very, very funny. Enjoy.