FLIES!!!!!!!

More on the title in a bit....

I just got back from a 2-night trip to Uluru. It was a great escape from the busy, but fun Sydney I have been in.

I flew in on Sunday afternoon and settled down in the hostel at the resort area. Went on a bunch of walks the whole time I was there (yes around Uluru, but also just around the desert). I was fortunate to come on an off-peak time, so there weren't so many others around.

Another fortune but also misfortune was the fact that it has rained a ton recently in Uluru. The result was a bloom in all sorts of plants and flowers, which made the desert either an intense array of greens (plants) or oranges, reds, and purples (sand and flowers). This made for the perfect time to photograph the area. Now comes the downside: FLIES!!!! (remember the title of this post?). The rains brought an overwhelmingly high number of flies to the area. They didn't bite, so that was a plus. But that's as far as anything positive goes with the flies. They landed anywhere and everywhere on you, and you could sprint or walk and wave your arms around and they'd still find you. I should have just bough the 6-dollar bug nets that you put over your head... but I didn't, so I dealt as well as I could. The biggest inconvenience with the flies came whenever I wanted to take a photo (and this was only an issue during the day when it was hot and they were out). If I wanted to stop and take a photo, I had to plan it out, get the camera ready, take in a deep breathe, quickly hold still and take the photo. If I waited or faltered, they would land on my lips, or in my nose, or on my ears, or somehow get between my sunglasses and my eyes.

OK, enough whining... In the long-run, the trip was great and I am glad I was able to go.

Over the next two weeks I will be most likely just hanging out around Sydney and continuing to volunteer with the bush restoration and whatnot. After that, I am out of my apartment and off on my last trip before I go back to SF. Still formulating it all, but it will definitely include New Zealand (most likely South Island) and will possibly include Cairns or Darwin... we'll see what mood I am in.

Alright, that's all for now... I have been saving, renaming, and editing photos, then uploading them to facebook for the last 3 hours... I need sleep

:)