North by North-West

The longest inning finally ended. The Rockies won. They decided to take Denver for a ride while I was riding around the Outback. You know something about their exploits, so I'll tell you a little something about mine. I'll start at the beginning:

After 3 weeks of working holiday, it was time for a real holiday. (And I'm not talking about Matt Holliday - it's always time for him.) I was burned out on class, so I relished the departing for a trip that I had been eagerly anticipating all semester.

This excitement was unusual for me, as I have tried to avoid creating high expectations for things out of my control - it can lead to disappointment. This time however, the bar was set high for me. The international staff here had told us that most people consider the trip a highlight of their time at Murdoch. The students who went during the first study break came back with nothing but praise and remarkable pictures. I hoped they were right.

We left early on Friday morning. The weather was looking to continue as it had been for the past week or so: cloudy and irritating. As one of my friends on the trip put it: "Perth was the sunniest city in Australia until I got here." I was glad to be getting out of the city for a while: Between school and the routine I had developed for the rest of the week, normalcy was beginning to permeate my existence. Normalcy is all and well, but it was beginning to drive me insane.

So, we loaded onto the bus for a two day drive. We knew beforehand that we'd be in for a long haul the first couple days, but I don't think that being told to sit down and do nothing for two days will ever prepare one for that kind of boredom. It was bad enough that it would be a long drive, but there was worse news to come: We would have exactly one view for the entire time. Of course, compared to discussion of the primary sector of Australia's economy, this was heaven.

The long bus ride did have a couple advantages. First, it wasn't school. Second, it gave the group a chance to interact a bit. Notice, I didn't say "get to know" each other. We didn't do that the first couple days. The pool from which we were drawn was small enough that everyone on the bus knew at least a couple other people. Thus, instead of being forced to meet one another to stave off the boredom, we could chat with the people we did know to pass the time. This wasn't bad, but it did end up causing us to wait a few days to get to know the entire group.

Before we left, I suspected that the group would be a good one. I already knew:

Jan and Jannis, two close friends from Parabonn, Germany. On the trip, Jannis told the first fart joke in a foreign language that I've ever understood. Jan made what seemed like an outlandish weather forecast as we left Perth: 40^o C (104^o F) and no clouds for the entire trip. (He was surprisingly close.)

Robin and Göksun, a couple from Parabonn . Between his soft-spoken humor and her willingness to keep up with the boys, I doubted these two would be a boring pair to travel with.

Ryan, a CIEE student from TCU. A month before, he and I had discussed writing a microbrewery guide of the U.S., an idea I am still quite enamored with.

A few others, most of whom I doubt will be offended by the exclusion of their names from this list.

All told, I knew, or had been introduced to, about 2/3 of the group. I was somewhat surprised by the homogeneity of the group. Despite Murdoch Uni having around 2,000 students from every corner of the globe, our group managed to have representatives from four nations: 10 Americans, 10 Germans, three Swedes, and our two Aussie tour guides.

Regardless of our group's familiarity or diversity, this was the group we would be traveling with. So, after our first day on the bus, we ended up at a sheep station, pitched our tents, and got ready for dinner around the campfire.

Over the course of the trip, we stayed at three sheep stations. All were wonderfully removed from anything else. I guess when you're shearing sheep that's some kind of bonus. They had been turned into low-cost accommodations for travelers looking to save on lodging by staying where few dare venture. One can either set up tents in a common area or sleep in small dormitories. Overall, the sheep stations were nice but for one small problem: they smelled like sheep shit and wet wool.

After getting used to the smell, Ryan and I set up our tent, then stashed our gear in it. We discussed briefly and decided that sleeping outside seemed like a good idea since Jan's cloud forecast looked like it would hold for the night. We laid our pads next to the fire and drifted off as the embers burned down.

"Rest up," our guides had told us, "You're going to need it."