Australia

I know I'm being obsessive, but Toni gave me back my Australia journals yesterday, and then I was watching my iMovie with those pictures from Australia, and I'm listening to music from Australia now, and I'm all sad because I miss it so much! I know that sounds really stupid, but it was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to much, and I'd give just about anything to be able to go back. It was just...spectacular. I keep thinking of the randomest moments, not like when we were hiking or standing on a mountain looking 1000 feet down or snorkeling in the coral reef with the rainbow fish. Like when I was sitting on the college campus, looking at all the stands lined up outside and hearing all the college kids' accents from all over Australia, and just feeling the joy. Or when we were at the Ningaloo reef and making a sand shark from the water to the dunes, and meeting the guy with the metal detector, who's employment is to look for gold in the desert, and he's found 5 dollars worth of coins in the sand so far. It was peculiar so we went around to watch, and talked to him, and when he found a Chinese coin that was reasonably valuable, and he gave it to us. Which reminds me of how easy-going everyone was, like when we ordered a croissant and the store person was like, well we're about to close and we have an extra croissant so you can have it, or when the folks in Canarvon recognized us when we came back and heaped us with free goods, or just friendly folks going out of their way. I mean, you would never ever have that happen in America, except in the most remote corners.
And how, when the exotic-ness catches up, you realize you're halfway across the world on a different continent, twelve hours ahead of your friends. Or seeing all the animals however trivial, and how excited you were when you counted the 100th kangaroo and thought of how amused the Australians were when you got so excited about a kangaroo.
And now I remember the "sacred site" signs at Uluru, or Ayers Rock...
omg I really need to stop...
I'm sorry Ben, I still owe you those reptile museum pictures-