Australia

The last entry that went up was not complete.
I wrote the part that you see at an internet cafe and later updated and revised it here at my hostel. The computers here were having problems and apparently the only thing that stayed revised was the title, of my post... my stories and better-thought-out wordings have been lost. *grumble*
Annny how...here is a pale summary followed by the link to my photos:

Yesterday was so hot that a person could have died from exposure in the downtown core of Adelaide. Record breaking temperatures in the area. After I finished that last entry I went out on a trek to find a hostel. I walked for quite a ways, to find a cluster of hosels in a different are of the city... carrying a 45lb pack, . The water coming from my camel back was as hot as tea, a mix of sunblock and sweat dripping down into my eyes. I'm thinking - it's bloody miserable out here... just then, a camper van pulls over. An aussie guy yells out,
"You headed for a hostel or something?" I was, and told him so. "It's bloody miserable out here. hop in. I'll give you a lift" He drove me to the best hostel. brand new. not even in my guide books. He parks and yells across the street, "you got any beds open?" to one of the workers who just stepped out - they did... so I hopped out and checked in to one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. friendly staff, fun people staying here, air-conditioning (from god, BTW), it's really clean and my discount card works here - oh and no surfers/jocks/frat parties like the other places.
mmm... just finished a tub of "organic biodynamic bush honey & Vanilla yogurt" One thing that I have noticed is that dairy products here are insanely cheap.... like a couple pounds of cheese is only a few dollars... I've been sampling all of specialty local cheeses...as you can get a nice big chunk for a dollar or two at the central market - which is an abolutely phenomenal market place... all of the local farmers with produce stands... breads and veggies, cheeses and meats, seafood, asian foods, everything..
anyway... had a nice airconditioned sleep at this hostel. Acutally needed a light blanket for the fist time since I arrived... it's normally so hot at night that you can't even sleep under a sheet. about 30 degrees at night, it has been.
Stopped by the bus depot and bought my ticket to Mt. Gambier already (VIP discount card saves me 10% on bus tickets - that card has already payed for 1/3 of itself, in less than a week) I have to be there for preboarding in an hour so, I had better go. Figured I'd write while I'm still around civilization... as I have no idea what kind of country I'm going into... That excites me immensely! I can't wait to see what it's like... Should arrive at Mt. Gambier by 9pm tonight. 6.5h.
alright. next post - whenever I can find a place to write.

PHOTOS

Wow. I had to go back and read my last entry to know where this one should begin!

This city is amazing. The buildings are constructed very similarly to Mexico, (here reminds me more of mexico than Canada), the houses are built for the heat. Shiny tin or clay shingled roofs, bricks. Palm trees... and even though the heat is sweltering this time of year, the vegitation is diversified and can be very lush in shady areas...
Spent two nights at the first hostel... Visited the Botanical gardens and the Art gallery, both of which were spectacular. The botanical gardens had specimins from all over this part of the world. Rows and rows of 150 year old fig trees that grow to be enourmous... never seen anything quite like them. And there are more varieties of Eucalyptus (gum trees) than I can count. They are everywhere around here.
The art gallery, which was free admission, featured work of South australians, largely, in the period of the last 200 years or so... There was also a Picasso original sketch, a Matisse, a few Chagalls and a Dahli piece... and a few others that I could hardly tear myself away from... I had just short of an hour to soak it up before the gallery closed.
In the botanical gardens I met another solo traveller, a German guy named Vinzent. We ended up trekking back to my hostel to meet up with Henning and Maki for some pints and fine South Autralian wine, which is cheap and plentiful here. Something like 40% of australia's wine comes out of this small region of S.A.
I have learned alot about the politcal systems, mindsets and traditions of German, Japanese (especially), Norviegian and Swedish peoples as of late... very fascinating stuff...
Any how... we all went our separate ways yesterday... Henning and Maki finding work north of the city in the desert and Vinzent going to Alice springs... but it turns out that we all travelling to New Zealand within about 4 days of eachother, so we have planned to meet up and perhaps rent a vehical or something. see how that comes together.
I decided to head out to the beach... all of the locals reccomend Glenelg (the last 'g' is silent) and I see what all the hype is about. It was beautiful. was also crowded as hell. I had to call a reservation in on a hostel and the beaches were packed with young people. This beach culture is still new to me... having grown up 1200km from the ocean... My Canadian winter skin is slowly taking on some colour. I'd rather slow than straight to red.
Glenelg was nice - but too crowded and too full surfers and ditzy girls... guess some things are universal. I'm looking forward to moving on to less touristy, more backpacker type destinations.
Interesting thing happened at the beach though.
I was sitting for a nice meditation... decided to go for a dip (the ocean is beautifully warm) the water was crowded. I found a nice place to swim near a lady and her kids. She turns and says to me - "I know you. You're from Canada!" she recognized me from the market. I knew who she was once she talked - as she had shared many stories of her travels and was very curious about mine in the 2 minutes or so we had chatted in the market as I was buying veggies for my salad from the stand at which she worked (the central market in Adelaide is fantastic, BTW) and so we sat on the beach and shared stories until it was time for her to get her kids home. Really kind, well travelled, strong Australian woman. good times.
I have decided that I'm headed for Tasmania. It's cooler and more naturish. I want to see the sites along the way, but gear toward Tassie.
I was planning on getting out of the Adelaide today. This city sprawls for many, many miles (one of the largest by land area in Oz) so it will take me a couple hours by bus to be clear of it. I called the bus company and they don't run busses out toward Meningie and Mt. Gambier today. 2:45 tomarrow is the first. This is a route toward Melbourne. Not as quick, but beautiful. It leads to the great ocean road, which I've heard is stunningly beautiful. So far as now, I plan to try my luck hitching it. If I take the bus as far as Mt. Gambier (6.5h), that puts me almost half way to Melbourne and much nearer to the Great Ocean Road. That bus takes me through the wetlands of Coorong National park and all that fun stuff.
So we'll see how that works out.
Alright. I'm just about out of time here... and I have to go try to manifest a place to sleep for this evening.
I'm really looking forward to getting out of the city!
The real adventure is about to begin!
P.S. Check the photos section. not sure how it works but I uploaded a few pics!

I made it through the 24 hours of transport! really wasn't that bad. And to my surprise, I'm not the least bit jet lagged... slept all night from Hong Kong to Oz... woke up and I was over the outback,and landed late morning... so I had a nice full day yesterday.
I pulled some Australian funds out of the bank, hopped on a bus (the busses are really wierd here) to the city... and have been meeting people left and right. people from France, Germany, Japan....
My intitial impressions of Adelaide: bloody hot. W're right on the coast of a massive desert here. it's 33c right now, gonna hit 35 today, and hit the 40's by sunday, so the locals say...
The cars driving on the other side of the road takes some getting used to (I just about got hit by a car jaywalking yesterday - reflexively looked the wrong way to check for clear. hahah) The crosswalk lights make really funny sounds... like spaceship/video game sounds... they make me laugh... and the telephone dial tone sounds like our ring tone in Canada, confused me at first... The currency here is nothing like I expected... more like mexican currency than Candian... Eucalyptus trees growing everywhere... strange little bugs and really weird little birds eating garbage - cloured like out magpies, behave like out magpies... but shaped like a sand piper of some kind...
Being as I have not left the city yet, I don't know much about the animals and things... but I'll be finding out soon.
I am presently staying at the Cannon St. backpackers hostel. not the best place in town, but it's cheap, clean and a large variety of people are staying here, as it is one of the larger hostels in town...
Have made friends with a German guy and his girlfriend. Henning and Maki. Really cool people. been exploring the city, checking out pubs and cooking up delicious food. The just got back from Tasmania and highly reccomend it. Really sound like my idea of a good time.
What else to say.....
The women are bloody georgeous here. Everyone is so friendly. You can stop people on the street to ask questions and they are really kind and helpful. go out of their way to assist you. It's great.
Ok. my timer is running out here. and I've got some exploring to do. Going to finfd the botanical gardens and there is a free art museum north of downtown by the river...I'm off and I'll write again soon.