At the Corners of Migraines and Magnesium

I've been told by a nutritionist to take magnesium (which I knew) in the form of magnesium aspartate (which I had thought was not so good).  So before I began actually taking the supplements I purchased I did a bit of extra research.  Turns out I was right.  Aspartate is an excitotoxin.  Excitotoxins are substances which stimulate neurotransmitters.  High levels can cause over-stimulation leading to damage and death of nerve cells.  In the long term it can lead to stroke, brain damage and even Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.  I guess it's possible that the amount of aspartate I would gain from taking magnesium aspartate isn't great enough to cause damage but I'm not yet convinced.  So now I venture to find a better magnesium supplement, one that won't damage my brain, if anyone out there has any information it would be great to have some help.

Treating Migraines With Vitamins and Nutrition

Image courtesy of:
http://www.amazon.com/Vitamin-Cure-Migraines-
Headaches-Supplementation/dp/1591202671

     Having been a life-long sufferer of migraines, I've decided to use this blog to chronicle my attempts to find a suitable treatment for myself.  I have tried physical therapy, relaxation techniques and several medications over the years as well as having been a perpetual consumer of ibuprofen.  Spurred by some of the information in the documentary "Food Matters," I started reading books on using vitamins to treat migraines.  I began with a book from 2005 which proposed the use of the so-called triple therapy which consists of the vitamins magnesium and riboflavin and the herb feverfew.  I then made my way to the book pictured above, "The Vitamin Cure for Migraines."  It is an excellent book for anyone considering treating their migraines with vitamins and herbs.  It is not the most well written book but it is full of useful information.  The author himself is a migraineur and has tried all of the vitamins and herbs he writes about on himself.  He also cites numerous studies, some of which I have read and researched.  I find the idea of treatment with vitamins to be the ultimate solution and am just beginning to search for an adequate treatment for myself.  I will be seeing a nutritionist throughout this experiment in order to have tests run on my vitamin and mineral levels and to discuss the best ways to go about administering the supplements that I need.  I plan on updating with posts every step of the way, any successes and failures will be journaled here in the hopes that I can convince others to consider treatment with vitamins over medication.

      For anyone who is already skeptical, let me just say that anyone's most powerful tool against migraines, or any condition or disease, is knowledge and a willingness to experiment.  I have done extensive research on this topic and am sure that vitamins are the answer.  The book mentioned above is a comprehensive review of the subject and provides a great resource for any doubters.  Studies have tested the effects of numerous vitamin treatments and has led the author, and myself, to conclude that vitamin treatments present equal probabilities of success as treatment with prescription and non-prescription drugs.  The difference is in the side effects.  Vitamins have almost no side effects, and those that do exist are rarely harmful.  That being said, it is safest to have your own levels tested before beginning a treatment, to ensure you don't consume toxic levels of any vitamin.  The best way to do this is to see a nutritionist or an orthomolecular practitioner who work with migraine patients.  Unfortunately both are rarely covered by insurance, leaving the cost of consultations, check-ups and supplements up to the patient.  However, in many cases, testing can be routed through ones general physician in order to avoid having to pay for the high cost of those.  For those unfamiliar with orthomolecular practitioners, they are alternative healing practitioners and are often times considered controversial in the medical world as they work with treatments that involve high doses of vitamins and other practices that are not FDA approved and are not common practices.  Neurologists are also helpful and should be visited initially by migraineurs to make sure that migraines are not being caused by a serious condition such as brain tumors or obstructions of blood flow to the brain.  I have gone to a neurologist myself to ensure that these were not factors in my migraines but after I was prescribed a medication which caused a significant increase in my heart rate, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I have opted to visit a nutritionist, as I have not been able to find an orthomolecular practitioner in the area who works with migraine patients and have my first consultation in a few days which I am very excited about.  

     So, for those considering treatment with vitamins, or for those who want to prove me wrong, I encourage everyone to follow along with me and do your own research and let me know what you find.  When doing so, one should bare in mind that medical doctors, medical schools, hospitals and medical centers are often funded by pharmaceutical companies which unfortunately biases much of the work that has been done.  Additionally, things like daily recommended allowances of vitamins are often based off of incorrect information or misinterpretations of information.  (A good example of this is Vitamin C which, in high doses of up to 20 grams/day, have been used to successfully combat a number of diseases and conditions despite the common misconception that the body can only consume 200mg/day.  For more information on this see: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2005/pdf/2005-v20n04-p237.pdf.)  

     After all, wouldn't it be great to find a treatment for your migraines that doesn't involve significant risks of heart attack, stroke, more or worse migraines and countless other side effects?

Flailing My Arms on the East Coast

     Exactly one year ago I was lucky enough to be figuratively flailing my arms with my wonderful butterflyfish feeding group in Belize while trying to wrap my head around the fact that soon I would be heading to Australia for 5 1/2 months.  This year I'm reminiscing with friends, re-posting pictures of both Belize and Oz and trying to appreciate the cold and snow that I was able to escape last year.
     Along with the snow and the inescapable long winter months, Christmas also looms ahead in the near future.  I kind of hate holidays, for multiple reasons.  For one, holidays are great reminders of being single, because let's face it, at some point we all reach the age where all of our friends are spending the holidays with their partners and all of our cousins and relatives that we're stuck celebrating with are in relationships.  For another, nobody seems to celebrate any of the holidays for the right reasons, they become big commercial celebrations that everybody dreads.  Which brings me to my last point, nobody else has the holiday spirit, so how am I supposed to?  But this year that's going to change, because I'm forcing the holiday spirit on myself.  And thus far its been going pretty well.  I think I've chosen a good year to do this. I've spent the past two weeks on what should just be called Christmas Island, seriously I think there's a parade and five or six craft fairs every weekend in November and December.  I'm also spending some time in New York City which should also help.  I don't think I can say that I'm really in the Christmas spirit yet, but it's only the second day of December so there's still time.  And I'm determined that between studying for and taking the GREs, applying to grad school and writing grants that I will find time to really get into the swing of things this Christmas.

Oh...Canada

Or, "Stop Hugging Me, I Don't Even Know You."

Vegan, allergy free American Thanksgiving in Canada

Being back at COA wasn't quite what I had expected.  This past term was the most hectic I've had, so it was quite a relief when it ended and I had sent my samples for my senior thesis to the lab and turned in all of my assignments.  I spent the first part of break on Prince Edward Island, an island about the size of MDI but in Canada which, as it turns out, makes all the difference.  There is something about Canadians stuck on an island, they're pretty much always happy, and everyone you pass on the street says hi.  Going to the store takes extra time because everyone has to stop and chat, people drop their kids off at hockey arenas for the evening because they know nothing bad is going to happen, and people that know a friend of a friend hug you even though you have no idea who they are.  And it's not bad, it is a bit strange, but I guess it's kind of what I expected MDI to be like, but the combination of tourists and hippies and families and scientists on MDI have a bit of friction.  Everything seems a bit simpler here, everything moves slower and the tension that hangs in the air, even in Maine, is absent.  So although I like to poke fun at our neighbors to the north as much as the next American, I do appreciate being able to escape to their country for a relaxing break once in a while.

"Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away." – Sarah Kay

"Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.'
Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky."-Hafiz

The Place Where You Stop the Story

"Nothing looks the same, even when there's been no change,
Say that something's gonna give, and it's all giving out on you.
When it's all over now, it's all over now,
It's no longer fun and it's all been overdone, so it's all over now."

It's been only 5 1/2 short months but it seems like years since I've been in the States. Australia quickly and quietly engulfed me and seemlessly rebuilt a life around me that replaced the one which I had left in the States. Hot, sun-bleached days and clear, starry nights were filled with adventures and challenges that soon morphed into a daily routine. Much as Maine did over the two and a half years that I've spent there so far struggling through my undergraduate life, Australia became my home. Somehow it took much less time and yet it was just as genuine. I've had a lifetime of experiences and met some truely amazing people who I will never forget and for the majority of my trip I could not even imagine what it would be like when I was forced to re-enter this country. And yet here I sit in my parent's house where, it seems, almost nothing has changed.

And maybe nothing has, or maybe it all has. Luckily I only have to endure it for another week and a half before setting off to a marine lab in New Hampshire where I will be working for the remainder of the second of my two summers this year until heading back to Maine.

I still have no idea how I can possibly convey to anyone that wasn't there everything that happened to me, how I can cram five and a half months of stories into the simple one-sentence answer everyone is looking for when they ask, "How was Australia?"  But I definitely have enough stories and pictures to fill any amount of hours that anyone wants to listen to  :)

Winter Wonderland...Sort Of

Some mornings, after my alarm has gotten me out of bed at 5:30am and I’ve stuffed myself into my clothes, often still caked with sand, dirt and feed from the day before, the wind is so fast and fierce it whips through my clothes and sends shivers up my body.  I wish I could store some of this cold for a bit because by mid-morning I’m usually soaked with sweat and by the time the first ride heads out, the sun beats down so strongly that I can feel my skin burning beneath the first three layers of sun block I’ve already applied.  This weather right now means it is winter in Queensland. 

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commons/thumb/0/06/
WestShowSdl.jpg/220px-WestShowSdl.jpg

I’ve chosen to spend part of the season working at a ranch on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville.  At the ranch we eat and sleep quite a bit between the long hours that we work feeding the horses, cleaning and saddling them, raking leaves just so the wind can blow the next minute and erase our work.  We have to teach people to ride and try to help people who speak little to no English and we have to keep the horses, who would all be excellent animals if it weren’t for the fact that they have people who don’t know what they’re doing riding them twice a day, from being ruined.  It’s funny, really, how horses respond to their riders, how when I, or another guide, ride them, they never try any tricks, but as soon as someone who has never ridden before is on them they try to run home or stick their heads in a bush and eat the whole time.  And really I think that’s one of the things that I love about horses, that and so many other things.  Because you can always count on them pulling some trick with some poor, unsuspecting rider who thought they were going to simply slap down some money and have a nice relaxing ride but actually they spend the whole time desperately clinging to the saddle while branches threaten to unseat them and give us guides a few laughs.  

http://lettershometoyou.files.wordpress.
com/2008/12/horse-brushes.jpg

So even though it’s still hot as here, I can’t complain about getting to spend a few more weeks of Australia’s winter here.

Course Reviews

Australia has given me, amongst so many other things, the opportunity to take classes I would never be able to take at my uni in the states.  So to embrace this opportunity I spent this semester studying Australian History, Fisheries Science, Aquaculture and Marine Chemistry, all of which presented their own challenges and rewards.

Australian History was, at the very least, a history class and, at the very best, a history class.  Lectures were in-depth descriptions of the rather comical history of the founding and growth of the country.  Tutorials consisted of presentations and discussions of significant events that shaped the way Australia became what it is today.  The majority of the class was made up of Americans and the tutorials often became debates over American history.  Despite this, I did learn a great deal about a country whose history is greatly ignored in the States, but I do think it's my last history class for a while.

Fisheries Science was by far my favorite class.  It was full of case histories and equations and all of the information made sense.  Our lecturer arranged a series of really hands-on and effective labs which began with a field trip trawling for prawns in Cleveland Bay.  Subsequent labs included age determination, age vs length determination, gut content analysis and gonad measurement.  These labs culminated in a report on the effectiveness of the bycatch reduction device used on the trip.  The class was made all the better by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the lecturer.

Aquaculture was another good class with an awesome lecturer.  The majority of the semester was spent by raising cobia-monitoring water quality, feeding them and maintaining their tanks.  The final assessment in the class was a report examining the feed conversion ratios, standard growth rates and weight gains of the fish raised on different feeding regimes based on those we raised the cobia on.

Marine Chemistry and Chemical Ecology was the only class I regret taking.  It was one of the worst classes I've ever taken.  We had two lecturers, one of which made it very plain that he had no desire to be teaching us while the other talked so fast and assumed we knew so much that we didn't really ever learn anything.  The labs were simple but inconsequential to our learning.  Really the only good thing about the class was the awesome friends I made by bonding over our mutual dislike of the course.  I would not recommend anyone take this class as nobody seemed to enjoy any aspect of the course.

But I survived all of my exams and made some really great friends in all of my classes, so all in all I wouldn't trade my experience for anything in the world.

To find out more about studying abroad in Australia visit the website http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/northamerica.

Nice Wrasse-Diving the Moltke Wreck

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Moltke_(1870).jpg
The Moltke Wreck prior to being fully submerged

My creative juices, along with my adrenaline, have been running a bit low as of late.  Even though I ended exams last Saturday, I've been going pretty consistently since, packing, planning my next moves in Australia, planning my travels and my internship for when I get back to the States and trying to spend time with everyone before they head off in separate directions.  A few days ago, I even began an Advanced Open Water SCUBA course on Magnetic Island.

Magnetic Island is a small island just off of Townsville, a quick 20 minute ferry ride away.  Most of the island is a national park, protected from fishing and other exploitative activities.  It being a national park makes for some really exceptional snorkeling and diving with good visibility, especially considering it's an island, and heaps of tropical fish to marvel at.

http://www.freeimageslive.co.uk/files/images006/humphead_wrasse.jpg

To get Advanced SCUBA certified there are 5 required dives-a deep water dive, a boat dive, a navigation dive, a naturalist dive and a wreck dive-the last 3 of these I did off of Magnetic Island.  The first 2 (navigation and naturalist) were relatively uneventful, aside from the fact that I somehow managed to properly and successfully use a compass underwater for the first time in my life.  The third dive, however, exceeded my expectations by a long shot.  We dove on the wreck of the Moltke, a German ship brought over for the purpose of creating a break-water in the bay.  However, it was sunk prematurely when the captain and deckhand, being rather intoxicated, set off the booms before the ship was in its proper place.  Afterwards, the wreck was used for target practice by the military until nowadays it lies peacefully in the bay only minimally disturbed by passing boats and inquisitive divers.  The nooks and crannies make ideal homes for fish and inverts.  Huge schools of juvenile barracuda, wrasse, grunts and parrotfish can frequently be seen swimming in between the sunken masts.  Large angelfish and sweetlips, along with one humongous Humphead Wrasse also hang around the wreck and make it an amazing experience.  After my disappointing experience with the Great Barrier Reef, I was more than happy to see sprawling, unbleached coral colonies and fish as diverse as those found in Disney films and I can't wait to finish my certification and see what my next two dives have for me.

To find out more about studying abroad in Australia visit the website http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/northamerica.

Aussie Finals and Final Goodbyes

Not only was this my first semester at a more typical university, as compared to my little hippie school by the sea, it was also my first semester of final exams.  Although apparently the structure here is a bit different even from most U.S. schools according to my American friends.  Finals start with a full week off of classes designated specifically for students to study for exams.  Study vacation, or SWOT VAC, is a both a curse and a blessing.  It's great because you have a week to do nothing but study, but it's a nightmare because you have a week to do nothing but study.  If you yourself don't get very stressed, the atmosphere on campus can quickly remedy that.  Colleges have constant noise restrictions, coffee machines die from over-use and nerves are on end.  Needless to say it was an extremely long week.  But it was definitely needed, especially for me, who hasn't really studied for a final exam since high school.  And after heaps of study parties, practice exams, hours spent locked in solitary confinement and a few well-deserved study breaks, I've made it through four finals, which I realize is less than most students in the States have each semester, but still. 

Study wall for Marine Chemistry and Chemical Ecology

Times like these are when I really appreciate my surroundings, taking study breaks to drive up Mount Stuart and hike up Castle Hill were so much more rewarding than doing it when my mind isn't bogged down with chemical equations and fishery case studies.  There is nothing like getting a bit of exercise and fresh air to clear the mind and refresh your energy. 

Castle Hill

The Strand

And so now with finals done it's that time to start saying goodbyes.  Luckily I have the opportunity to stay in Australia for another 4 weeks to get my Advanced SCUBA Certification and to work on a horse ranch for 3 weeks.  But as friends head off, back home to other parts of Oz and back to the States, I have to be a bit sentimental.  I've been so fortunate for all of the opportunities I have had, to come to this amazing country, to study at JCU and to meet all of the amazing people that have come into my life over the past few months.  So as the sun sets over these final days I just have to remember the words of a very wise man:

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."~Dr. Seuss

Sunset from Mount Stuart

Sunset over Townsville

Summer Is For Fireflies



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Somehow every term during finals I manage to find something only slightly related to what I'm working on that gives me a bit of inspiration and renews my love of marine science right at that moment when I'm about to crack and start thinking about taking up some ridiculous business scheme.  This year it was the discovery of the Firefly Squid also known as the Sparkling Enope Squid, Watasenia scintillans.  I found this curious little creature while studying for my Marine Chemistry and Chemical Ecology final exam, while trying to pound into my head the function of luciferin and luciferase, two key components in producing bioluminescence in marine organisms.  It turns out these little guys (and yes I do mean little, with a maximum size of about 3 inches) produce light in photophores which are located on each tentacle.  They give off a magnificent blue glow and the creatures who are normally a rather dull coloration of off-white with red spots, become something of a light show when they gather together once a year to display their lights and mate. 


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So since I am studying for finals I haven't had the chance to learn as much as I would have liked to about these guys.  This site however, has some pretty good quick facts and fills in all the information I've left out of post on the off chance that anyone else is interested in learning more about W. scintillans: http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/firefly-squid.html.  I'm not exactly sure how this helps me with finals, but it is pretty awesome and just illustrates how cool marine science is and all of the incredible things out there that inspire awe.



Orpheus Island, or, "This is why I'm cynical."

4am, up well before the sun, throwing stuff in bags and scarfing down some breakfast, doing just enough to make it to the bus where we can all fall asleep for another two glorious hours. This was my Friday morning as I and my classmates prepared for a weekend at James Cook University's field station on Orpheus Island. The field trip was for the Marine Chemistry and Chemical Ecology class I am taking in Australia and consisted of long hours in the lab, snorkeling trips and hikes around the island among various other events and incidents. 

After a rough start to Friday (because really how else can a 4am start be described?), we piled on a boat in the pouring rain only to arrive on the island drenched, cold and exhausted. But the rain soon let up and we went snorkeling for a bit before beginging an 8, yes 8, hour lab that had us in the outdoor wet lab until 10pm that night. After a good night's sleep we awoke the next morning to finally enjoy the island. Although we had another lab that afternoon, the bugs had been worked out and it was only to take 3 hours that afternoon. With this, our morning was free and we were able to hike up the mountain and around the bay. The trails had been torn apart by Yasi the year before but with a little bushwaking and sure footing, we made our way up to the top of the mountain and back without incident. That afternoon's lab did, in fact, only take 3 hours and we were free to enjoy our evening which consisted of playing cricket and card games during which I and the other Americans became the butt of most of the jokes, but all in good fun. The next day we went for one last snorkel in a nearby bay that had some of the largest giant clams I have ever seen before packing up and heading home.

The station at Orpheus was by far the most up-scale station I have been to. Researchers and JCU classes alike frequent the island, doing lab work and research on the corals and fish and inverts that live in the waters surrounding the island. With a tv, really fast wi-fi, warm showers and constant electricity, we were far from roughing it and it made for an overall great weekend.

Groovin' the Moo

Groovin the Moo 2012 took Townsville, QLD by storm on Sunday May 6.  The cricket field was jam packed with music enthusiasts from all over the region and the stages were host to a range of well-known artists from across the globe.

Canadian band City and Colour

Australia's San Cisco

GTM started out as a small music festival in 2005 by Cattleyard Productions when they had the idea to start a music festival and bring it to not so major cities across Oz.  It started out with one venue and only a few Australian acts.  Now in 2012 it has spread to five venues and includes acts from Australia, the UK, Canada, Germany and the U.S.  The event is now a regular sell-out and it is easy to see why, with big names, good music and a great atmosphere, it is one of the biggest events held all year in Townsville, and the people from T-ville and surrounding regions love it.

Australia's Kimbra performing at night

Australian band Gold Fields

Lest We Forget - Anzac Day

April 25th is a much celebrated day all across Australia.  This day, Anzac Day, is the anniversary of Australia's first involvement in war and has become a patriotic day to celebrate and remember Australian troops, both past and present.

Troops march in an Anzac Day parade in Townsville, QLD.

On April 25, 1915, Australia entered WWI as a member of the British Empire.  Enthusiastic troops were sent to Gallipoli, Turkey with the mission of breaking a stalemate, however, the mission became a stalemate itself and the troops were pulled out in December of that same year.  And thus ended Australia's first involvement in war with the outside world.

Mounted troops pose for pictures during an afternoon service.

Regarded as a complete military failure, the troops' efforts in Gallipoli still marked a turning point in Australian history.  Noted as an instance of national strength, Australians found great pride in knowing that their people had willingly stepped up to assist their mother empire and thought it gave them an identity as a more mature and significant nation.  Not long after the troops landed in Gallipoli, people began idealising the Australian soldier and their efforts in the war.  So even though they didn't win any battles, the country did win a new sense of national identity and pride.

School children march past a military memorial.

Today Anzac Day is a national holiday celebrated by dawn services and parades all over the country, resembling something of a combination of Memorial Day and Veterans Day in the U.S.

From Coast to Coast Like Buttered Toast Part 3: The End of the Road

Perth, the final stop.  We had successfully gotten from the East to West coast of Australia.  We both stayed with friends at Murdoch University, located just outside of the city.  My first impression was that I rather liked the city of Perth, it is relatively small and surrounded by suburbs, kind of like my home town of Pittsburgh but a bit smaller and next to the ocean.  We spent little time in the city, only navigating it by bus to get around as our main purpose in going to Perth was to dive.  And dive we did.  This was the first time I have gone on an un-guided dive, since my dive partner was a dive master we decided to go alone.  We dove off of a boat that took us and a few other groups to Rottnest Island.  The diving was not so great as the visibility was very poor, not even a meter at the first site and only one or two meters at the second.  But it was a good workout as the surge was constantly pulling us back and pressing us forward.  Despite the conditions, we still had fun and the boat had some great food. 

On my final day in Perth I went cliff jumping with some old friends I had met during our program's orientation in Cains and some new friends I met while staying in Perth.  The sky was clear and blue, the water cool and crisp, and jumping from the cliffs and exploring the caves was a great way to end my trip.  Once we tired of the adrenaline rush, I packed my bags and headed to the airport to fly back to Townsville and all my friends...and my school work...  :D

From Coast to Coast Like Buttered Toast Part 2: The Big Red Rock

Ayers Rock was awesome.  The whole experience was a bit different than I had expected.  I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but showers and crowded campgrounds weren't it.  I was quite surprised (pleasantly?...maybe) to find that the camps we stayed at had showers and heaps of fresh water.  I was also quite surprised (not so pleasantly) to find that our group was made up of quite a few people who were not accustomed to roughing it, not that I would really call what we were doing "roughing it."  Despite that, we had a decent group, one American in addition to us, heaps of Germans, none of whom had actually come together, a trio from Denmark, an Italian, an Englishman, our Aussie tourguide and a Korean couple who came to be affectionately known as the honeymooners as they were on one of the last legs of their year-long honeymoon that had covered pretty much every country one can think of.  After being in the cool, crisp air of Sydney and the Blue Mountains, the hot, dry air of Uluru was intense.  But so were the colours of the red earth, yellow grass, green shrubs and blue sky. 

Uluru

Uluru

We walked around Uluru (which according to the natives you really shouldn't climb because of its spiritual meaning), through Kata Tjuta (where we temporarily lost the honeymooners), and through King's Canyon over the three days we were there.  We climbed up and down, learned about the geology and native history of the places, swam in a watering hole and watched the sun rise and set.  We saw camels and emus and heaps of other critters before setting off on a long drive on our final day to the small town of Alice Springs.  We spent just one night in Alice Springs, long enough to have dinner with our group and hear stories of Australia and the Outback from our tourguide, before heading to Perth, the final stop in my epic.

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Kings Canyon

From Coast to Coast Like Buttered Toast Part 1: Driving On the Left Side of the Road

I've wanted to come to Australia since I can remember and now that we had been given a week off for Fall break, I was ready to explore the country.  So I gathered my bags and left Townsville with a few friends for a crazy adventure.  We left for Sydney, only getting the evening to take in the city, walking down Sydney Harbour and seeing the Opera House and enjoying the civilisation that Townsville lacks, before picking up our rental car in the morning and heading to the Blue Mountains.

Our plan was for me to drive, on the opposite side of the road, in the other side of the car, with gears and blinkers on reverse sides, from the heart of Sydney up to the tiny town of Katoomba, about an hour and a half drive.  It took us a bit longer, it turned out we weren't as good at following maps as we thought, but we got there in one piece, the 5 of us and our little car Ruby, with me driving and the other 4 making sure I stayed in the correct lane and that I wasn't going to get us killed.
The Blue Mountains are beautiful.  Katoomba is home to the Three Sisters and Echo Point as well as Scenic World, which despite its somewhat tacky name, is actually a really gorgeous, only semi-touristy part of the mountains.  So we hiked, we ate Thai food, we slept, we watched the sun rise over the fog filled valleys and mountains, we hiked some more until it was time to bid one of our party farewell and continue on to the next adventure.  With one body and two bags on their way to New Zealand, our little car had a bit more power behind her and we drove another hour and a half to the Jenolan Caves.

The Three Sisters

View From the Mountains



With another drive successfully under my belt, one including steep climbs, wicked turns, narrow mountain roads and heaps of potholes, we began exploring the Jenolan Caves.  We went on a tour which had us winding our way thorugh narrow passages and high vaulted chambers filled iwth stalagtites, stalagmites, columns and all sorts of other formations.  Afterwards we set out on a self-guided tour around the outskirts of the cave.  Between the two hikes we probably went up and down more stairs than we had ever seen in a single day in our lives.  Luckily we had bought some cupcakes before leaving Katoomba which we had waiting for us in the car at the end of our exhausting expedition. 

We piled back into the car and drove the traffic-clogged 3.5 hours back to Sydney.  After another incidentless drive, we dragged our somewhate cranky and short-tempered, and very hungry, selves to have dinner in Darling, wher we were treated to a fireworks display immediately upon our arrival.  After some much needed food, time out of the car and Starbucks, we took some time to enjoy the fresh air at the harbour before navigating our way back to our hostel.  In the morning our little group split up further, leaving 2 in Sydney while the other 2 of us headed to the Outback.  I drove us to the airport, dropped off Ruby, no worse for the wear and a 3 hour flight later we landed in Ayers Rock.