Hey, READ THIS!

We left you off at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. It was cold and rainy the whole time. It wasn't constant rain instead we would get to a stop and get out look at the sky and say "Nah it ain't gonna rain." and leave the umbrella and jacket in the car because in the sun it was warm. Then we would find out that to get to the look out you'd have to walk 3Ks and it inevitably started to rain halfway there. So we would run the rest of the way because I wasn't going to get rained on AND miss the view, snap a few photos and then race back to the car and drive along the coast to the next lookout. The 12 Apostles were as amazing as you can imagine though, fun fact, only 8 of the 12 are still standing because the rest have succumbed to the power of the waves crashing on them. My favorite stop was called the Grotto which was a tiny little alcove under an arch looking out at the ocean. Sooo so cool. From there the road leaves the coast and we made for Port Fairy. On the way we drove through dairy farm country that if you weren't thinking about it you'd swear you were in Northern Michigan but then you'd look over and catch a glimpse of the ocean and remember that you're thousands of miles from Northern Michigan! So crazy. We stopped for some local cheese in Warnambool and made it to Port Fairy just in time for some more rain. Port Fairy to Mount Gambier was a much nicer day. Stopped in Portland and was my favorite town along the whole coast. Was one of the first ports in Victoria and still is a busy one today. Then we got to Mount Gambier and checked out the town just as it was getting dark. We heard that the Umpherston Sinkhole was cool even at night. So we walked down into this giant hole in the ground in almost total darkness. You could feel that you had went below ground but couldn't see it. Then when we woke up we saw that in addition to being a giant hole in the ground it is also full of beautiful gardens and even has a bbq area. Drove out to the Blue Lake and looked at how blue it was then, very blue. Also the source of drinking water for the town. Then it was the most boring drive yet up to Adelaide. It took bloody hours and was supposedly the "coastal" route, but we never saw the ocean, just a line of muddy hills with some small shrubs. But worth getting into to Adelaide. It was such a beautiful old town. I know we keep saying that each new city is our favorite (minus Canberra), and we're not stopping here. Adelaide is my new favorite Capital City. Spent the night there, wandered town the next morning, then on the road back to Mildura.

While we were out touring the Great Ocean Road Sarah and Mairi we're staying in Mildura and had heard back from a dude about some work! We were stoked for them and stoked because we hoped if they got in they could talk to the dude, maybe get us in too. So we drove back to Mildura and got in late in the afternoon. The girls were out and we were in the process of setting up the tent when they got back. Glad to see them again, and they us (really!). But sad news, the dude had issues getting ahold of them over the weekend, even though Mairi was trying to call him several times each day, and had given their positions to someone he could get in contact with. Yeah, not cool and upset us too. Well, we're all back together again, so there was that. Yeah, its not as good as actually having work, I know. We stuck around for a few days, hoping to find work, see if anyone will get back to us. No one with work ready for immediate start did. We kept hearing though that if we give it about three weeks then, then the oranges will be ready and there'll be heaps of work. We didn't have three weeks to just sit around and wait though. We said our goodbyes and left Sarah and Mairi in Mildura again. They were going to give it a few more days and then they too plan to leave Mildura.

From Mildura we drove all freakin' day through Broken Hill (just because) to Port Augusta. This trip did have one cool feature, it let us go through three states in one day. Mildura was in VIC, near the NSW border, Broken Hill was north in NSW, and Port Augusta was over west in SA. We pretty much just put up the tent, slept, and then up tearing down the tent before 8 the next morning. Long day of driving ahead we thought. And we were right. Pushing for Coober Pedy, a mining town on the only dot on the map of supposed size for many, many, kilometers. Got into town by 3pm, much to our surprise. The landscape changed so much though, went from being on the coast and seeing grass and tall trees, to red dirt, small shrubs, and an occasional tree less than two meters tall. Coober Pedy it seems is the the center of Opal Mining and for kilometers around there are mounds of dirt and abandoned machinery. The mining here is so intense we pass signs every now and then warning you that if you dare venture off the road there is a high probability that you will inadvertently fall into an old shaft and die. So be careful, don't run, and don't walk backwards! We'd read online that in Coober Pedy there is a hostel that is underground. And churches, and houses, a lot of stuff was underground in town. We found the hostel though and stayed the night there. We were over six meters underground (that's about eighteen feet-ish)! So cool, it was so quiet and dark down there. Woke up and got ready for another long day of driving.

We've been totaling up the kms that we've traversed since leaving Mildura, we're over 2000 and today we arrived at Uluru! The photos you may have seen just don't do it justice. When you see it yourself, it just feels so powerful, you just want to keep looking at it. It dominates the landscape. We got out there in time to watch sunset cascade across it, changing the color of Uluru as the sun dropped lower. We're camping at the resort thing nearby, its all there is out here and the resort is set up like a city, with the different hotels spread around, a shopping center, and the cheap campsite where we're staying shoved in the back. Getting up tomorrow to catch the rock at sunrise, see some of the other sites around, and then drive up to Alice Springs!