We saw camels

Wild ones. A whole herd of them.

So, no, we didn't actually ditch the GB. Really, would I have wanted to miss out on going somewhere I've wanted to visit since... sixth grade? Probably not. So yeah. Ayers Rock? Way awesome. The Anangu name for it is Uluru, so that's what I'll be calling it. Try to keep up. And the Olgas? Kata Tjuta.

Aren't those some exciting words? Yes, yes they are. They're even more exciting with an Aussie accent. Allow me to enlighten you. Uluru. Actually, it's pronounced exactly the way you would think. oo-loo-roo. With the primary stress on the last syllable, and the secondary on the first. Heh.

Anangu. I didn't really hear the NG pronounced very much. And because I'm in Oz, the word has invisible R's. ar-na-n(g)oo. Stress at the beginning. Ok, just one invisible R.

Hey guess what! Kata Tjuta has an invisible R, too! ka-ta choo-ter. Heheh. Wee bit o' stress on ka, mainly on choo. And it's kind of a combination of CH and J. Hard to explain, but play around with it, and I think you'll get what I mean.

So we had an incredibly awesome tour guide. No, Inarguably Awesome. His name was Ryan, and if you ever go to Uluru, I'll give you his last name so you can try to find him, but I'm not going to just put it out on the internet. That would be rude.

Anyhoo, while we were there we did a stargazing tour-thingy. It was great. I can now officially find south! :D We also did both sunrise and sunset tours. Quite amazing. It's one of those things that it's really hard to describe without getting caught in all sorts of clichés. So I won't. Not today, anyway. But I will say that everyone needs to put Uluru on their list of places to go. Everyone. No exceptions.

When we finally flew back to Cairns, Max and I were pretty excited. Almost on our own! We had gelato and ramen for dinner (haha), plus some very tasty ginger beer. Finally, finally, the GB went to bed. And you know what that means? Freedom! We had a 6am flight to Brisbane, which meant a 4:30 taxi, which meant getting up at 4... which meant why bother going to bet at all, right? Surely you see the logic. We had thoughts of going to the gay bar in search of a manly pink drink, but it was too far to walk. So instead we went to Gilligan's, a local hostel-resort-bar-club-thing. Loud music, lots of booze, crowded, good fun.

CRAZY OLD MAN. Hilarious. He was already completely drunk by the time we got there around 11. Between his very thick accent, the music, and his total inebriation, I didn't understand a single word he said for the entire evening. He would just shout things at us and then laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world. So we would just nod and laugh, too. And then he would try to make a serious face (failed every time 'cause he couldn't stop smiling) and hold his finger to his lips. Since I haven't got a clue what secret we were supposed to be keeping, I'm pretty sure it's safe. Excellent entertainment.

You know what else is excellent? Free booze. Especially in a country where everything is expensive. Stupid useless US dollar. Argh. I digress. Free poison. We met a few people and bonded with them over the insanity of the old man. This one girl kept telling me to have fun (which I was), and eventually started giving me drinks. She would drink about half of one, and then tell me to drink the rest while she went to get another. Hahaha. Needless to say, I was wasted by the end of the evening... slash I was still wasted when I went back to the hotel to hastily pack before the taxi arrived... and was still wasted in the taxi... and in the airport (that was fun)... and finally on the plane. It's definitely a good way to be able to sleep on an airplane, but the downside was that I slept through breakfast. Damn. Ah well.

Despite the massive partying that had ended only a few hours before, we managed to figure out the train AND navigate from the station to the hostel. Only to discover, of course, that we couldn't check in for another three hours. Figures. But no worries. Checked in eventually, spent most of the day in a daze, then slept for a very long time. Lovely.

To bring you up to the present probably won't be that exciting, so I'll just overview it. The hostel is nice enough. Bunk is the name, if ever you're in the area. Nothing too spectacular, but it's a hostel, so... and it's not a dump. This is by far the most important information I've learned over the last week or so: Want to make friends? Make cookies! It works so well, it's not even funny. Oh man, cookies sound good right now. Lucky for me, we have cookie dough waiting for us in the fridge back at Bunk. Heehee.

Well, with that thought, I doubt I'm going to squeeze any more information out of my brain. All I can think about is cookies. Mmmmm... so warm and tasty... and no eggs! No, seriously, we didn't have eggs, so we had to do without for this batch. It works just fine. Really. Just add a little milk instead. 3-5 tablespoons should do ya.

Now I'm just going to shout about a few things, and then we can all go to bed. Or eat cookies.
Shout: Go see Batman! I think I've been pretty clear on this. Go. See. It. Also, I've just seen The Bank Job, and it's brilliant. So go see that, too. But see Batman first.

I think I'm done shouting now. Time for sweet, sweet chocolate-chippy goodness.

Cheers.