All a blur

Big Tree
Originally uploaded by Tracie Milner.

Life here is nothing but a blur. The days are turning into weeks and the weeks into months, and now we're really leaving Perth in less than two days. I'm terribly sad because I don't want things to change, and yet I'm excited for the new adventure. I feel like I have a million different emotions at once and it's overwhelming at times.

Last week, like Gary mentioned, we took a trip to the South of Western Australia avec nos amis francais, Stephane, Cedric et Alex. In one week we covered Kalgoorlie and the "Super Pit" gold and nickel mine, beautiful Esperance and the even more beautiful Cape Le Grand, Albany, the Karri Tree forest near Pemberton, and Margaret River. We climbed hills and trees, went in caves, swam in two different oceans, saw parrots, kangaroos, snakes, lizards, emus, rabbits, pelicans, and echidnas. We stayed in a rented campervan and everyday was an adventure. Needless to say, we had an amazing time. I'm not smart enough to post more than one photo at once, so check out our flickr links on the left for some photos. We took several hundred shots each day, so the few we put on flickr are only a taste of what we saw and did.

When we got back to Perth on Friday, we found ourselves homeless. We thought we might stay in our old appartment, but as luck would have it it was already rented out. After about an hour of hanging out on the lawn, we decided to give Gary's boss a call. He and his wife took us out to dinner last week and offered to let us stay with them, although I hadn't really planned on taking them up on the offer. They are some of the nicest people I've ever met and staying with them has been lovely. I think we've slept better the last few nights than we have in the past 5 months.

Saturday we bought our train tickets for the Indian Pacific, which goes clear from Perth to Sydney. We are only riding as far as Adelaide (a two day journey) and changing trains there and heading up to Ayer's Rock. It's going to be scorching hot up there, but I'm excited to go. After, we plan to head back down to Adelaide, change trains and head for Melbourne. I am already mostly set up to work in Melbourne, I just have to get registered in the state of Victoria. Shortly after getting to Melbourne, we plan to head to Tasmania with Stephane for a few weeks for some more adventures. Stephane and Cedrique are also riding the train to Adelaide on wednesday, so it should be fun.

Today was one of the hottest days we've had in Perth. It was 30 degrees in the shade. They have started putting up Christmas decorations in the city which I find quite amusing, given the toasty warm weather. It doesn't feel like Christmas without the snow, although I don't miss it one bit. It's sure going to be odd spending Christmas at the beach though.

Well, I have so much more to write, but Gary and I have to get back to our host family's house for supper.

Hope everyone back home is doing well. I'll email when I can. I fell like I hardly have enough time in a day to do all the things I want to. Tomorrow is my last full day in Perth and I hope to make the most of it.

-Tracie...so little time