Back in the USA

Slowly getting re-acclimated to the time change (I am feeling 12 hours off, which is not a good thing), the weather (much hotter and more humid) and the noise (there were not audible cars where I was, nor the wealth of bird/insect/amphibian noises at night like here). If you are a FaceBook friend, I have posted about 50 pictures there so far. Soon I will build a webpage of just about everything I can think of. 24 days is a lot of text, plus a lot of pictures.

The trip was overall amazing. Words really don't convey the kind of experience I had, not just in meeting people, experiencing a different culture and lifestyle, living pretty rough far from "civilization", or even traveling so far.

Over the course of the trip I saw kangaroos, emus, various cockatoos, sea snakes, green and loggerhead turtles, dolphins (more than I care to have seen), tiger sharks, whale sharks, dugongs, eagles, coral reefs, humpback whales and probably other things that seemed "normal" that I forget aren't typical in the US. In Australia 95% of the roadkill is kangaroo, so seeing a squirrel in the road last night was odd.

The landscape I saw in Western Australia (the biggest and least populated of the Australian states) was mostly flat, covered in scrub brush, rarely with hills or taller trees. Some was cultivated for wheat, olives, or pastureland for cows, sheep or goats. In some areas the road stretches flat without a curve from horizon to horizon. "Cities" like Exmouth, Denham, Kalbarri tend to be a couple of streets with most of the businesses, easily walked. Everywhere you can buy a meat pie, usually several flavors, for a few dollars - kept hot in a little oven-like thing. Most places along the coast have fish and chips, and the better ones let you choose what kind of fish - from whiting to shark to snapper to cod - and is relatively inexpensive. Kids are apalled by the idea of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - they prefer Vegimite (which I loved from the first taste, which nobody could believe) and cheese. In fact peanut butter is not the ubiquitous spread like in the US.

Overwhelmingly the people were friendly, outgoing and helpful. I got to do just about everything I set out to do, including snorkeling with the whale sharks, plus unexpected sights on the bus ride back to Perth. I would love to see more of the country the next trip, but would also like to re-visit a lot of the places I experienced.