The Day I Hopped the Fence

6/14/16

I woke up early AGAIN. I'm really getting sick of waking up early/not being able to fall asleep/not being able to stay asleep once I finally do fall asleep (lol jokes on me because the reason I'm typing this out right now is because of the reasons just given and it's like 5 months later lol). It's really getting old, especially since these days I don't have very much time to sleep to start with.
Once it was finally time for me to leave (which was still really early), I made my way down to the train station (sorry these area bit out of order, the train station in Perth, Australia).
Thanks to staring at the screenshots of Google Maps for a long while, I didn't get lost this time! It's actually really close by. I love how centralized my hotel is, even if I do believe it's haunted.
At the train station, I noticed everyone had printed their entire confirmation email (like 6 pages) even tho I only printed the first page which was like the ticket part. I started to internally freak out a little bit. Then I saw some people with only one page so I attempted to calm down but then I saw the one pagers' had a barcode on them. Mine didn't. Cue that begging praying that God can't possibly like yet I continue to do it anyways. Grrreat. Then we start boarding and I notice the ticket collector isn't scanning anything. Bless him. He just checks the name off the list.
Was it me or was he American? The more tired I am the harder it is to tell and I don't know if he has an American accent or if I've unintentionally slipped back into the Aussie thing that sometimes came out without my knowledge/consent in middle school (once people started pointing it out, I just called it a redneck/country/Texas/southern English accent lol). Mind you, middle school was way before my first trip to this great country; I guess it was just ingrained in me. Could probably blame the Wiggles or those kid songs I grew up on that I recently found out are actually Aussie songs and no one in America has a clue what I'm talking about or what a kookaburra is. Now that I think about it, the fact it's in a gum tree probably should've tipped me off. Oh well.
So anyways, back to the train. So the guy must've read my mind (they are seriously so good at that here!) because randomly, he comes into the car and is like "New Jersey, USA" and I'm just like yeah, American. Ride on, brotha, ride on (okay that last part I just added while writing in my blog book but I was pretty hype he was from the states because that meant I wasn't going crazi[er]).
I get off at my stop in Byford, and it's literally in the middle of no where. Like where are the taxis? Which way do I go? I've no idea.
I see a sign for a parks and rec building so I start in that direction, but after a while I turn around. I use my roaming data to try to get an Uber, but it isn't loading. I see a church with lots of cars and figure I'll go ask them, but some lady pulls up and asks if I need help. I asked her how to get to the koala park, hoping she'd give me a ride because I know it's only a mile away. Instead, she just tels me to go over the railway tracks and it's 10 minutes walk down the road. I ask her if I can because there's a big barb wire fence surrounding the tracks (and lots of no trespassing sings) and she's like "yeah, people do it all the time" so I'm like "okay thanks" and she leaves.
So I make sure nobody's looking and there's no train coming and I cross the tracks. It's not suicidal if you don't want to die, right? Woo, made it. Now for the fence. I walk along it for a while, yeah it goes all the way around. The gate is probably locked but I'll check it anyways. Yes, it is chained and locked and even I can't squeeze through. Okay, I'll have to climb. To make sure I'm not seen so I don't go to jail or get deported or fined, I got back into the wooded section. Oh great, there's a pole I can use as a step and part of the fence is already bent. I throw my suitcase over and hop onto the pole. I try to bend the fence more so as to put the pokey things down so they won't get me. It works a little, not a lot, but it'll have to do. I slip my head through, no problem. I get one leg mostly through, but from this angle it's impossible to bring in the other. Back under goes my head. I'm very thankful for my big coat, for without it the barbed wire on top of the fence would've destroyed me. So now my first leg is through. The second doesn't fit in the little hole of bent down spikes and has been speared so that my pants are caught. I can't keep going or my favorite jeans will rip. So I kick my shoe off and squeeze my toes around the fencing to stay on while I use my hands to free myself. Finally I unhook my pants from all caught parts and ducking back under, I free myself and jump down onto my suitcase. Thank God the fence wasn't turned on so I didn't get electrocuted.
Woo, I did it. Now that I think about it, crossing railroad tracks and hopping barbed fences was probably lowkey on my bucket list I've never written. I mean it's in like every movie; it's like a right of passage for livin in the middle of nowhere as a teenager. Well I live in the middle of nowhere and I'm kinda a teenager and I finally hopped a fence across the tracks and didn't go to jail. Looking down at myself, I check my body. Besides a little scratch on my hand, I think I got away scratch free. Awesome. Time to go to the koalas.
I'm walking and I'm walking. There's a sign on the road for some bandicott thing. What is that? Idk. Keep walking. Man I wish I brought that water bottle. Oh well. Keep walking. Are we almost there yet? Awe man. Another sign for that b thing; this one with a picture - a rat! AW NO! If I see a rat, I'm gonna scream so loud and jump so high imma land back in America! Ya girl does not do rats. Aw naw man. No way. Walk faster. Oh look, a brown sign. That's probably it. Keep going. You can do this. You did not just climb a barb fence to not get your pic with a koala. Keep walking.
Finally I'm there. Yes. Man this is a long driveway. Omg a wallaby! Two of them! Just chillin. How awesome. I keep walking. Finally I'm at the gate. I open the gate just to be greeted by two alpacas (llamas?). Amazing. I wish I could spend all day or at least a few minutes here but I'm already running way late. In, picture, out. So I don't stay to play with the animals and I go to the entrance to get my koala pic.
The lady takes me into some room to wait for her to bring me a koala. I see all the koalas, sleeping. I wish I was sleeping. I see her go get a eating koala and bring him to me. She makes me wear a vest then hands me eucalyptus and the koala. I don't appreciate wearing the vest because although it protects me from his claws, it totally covers up my shirt and I wore this shirt on purpose because I also wore it the last time I held a koala. It's my koala shirt (even tho it has a zebra on it). Man. Whatever. There's no real photographer/camera so the lady takes pictures for me on my phone. I've upgrade from just holding a koala to feeding a koala in the past 4 years. I take the eucalyptus into the same hand I'm holding Jimbo the koala in so I can take selfies with him. No offense to the lady but the selfies turned out better.
Okay great, I got my picture, now it's time to go. The lady at the desk is calling me a taxi while I try Uber again. Although I'm using the data charges, I have better luck this time and soon an Uber picks me up to rush me to the airport.
I don't like talking to people. That's not an unknown fact. But this guy is talking to me and it's nice. It's friendly talk and nobody's talked to me in so long. Then we get going well and no more talk. Man, my ankle hurts. Maybe the barbed wire did hurt me. Let me check. Nope, it's fine. We keep driving. A while later, my leg starts to hurt. Ah, my ankle was fine, must be mental.
Finally we make it to the airport. I already have my boarding pass on my phone (I knew I'd be late) so I just check my gate and go. There's not a soul in security. Lovely. I go through and the machine goes crazy. I've been selected for the random screening. Great. Why does this always happen to me? And always when I'm not a million hours early. But the lady knows I'm clean so it goes super fast and soon I'm at my gate.
The ATMs downstairs weren't working and I need money for my shuttle to Coral Bay, but thankfully there are two ATMs near my gate. The first one rejects both of my cards. The next finally works. Mmm I smell fried chicken. They feed us on Qantas, but if I see fried chicken, I'm gonna get some. Oh, what's Red Rooster? I check it out. It's like Australian not as good Chickfila! Yes! So I get a crispy chicken. I eat it all before we are called to board the flight.
As I'm eating, my leg continues to hurt. So I give in and check it. It's bleeding. Like kind of a lot. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Score 1 for the fence. (Update 5 months later: there are scars on my leg. I'm very proud)



Once they announce boarding, we walk for what seems like forever to get to the plane. It's a 100, so quite small but larger than the one I took to Christchurch. The plane's not very full; I'm glad they didn't cancel it. They feed us meatball paninis, crackers, cheese, and drinks. The flight is less than two hours, domestic. & we get meals. I love Qantas!
I read about different ways to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef in my Qantas magazine in the seatback pocket. At Haggerstone Island, one of the private island way of enjoyments, the article talks about "but the family - which grew with the arrival of son Sam in 1994 and daughter Tasha three years later"! Uh, hi, hello. My name is Tasha and I was born three years after 1994. Man I have to go there and meet my twin one day.
Outside the windows I literally have desert to my right and tropics to my left. It's amazing. So cool. & I'm seeing all of Australia like I wanted to. We land and there's no signs of the tropical waters I saw from the sky but I know I'm going there.

For now, I am in the Great Australian Outback. No doubt. How cool man.
On the forever long drive to Coral Bay, we passed sheep, bush, rock, cows, bush, rock, grass. All seemingly endless. I don't know what the rocks were doing there/how they got there but I swear they're trolls, just like the ones from Frozen. They even looked alive! There were kool tho.
Then we got to Coral Bay. Our river gave us the tour before dropping us off at our accommodations because the whole town is one road, 300 metres long. We're literally a beach on the edge of the desert. How trippy, man.
I'm quite tired and this post seems quite long so I'll just make Coral Bay Day 1 it's own post.

2012 v 2016

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

All Blacks v Wales

Much like Hobbiton, you can't go to New Zealand without going to an All Blacks game. Also like Hobbiton, I'm not into rugby. Thankfully, like with Hobbiton, I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun it was.

Before the game a bunch of us chilled in Anastasia and Libby (and Aissa but she wasn't there)'s flat. Then when it was time to go we shared an Uber (well 2 ubers) so we only paid like $2 to get there. Then I went with my Uber's girls (Libby, Anastasia, and Celeste) to their seats. On the way in we got free boxes of chicken snack cracker things! Then Celeste was nice enough to walk me down to my seat so I wasn't all alone. The girls' seats were up in like high stadium seating. Mine was right on the field (it's just wrong for a cheerleader to not be right on the field/court). I felt like I was in high school again, getting ready for a game, wishing I had hot chocolate.

My whole row was empty so Celeste stayed down with me because (no offense) they were better seats than hers. We watched the players warm up and toss up while we prayed no one would come take the seats.

We watched the news reporters give their reports followed by the Wales national anthem. When it was New Zealand's turn, we sang along with the words on the screen. Then it was time for the Haka. My phone decided to stop working quite early, but I still caught a little, which you can see in my All Blacks video on my Facebook.

Then the game started. It reminds me a lot of football, with touchdowns and field goals and everything (okay not field goal, the extra point you get for kicking after a touchdown). But they also add some sick cheer moves that low key took our team foreverrr to do (where you lift by the thigh and not the foot or ground). It's a pretty sweet game.

About halfway through the first half a couple dudes came to sit next to us, but when the realized they were in the wrong section because there buddies weren't there, they left.

Halftime was lame. I expected a grand performance. 

After halftime I got a hot dog! It was so good and I wanted a hot dog so bad. Later Celeste got donuts and I had a couple, but they were too cinnamony for me. 

After the game, we attempted to find the others for like two minutes before we decided to start walking. Previously I had walked all the way to that area before and it was super nice out so we decided to just walk all the way back instead of getting another Uber. We only got lost once, and we found like a dozen Waldos.

Soon we were back in our rooms and I was ready to be asleep. Gotta get up early for Straya the next morn.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

The Water Is Calling & I Must Go

You’re not a true water baby if you’ve never felt compelled by the water.

For weeks on my way home I’ve been trying my hardest to resist the urge to veer off course and head straight for the beach. Well tonight, that’s exactly what I did.

I had to satisfy my water craving. Not a craving like “oh I need to drink some water” like a “I have to go be in the water NOW and this time the bathtub just won’t do”. Besides, everyone’s already asleep anyways and to be honest, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to get in the house tonight. I didn’t tell them I was coming and I usually come back after I wake up on Fridays sometimes, so I might be locked out. But it’s okay; if I am, I’ll just come back and sleep on the beach.

So why am I typing and not just enjoying the beach, you ask? Well I got here, took the required snapchats to prove I was here (extra important tonight because my phone is pretty much dead and I’m all alone and my parents need to know where the last place I was if I go missing), then I put the phone away and just enjoyed the utter perfectness of the night. It was raining all day, so there are no stars out, and it’s a bit chilly from the wind, but it is still perfect. Any night at the beach is perfect.

So anyways, I was just taking it all in and enjoying my beach night when it occurred to me that I should write a post about it. And when the inspiration is there, it’s there. So I made the huge trek back up to my car to grab my laptop and here I am, typing to you. But have no fear, I don’t need to look when I type so I am still enjoying this beautiful view. In fact, I just saw an ambulance headed westbound over the bridge followed by a police car. It must happen quite often I would imagine, but it’s the first time in my life I’ve seen an ambulance cross the bridge, lights on.

Yes. It is November. Yes, I did go in the water. Yes, I am in Maryland. The current air temperature is 66 degrees Farinheight (oops spell check is off because no internet) and it’s 10:52pm. The water temperature does feel a bit chilly though, but you get used to it. I did go swimming on this same beach last Christmas day, after all. Maybe this part of the bay just doesn’t get super cold. Even the wind didn’t seem cold while I was wading in the bay, but now that I’m just sitting on the sand, I’m shivering.

It’s really dark because the moon is nowhere to be found and the clouds are coving the stars. There are trees blocking the beach from the grass and roads, keeping the lights practically nonexistent, which is great because I’m not here for the bright lights. It’s really cool seeing the lights on the Bay Bridge at night, and the towers across the bay remind me there is civilization. The Annapolis side is surprisingly dark though, with only minimal lights to the south of the flashing towers. The great orange glow from the city keeps me warm like the sun as the wind picks up. It also is the majority of the things allowing me to see.

I could sit here and watch the cars cross the bridge forever, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past hour. With my feet in the water, the wind on my face, and the view of the bridge in plain sight, there’s no place I’d rather be. When I was younger, my dreams ALWAYS consisted of me miraculously crossing the bridge at night. Mostly by monkey bars under the bride. Sometimes other methods, just as insane (although if you ask me I’ll straight-faced tell you there ARE monkey bars under the bridge. I’ve been under many times via cruise ships, so you think I would know there isn’t, but I’m convinced). Then I’d always drop off at the end, either swimming in the bay on the western side or jumping on a cruise on the eastern side. I think those dreams making up pretty much every night of my childhood makes watching the bridge at night in real life that much greater.

Ya know, when I hadn’t been on a cruise in a while and I would get sick I would tell everyone I was land sick, that it had been too long since I was on a cruise. While I definitely was land sick (can’t keep a mermaid from her sea), I’m not so sure it was the cruises. Maybe I just needed to find my way back to the water.

After all the sea (or bay, or river, or lake, pretty much any water, but mostly oceans and seas and bays, ya know, stuff with salt) helps me get back to me.

Well I think I’m gonna enjoy this beach time a bit more then head on outta here before I catch hypothermia (prob shouldn’t be swimming in the Chesapeake Bay in November, but hey, what can ya do?), so I’ll catch ya on the flip side. Happy swimming ya’ll.

swimming with the dog
at Matapeake on
Christmas 

Until next time,

Xoxo,

Tasha