Catching up time. Even though it feels like a mountainous task, it’ll only get worse if I don’t do anything about it. I do apologize for not writing sooner, however I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with other developments in my life. It’s hard to know where to start, but I suppose the best way is to say that I’m still in Australia even though I should’ve gone back in August.

It all started a few months ago when I visited Mittagong to do some observations at the chiropractic clinic. Mittagong is about 1.5 hours southwest of Sydney in the Southern Highlands. Anyway, I was offered a position there as a chiropractor, providing I’d do my board exams and obviously apply for a resident visa.

So, first I was a bit, very busy with trying to organize a visa. There’s like over a 100 different visa’s and finding the one that was suitable for my particular situation was a bit tricky. Then gathering all the documents and applying for the visa took up all of my spare time. It was a tad stressful and not much fun.

Because I don’t have a passport from an English speaking country I had to do an IELTS (English language test) test as well as my boards to prove I can speak English. And of course I had to prove I was healthy, so I needed to book a special medical examination.

I finished the visa application in September and was granted a ‘bridging visa’ that allows me to stay in Australia until my visa application has been processed. They won’t actually start processing my application until I’ve passed my board exams. No pressure!

I had a bit of a break (more about this soon) before starting my studies for the boards. I studied for 7 weeks and still hadn’t finished revision when the exams came along and I hurdled myself off to Melbourne for the dreaded exams. It was a bit challenging with five exams on one day and then another two the following day, but I managed to survive.

Two weeks later, and I still haven’t recovered from the exam experience, although hopefully I am catching up on some sleep now.

 

Anyway, moving on to more inspiring things. In case I didn’t get my visa application in on time, I wanted to make sure I’d seen at least the Northern Territories as well. So, I made sure I had 10 days in which to travel and explore a little.

I finished my job as a live-in nanny, so after saying goodbye to the family (lovely Thai take-away dinner the night before) and they dropped my off at the busstop, which was a great help as it saved me walking 40 minutes with a backpack on my back, I made my way to the airport.

On arrival in Darwin I was hit by a wall of humidity, it was like coming back to Florida or Bonaire, and was somewhat surprised by how brown everything looked. I had seen documentaries on the Northern Territories with everything being lush and green and the farmers saying how lucky they are there’s never a shortage of rain up in the NT. Then I remembered that winter is the dry season up north. This means no rain for at least 6 months of the year. Most things will start to wither at least to some extent under those circumstances, except for some trees that are particularly resistant to this climate.

The ground is a reddish-brown (ochre and/or clay), the grass is brown, the treetops are green and the sky is blue. It provides a remarkably beautiful contrast.

It was September and nearing the end of the dry season. However, before the wet season starts there’s a build-up. This is where the humidity rises and clouds start forming, but no rain will fall for at least another two to three months.

Anyway, from the airport I took a shuttle to the hostel and checked in before attempting to find food (it was 7.30 pm before I managed to check in). I asked about food though while checking in and was told there was a night market on near Mendel Beach, which was about a half hour walk away. Perfect!

It was nice to walk after all that traveling all day and when I got to the market I had some nachos before I discovered ‘The Poffertjes Winkel’ (Dutch for mini-pancake shop). Since I was full up I couldn’t contemplate a serving (20 mini pancakes), however I was tempted.

I walked around the market a fair bit as it was quite big and they had lots of stuff.

After getting back to the hostel I took a shower and in true tropical style came out just as sweaty as I went in. It did save me from having to get up even earlier in the morning, cause we needed to be there at 6 am to leave for Kakadu national park. We were in a bus/truck/very big 4 WD as there was quite a bit of off road driving involved.

We stopped on the way for breakfast before we went on a cruise on the Mary river. There we saw a wallabie, saltwater crocodiles, freshwater crocodiles, lots of birds such as geese, ducks, kites, eagles and other birds of prey, jabbaroos and a few other birds I can’t remember the names of anymore.

After we’d seen it all and were on the way back, the guide (a Harry Potter look-alike) spotted a jabbaroo with a fish in his mouth. So we went to check it out when an eagle flew in and tried to steal it off the jabbaroo. Real wildlife observation J

Then, to make it even more exciting a freshwater croc came in to try and steal the fish as well. Poor jabbaroo… However, then the freshwater croc was attacked by a saltie. Scary as the freshies get eaten by salties. It did mean that the jabbaroo could escape with his fish.

Wait, the saga is scared not over yet. Having away the freshie to a safe distance, the saltie had a go at the jabbaroo to get him out of his territory also. The jabbaroo lost his fish in the process. It’s like watching Eastenders, only 10x more exciting and it’s real J

We did also see the other side of the story a bit further up the river. We saw a male and female jabbaroo and stopped to spot the differences between the two.

Then we noticed a croc coming in. However, he wasn’t after the birds but had seen a file snake (watersnake). He caught it and then the jabbaroo’s tried to steal it off him.

Well, the croc wasn’t having any of it and remained very still until the birds lost their interest and then ate the snake before moving to a more camouflaged position.

After the river cruise we had lunch before going to Kakadu and the visitor centre there. At the visitor centre there was an exhibition about the history of the place told through schience and by Aboriginals.

After that we went to Ubirr rock where there are a lot of Aboriginal stone paintings and we were told some of the stories that the paintings depicted. There were the very old paintings by the Mimi spirits or the Creation Ancestors and a lot of ‘newer’ paintings done by the Bininj/Munggguy artists (tribes) which told stories.

Then we climbed onto Ubirr rock to have a look over the swamp (leftover water from the last wetseason), some hills and Arnhemland (yes, named after Arnhem by a Dutch discoverer) which is extremely sacred ground you can only go onto if you have a special permit (stone country). So the view was extremely varied.

Did you know that the Mary river has a floodplane of 10 km wide on each side of the river. During the wetseason the water level rises by 1.45 metres. The rivers in Kakadu have similar floodplanes, transforming the landscape in the wetseason. Absolutely amazing! And I have to see it before I can imagine it properly.

So, some of the reasons the predominating colour of the landscape at the moment is brown, is because it’s the end of the dry season, so plants are somewhat dehydrated and they have cold fires usually around June time (when it’s relatively cold) to prevent hot fires in October and November. The cold fires clear up all the dry plantation and because temperatures are lower, are more easily controlled and don’t burn as quickly allowing wildlife to escape. They just burn the grass and low shrubs, leaving plenty of seeds for the soil to recover.

The Aboriginals discovered thousands of years ago that having cold fires helps to protect the forest and stimulates new growth during the wetseason.

For sunset on the first day we went to the Yellow river and then we went to a campsite for the night.

The next morning we had to get up at 5 am so we would be the first ones to get to Twin Falls. Although it’s the end to the dry season, Twin Falls is still running as its source is a spring. It was a really nice, relaxing place tucked away at the end/beginning of a river.

There were crocs around, so although we were at a beach, it was unsafe to swim. After relaxing on the beach and watching the entrancing motion of the water falling down, we went back over the off-road track to Jim Jim Falls. Jim Jim Falls isn’t actually falling now as there’s no excess water (although there was a dribble), but during the wet season it’s a huge waterfall with tons of water coming down every minute.

To get to Jim Jim Falls from the carpark you need to do a 1 km hike over a bushtrack and some rocks along the river. Some of the rocks were so smooth from all the water washing over them during the wet season, that they’re really slippery and I actually managed to slip a couple of times.

Here we could go swimming in the plunge pool as apparently there’s only freshies around which are only aggressive when provoked. Such a relief! J Anyway, managed to overcome my somewhat irrational fear and went for a swim. After lunch we went back to Darwin.

Wednesday, another early morning. We needed to be at the pick-up place at 5.30 am  to leave at 6 am. Again, we stopped for brekkie on the way and around 11.30 am we arrived at Katherine where we needed to get some petrol. Then we went to the campsite for lunch and change into our swimwear as we went to the Katherine river in Nitmiluk national park for the afternoon. We actually rented canoes so we could go down to Katherine Gorge. There we had a bit of a swim and a walk before canoeing back again.

On Thursday morning it was another early morning. We had a quick brekkie before hitting the road. When we reached Mataranka we had a stop to swim in the thermal pool there while the flying foxes did their best to poo on us. Unfortunately for one of the girls, they managed to poo on her towel and her t-shirt. The small version of the vegetarian version of bats come to the forest around Mataranka for mating and having their young.

The water in the pool was lovely at 32°.

From Mataranka we drove until lunchtime. We had lunch at the pub in Daly Waters. Nearby was the first international airstrip (unlikely spot in the middle of nowhere, but it was military) in Australia. We had a few more stops at service stations until we finally reached Tennant Creek around 6.30 pm and were at the campsite by 7 pm. It was a long day’s drive. At one of the stations we stopped there was a cattle station, pub, motel and shop all in one, another one had a display of lizards and pythons (behind glass of course) and our tourguide took the python out and had us stroke the snake. Remarkably smooth.

Friday, another early morning (starting to get used to them, ehm.. not really) cause we wanted to see the sunrise at the Devil’s Marbles. The Devil’s Marbles are granite stone (very old lava) covered in iron (soil is red due to all the iron in the ground). Very impressive! They were actually called the Devil’s Marbles because when farmers first brought their stock out there, cows ended up dead the next morning. This was due to a flower growing in the grass in summer with little hooks on it that tore the cows’ stomach and caused internal bleeding.

Later in the morning we stopped at an art gallery in between two Aboriginal communities and in the early afternoon we arrived at Alice Springs, so we had some time to see Alice and get settled in the hostel etc. For most of us it involved catching up with things.

The following morning up early again though, 5.10 am to be exact. And off we went to King’s Canyon where we arrived roundabout lunchtime, so lunch before the 2-2.5 hour hike along the Canyon. The rocks were made of sandstone and therefore quite brittle, so we couldn’t go too close to the edge (no problem on my part). There was a much older layer of sandstone which was mixed with a hard quartz and is pretty much as hard as granite.

Obviously, the older layers had also strengthened due to immense pressure that’s exerted onto it over the ages. The newer and softer layer of sandstone would crack and chunks would fall off regularly into the canyon. On top, the cracks would smoothen over time to leave round pillars, making it look like a lost city. This is also where we saw an Aslan table (from chronicles of Narnia J). Down the bottom of the canyon was a grove and a creek that would fill with water when summer comes (relatively more rainfall – average 250 mm/year).

As it was, only the grove that had some water in it because the water can’t penetrate the older, harder layer of the canyon. The water goes straight through the sandstone, so any vegetation on the top of the canyon needs to be adjusted by being able to grow long, deep roots and live off little water. Therefore, the predominant plantation is spinifex (sandgrass or desert grass), gumtrees and some other trees.

Off certain eucalyptus trees you can actually get a white powder from the bark, which is rich in zinc. It’s a much better sunblock than any sunblock that you can buy in the chemist.

After the walk we had another 2.5 hour drive to the campsite, which was situated in the town close to Uluru (Ayer’s rock).

On Sunday we left at 5.45 am to go and see the sunrise at Uluru (at 6.45 am). After that we did a 2-2.5 hour walk around Uluru. You can also go up Uluru, but the Aboriginals prefer you not to as you cross a song line and enter a sacred area. Normally, you’re not allowed to enter sacred areas as you need to be initiated and you’re also not allowed to photograph those areas. So by climbing Uluru you show disrespect to them. On any of the other sacred areas on both Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) you risk a fine of $5000-10000 for entering and you can also get fined for taking photographs of those particular sites.

It was a lovely walk around Uluru, as it was still early morning and therefore not yet scorching hot. What’s so special about Uluru is that it’s a rock, not a hill/mountain. Uluru is actually largely underground, a bit like an iceberg in the water, and goes about 6 km deep. Mind you, according to research, we can currently only see one rock, Uluru is situated on another rock, which is even bigger and is also classified as part of Uluru (as we can’t see it anyway). This rock will eventually show up as it’s actually being pushed out of the ground (sorry, didn’t quite understand the mechanism but it had something to do with tectonic plates).

Tucked away in an alcove at Uluru is also a gorge and nearby there were some Aboriginal paintings on the stone. Uluru is made of sandstone with calcium and another mineral. The sandstone has been compressed a lot so it’s really hard, but cracks still appear due to high and low temperatures (temperatures can go down to 0° C at night in winter even though temperatures in the day are still 25-30°) and bits of outer rock can break off and fall down.

After Uluru we went to Kata Tjuta, which is made up of lots of different stones compressed together to form rounded mounds. These mounds formed because there were cracks in the original mound and wind, sun, rain and mostly the varying temperatures that also affect Uluru smoothened and shaped it into the various mounds that we can see today.

When we got there we walked the track to Walpa gorge, which was dry and surrounded by bush that we’ll call spear bush for ease sake and because the Aboriginals made spears out of the bush.

The walk to the gorge and back was only 2.5 km, so after we went back to the campsite and then returned to Alice after some lunch. On the way back to Alice we stopped at Mount Connor (looks like Uluru, but is a mount, not a rock) and a salt water lake.

We arrived late afternoon and the following day I flew back to Sydney again, back to the stress of the visa application.

Once I was granted my bridging visa I suddenly realized that the board exams were only 7 weeks away and that I needed to start studying, so I went into a bit of a study frenzy while also looking for a job and everything. So, currently I’m doing fundraising for cancer research which involves me traveling up and down the city all the time. Very tiring, but at least it’s for a good cause.

 

Going for a new approach as the internet has been a touch unreliable and I was kind of fed up with losing things. Fairly sure that things should work out this way though.

Anyway, that’s part of my excuse for not writing for so long. The other has to do with being busy with work and relatively little to talk about and having a lot on my mind in general.

At work I’ve tried my hand at making muffins and cookies with the boys. They enjoy eating them, and their part in the making of them mainly consisted of licking the bowl afterwards.

The two year old really likes birds, especially kookaburras, that reside in the garden. They usually sit on a branch of the tree or on the washing line for a while everyday. It took me about two months though to catch one on the photo. The two year old always used to call ‘kooka, kooka’, but more recently has started saying ‘kookaba, kookba’. Progress. For other birds it’s ‘bi, bi’. I do have to say that his eyes seem a lot better than mine. Other obsessions he has are for cars, trucks and buses (ca, tuck and bu respectively).

Winter has really set in here. It’s freezing cold (relatively of course) and rains frequently for a whole day or so and more often at night. Apparently it’s less rain than normal in winter though, so everyone’s worried about water.

I’ve been catching up regularly with an English girl I know over here, she works as a nanny relatively nearby (about half hour by car, not possible to use public transport). We both like to hike so we’ve done a hike a while a go to the lookout point in Palm Beach. Gorgeous views, despite the grey clouds hanging over us, but we stayed dry so it was all good. It’s a relatively short hike so we also walked along the beach for a while. Palm Beach is where Home and Away is filmed (Aussie soap) and it’s about a 10 minute drive away from me.

A friend of mine from Newtown has actually moved to Narrabeen, which is relatively close to me also (about 40 minutes by bus). This means that we can meet up every now and then and not go into the city all the time. Again a while ago I went to visit her and ended up having to stay the night because there was a storm and there was a high flood risk on the Northern Beaches (all the suburbs from Manly to Palm Beach). Oops!!

I’ve also done two chiropractic seminars, one about chiropractic reflex technique and one about cranial adjustments. Should come in handy shortly.

I’ve also been up to Newcastle about a month ago. I’d skipped Newcastle when I was doing the east coast as I was getting tired and I was trying to get in touch with a chiropractor over there that one of my colleagues in England knew. I finally managed to get in touch with him and arranged to meet up with him.

I had to get up rather early as I wanted to catch the 6.30 am bus into the city. It’s about a 40 minute walk down to the bus station and amazingly there were loads of people on the road that morning, runners, walkers and dogwalkers. It was busier on the road than it is during the day. Surreal!!

In newcastle I checked in, had a walk around and a swim in the sea before meeting up with the chiropractor for some observations and something to eat.

Newcastle was originally the location where the worst of the worst convicts were send and had to work in the most atrocious circumstances, so there’s a lot of history. Up until recently it was mainly an industrial town, but they’ve done a lot of work and it looks very modern now.

The following morning I had booked a bicycle tour of Newcastle. I thought this was a good idea as it was different from the usual bus tours etc. Funny thing was, the guy who did the tour was a chiropractor. He did the tours in the morning and worked as a chiropractor in the afternoons. Coincidence???

Later that afternoon I went back to Sydney again cause a friend of mine had asked me to come to Katoomba with her and another friend. Stayed the night in Sydney and went out as it was one of the guys’ birthday. The next morning I wasn’t so happy as I had to get up early to meet up with Claudia and AnnaLiise to take the train to Katoomba.

Katoomba is a small town in the Blue Mountains. They had a Yull fest on over there with a market, bands playing and folk dancing. There was a great atmosphere and we ended up buying beanies because it was so cold (and hot chocolate of course).

That evening we went to visit a couple of Claudia’s friends who were also in town for the festival, they were staying in another hostel.

On Sunday morning we did the skyway cable car over the valley near the three sisters. At the other end we did a bit of a walk on the trail before we returned and took the train to Leura on our way back to Sydney. Leura is a village close to Katoomba which is quite cute. They had a market on here as well.

During the schoolholidays the family went skiing for a week in Thredbo (Snowy Mountains) and I had to come along to make the whole experience manageable. Bonus, I got to see Aussie snow and… do some skiing myself. We were supposed to leave on Saturday, but by the time we left it was quite late by the time we left, so we stayed overnight in Canberra to make the journey a bit easier.

When we arrived on Sunday it was raining, not a good start to the week. It took us a little while to get settled, but by Monday morning everyone was ready to go skiing, while I looked after the two year old. By Thursday the weather was turning around and it was snowing. We put the two year old in kindy and I could do some skiing. Yeah!!!

Conditions were a bit rough, not only was it snowing, it was also very windy and dark and you couldn’t see very far. This meant it was hard to see where the icy and grassy bits were, so slipping was a bit of a possibility and there was no opportunity for preparation.

It was hard work trying to avoid people, bumps and the slippery bits, so by lunch time I was quite tired. Am just not that great a skier!

I got a call then that the two year old had vomited and could I please come and look after him. So I went back and nursed him through an afternoon of emptying his stomach down to the last little bit of stomach acid. Luckily he was asking for water all the time.

The next day he was much better and by lunch time I was confident he would be okay, so he went back to kindy and I went for another ski. Conditions were a little better and I managed to ski a bit with the older boys. Up on top of the mountain it was still windy and snowy with limited sight.

Before returning to Sydney the four year old and me got that lovely stomach bug together. Problem was that although he was ill, in between vomit sessions he was fine, running around as usual, pressing buttons everywhere and constantly trying to break breakable things (typical four year old behaviour I am told), whereas I was knocked out and couldn’t keep up. Not a good combination. Luckily I felt much better the next day.

When I finished work on Monday I flew to Melbourne where I could stay with my friend Elliot, who I met while traveling in America. Was really good catching up.

He had to work, so I entertained myself during day by exploring Melbourne. I also managed to catch up with Sebastian (chiropractor who was in the same year as me) for a meal and with Nick (who I met skiing in America). Therefore had a busy time in Melbourne and had a good time.

Problem was that by the time I got back I was still just as tired as when I finished work. Not so good then. Still struggling a bit to keep going though, so good there’s another break coming up.

and it took a lot longer again to write then i had anticipated. i've got a cold now, again. more annoying than anything else. anyway, on my last update, i didn't manage to get completely up to date, so this time i'll try and get you all up to date on where i am and what i'm up to. 

so, about 4 weeks ago (that long already), i flew back to australia. still had a visa, and no work commitments, so i figured now was the best time to try and see as much of the country as possible. only problem, my finances started to get depleted, so on arrival i had to try and get work and that way earn some money for travelling. 

the flight to australia was very long and i didn't get round to having lunch before boarding the plane in london. do not advise this to anyone, it's not good flying on an empty stomach, especially since the plane was stuck in london an hour before lift off. heathrow's so well organised, you see. 

i was very glad though, that once i got to sydney my bag had arrived also. played on my mind a bit after the new york flight. after checking in to the hostel, i had a shower and some food, and i felt a whole lot better afterwards. the advantage of my flight was that i arrived early evening, so by the time i had done everything, i could go to bed and didn't actually get very bad jetlag, yey...

the following day i went round to some of the agencies i was registered with and also dropped off my cv and covering letter to some of the language schools in sydney. i felt pretty good, although my legs were hurting quite a bit, which i suppose was the result of my body objecting to having sat still for so long on the plane. i also was a bit scatterbrained, but if that was the extend of my jetlag, i don't think i can complain too much.

anyway, with sore legs, it was a bit of a long day walking around, but the next day they were feeling much better already. that was a good thing as i had an interview as a nanny ( i know, i know) all the way up in bilgola (way up in north sydney area near palm beach. it took about 1.5 hours on the bus to get there. there's four children (all boys, eeeck). after the interview i went back again.

the good thing about the hostel is that there's still people there that were there when i was there before as well. many of them had been travelling as well in the meantime, and it was great to catch up with everyone and exchange stories. it also made life a lot easier for me when i got back. 

by friday i'd heard that the job was mine. i was happy to get a job of course, but also a bit scared. i mean, four boys is a bit scary, isn't it. i had the whole weekend though before i started work. on the friday it was anzac day. anzac day is a remembrance day for WWI soldiers of the australian and new zealand armies. in sydney there was a parade for all those who'd fought in WWI (and II). of course, there's not that many soldiers left anymore, so relatives are allowed to walk for those who aren't here anymore as well as people who served in WWII. 

the parade started from hyde park where there's a monument for WWI with a little museum. i'd completely missed the monument and museum every time i'd walked past it before (quite a feat considering it's about 30 m high). 
Kiera (aussie girl from perth who was also staying at the hostel) and me went to watch the parade for a bit, then walked through hyde park and the botanical gardens and then caught the end of the parade again before going back to newtown.

on anzac day, aussie's play 'two up' (heads or tails). simplest game in the world, but people bet on either head or tails and someone else matches the bet. they play it in the pubs around the city. when we got to the pub though, it was so busy that kiera and i gave up on the idea. 

as it was quite wet, cold and windy, the weekend passed rather slowly. i did venture out, but it's just not as much fun when the weather's not good. i did go to glebe though, a suburb along the riverback where i'd not been before. nice views over the the city. 

once i started work on tuesday, the weather turned around, as usual. it got warmer and the sun came out. welcome back to australia.... the boys at work are 2, 4, 7 and 8. it's hard work looking after them, but it does keep me occupied. with the job i get a room with ensuite bathroom and food as well as some pay. every other weekend the boys go to their father, so i get a long weekend. 

on my first weekend off i went back to newtown. on the friday evening i arrived, we went out with a group of people from the hostel. the next morning i had to get up early as i'd arranged to meet lee anna for brunch. had loads of catching up to do. that afternoon kiera and i went to paddington and walked around the market there. in the evening i met up with claudia and britta for a night out. they used to stay at the hostel also, so we were joined by quite a lot of other people. 

on sunday we were supposed to leave between 10 and 11 am to go hiking, but we finally left around noon (not too bad, could be a lot worse). apparently this was an improvement from last time. there was five of us hiking: chris (NZ), Max (German), Candice (Canadian), Paul (Aussie) and me. 

Paul was our guide as he knows loads about the bush. the bush was invested with spiders (must be time of the year, as i hadn't seen that many before) and there'd been a bushfire in early summer so the damage to the trees was obvious, although a lot of the ground vegetation was already growing back again. 

we had taken the train from sydney to berowra, which was about 45 minutes away on the fast train. from there we followed a 9 km track through ku-ring-gai chase national park (whole mouthful, isn't it) to ku-ring-gai train station. we managed to catch the 5.30 pm train back to sydney again.

when we got back i had to rush to take a shower and get some food before meeting up with michael, one of the aussies i met while in america (in yosemite national park). we caught up on what we'd been doing and chatted to his friends jim and jess. by 11 pm i was exhausted though and very happy to find my bed. 

on tuesday i had to go back to bilgola again, but not before having a haircut. my hair was full of dead ends again, so i decided to go radical and have short hair now. very strange sensation. 

on saturday i made muffins with one of the boys (that is, he chose the type and i made them and he licked the bowl). 

now, i think this pretty much catches us up so far.

hi everyone, 

there's me again. it was quite a shock to see how long it had been since i'd written on here, so there's quite some catching up to do. and i give my apologies to all of you who were wondering where i were and what happened to me. hope you didn't get worried.

last time we left it in new york, i believe. now, there's a lot of thinking back involved, but i believe i had a museum day on the friday. first i went north for a change to washington heights where there's a museum in a park, tryon park. the tube station is right outside of the park, so it kind of feels like you get away from the city for a bit. 
the museum is called the cloisters and i didn't realise beforehand, but they've basically taken bits from many french (rouen) cloisters and churches and put them together in new york to make a museum. inside the museum they had a collection of tombs, paintings, sculptures, playing cards, books and ohter paraphanelia associated with churches and religion in the middle ages. although it was interesting, it didn't really feel authentic, but i suppose it's the best the americans can get on that front, it's definitely popular with local schools to help make history a bit more real to children. 

in the afternoon i went to the MET (metropolitan museum of art), but i was on the wrong tube, so i got off at colombus circle (59th st) and had to walk through central park back up to 81st st. but i figured that as i'd gotten out at colombus circle, which is a bit of an attraction itself, i'd better have a look around, have some lunch and have a peek inside the temple emanu-el (jewish temple), which was all that was open to the public. it was very pretty and had a very distinctive style of tiling (kind of mosque-like, only totally different) and lead glass windows. 

back to central park until i hit the MET where i spend a good couple of hours getting lost among european painters (1300-1800) and then impressionism, post-impressionism and modernism. other exhibitions i didn't have time or energy for as this took me through to 7.30 pm. other exhibitions included however: spanish art; drawings, prints and photographs; 3-4 asian art exhibitions; musical instruments; american; african; greek and roman; egyptian; and medieval arts. makes you understand why people become members. 

on saturday, it was a walking day again. i started at union square where there was a market and for the first time since arriving in new york there was nice looking fruit (most other fruit looked like plastic), so i bought some and it tasted as nice as it looked (not like plastic, relief...). from union square i walked up to madison square where i found a diner to have some lunch (started a bit later than usual) before walking to madison square garden (not a garden, but an entertainment complex where they also organise sporting events and concerts as well as the cinemas etc.). 
behind madison square garden was penn station and the general post office, which is quite possibly the biggest post office building i've ever seen.
then i walked to the rockefeller centre (past/through the biggest store in the world, macy's on 42nd st - a whole long, block) and st patrick's cathedral before going back down to the new york library, which is quite possibly the biggest and grandest library building i've ever seen. after that, i finished by going up the empire state building. this consisted of waiting in line for xray, waiting in line to buy tickets, waiting in line for a photo against a green screen, waiting in line to go up the lift and again for the next lift. when you get up there it's really crowded and there were lots of bars obscuring the view (too many suicide attempts in the past), but..... i've been up the empire state building. (don't forget, more queing to get back down again). 

on sunday i walked through central park. i was just really tired from all the walking i'd done and looking at paintings all day in museums doesn't really give the legs a break, so i took it nice and easy as i had all day to walk through the park. i had found out however, that my mum has a cousin who lives in new york. we managed to get in touch and i had arranged to visit her late afternoon, so after a day in the park, i knocked on her door. it was really nice to meet here and her husband and daughter (6 year old). i think that means that i have a cousin, twice removed or something like that. 

on monday i went to the MoMa (museum of modern art) in the morning, where i managed two floors before i felt exhausted and overwhelmed. in the afternoon i walked past radio city music hall to times square and back to columbus circle. 

on tuesday i was due to fly back home again, so in the morning i went to seaport (which i realised i hadn't gotten round to before and you get some nice views over brooklyn bridge from there). then i took the tube back up to central park and walked from south to north all the way back to the hostel, where i met up with two people who also had to go to the airport. when we got there, we checked in and had a coffee before each going our seperate ways to catch our flights. i flew over london heathrow, and my bag managed to get lost there, so it took 2 extra days to reach amsterdam (i'd just congratulated myself when i was in new york that my bag didn't get lost even once with all my travels, bit too soon and they immediately set me right again). anyway, everything was still in there when it finally got back, so that was a bonus. 

at the weekend, both my brother and sister came to visit my parents as well, as my mum and sister celebrated their birthday. it was a good way to see some family again without having to travel for it (i know, i know, sounds a bit lazy after all that i've done). 

on tuesday after i arrived two of my friends had a baby (coincidence that it was on the same day???) and they both had boys, so the boys are obviously expected to become friends later in life (they live in the same street as well). anyway, my mum and me went to visit my friends (who were lying close to each other in hospital) that evening. the babies were so tiny... and i visited them a bit later in the week again, to make sure both my friends were okay.

now i'll leave it at that for today. promise i'll write again soon.

on sunday i left from bonaire ridiculously early in the morning (okay, not quite as early as i did from fort lauderdale) and had a 5-6 hour layover in puerto rico, easy compared to 10). i had been given a french visa waiver form to enter the us. i didn't understand it and the air flight attendent didn't have an english version, nor did she speak french, so i ended up filling it in to the best of my abilities and then had to ask the guy at immigration what the rest meant.

back in fort lauderdale my uncle took me to the riverfront of fort lauderdale. the new river is the interstate that runs from key west all the way up to new york. this area is downtown fort lauderdale, so there were some shops, restaurants and museums. we also went to the open air cinema. not to watch a film, but to walk across the market they have there. we got some apple bananas (it's weird, but they do have a kind of apple taste), peanuts and corn from the fruit and veg section there. there was loads of other stuff also, just like a chinese market only different.

the following day it was time to go to new york and after 1 hour and 20 min delay i finally arrived at laguardia airport where we had to wait 45 min for our luggage. luckily, public transport here is better organised than in the rest of america (as far as i've seen it anyway) and within another hour i was checking into the hostel.

the next morning i left early to go downtown and take the ferry to the statue of liberty and ellis island. when i got to the ferry though i still had to wait 1 hour and 45 min though (still not early enough....).  after arriving on the island where the statue stands i still had wait again for another hour before we could go into the museum and up the pedestal of the statue to enjoy some views. the museum explained a lot of the history behind the statue.

the idea came from Edouard de Laboulaye and some other french intellectuals who didn't like the rule of napoleon 3. they admired the democracy in america.. france had helped america gain independence nearly a century earlier.

mr Bartholdi, a sculptur went on to design the statue. he designed it after the roman goddess libertas, the personification of freedom. it was agreed that the french people would pay for the monument and america would pay for its foundation and pedestal. the skeleton for the statue was designed by mr. eiffel (yes, the same who designed the eiffel tower). they had to build the statue 4 times before it was up to the size they wanted it (they had to enlarge it in steps to prevent losing the proportions).

the french people struggled to raise the money for the statue, but in america the fundraising for the pedestal was diabolical. that is, until joseph pulitzer got involved. he owned the newspaper The World and started publishing lots of articles about the statue and french generosity and how the rich americans were so tight. he also named every one who donated some money to the cause in his paper. eventually, there was a pedestal and the statue could come to america where it had to be re-erected.

after all that i took the ferry to the next island, ellis island. this was the immigration island for new york and one of the busiest entrances to the us. Ellis island originally was tiny and soon the military had nearly doubled its size (they thought it was an important strategic point to defend the country against the english). it became an immigration station around 1890 shortly before the immigration laws were tightened, and the us officials had to deal with the enormous influx of immigrants.

in 1897 there was a fire and all the wooden buildings burned down, so they erected stone buildings instead. soon, the size of both the buidlings and the island weren't sufficient to cope with all the immigrants anymore, so they doubled its size and build a hospital for the sick people ( a lot of people got sick on the journey across due to its length, dirt and in some cases food deprivation). ellis island served as an immigration centre until 1954.

people who arrived were first examined for possible contagious diseases like cholera, plague, smallpox, typhoid yellow and scarlet fever, measles and diptheria. interpreters were obviously very important as many immigrants couldn't speak any english. many interpreters spoke 6-12 languages and one even 15.

as people entered the hall, they had to walk up stairs and were examined there for lameness, breathlessness or bewildered gazes (indication for mental illness). they're eyes, face, hair, neck and hands were examined also. if immigrants had trachome (eye condition) or any of the diseases procribed by the immigration laws or was too feeble or ill to earn a living they were deported.

if you needed further examination they'd write a letter on your right shoulder to indicate what you needed to be examined for. immigrants who passed the medical exam were ready for the final test from the primary line inspector who had to verify if they were 'entitled to land'. only 2% failed to be admitted.

after admittance, people had to change their money and buy a railroad ticket if they had to continue beyond new york (many came here to join family). for many people the whole process could take months if one of the family had gotten ill on board.

after getting back to manhattan afterwards i noticed how hungry i was (it was 4 pm) so i got into the first deli i saw and had some lunch. then i walked past the us customs house, new york stock exchange on wall street, the national federal memorial hall and trinity church before continuing up broadway to st paul's chapel, woolworth's building, city hall park and city hall. from there i took a subway to times square where i wanted to inform after tickets for a chorus line. they still had tickets for that evening so i ended up seeing the show. brilliant.

on thursday i took the tube downtown again and walked across brooklyn bridge to prospect park (bit far, so probably better to take the tube after the bridge and walk in the park with fresh legs), and saw quite a bit of brooklyn in the process. it's not all that different from manhattan. bit dirtier and more spacious. i took the subway back to manhattan again and got off at essex street in lower east side. there i walked along the shops until i reached bowery street. here, chinatown has already expanded into lower east side. after admiring the bowery savings back building i walked north, passed cooper square (which is triangular shaped) to astor place, which is suddenly much more upmarket and clean. from here i walked past the new york university (and had a nose in their bookstore), through washington park, which is the student meeting and playground, to 6th avenue up to jefferson courthouse and walked back through bleecker street which is the shopping street of greenwhich village. when i got to soho, i did some gallery hopping and window shopping in dolce and gabbana and other big names. i also managed to buy my sister and mum presents and they should be happy, cause i went a bit mad. it was my sister's birthday after all.

anyway, all that walking was tiring, so i needed an early night after all that.

Last wednesday i went kayacking early in the morning on Lac Bay where all the mangrove trees grow. It was a late birthday present from Desiree. The advantage of this is that the inlet of Lac Bay has much quieter water than the sea (especially since it's on the east coast where the sea is really, really rough), kayacking was never so easy.... The mangroves that grow along the edge of the water is a really good and safe place for fish to reproduce. this means that while kayacking (and trying to avoid hitting the roots and causing damage to the poor tree) there was plenty to see. we saw young parrotfish (not quite as pretty as the adult versions) and young barracuda's. all over the sand were jellyfish lying up side down with algae on their tenticles miming the effect of seaweed, except you don't want to stand in it as they sting.

we also went snorkelling for a bit through a passageway between mangroves. here we could see how reef grows onto the roots. amazing. the reef had all sorts of colours: orange, purple, green and black. they also had mussles and crabs on their roots giving a very strange effect. there were also some pretty impressive fish, not only young fish, but of course some of the adult versions as well. luckily we didn't see a reefshark though, somehow i didn't quite fancy meeting one of those. they have been known to come there and give birth also.

the mangroves that grow on bonaire (lac bay) are either red or black. the red mangroves get their freshwater by distilling the saltwater themselves (very handy trees) and get their oxygen by small warts that grow on their roots just above the water surface.  their flowers have the seeds blown away by the wind, so trees can grow fruits. from the fruits though, new roots already start growing until they're ready to drop into the water and dig themselves into the soil (sand) and sprout. clever isn't it? anyway, mangroves are very useful trees in combatting climate change as they store a lot of CO2 and produce a lot of oxygen.

on the way back to the car we found some deeper water in  a spot where normally turtles can be seen, but unfortunately they were hiding so no luck there.

on thursday Noa went to the creche so i went for a walk in the morning (early in the morning is the only time you can walk without getting severely dehydrated and sunburned) to seru largi where they have the lookout point. it took me about an hour to do the return walk. at night we went for a night snorkel. i wasn't sure how i'd feel about being in the water at night, but i surprised myself and really enjoyed it. it was almost less scary than during the day. you can only see what the lamp allows you to see. can't look around too much then. it's kind of reassuring in a strange way. very cool.

we saw quite a few different fish. at night different fish come out from during the day and of course we saw some reef. the place we went to though had had such a lot of damage from lenny that it was mainly dead coral and some old logs lying around. there were some areas with reef, but they were kind of scattered in little islands.

on saturday we wnet into town (kralendijk) to have a look around the shops there. in the evening we watched a documentary film on the carribean and californian bay reef, which was really cool. if only to see what else is out there to see and to point at things you have seen.

Last tuesday we went to a small beach called Andrea beach and did some snorkelling there for a bit. The reef here in the carribean is quite different from that in australia. In the late nineties there was a huge hurrican Lenny. the waves Lenny made caused a lot of damage to the reef. although this was a while ago, the effects are still visible. there's a lot of dead coral lying around and it's also the reason that there's less variety in the coral.

apparently the deeper coral hasn't been affected as much by the waves and you still get the variety and prettiness there. of course, you need to go diving for that. anyway, apart from coral there were also lots of different types of parrot fish and 4 eye and other sorts of fish. parrot fish all start life as a female and end life as a male, so they always see both sides of the story. could be useful as well as confusing. as they change from female to male they also change their colour pattern, making it even more complex to recognize the different parrot fish.
i also ran into some jellyfish. luckily they were of the local variety, so i had some red itchy patches for a few hours, but had no other side effects. on wednesday, I joined Desiree as she had to work on Klein Bonaire (Little Bonaire), which is a small island just of the west coast of Bonaire. Nobody lives there, there's no buildings there, just sand, coral and shrubs.
there's cruise ships that stop on Bonaire on a near to daily basis and they offer several tours, one over the island, one to take a boat to go snorkelling and one to Klein Bonaire. all you can really do there is go snorkelling, but it's really pretty snorkelling there. i went snorkelling also and in between times chatted to Desiree and the others that work there. they provide the tourists with snorkelling gear and refreshments. it was a lovely day, but some people thought it was too windy. personally i thought that only once when i got sea water in my mouth due to a high wave. it was also quite cloudy at times, making it more difficult to see the reef underwater and more easy to get sunburnt as you don't think it's that hot.
on thursday we had a quiet day. desiree had to work in the morning and i was babysitting. in the afternoon we needed to do some cleaning and laundry. needs to be done.
on friday it was good friday and i went for a walk in the morning. although desiree still had to work the morning, peter had the day off and looked after noa while i was out. in the afternoon the four of us took the car and drove to the south side of kralendijk. we first came past a lake with lots of flamingo's in it (chogogo's in papiamento) before passing the airport. beyond there lie the salt condenser basins (zoutpannen). they go on and on for miles. the first basin was a purple-pink kind of colour with white foam around the edges and as we progressed the colour of each basin slowly turned a lighter shade of pink till we got to the pier where the ships come to get the salt. opposite the pier, in between two basins you can see pyramid style salt towers which are a painfully reflective white.
beyond the pier the shades of the basins are more in the blue-green range. you get to the white slavehouses and obelisk. it was one of four obelisks they had to tell ships where to go and get the salt from in the old days. the most northern one was blue, then white, red and finally the most southern obelisk was orange (anyone see the pattern...). the slavehouses were tiny little huts sleeping two. the slaves stayed here during the week. they lived up in rincon (which is in the north part of the island) and would walk down on a monday morning (it would take them about 7 hours to walk down) and worked at the salt condenser basins all week and returned home on friday. the stone huts were built in 1850, before then they were made of lime and had leafs for roofs. apart from the white slave houses there were also yellow ones next to the orange obelisk.
on the south edge of the island there's lighthouse which is the oldest one on the island and stems from 1838. we went back up the other side of the island along the east coast until we reached lac bay. we stopped for a bit here at sorobon beach and then drove around the mangroves that surround lac bay. it looks remarkably green here.
after this we returned back to the house as we'd been gone all afternoon.
on saturday morning we took a roadtrip up the northern part of the island. we took the road along the west coast up to the gotomeer (goto lake). there's a lot of dive and snorkelplaces up along the west coast and we stopped at a few to enjoy the views we got there. one of the sites we went past was andrea beach where we were earlier in the week. along the way up to the lake we also visited the ruins of karpata mansion, which is for sale. so anyone who likes to have a project for major renovations, knock yourself out. it's got gorgeous views.
anyway, we ended up at the gotomeer which had lots of flamingo's in them and some of them were posing for us. perfect for the camera. then we went through to rincon, which is a small village and took the road to get into the kunuku (or knut) whcih is the countryside of bonaire. the countryside is filled with cacti and dividivi trees. the tallest cacti are about 4-5 metres high and have as many branches as a tree. the dividivi tree is very thorny and grows sideways due to the wind and sun. we came back down the coast to pass boka onima (where we were the week before) and went all the way down the coast till we got to the lighthouse on the most easterly point of the island around boka kanoa or boka rincon area (?).
this lighthouse we could go into and climb up, which we did, before taking the car and return to the house. we'd been gone all afternoon again.
on sunday we had to get up early as we'd planned to go to the national park washington-slagbaai which is in the northern tip of the island (yes, we did go up all the way to the north of the island due to the national park being there), north of the gotomeer and rincon. the first thing we did when we got there was hike/climb up the brandaris. on the way over to the brandaris however we came past salina matijs, which is a salt water lake or was rather. it had completely dried up and all you could see of it now was the leftover lining of white salt.
climbing the brandaris took us most of the morning. it's 241 metres high and gives you a view over the whole island (expect where vision just doesn't reach quite that far). after some light lunch in the presence of lots of leguana's begging for food, we went to have a look at a blow hole called suplado. then we went to the a window in seru bentana where we climbed up. on top of the window grew a cactus of the circular bowl variety.
a little drive further we got to pos mangel, which is a small freshwater pond. here we saw some really big leguana's. normally you mainly see young ones and teenagers, which are usually not much longer than 30 cms. these were huge though and had spikes on their backs.
otherwise we passed salina bartol (salt water lake) and salina wayaka (again, salt water lake) before getting to salina slagbaai (guess what, again salt water lake). at slagbaai there was a little beach where quite a few people were swimming.

american towns and city's are all rather, spaced out. everything is so far away you can actually begin to understand why americans drive everywhere. the shops are often so big you can't actually see what the next shop is and you can't be bothered to walk the distance only to find out it's not what you're looking for. so unless someone's told you there's something you need (e.g. supermarket), you just can't be bothered to explore.
anyway, the hostel in orlando was supposed to be really close to everything, but it took 1.5-2 hours to get to my seminar (and that for 11 miles, i could almost walk it in that time). however, before i had my seminar i had a day where i could go to disney world. i decided to go to MGM studios. i had already seen a smaller version of magic land in hongkong and it seemed different enough from universal studios in hollywood.
i planned to be there around 9 am, but due to the wonderful bus system we had to wait half an hour for a bus to show up. so i didn't get there until 9.30 am. anyway, when i got in the highschool musical show had just started, so that was handy. then i did the great movie ride, which went past scenes of some of the famous movies disney made over the years showing marylin monroe, gene hackman, clint eastwood and many others.
after that i walked all the way to the back of the park where i did the studio backlot tour. three volunteers got drenched when they showed us some of the techniques of how they shot pearl harbour (they did wear rain clothes) before we got onto a trolley and were carried around various sets, Herbie and special effects of a burning and water extravaganza.
then i watched the muppet vision 3 D show, the star wars flight simulator and the indiana jones stunt show. in the last show they had harrison ford's stunt double perform some of the stunts toether with lots of other stunt doubles and actors.
then i walked across to beauty and the beast live stage show (shortenend version of course) and did the tower of terror (lift goes up and down and across very fast) as well as the rock 'n roller coaster starring aerosmith. this last ride was definitely the most exciting ride in the park, so of course i came back for it later in the day again.
i had a look at walt disney's one man dream before it was time to go across the park and go to the lights, motors, action! show in which they performed car stunts and then showed us how they did it and filmed it.
at the end of the day there was the fantasmic! show, which was nearly cancelled due to severe weather (about 3-4 thunderstorms in the air) before it did go ahead. there was lots of light, laser, dancing fountains, special effecs and of course all the animation figures such as mickey mouse, donald duck, minnie and daisy, goofy, beauty and the beast, snowhite and her prince, the evil stepmoher etc etc.
on saturday and sunday i had my seminar for chiropractic which meant getting up ridiculously early to take 3 buses and not getting back till very late and in between time doing lots of paying attention and practising and of course getting to know some collegues of this way of the atlantic.
on monday morning i headed back to fort lauderdale as my grandparents had arrived the day before so we had some time before i was flying to bonaire on wednesday.
the flight to bonaire consisted of two approximately 2 hour flights and a 10 hour wait in between at san juan airport in puerto rico. bit trying, especially when my second flight was delayed by 15 minutes (nothing of course in the big scheme of things). we still landed at the scheduled time in bonaire though at the cutest and tiniest airport. desiree and peter and their little girl noa were waiting for me once i got my bag.
desiree had taken the following morning off, so we had the chance to catch up and noa could get used to me. on friday morning desiree had to work and noa and me tried to swim in the pool (noa is one and a half years old) at her work place as well as playing a bit. noa can play with the ground, her fet and pebbles, so she's easily amused and didn't really need the toys we'd taken for her.
on saturday we had to do some shopping in the morning and for dinner we went to a lookout point over bonaire on a hill called seru grandi, where we had a picnic and watched the sunset. it was a bit cloudy, so we couldn't see as much as they wanted to show me, but we could still see quite a bit. apparently, there was also a dutch celebrity having a picnic (Henny Huisman for those who know. he's got a house on the island), but i didn't recognize him. so i missed it.
sunday morning i went for an early morning walk before it got too hot. i felt i needed some exercise. there was quite a lot of traffic on the road for a sunday morning and i was offered a lift about 5-6 times (kind of defies the point of exercising, doesn't it) and church started around 8.30 am as i walked past. so basically, bonairians like to get up early, even on a sunday. in the afternoon, we went to the east coast of bonaire to a place called boka onima, where the native indians made rock drawings in the past. they celebrated different cycles of the moon and used some of the huge rocks for astrology. at christmas time they come to a cave where there's a hole in the ceiling through which the christmas star shines once a year. they celebrate it even now and perform nativity plays in the cave. looking into the sea at the inlet, we saw some parrot fish and a turtle, and on the rocks there were lots of fossils.
on monday i was baby sitting noa in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the beach. we forgot to take the snorkelling gear though, which was a shame, but we'll try again. in the evening we went to the beach to go star gazing.

 I didn't realise how long it had been since i'd written. san diego seems like such a long time ago now. on the friday i went to mexico. i didn't realise before i left that it would rain all day, so that was a bit of a wet surprise. it certainly made the day less enjoyable and as i had a bus to catch i couldn't turn around and quickly get changed. we went to a town just across the border in mexico called tijuana. it seemed very much like an american town, except everything was in spanish instead of english and spanish. they pick on tourists like they did in china, and of course being blonde and about a foot taller than the average mexican, i kind of stood out as a tourist. because it was so windy and rainy it was rather uncomfortable to be outside and i ended up going back after lunchtime (lunch is at 2.30 pm of course), so when i got back i could warm up again under a hot shower. 
on saturday it was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. it's very strange how the weather changes from one day to the next. anyway, i went to balboa park where i had a lovely walk for two hours before entering the san diego zoo. i decided that if i was to go to a zoo anywhere it had to be here. it's worldfamous. as i'd gotten a bit thirsty i had a drink while two peacocks kept me company. it was lovely to be away from the city and see the monkeys play and other animals perform their funny habits, whatever they may be at the time. i don't normally like zoo's as i don't like caged animals, but san diego zoo is not too bad in that respect and they have a wildlife park as well which is further outside of san diego. they also have quite a few animals you either normally don't see in zoo's or i had never heard of before. one of the sunbears got one of his paws stuck between two tree branches and tumbled up side down. very funny.
on sunday i went to coronado island despite the fact it was raining again (starting to see a pattern there). this time i knew it was coming, so i was prepared. it was only about 10 mins by ferry the island which is not really an island at all, but a peninsula. the main attraction on the island was th coronado hotel, which was built in 1880 (or thereabouts). it's one of the few hotels from that period that are still inuse, most of them didn't make it after WW2. the coronado hotel has revamped itself though and is now a listed building and protected as a historical building. they have in true american style lots of little designer shops in the hotel. you're own little mall. 
i actually ended up watching the musical Hello, Dolly there by a local company. i decided i might as well since it was still raining. it was a typical american musical and the performances were pretty good. when i got out it had finally stopped raining, so i could still see coronado island in the sunshine (makes it a lot prettier). 
on the monday i realised i'd done pretty much everything so i did a harbour cruise, which was very navy orientated as the navy is stationed here and has been for many years. i also saw some sealions though, they're so big and smelly and they were sunbathing (and probably making themselves more smelly in the process, but hey they looked like they enjoyed themselves). there were also some interesting birds, but i can't remember their names and couldn't get them on photo as my camera's not quite good enough. in the afternoon i had another walk in balboa park again, there was still plenty of the park i hadn't seen yet. 
on tuesday i had the morning before catching the train to LA, so i lost myself in Macy's and didn't buy anything. the bus from LA union station took as long as the train had taken from san diego to LA, but finally i did arrive at the hostel in hermosa beach. i wanted to be on the beach this time, to get away from the city a little bit (and it was close to the airport), but i had to go into the city two days running, so maybe that wasn't the wisest decision. hermosa beach is lovely if you can just spend every day locally, on the beach or something. 
this time i did manage to get to the Getty museum, which i failed to go to last time i was in LA (the bus stopped a third of the way over???). it's absolutely huge, there's so much to see.
on saturday i flew out to fort lauderdale, florida where my aunt and uncle live. my uncle came to pick me up from the airport and as i hadn't had breakfast yet (they didn't sell veggie option on plane), i got some brunch (at 3 pm). by the time my aunt came home from work i was hungry again, which was good since it was dinnertime. 
on sunday we went to fort lauderdale beach which was very nice. it was nice to be in the water again, even though apparently they have box jelly fish here as well. not a good thought. my skin had paled a bit while i had immersed myself in the snow for so many weeks (don't worry, it was still quite a bit darker than the normal whiteness i carry), so i managed to get a little sunburned despite the sunblock. 
on monday i walked with my aunt while she brought round the post tot he people of north lauderdale. it was really interesting to see how the post works. my aunt has the longest route of the post men/women at her office. she has to walk about 10 miles on her route. 
when we started out it was chucking it down. within seconds we were wet. luckily, we had raincoats with us and after a while it cleared up and the sun came out, so we could dry up again. along the way we met som cats who wanted to be stroked. we didn't meet charlie, the talkative parrot, because he was indoors, but my aunt phoned me the following day, so i still managed to get in a chat with charlie. have to say it was slightly onesided (he was talking all the time). of course we also left a trail of barking dogs behind us, as is only fitting for the post service. 
i felt a bit lost though, i completely lost my orientation with all the streets looking similar and having similar names (e.g. NW66 ST, NW67 ST, NW66 CT, NW66 Ave; you get the idea).
i caught a cough when i was in LA and it was slowly developing into something worse (i suppose it's a cold, but it's a weird one without runny nose). so on tuesday i was knocked out after i hadn't been able to sleep due to my cough. wednesday i started to feel better again until i went for a swim in the pool.
today i travelled to orlando by greyhound again, it was more flexible than amtrak.

so, i didn't even realise that last thursday was valentines day. happy valentines still to everyone. here in america they send valentines cards to their parents, grandparents, friends, children etc etc. basically, anyone you might care about. novelty. 
anyway, after my last entry i left for the train. i knew it was 1-1.5 hours delayed, so i didn't bother showing up until an hour late anyway, but then the train still didn't come. so we (there was quite a bunch of us waiting, mostly people returning from skiing/snowboarding trips) phoned amtrak (train company) and they told us after 14 minutes that the train was expected within the half hour. that time came and went, and we were getting really cold (it was approx. -10, in celcius), so we phoned again. that's when we were told that the train was delayed by 4 hours (another 2 hours to wait) due to an avalanche. that's what happens when you sent trains through the rocky mountains i suppose. anyway, first thing i did was phone the hostel in denver. they said no problem, you can still come (found out later there was a party on, so the guys at the desk didn't mind staying up).  me and a girl called diana decided to find some warmth in a restaurant on the corner. the train finally came around 9.15 pm and we got to denver okay around 11.30 pm. what a day...
the following day i went into denver to the colorado history museum. a lot of italians settled in colorado. initially it was mainly italians from the north and they came because they didn't agree with the politics in italy (italy was becoming one country instead of many small republics then). later, southern italians also arrived. these were generally poorer and didn't have a lot in common with earlier arrivals, so they needed to work on their differences and smooth over some difficulties. the italians liked colorado cause the climate is very similar to northern italy, so they created their own little italy away from home. this was the main exhibition. there were also exhibits about ski soldiers in WW2 and the native american history in colorado. unfortunately, i didn't have time for the last exhibit as i was meeting up with diana again. we ended up spending the rest of the day together. 
i had been trying to figure out how to get to yellowstone, but they don't do public transport (americans don't like public transport, so it's difficult to get from one place to another without a car) over here and the car hire companies wouldn't let me drop off a car near yellowstone, so uncooperative. 
anyway, a girl from the hostel asked if i wanted to join her on her trip to colorado springs. so i decided that maybe that was just as good an idea. on the way over we stopped at roxborough park where we did a bit of a hike over ice while it was snowing. roxborough park is right at the edge between the warmer southern climate and the colder northern climate, which results in a greater variety of species in the area. there were many rocks again as well. it's always amazing to see what shapes they managed to be carved into by the simple process of erosion. 
anyway, i ended up staying a few days in colorado springs. we (ashley and me) were staying on someones couch (ashley is a member of couchsurfing.com). the guy was called david and he was a student at the local university and he shared a flat with a fellow student jake. we (ashley and me again) went to visit manitou springs, which is right next to colorado springs and they have naturally carbonated spring water. the springs were really popular long before they were discovered by the europeans with the native americans. the mineral in the water give each spring a really distinctive flavour, and each one has been formed differently depending on the route the water took coming down from the mountain. the water comes from snow and rain water from pikes peak and surrounding mountains. it soaks intot he rocks and becomes heated and mineralises. then it flows up the Ute's pass into cavernous limestone where it becomes carbonated. 
the water takes thousands of years to make this journey down to the springs in manitou, so you drink water approximately 20,000 years old. this also means it's free of industrial and atmospheric contamination. the native americans thought the spring waters were medicinal (probably due to many of them being rather bitter and sulphuric tasting, although apparently that's due to iron and copper apparently) and they also believed the waters were a gift from the great spirit manitou. 
when europeans arrived, they commercialised it, as they do by bottling the water and making the town a health resort. it was very popular during the tuberculosis epidemic and many people came here and died. apparently there's still a lot of ghosts from that time haunting the town. 
nowadays manitou springs is a really cute old fashioned american town where it's considered selling out when the visitor centre uses starbucks coffee beans to make their coffee (no chains at all...) and bears visit the locals in summer to rummage through their garbage. some of the springs are called after native american tribes (e.g. navajo, cheyenne, ute's chief) or people who were important in some way (e.g. wheeler - who owned the spring and donated it to the town -, and stratton), or they called it after the dominating flavour (e.g. iron springs geyser, soda spring).
we also went to visit the garden of the gods which lies in between manitou and colorado springs. the garden of the gods is a red sandstone park. many formations are over 300 million years old and were sculpted over time by erosion. there were quite a few rock climbers about despite the cold weather. i know my poor fingers wouldn't last if i were to climb in that kind of weather. they need gloves....
on tuesday i travelled to albuquerque and this time i determined i should spent a little time in the town i had passed through twice before already and still hadn't seen any more of than the bus station. so i booked to stay in the hostel overnight and i visited the old town, where they still have the spanish/mexican style of buildings (pueblo) and lots of little souvenir/jewellery shops with native american works in them and had lunch at one of the restaurants, new mexican style...
i also visited the indian pueblo cultural centre where they had a lot fo the native american history again. just to recap:
it started with the emergence. the place of emergence was the sipapu (which they had in their kiva's). according to legend they travelled through 4-5 underworlds before arriving in this world. 
the native americans revere the mother earth and all women as her representatives ( how refreshing compared to most other cultures). in pre-european times they were nomadic hunters and gatherers during the ice age. over time, as many large game animals disappeared, they started to hunt smaller animals and domesticate certain plants like corn, beans, squash and cotton. initially they lived in pithouses like we saw in mesa verde, and as we know they developed their building techniques over time to build stone houses there also. 
after they left mesa verde, people migrated to the rio grande river valley (the rio grande river lies along albuquerque) where they build 3-5 storey free standing houses. these were defensively build to protect themselves against the nomadic raiders which by then entered the southwest. 
when the spanish came they named the indian villages they encountered pueblo's and the name stuck. the indians by then already had an internal trading system of rawhide dress, decorative beadwork, silver necklaces, turquoise, handcrafted seashells, and parrot and other exotic bird plumage. the spanish came looking for the seven cities of gold in 1539 but didn't find any (the golden coloured sand with pieces of crystal in it gave it a golden hue,that's all). after extensive exploration, they didn't return to settle until 1598. 
the spanish were largely in control, except for a 12 year period where the indians took back control over the area, but the spanish returned with all their weaponry and took power again. in 1821, mexico separated itself from spain and mexico was split by the united states only a few years later. 
apart from native american history, it also had exhibition from indian matriarchs who were important artists. they really helped to develop and promote native american art. very interesting and beautiful paintings and pottery mainly. 
in the evening i took the train from albuquerque to san diego where i arrived the following day around 11 am. although i was very tired i wanted to try and find out about a few things imight be able to do while i'm here so i ended up going to the old town and spend the afternoon walking around all the cute little shops. and now it's early bedtime, need to catch up on some sleep. night night....