This morning was tough. The toughest one yet. I don't really remember going to bed (champagne usually does that to me, cider afterwards guarantees it!) but I was in my top bunk, in my pjs so everything seemed to have gone to plan. I'd even managed to set my alarm for 6.30am. Good effort, until I woke up when it went off, wondering wtf was happening. A quick check of the other bunks and everyone was where they should be, with no waifs or strays for company! We weren't feeling too bad to be fair, just tired. Turns out none of us were really sure what time breakfast was, but thankfully we were up earlier than we needed to be. Tim and Jara cooked breakfast on the BBQ before we got on the coach for our drive back to Alice Springs - our last day together as this group. Some people finish tomorrow, while the rest of us fly over to Cairns. End of one chapter, beginning of another.
Jara put Russell Peters DVD on while we drove and I just sat looking out the window with my iPod on. Chill out time :-) We stopped at Erldunda for lunch, which is the most central point of Australia that you can get to by road. Back on the coach we played coach Olympics - left side races right side to pass an object to the back of the coach and forward again. Jara was picking some really random objects, as well as items of clothing! She introduced the steal option which led to serious amounts of wrestling between the left and right sides of the coach. Cue video camera again!! Very funny. As was our next stop where we had camel rides/runs. Well I say we, I didn't go on one as I've never trusted them when they walk, never mind running. Good fun watching the others s*** themselves anyway!
The afternoon was our own to chill and sort ourselves out before our last night out together. We walked down to the Overlander Steakhouse where most of us had the Blowout meal - 4 courses, with starters of soup, tasters of emu, crocodile, camel and kangaroo, a main of steak and then we shared apple pie and pavlova. Can't believe I ate it all but worked it off after playing with wobble boards. The whole group had one each and we used them while Tie Me Kangaroo Down played in the background. We then did some dance to the gumtree song and that got us in the mood for town. We stayed out dancing till the early hours, which involved lots of drinking and bum barging from aboriginal women. When we got back we were spying on some of the group skinny dipping in the pool, shouting at them from the balcony. Very childish but very funny at the same time. Well, 4 pissed girls thought so anyway!!
The coach journey this morning was a time for reflection - not mine in the window, but of the trip so far. I would never have thought that after 10 days with people, it would feel like we've known each other for years. It's sad that Courtney's leaving tomorrow, there will definitely be a part of us missing now. But part of the crack is meeting new people - and with about 30 new people joining the tour in Cairns that will happen I'm sure.
I found out last night that Rob, the 19 year old, lost his mum only a few weeks before this trip too, like Damien. It definitely goes to show that life is too bloody short. Jara said at the beginning of the tour 'we're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time' and it's so true. Not just this tour but life in general and it's something I intend to remember from now on. Doing something you've always wanted to do is the best feeling in the world, I can't even explain it. So anyone reading this that really wants to do something - make it happen. Do it. It's better to regret the things you have done, rather than those you haven't......