Extempore Barcelona Trip !

Heidi aka meijän luokkalainen ja mun yks parhaimista ystävistä saapui eilen vihdoin Madridiin ! Hänkin on siis suorittamassa pakollista tutkintoon kuuluvaa vaihtoaan Universidad Europea de Madridissa. Mentiin tyttöstä vastaan Príncipe Píolle ja syömisen jälkeen oltiin jo kioskissa ostamassa vähän vinkkua: "Pakko meijän nyt Heidin kunniaks ottaa vähän viinii!".

 

                                             Huomaa punkku, skumpa ja rosé

Päätettiin pitää pikku "pool partyt" kolmisteen eli istuskella altaan reunalla (tota meijän poolia ei oo siivottu, kun se kohta kuitenkin tyhjennetään) lasillisten kanssa.

Keksittiin sit, että mehän perkele lähetään Barcelonaan, koska eihän meillä oo ees koulua vielä varmaankaan tällä viikolla (kun ei saletisti olla vielä päästy ees kursseille)! Pistettiin sit viestiä Juulille, joka on kans meijän luokkalainen ja La Rochellessa, Ranskassa vaihdossa, ja tää mimmi osti heti lennot Barcaan ku ois muuten tullu keskiviikkona Madridiin moikkaamaan meitä (terve vain halpalentoyhtiöliput 60e/menopaluu Pariisi - Madrid).

Tänään ja just nyt ollaan sit Ennin ja muitten kanssa vertailtu noita hintaeroja, ett jos vuokraa viidisteen auton (Hanna,Enni,meitsi,Heidi,Kassu) tai ett, jos vaan ottais yödösän (n. 60e ees taas) täältä Barcaan. Auto ois bonsu ja tällä hetkellä halvempi (autonvuokra 60e + bensat Google Mapsin mukaan 160e edestakas) mut mietityttää, että mitä jos auto varastetaan Barcelonassa tai oikeestaan enemmän se, että mihin hittoon me sit parkeerataan meijän coche ja että paljonkohan ne parkkimaksut sit on...

Mut anyway, me katellaan nyt tätä asiaa ja saa nähä mihin päädytään. Joka tapauksessa, lähetään joko huomenna aamulla autolla tai sit tiistaiyöllä bussilla Barcelonaan! ;)

EDIT:// Mä, Enni ja Heidi ollaan nyt ainaki kallistumassa enemmän bussiin päin, koska täällä on kuuleman käytössä tiemaksut...

ROAD TRIP: Day 13 - Leaving Adelaide pt. 2

...@ Townsville

The night turned out to be very pleasant.
We rented a video with Laura and Melanie and watched it in the van.
We also reminisced about our whole Australia trip together and agreed that although we sometimes got on each others nerves and had our share of rough patches, we did pretty well as a team.
Love these girls !
Also had quite a few laughs when Laura started reading her journal to us... good times : D

This was to be our last night sleeping in the van since the next day we were heading to Melbourne and would be staying at Laura's friend's Steve-O's house. (The night turned out to be bloody freezing..)

ROAD TRIP: Day 13 - Leaving Adelaide

Sunset @ Port Augusta

Just got off of the phone with Tom. And I feel so much better.
(Talked about how to smuggle booze to Falls Festival: buy dozzens of water bottles and place the vodka ones in the middle, hide a bottle in a loaf of bread, and pour the liquor in mini grip bags and insert them in shampoo & conditioner bottles)

The reason why I would need to be cheered up is because we just dropped Dom's stuff at the place he'll be living at and said our good byes. I fucking HATE farewells.
Naturally I was the one that started to cry first.

It was when we got in the car with Melanie and Laura and took off, when them two got teary-eyed.
"Are you guys crying?" (tears streaming down)
Both: "No" (In the most sobbiest and breaking voice one can have)

We just start laughing: we are driving a van with ALL of us three CRYING. Hilarious.

But yeah. Fucking hate good byes. But that's a chapter on its own that i'll probably write about some day soon. (The farewell for us three is approaching way too fast and its not going to be pretty.)
Oh
And I think I lost my iPod.

This stupid van already managed to gulp Dom's so I wouldn't be amaized if yesterday was the last time I did encounter my iPod. I just can't believe I lost it. It was in the front ! We listened to it just yesterday after taking a shower at the camping ground. It must've fallen out. I knew this day would come - I'd catch myself on occassions wishing I had a bigger iPod. (I knew I wouldn't buy one before I'd broke/lost my old one) The 30Gb just isn't enough (had to delete stuff to add more). Then I'd realize what I was doing and pray that Karma wouldn't be lurking around the corner ready to snagg my precious little thing.

I don't mind the iPod, I just wish I had all the music on my computer. I have some random jewels and discoveries back from 6 years that I don't have anymore and there's no way I'll be able to recall all the 5000 songs. Ain't it a shame?

So. I wonder what the _fuck_ i'll be doing on my return flight of 39 hours or so......... Musicless? oh fuck no.
Don't even have enough money to buy a new one.

Yes, I AM BROKE.
Living with a $35 day budget.
I'm actually a bit curious how i'll manage and what will I come up with 25€ a day.
Our road trip just ended costing a bit more than expected (gas).
So don't be expecting any souveniers.

Road Trip: Day 10,11& 12 - Driving back to Melbourne

Nothing worth mentioning has been happening these past days.
We started to head back down South to make it in time to Melbourne.

As much as it sucks, we've stayed the night at the exact same spots as we did while driving up North. I can't believe Australia is almost the size of Europe yet has so few highways and big, good roads that you can manage with a 2WD. That's why we haven't had much of a chance to drive along a different road seeing new places.

Day 10 we camped out in the same spot 5 K away form Marla, where we had our hecticintensecrazydrunknight a week before.

Day 11 We camped at the same parking lot at Woolies in Port Augusta. Dom passed out from goon while us girls only had a couple of beers, so I took advantage of the opportunity and after 15 minutes his whole back side of his body was covered in leopard spots, his other hand was colored in a black glove, he had DTF, a half moustache and a nose stud on his face. Yes, mature, but what else can you do when you are traveling in a van on a budget and its friday night?

Day 12 we drove to Adelaide where Dom got me a free Whopper from Hungry Jacks (=Burger King) because his Whopper had pickles in it unlike requested. Yay for good Karma and free lunch! Dominic met his friends and we went to their place. They had invited Dom to their staff party but we were left to figure out what to do the rest of the night cause we obviously didn't know anyone and although Dom had asked, we couldn't come. How rude.

Before departing, we asked Dom if he was to stay at Adelaide. We told him he didn't have to come with us to Melbourne; he didn't need to feel obligated, cause we knew he didn't have anymore money and if he already was offered a job by his friends and a couch to sleep at in Adelaide. So if he would come with us down to Melbourne, he wouldn't be able to get any way back to Adelaide with only $6,42 in his bank account and a $40 in his pocket.

Although he said he didn't know, we knew that it was one of the last times we'd see him as we drove off to seek for a place to park our van.

We took a nice shower at a camping ground and made dinner at the same beach spot we had stayed at a week before, until a ranger told us we would get fined $150 if a cop would catch us campin there. So we moved to a free camping spot. The night was so stormy. Srsly hate Adelaide. Fuckign miserable weather everytime we are here: windy and rain.

Road Trip: Day 9 - Fail attempt to go to Wolfe Creek, & Ellery Creek

I woke up STOKED for Wolfe Creek !!! We were about to drive there, camp there, and watch the infamous backpacker murdering movie.

Before heading to our deaths, we did have a few errands to run.
We had to get some propane, rent the movie and charge my laptop and our iPods at lovely little Maccas. We only managed to do one of these: get the propane. You have to have an account to rent movies, so that didn't work out. Also the McDonalds charging episode failed: we bought the standard McFlurry and McDoubble and sat down to use the WiFi on my laptop. We also plugged in Laura's and Dominic's camera chargers and my extension chord that had both my camera chargers and my laptop with 3 iPods connected to it. So a lot of stuff.

Then this lady that had been sitting next to us, walks past us and says: "Don't use the pluggs, they aren't working". We point at the green lights on our devices and tell her they are working perfectly fine.

Then she walks past the Maccas counter and SWITCHES the electricity OFF. What the FUCK.
Dominic tries to use his usual charm and goes to talk to her. After 5 minutes of failed persuading Dominic comes back and says that the lady told him that they aren't a charity and that electricity is expensive. MY ASS. First of all, we are paying customers! I don't care if we only spent $5 but still (apparently that's what the lady had said "come on, only $5"), we have payed to have the right to use the WiFi and therefore also the socket for my laptop.
Fucking cunt.

Of course the whole day was bound to fail: Melanie noticed that half, 200 K, of the road to Wolfe Creek was unceiled... And we had a fucking mini van. I refused to accept this and pouted and tried to get my way: "come on lets even try.... MAN, can you just drive me to the begin of the unceiled road so I'll walk there by myself?! Fuck, I'll even hitch hike! (Krhm, Wolf Creek anybody?)" "Good luck with that."

It was only when we went to the tourist inormation centre that I accepted that we really couldn't be able to drive to the massive meteor crater. The road is in a truely poor condition atm because there's been floods, so even if you had a 4WD the road would be a bitch.

I was so depressed that I insisted on buying jellybeans so we went to Target. My depression soon fled when we got a hand on Justin Bieber's autobiography ("J-Beebz, Beebz, 'Single and ready to mingle.' "). Srsly, how can a 16-year-old have such a thick autobiography??

Because it was a DESCENT 41 degrees celcius the cool tourist info woman told us to drive to Eghlerie Gorge. So we did (and drove 50 K back and forth the wrong direction). Me, Dom and Melanie had a sweet rave to Prodigy and DnB while Laura was sleeping. Sandra + the speed of (someone else) driving + good music + beer = the ultimate formula to get tipsydrunk in 30 minutes.

Ellery Creek

The campsite was $3,3/person, but since there was no authorities nor rangers what so ever, we decided to skip paying the fee and had a swim instead. Eghlerie Gorge was a beautiful secluded spot and we truly enjoyed it. We had some delicious Alfreido sauce and pasta for dinner that Dom prepared and met our neighbours. It was a young French couple celebrating their 1st anniversary and a French pensioner couple, who had traveled the world for the _past 7 years_ with their sailing boat (of course taking time off to do road trips in the middle of Australia and what not). So inspiring. We also talked with this old Aussie man who was traveling alone. Good night expect for the fact that me and Melanie woke up in the middle of the night  cause we were sweating so much. Friggin' forty degrees.

Wolfe Creek

No time to upload any entries but this i will say:

We, four backpackers, are camping at Wolfe Creek (yeah, its spelled like that) tonight.

If you don't know what Wolfe Creek is about, google it or watch the movie (Wolf Creek). Yeah actually just watch the movie.

If you hear of four backpackers found dead in the Australian Out Back, its probably us.

ROAD TRIP: Day 8 - Kings Canyon & Alice Springs

brekky

We packed up our car without even eating breakfast and headed back to Kings Canyon Resort for a hot shower Dom had discovered which we took advantage of for free.. We had a lousy breakfast, an attempt to make hashbrowns: fried potatoes with onions, salt, pepper and ketchup. Speaking of onions - that's the main thing we seem to eat on this road trip. We use at least one a day. Man we must reek.

It was my turn to pay for gas. We used to split the costs but now we just pump $75 worth of gas each time. We continued to Kings Canyon but for our luck the temperature was in the high risk zone: 35-45 degrees celcius. There was a recommendation of everyone drinkign at least 3,5 litres of water. Well, we had one 1,5 litre for the four of us to split. (Which Melanie wanted to leave behind cause everyone was too lazy to carry around :D) We could choose between a 1 hour or a 3,5 hour walk. We choose to walk for roughly 15 minutes and return to our car. Too dehydrated really.

We did climb up the stairs though, with Dom. It was so nice and peaceful up there. Really scenic. When we finally got enough of the heat, which didn't take that long, we headed back to Kings Canyon Resort for the third time. Enjoyed the bug-filled pool once again and used the outdoor shower. REFRESHING. A pool out in the Out Back is a luxury, I tell you.

We left for Alice Springs but stopped on the side of the road to make lunch. Laura wanted to see whether it would be possible to fry an egg on the tarmac. ...on a budget and wasting food we are...! No but it was hilarious, really. We also noticed that when you are in the Outback you don't need to heat soup since the air temperature (+41 degrees) warms it up :D

Eggs sunny side up!

When we got to Alice Springs it was bigger than we thought. We were STOKED to see Coles. So funny how much you appreciate big supermarkets after 3-4 days of gas station shops. We stocked up with $98 worth of food and went to the liqour store only to find out, that they only sell 2L casks of goon because of the Aboriginals. See, there's a big problem with the Aboriginals. Our Fraser Island guide told us that 98% of the Aboriginal population aren't improving their way of life. They just settle with the little they have and sit on the street, many of them homeless and intoxicated. And because the Aboriginals aren't used to alcohol, unlike the fellow white men that have been guzzling for Centuries, they get REALLY - mind my language - fucked up from it. And because goon is cheap and comes in a nice 4 litre casket - and of course manages you to get you off your tits - it's the substance most likely to be purchased by intoxicating effect craving Aboriginals. That's why there's dry zones and laws like this, that prohibit the bottle shops from selling 4 litre casks.

Anyway, we did buy some beer instead and drove 70 km out of Alice for a free 24 hour camping site. Cooked dinner and played our card drinking game with a Belgian couple.

ROAD TRIP: Day 7 - The Sunrise at Uluru & Kata Tjuta

So yeah, we woke up after 2 hours of sleep at 3:30 AM (I actually only got an hour of sleep or so..) and we drove 30 minutes to Uluru to see the sunrise. When we arrived we realized we had no idea what time the sun would rise since we were yet again in a different time zone. We figured me and Dom would stay up cause we weren't tired and wake up Melanie and Laura  just in time to see the sunrise.

When the sky started to turn blue from black and the stars began to disapear from the sky, Melanie and Laura got up and we decided to drive to a different spot, so we could see the sun actually rise on Uluru. The spot we came o was a tourist hell: Old people, asians, sunhats, everyone holding a camera and moving like a herd of sheep. SDADaff. We saw our Aussie mates with whom we had seen the sunset and had a quick chat with them. We looked at the sunrise but we got bored pretty quickly  - thanks to the mass of people to make it impossible to enjoy the natural phenomenon - so we returned to our van and made breakfast. We could've done a 2 hour culture walk at 8 o'clock but no thanks. Too tired from the lack of sleep and not really interested in following blindly a tourist guide.

Dish washing time evolved into a food fight with Dom with the scraps of burnt omlette. Interestinggg. We drove to the aboriginal culture centre but because we were so sleep deprived, we were just really hyperactive and giggly. We tried to figure out how to pronounce the Aboriginal letters - Laura decided that the T's and the N's with an underline are silent... sure :D Oh, Laura and Dom almost violated the "No cameras" -rule. The Aboriginals believe that if you take a picture of someone or something, you take their soul.

After wondering in the culture centre we drove to Kata Tjuta, another bunch of rocks. Thanks to fatigue and the flies that were harassing Dom, we were just laughing all the time. Oh hey, WHY are there benches to sit just to see a rock??? The idea just seems to bizarre and riduculous.. :D

Because we were so tired, we decided to see Kings Canyon tomorrow and instead just chill and take a nap at the Kings Canyon Resort in our van. Me and Melanie had already took a nap in the back of the van so we just took a free outdoor shower, charged my laptop battery and enjoyed the outdoor pool. Dunno if we were supposed to pay for that but we didn't..

We had a minor water fight again with Dom and after Laura and Dom had recharged their batteries (as in waken up) we went on the quest for booze. We had a long chat with the bartender and just wondered, why would someone want to live in the Outback (Answer: to save money, there's not a lot to spend money on here). We spent $150 on beer.... Ok mom, dad, Chistofer and Rita, its not as bad as i sounds. Its for four people..!

Cause Kings Canyon is in a natural park, we had to drive roughly 60 K away to be able to camp. Unfortunately the spot were we chose to sleep was covered with hostile little fucker ants. That bite. Bite HARD. So that wasn't really enjoyable. We played out card drinking game and Dom had to gret our new Norwegian neighbours with his pants down. Dominic just always seems to make a good first impression :)

Dom was harrassed by flies

ROAD TRIP: Day 6 - Uluru

So yes, we are having the WTF-moment with Melanie. Why are we sleeping this way Melanie? Oh, the bed isn't done properly.. Guess we were too drunk to remember or realize how to do it.. oh well. Hmm interesting.. All our bags our outside, instead of being on the front seat, laying like a tornado swept through our camp.. Everything covered in red dirt. HMM. Hey wait a mnute guys... Do you know were the keys are??? Hahahahaa wtf we've lost the keys :D:D:D:D:D: Hey... how about my flip flops...?

We did finally find the keys in the bottle holder, victory. We packed the car and drove 5 K to Marla. Apparently we were speeding cause the counter lady got really mad at us.
"If you don't know how to read our speed limits, you shouldn't be driving on our roads."
"Well what is the speed limit?"
"Go and see"

She actually disliked us so much that she wouldn't tell us where the showers were unless we paid her $4. FOUR BUCKS FOR INFORMATION? Fuck that. So we just got $1.70/litre costing gas (DEATH) and drove away.

We stopped at Kulgara to have a shower and make lunch. Couldn't solve my dread locks.. oh well, gu ess i'll have to cut my hair. Damn blonde-, sun bleached, wrecked hair. After lunch we had a silly moment of getting chairs and sun tanning in them. We must've looked like a bunch of idiots :D We had a god chat and time with the four of us just remenacing about how things used to be in elemantary school. Walkmans, liking someone, relationships, drama etc.

Dom as driving and I was sitting in front doing my DJ-job. It was so hot that I figured having a mini water fight with Dom in the car wouldn't hurt. On the road trip you also get very bored or/and creative: I got Laura's sharpie out and tattooed Dom with spiders, llamas, DTF and "Honk if you are horny". oh boy.

Oh yeaaa ALMOST FORGOT ! Dom taught me to drive ! The girls in the back were scared and so was I. Only drove for about 7 minutes but managed to go with the speed of 110 so that was pretty descent. We changed the driver and stopped for more gad. $1.80/Litre...DEATH. Took a picture of Emus and almost burned my feet from the hot tarmac.

The cops pulled us over and thank god I wasn't driving (I won't be doing that anymore btw), you know, not havign a license and all... Dom blew a zero and we contined. We stopped at Curtis Springs and saw a funny sign: "SEX. Know that I have your attention: No Shirt, No Service." Dom went back to the car to get a shirt. We bought deathly expensive goon $25/cask. Changed the seating order and drank goon with Dom in the back of the car. Hahaa revenge Laura and Melanie! Getting tipsy in 30 minutes and realizing I should probably eat something unless I want to be absolutely trashed my face before sun down.. Laura decides to join our gooning. Finally getting to uluru which was pretty humangous and beautiful. I never dreamed I'd enjoy the Out Back so much. I didn't have any expectations (well ok, I thought it would suck) but here I am, having the time of my life surrounded by amazingly aweing scenery. On of the highlights of my whole Australia trip. I'm glad I'm here. You other backpackers, who only decide to do the beaten track of the East side, are missing out on life! Anyway, we chatted with some Aussies from Sydney and ate a random dinner to not get drunk. Watched the sunset.

We thought that was Uluru, but it wasn't

We talked about Armageddon. Dom, Laura and Mel were freaking me out. It really made me think: what if the Mayans are right? What if the world does end in 2012? Should I just post-pone going to uni till 2013 so I  can actually do the stuff I want to, just in case the world decides to demolish itself on the 21st of Dec 2012? Fuck, so much stuff i have to figure out. Also, IF i decide that the world isn't going to blackout, which uni will i apply to? which country do i want to live in? so much to figure out man..
We left to get more goon. The closest bottle-O is in 250 K ? No way.It's probably closed anyways. We go to a bar to get take away booze (oddly it's allowed here with all the dry zone rules and what not) but SRSLY, $60 (SIXTY BUCKS!!!) for a 6-pack ?????????? ARE YOU JOKING`? Helllll no. No more booze then. Meh, that's okay.

We drive to some pit stop to camp and meet another group of Aussies. We stay there until the ranger comes and tells us we are still in the national park where we are not allowed to camp, so we leave to another pit stop. We find a group of stoned Germans who are listening to Bob Marley and munching on Milo powder.. haha :D

Long boarding in the moonlight, laying in the middle of the road and watching stars with pillows behind our heads. good fun. The four of us having such a good time. Laura telling us about her weird owl with a sombrero that she formed from the stars. Dom teaching us about physics and shit. How the universe was formed and stars and all that stuff. Everyone enjoying themselves and asking weird questions about life.

Going to bed at 1, get to sleep at 2:30. So dehydrated. How fucked up is it: four of us and only a 0,5l bottle of water left. The only liquid we have. Wake up after 1-2 hours of sleep at 3:30 AM to pack up van and drive to see the sunrise....

Watching stars and discussing Life

ROAD TRIP: Day 5 - Somewhere in the Out Back

Yes, I did get fat, a bit. Beer belly

We left Port Augusta some time during 9 AM without taking a shower. There's not always a chance for one. But that's part of road triping. At one point two Emus ran across the road: thank god Melanie, or who ever was driving the car at the time, had fast reaction skills and slowed down for the birds to get across. I had three leftover beers so I drank them over the course of driving which was like 9 hours or what not. Had an DNM with Dom again. He read me his journal. I really love his way to write. It's so fucking hilarious and witty. Raw truth feat funny az drunken stories. Goon with the wind. So epic. Always cracks me up. But he also has some pretty deep stuff in there too. I like the way he thinks. He's quite free. I actually told him half jokingly I'd love to take a photocopy of one of his entries that he read to me just because I thought it was so marvelous. So true. And he actually ended up writing that entry on my computer ! I asked whether I can post it online on my blog as a quote kind of, and he agreed. So I'll post that here some time soon.

Anyways, we had lunch at a pit stop once again. We had some leftovers from wraps so we just mixed all the ingredients together and made this rice-minced meat-tomato-onion -thingy. It was delish. While Melanie was making lunch for herself, since she is a vegetarian, we took photos with Dom laying in the middle of the road and doing random jumps. Laura also joined and I got this idea to use the mud from the dirt road to do us some facepainting. Succeeded in making our own Abo-paintings before Laura and me attacked Dom with lepard printed mud staines. Funny az! You get so creative and random on these road trips..
After lunch we stopped at Coober Pedy this underground town that we wanted to check out. But since the info centre was already closed (at 4pm?? come on) we just decided to bail cause the town was giving us the creeps.

We stopped at some random town to stock up on booze. Me and Dom went for the goon, since we are broke, and Laura and Melanie went for beers. It was time to switch seets and while Dom was driving and I was being the DJ, Laura and Melanie were sitting back getting drunk with sombrero hats and scrafs on their heads.  This night turned out to be awesome. We pulled over at this pit stop place and decided to camp there. It was so beautiful. We were litterally in the middle of no where in the Out Back, just 5 K's away from Marla. The sky was blue and cloudless and the sun was high. The red dirt was a nice contrast to all this and the bush looked pretty nice and green.

But yes, we did get absolutely smashed. We ended up finnishing the cask of goon with Dom and on top of that I had beers. The girls drank all their beers. We were at the pit stop alone blasting some good az house music before two germans came there to camp also. Melanie mistaked them as a couple when actually they were mom and son. So hilarious. We were too drunk and lazy and unfunctional to make food, so we ended up skipping dinner. Apparently the German though made Mel and Dom dinner. Nice. Good Karma hey. An actual couple pulled over too. They had a big ass motor home and also a kitten! Me and Lauta were drunkenly patting the kitten and the woman's baby bump. How random..

The night ended up being so hectic. Laura throwing up, us having dramatic conversations and rules being drawn. crying over mini-holiday-romances. Melanie getting upset about always having to be the responsible one, driving the first shift. Dom just being drunk and throwing precious gas to make a bigger fire. Melanie asks for keys to change music -> drunkenly decides to move the car, realizez what she is doing and stops after a meter :D Loosing the keys. Too drunk to remember / figure out how to make the bed. Waking up: why the fuck are we sleeping this way? where the fuck are the keys, where are my flip flops, why are all our bags outside the car? everything covered in red dirt. Good night.