1. Camping - Is one of our favorite things to do. We enjoyed camping "rough" (hiking everything in and taking it back out and no toilets, showers, or running water). I've learned to love camping this way since I've been married to Jason.
2. Landscapes - We saw amazing sunsets, deserts, mountain ranges, old bridges, caves with Aboriginal paintings, ruins of pioneer homesteads and cattle stations, and cemeteries from the 1800s!!
3. Wildlife - We saw kangaroos, emus, dingos (wild dogs), sheep, wallabies, cattle, horses, birds (magpies and galahs) and eagles.
4. Hahndorf - a quaint little German town near the coast with fun German shops and restaurants.
5. The "Old Ghan" - This is the old railroad that was built in the late 1800s by the Afghans (hence the name) in Australia. The railroad extended 900 miles.
6. Oodnadatta track - the 900 mile dirt and rocky road that follows the Old Ghan.
7. Oodnatta Pink Road House - a quirky pink roadhouse in the Oodnadatta town of 130 people. We found Magnum bars (my favorite ice cream that I've only been able to find in Europe!) and I painfully bought chapstick for $6!!
8. Jason had the time of his life driving portions of the outback (on the other side of the car and opposite lane!) =) He's gotten the hang of it and may be hard to switch when we get back!
9. Myreen - We stopped to see a family friend of Steve's named Myreen in a little town called Quorn for tea and "bickies" (cookies) at her house. What a dear woman. We fell in love with her instantly. She told us fascinating stories. We could've listened to her for hours!
10. Johnny cakes - while camping we enjoyed an Aussie outback staple food called "johnny cakes" that Steve would make us for breakfast. It is flour, salt, and water cooked over the fire.
11. Honey ice cream - We ate honey ice cream for the first time. Honey is huge here. It is everywhere and you can find anything honey flavored here (cookies, ice cream, candies, etc.). We also ate honeycomb for the first time.
12. Stars - the night sky is filled with brilliant stars. We can see the Milky Way so clear here. We loved sleeping under the stars.
13. Wine tasting in the Barassa Valley - we enjoyed amazing wine at Hentley farms.
14. Lots of laughs.
15. Lake Eyre - This is a lake that has been dry for the last 10 years because of the severe drought. Every 10 years or so, it is filled and the wildlife and vegetation that appears for this short time is magnificent. We got to see it when it was filled with water!
15. Naomi fainted for the first time - Here's the story...I was trying this electrical massage machine on my shoulders and was laughing so hard that I started to get short of breath and so stopped, and then I said to Jason, "I think I'm going to faint." And it was the strangest feeling... Everything started to slowly go black and then Jason caught my head, but I don't remember that, I just remember having a dream (which I'm sure was only seconds long) and hearing in the background that my pulse was slowing down really fast, and then I remember my head in Jason's hands and his head over me saying "Naomi come back to me, Naomi can you hear me?...) As I slowly come out of it, Jason asks me what my name is and where I was born (I answered correctly =)) and then when I was fully conscious I wanted to vomit and I was soaked in sweat. Really weird. I apparently gave everyone quite a scare. They said I turned ashen green. Now I know what it's like to faint!
16. Lee - On our way back from the trip we met Lee at a "servo" (gas station). He was sitting at the table next to us (We had stopped for breakfast). We started chatting and then he eventually pulled up a chair to our table. He's a typical Aussie - warm and friendly. He had us laughing the whole time. He is a motorcyclist and is going to travel the States in a year. He has our phone numbers and will be staying with us in Denver when he's passing through. We look forward to his visit.
17. Mom and Steve - We are so blessed to be here with Mom and Steve and seeing and experiencing their world and lives here. We love you.
2 comments:
great stories, thanks for sharing! ahh, nao, you and fainting :) sounds like Jason took good care of you and knew the right questions to ask :)
sounds like a blast!! Come visit me in Czech and I will feed you all of the magnum bars that you want! The Ecuador chocolate one is my favorite! Are we going to see pictures anytime soon!
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