Worn Out But Still Moving

Barely.

I'm writing this post in a state of pure fatigue. The last few... well, I don't even know when it started. Maybe it was a week and  half ago (the days all blend together) that both our school schedule and our off-school outings started taking up more and more time and energy.

Let's see,

On Tuesday we went to Cape Shank and spent a wee 45 minutes looking at tide pools and recording our thoughts in our little yellow journals. The pools were pretty basic (well, compared to what I'm use to) and yet I was one of the last people pried from the beach. After that we had lunch (which was almost as long as the tide pool experience...) and then we hiked a shortish distance (not short enough in the hot sun!) to a lovely little beach. There the waves were big and aggressive, but still we jumped in and laughed when we were over taken by waves too large to handle.

The tide pools weren't all that interesting, but I did get to see a (and I'm not 100% on this) a wild blue tongued skink. I know it was a skink, but I regrettably didn't get a good enough view to confidently confirm it's identity. Still, it was huge, and it was cool, and yes, I did get a picture. Other than that I saw a huge mob of kangaroos just over a fence heading back from the beach. There were SO many. They all poked their heads up over the tall grass and shook their heads, causing their ears to flop from side to side (Aw, so charming!). They were generally on the defense, but when I walked up close to the fence a big one near to me did NOT look afraid enough, or at all, and in fact stood up a bit and gave me a death glare. I quickly took a few noisy pictures (take that you malicious roo!) and loped away back to the safety of the trail.

On Thursday we all had to wake up early and catch the train (two hour long ride!) To Bendigo, a town I know my dad would like very much! We saw a Chinese history museum together as a class, and then we were loosely instructed to go to two more museums, one of war history and the other art. They were okay. Nothing too spectacular.

What was spectacular was the heat! It was at least 100 degrees in Bendigo that day, and walking around lead to a very scary moment in which I was sure I would pass out. Luckily I got a cold water bottle and air conditioning just in time!

The train ride home took extra time, since the train can't run at full speed in the heat. So that was unpleasant, but what was more unpleasant was having to get straight off the train and get right on a Firefly bus (well, we ate something first) and proceeded to drive a horrendous 12 hours to Sydney. Luckily we all had each other to entertain ourselves (have I mentioned how much I love my fellow travelers? I get along with EVERYONE!) and most of the time was spent laughing obnoxiously and having immature fun. I have to admit that I feel sorry for the other group of people at the front of the bus. They seemed very conservative. Surely we did a horrible job at trying to clear the 'American' reputation.

We stopped twice on our long ride, I only got off the bus at the first at about 10:30 at night. We were at a truck stop and they had one of those standard gas station/cafe things- but this one was oh so special. Huge, and I mean, HUGE beetles that looked kind of like golden-metallic scarab beetles were flying around in a terrifying frenzy. I didn't notice this until I was stepping through the door into the building and one flew right at my face! I, oh so gracefully and with all the tact in the world, tripped forward and fell to the ground uttering a four letter word too loudly for my conservative acquaintance's taste. Not a proud moment. Other than that the ride was VERY cold, despite the temperature outside, and sleeping was difficult.

We made it, though, and I already have one day in Sydney under my belt. But I'll write about that in my next post.

I think I'll take a day off this weekend and rest. I don't want to make myself sick!

Thanks for reading,

Maddy