Although we've come, to the end of the road...

I just got back from the beach and couldn't wait to mention that I saw someone wearing a replica Seton Hall jersey, which was no doubt a remnant of Andrew Gaze's heyday. I've actually seen quite a few ridiculous jerseys lately. A Shawn Kemp Sonics jersey, a David Robinson USA Dream Team jersey, and #15 Baltimore Orioles t-shirt jersey, which turned out to be Jerry Hairston Jr. But the one that really dropped my jaw was the LA Lakers Anthony Peeler jersey I saw at a mall in Townsville.

At the beach we had a nice bbq, which is pretty much what we've done all week. It's taken me awhile, but I've finally mastered using the free bbqs that are provided at parks in Australia. They're more of a skillet than a grill and are relatively low heat. Perfect for the kangaroo sausages and lamb rissoles we cooked today.

In music news of the trip, Rod Stewart has predictably fallen out of favor. My new "main man" now is Harry Nilsson, who they also play the hell out of. I probably knew about 6 Nilsson songs before the trip, but that number has easily doubled.
Also, I'd never heard of the band Cold Chisel, but according the Australian radio they are "rock legends" here... rock legends that, as far as I can tell, are boring as hell.

We're leaving soon, so it's kind of a bummer that I'll miss out on hearing the Australia Day Hot 100 on Triple J. I'm not even a huge Triple J fan, but I honestly can't remember the last legitimate countdown I've heard on American radio, which was always one of my favorite things.

While we've been here, I've managed to knock out quite a few movies that I should have seen years ago, including Die Hard 2 (awesome), Stakeout, and Back to the Future II (maybe the worst movie I've ever seen. Yes, even worst than Empire Records).
On a side note, Australians obviously don't believe in junking old tv's. They just live on in the dive motels and campground common areas. Basically, tv's are to Australia, as cars are to Cuba.

As I mentioned, we're close to the end of our trip and looking back on it, I have tons of fantastic memories that I'll try to compile into a blog post after we get back. But what I've really come to appreciate is the amount of time we were able to spend here and the wonderful people we met and stayed with in places like Sydney, Brisbane, Coober Pedy, Hamilton, Melbourne, etc. It allowed us to somewhat "live" here. We had our favorite (and least favorite) places, but that wasn't really the point. Whether we were on a work exchange with a family or freeloading off of friends wasn't as important as the fact that we were able to get a glimpse into their lives.

And best of all, I was able share the adventure with my wife. To my surprise, she was every bit as game for the half-baked idea of driving a station wagon through the outback as I was. And there's no way I could have done it without her.

-David

Right Back Where We Started From

We spent our last week in Melbourne catching up with old friends and attempting to keep up with their 3 adorable kids.

And now we are back in Sydney, where it all began. It feels good and a bit strange. We have found a very nice room in an apartment to rent for the week which just happens to be 1/2 a block from the beach! We are focused on relaxation and selling the car.

Over the past 12 weeks we have traveled nearly 10,000 miles through 4 states and 1 territory. I have now seen more of Australia than the United States. While Australia lacks things like decent Mexican food and cheap beer it makes up for it with amazing beaches, generally polite citizens, strange animals, and vanilla slice. I am ready to come home but I will miss Oz and my friends here.