in the bush

greetings from the field! or as the aussies call it, the bush :)

ive only been out since monday but i feel like a lot has happened so i wanted to cram it all on the blog before i forgot everything. my memory is completely shot, not quite sure how that happened, but if its this gnarly at 26 i can only imagine what a space cadet i'll be when im 80. my friend shannon mentioned this the other day, but why is that we can remember lyrics to songs that we havent heard in years, but when it comes to retaining vital information, say like, your phone number or bank account, its like doing rocket science and we're completely inept? rambling....where was i?

so we have to fly in on a charter plane to our work site. we landed in a remote area in the pilbara in the northwest portion of australia. when we landed it was the craziest feeling. it was super bumpy and rough and everyone on the plane was holding on for dear life. i was thinking something terrible had to have gone wrong (like an engine blew up or something, you know, like what happens in the movies?), but as it turns out we were just landing on a dirt and gravel runway. things are booming up here so much that they are chartering their own flights in, but they cant be bothered to pave a runway for a plane. lol wtf? silly aussies.

my irish friend tony told me a story about the pilbara before coming up here. he said, "whun i got off de plane it was so hot that aye figured aye was near de engine so i took a step foreward. turns out ets just that bloody hot" (yeah, im typing in irish again. i like it. it makes me happy). i kept that in mind as i got off the plane, and sure enough, the heat practically punches you in the face. its been hovering between 100 and 115 degrees everyday. however, coming from utah which has some gnarly deserts that get quite hot, i didnt want to seem like a pussy and start whining about the heat, so i kept quiet (but was silently cursing the horrific temperatures).

the mine supplies us with work vehicles. seems only appropriate that we roll around in tricked out land cruisers with roo-bars. see?

not sure what i was expecting as far as the mine camp, but i was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. it was like a mini city. except sort of army looking with its bland color metal buildings. i guess this camp has been around for 6+ years and since the mining industry is so competitive here, they have to have decent camps or else folks will quit and go work somewhere else that has better accommodation. this place has a giant mess hall, a gym, a cinema, a lap pool, a regular pool, and a grassy oval.

my first day out in the bush i learned a couple of things.

1) keep long sleeves rolled down! remember how people got all riled up over aerosol cans and how they were eating a hole in the ozone layer? well, turns out there is a big hole over australia and most of new zealand and the sun will kick your ass if you arent on your game.

2) re-apply sunscreen 5x a day. not even joking. im a brown kid and it takes a lot for me to get burned. yeah NO. not here. i was bordering on crispy/well done by about noon the first day.

3) face bug nets are ESSENTIAL! the flies here are worse than those people in vegas that pass out porn fliers on the strip. they go in your ears, and up your nose, and in your eyeballs. i was about to throw an agro fit of rage until one of our fieldies handed me a net. thank you cheesus.

4) aussies roll in style. all vehicles are equipped with giant coolers (or eskies as they're called here) and ice-filled water coolers. never in my life doing survey or excavation have i been afforded the luxury of putting mayo on my sandwich (without worrying about heat-induced ecoli or rikitzies disease) or having ice cold water in my nalgene ALL day. spoiled for life.

the pilbara is an interesting region, its like every part of its being is trying to kill you or make you leave. the temperatures are ungodly hot, they have something like 9 gnarly snakes in the area, 4 of which can kill you (1 of which is in the worlds top 10 deadliest snakes), crazy spiders of death, monitor lizards that can run straight up you and cut you open, flash floods, and several poisonous plants. lol what are the hazards at your work? jammed copier?

but, it IS very beautiful and has some neat archaeology. i have to give it that

i was told a neat story of the area by a traditional owner (indigenous australian....turns out they dont like to be called aborigines) who works with us. it goes something like this...all indigenous peoples are known by a skin color (best i can figure is its analogous to clans for native americans), and certain skin colors are allowed to marry and others are not. this keeps blood lines mixed and avoids any potential incestuous relationships. its also tribal law that nobody is allowed to marry outside their designated skin groups. well, as it happens, two people from forbidden groups fell in love and ran away together. since this was against the law, a feather foot was sent after them. a feather foot is like an aboriginal law enforcer/hunter/sorcerer/tracker. he eventually found the lovers and as their punishment, turned them into hills. the man telling me the story then pointed to two hills off in the distance. it was pretty cool.

i also gathered that the traditional owners dont like working out in the bush much past 4:00 pm because thats when the spirits get active, and they like to give them their space. its so surreal to be chucked into all of this for me. its like things ive heard about and read about, but never thought id experience. definitely soaking it all in.

and today i got a really cool treat...the fellas (i guess white-y also used to call the aborigines "blackfellas", and since its incredibly racist, it sort of morphed into just "fellas". they dont take offense to it, and its just another term, like dudes) caught and killed a goanna~! they found it down in a creek bed and killed it with a big rock. i got to hold it. check out this bad boy!

after debate of cooking it now, or storing it in the eskie (omg can you imagine anything worse than a rank goanna in an eskie left overnight in these temperatures?), it was decided that it would make a tasty lunch treat. after pulling out most of its insides (which apparently arent tasty), its front legs and back legs were tied up, and a fire was started. they dug a pit in the dirt and put the goanna in, leaving the head and the tail exposed (anyone? anyone?...handles!...to pull it out of the pit when finished. brilliant!). they put a thin layer of dirt over the goanna, and then pushed the hot coals from the fire on top of it to cook.

i had to try it. i mean, how many opportunities am i going to have to eat goanna cooked in the bush by indigenous australians? turns out, it tastes a lot like chicken with the texture of pork. not bad. all i could think of after i ate it was thank god i got my hepatitis A shot at the travel clinic lol. it was definitely a new one for me. im loving the new experiences. but right now im loving the idea of my bed and going to sleep. hope ya'll are having a great thursday.

loves to everyone at home. you know who you are. i miss you all terribly.

xoxo

j

my first visitor!

HiHiHi!

Sorry for neglecting all four of you who read my blog for the last two weeks. My amazing manfriend, Shane, from SLC came to visit me, and I’ve been in a love coma for the past 10 days J

Its amazing how as an adult you can still have those moments where youre SO excited for something that you cant sleep (much like Christmas Eve ecstasy when youre a kid). Shanes plane didn’t land until midday on Friday, but you can bet your ass I was wide awake at 5:00 am, feeling wiggly and giddy. I rented a car (they call it hire a car here. weird lol) for while Shane was here, so I snagged it and drove to the airport. I was feeling pretty confident after being here for a month riding in other peoples cars, and biking on the left side of the road, and figured that driving would be no biggie. Holy balls! WAY harder than I thought, I actually had to concentrate on where I was going, and make a conscious effort to stay on the left side of the road. Their blinkers and wipers are switched, so everytime I tried to signal to change lanes the damn wipers would go off, and then I’d start cursing and madly trying to switch them off and switch my blinker on. It was chaos lol.

Made it to the airport on time and I was there when he walked off the plane. Never been so happy in my life to see anyone <3 There was lots of hugging and kissing, and I almost started crying (I have no idea where this emotional side of me came from. I blame shane for melting my icy heart)

And for the record, I must state how damn handsome he looked. I was bamboozled. Nobody flies for 22 hrs and looks that good, or smells that good. Im fairly certain that I looked like a tired greasy mess when I got to Australia. My new mission is to find out his gypsy secret of travel perfection…then once I have it, I’ll post it all over the internet. Because that’s what we do now. Post everything on the internet. Look, im doing it now.

The ensuing 10 days were a blurr of hand holding, kissing, beer drinking, beach visiting, dinner dates, snuggling, laughing, and general touristy business.

We went to Caversham Wildlife Park in Perth and got to see a variety of Aussie critters. They have a kangaroo (aka roo) enclosure where you can jam little pellets…er, I mean “feed” the roos. We wend during the afternoon and it was quite hot. All the roos were fat, lazy, sleepy, and unbelievably cute. They are such strange animals, you cant help but be fascinated with them.

We got to see inside a roo’s pouch, and it was NOTHING like ive been led to believe it would look like. I was expecting some dainty, fur-lined pocket, much like a back pocket of your denim jeans…..yeah NO. it was a vertical oval-shaped hole that looked all red and moist (picture someones insides), and sort of opened and closed on its own. So gnarly. It was like a trainwreck. Although horrific, we couldn’t stop staring. I took a photo, but it grossed me out so I deleted it lol.

We also got to pet koalas. They have a koala enclosure manned by two weirdos, who were super nice and knew WAY too much about koalas. Turns out they mostly just eat, sleep, and poop. Im talking about the koalas, not the zoo-folks.

Saw a small croc, some dingos, an emu, a cassowary, wombat, echidna, and all sorts of birds.

Shane has a hard time remembering the names of things, and at one point during the day just gave up and started giving them new names. My favorite of the day was this bird he dubbed a “cracker ass wing-tip”.

On Sunday we spent time down in the Perth CBD, shopping and people watching. There was a great place on the second floor of the outdoor mall,that had a terrace where we posted up and did some quality people watching.

 I introduced Shane to cider, and I think I have a convert for life. Beer is great, don’t get me wrong, but there is something wonderfully delicious about an icy cold cider on a hot day. I believe Whitney Houston died the day before or so, and thus started the trip tradition of toasting to Whitney before having a drink. We mustve toasted Whitney 20x. Lol so odd how the general public completely ignored her before she died, and then SHAZAM! she dies in a bathtub and now her song is no. 1 on itunes and the bodyguard is all over tv. Which we may or may not have watched….what? don’t judge me lol.

Spent several days at the beach. Had okay weather for most of them, but we had one stellar beach day with sunny skies and clear turquoise water. Love being at the beach with my sweetie.

 As it turns out, Shane also has a hard time remembering beach names. Cottesloe beach officially became known as Camel Toe beach. I can safely say that that’s the way I’ll think of that beach now lol, thanks shane. Also, we came across LOTS of topless ladies. Two thoughts…1)none of these places were nude beaches, and 2) none of these ladies should’ve have been going topless. My retinas might be permanently damaged. Why is it always the people who shouldn’t go topless, that are the ones who in fact, go topless? Mysteries of the universe….

Had an amazing valentines day too! Ive always been a hater of ole VD (valentines day. what the hell were you thinking?), but I figure its mostly because I was a single person and hated being reminded of it. Now that I have the best manfriend in the world, I quite enjoy the holiday J I came home from work to a bunch of roses and a bunch of kisses. We had a romantic dinner at a swanky restaurant on the beach at sunset. I loved every minute of it. Never been so happy and in love (its okay to awww or vomit at this point. But Id prefer if you aww’d)

We got our tourist on, and visited the WA aquarium one day. It was about 50 minutes north, near a suburb called Joondalup (god I love the town names here!). We went because we wanted to see some sharks! RAWR! And because we are both pussies, we wanted to see them in a tank, behind inches of glass, instead of in the ocean, swimming hungrily towards us lol. It was an amazing aquarium, and we got to see heaps of sealife. I got to pet a sting ray and high-five a starfish! Booya grandma! If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.

And since we were on a tourist kick of death, Shane booked us on a 9:15 pm torchlight tour of the fremantle prison. It was SO awesome! The prison was built in the 1850s by convicts from England, and was actively used until the early 1990s.

We had a decent tour group of 30ish people, and we were all given flashlights (they call flashlights torches. Shane was really bummed they weren’t actual wood and fire torches lol), and did a tour of the prison in the dark. It had a Halloween-type vibe, but it was so neat to see it at night, and hear the history of the place. They even had hired actors dressed up like convicts that jumped out at you at certain points. Our guide was a jokester, and when we were all inside the musty, dark morgue, he lifted the wrought iron handle of the door and clanked it REALLY loud. I think everyone on the tour screamed and jumped. Myself included. Although I am quite proud to note, that I did not pee my pants in fear at any time during the tour. Tough as steel this one ;)

I took Shane all over Fremantle, Subiaco, Perth, and a few other places I cant remember. We had some great food, and some wonky food, but at least I had the most handsome date in Australia <3

We also cooked a couple of dinners at the house. I know it sounds super cheesy, but I really liked cooking with him. Grabbed ingredients from the store and markets...

Cooking at home we always had music on, a drink in hand, and were chopping and grilling and just had a little kitchen groove. Nothing like cooking a delicious meal and getting kisses from your sweetie in-between. Man, look at what a sappy love whore ive become! I swear I used to be a badass bitch….i think?

Taking him back to the airport was the saddest moment I’ve had since leaving SLC. The whole ride there we were holding hands and I was trying not to cry. I walked with him inside and made sure he got his tickets and bags checked, and then walked with him to security. Wish I could say I did a very classy, elegant goodbye and then sashayed away in style, but if you know me, I am a total spaz and nothing in my life ever goes like that. I turned into a sad mess, and started crying. There was lots of hugging and kissing, and im fairly certain that we had a small crowd of asian onlookers. Maybe I should’ve put a hat out for tips lol? Either way, saying goodbye to Shane was terribly hard and very sad. Love you very much babe, and I cant wait until I see you again (insert kiss here).

Driving home I was a bit of a mess, but I pulled it together once I walked in the door. Aside from the emotional goodbye, I have to say it was an amazing visit and fantastic holiday. I really couldn’t have asked for anything better. So lucky to live in such a beautiful place, and so lucky to have people who love me enough to come visit. Now….who’s next? J

rocks and stripes

k first off, i have to say how weird it was getting ready for work this morning and watching the superbowl on tv. they cancelled my morning news to broadcast football, and it was so trippy making my coffee and eating my cereal and watching it, knowing that at the very same time all of you at home were drinking beer and eating chicken wings.

i got to spend thursday and friday with my co-workers at the fremantle sailing club for our annual company summit. it was a pretty swanky spot, lots of porthole-themed objects (porthole is really fun to type, and say. try it. porthole. haha), and men walking around with fancy scarves tied around their necks. we were upstairs in the main banquet room, this was our view

as part of the summit, we had a lithics workshop. they flew in one of australia/tasmania's most famous lithic experts, kim ackerman, to lead the workshop. it was really weird to be so far away from home and everything i know, and to have this guy teaching us about lithics and name drop his colleagues, who are all people i know or have heard of back home. cant wait till i find a jim o'connell fan, and i can brag that i got to study under him :)

so to make stone tools, you pretty much just whack rocks together. it sounds super easy to do, i mean even monkeys make and use crude stone tools....

 ...well, its NOT. its really hard lol. after kims lesson we all got a chance to practice, and ive never seen so many spaz's get hurt so fast by breaking rocks. thank god we weren't using obsidian, someone would have for sure severed something important (insert whatever appendage you find the most comical). aussies, maybe leave the flint-knapping to us americans, i mean have you seen the clovis point? ;)

noirin being very proud of her mess, er...i mean, all those beautiful flakes haha....

this is tony (my other new irish friend) breaking some rocks.

leave it to me to go all the way to australia and make more irish friends than aussie friends. but apparently i like to do things the hard way....i mean, who else gets a handsome manfriend in america less than 2 months before leaving the country? this girl apparently :)

check out my biface!

we had a camera crew there as well, and for most of the day this was my "view" during the workshop. haha

i learned alot? (i'm ron burgendy?) i love that video clip :)

i had the coolest conversation with kim on friday morning about australian archaeology and how history is being re-written by the traditional owners/aborigines. basically the gist of it all is that the traditional owners (to's) have been mistreated for so long by white australians, that when they were finally given some power and authority to make decisions regarding how their history and land is treated, they are abusing that power. false statements about the history of specific sites is occurring, and its unclear if they are telling the wrong stories on purpose (in an attempt to keep the original history to themselves), or they dont care enough about their past to learn the correct history.

it made me really sad. it made me sad for these fantastic archaeological sites that arent being documented because they've been falsely deemed "men's sites", and since most archaeologists out here are women, they arent getting recorded. it made me sad to know the poor state of relations between the to's and archaeologists in general. but, it also made me feel like theres an opportunity for me to to make a difference. not quite sure how big or small thats going to be, but it feels like being in the middle (part brown/white, part native/scholar) is going to be a good thing.

saturday FLEW by! after i got to skype with everyone it was almost 2:00 pm. i had big plans for going running, but noirin wanted me to go with her to check out a bike that some guy was selling. we walked to the bus stop, i was busy texting shane, the bus comes, noirin hails it, it pulls over, she walks up to the door,...he takes one look at her/us, decides NOT to open the doors, and drives off. wtf? best we can figure is that:

a.) we looked like hooligans who dont belong on buses
2.)  the bus driver was on meth and had no idea that he was in fact, driving a bus
e.) the guy selling the bike was murderer and fate decided that we shouldnt go, and made us miss the bus on purpose.

alas, she was a gal on a mission and ended up with a new set of wheels anyway, courtesy of our local bike shop. man i love freo!

meanwhile i was leaping over bike racks... (honestly, dont ask, i dont have a reason lol)

i hit the town (not too hard haha) for dinner. we ate at this fantastic bar/cafe called bennys. its the spot on the left.

so fun to see all the people around, and watch the scene change from the dinner crowd to folks all dressed up and heading to the nearby clubs and bars. was enjoying myself so much that i didnt want to go home after dinner. we wandered down to the sail and anchor (which is a local brewery) and had a few frothies (yep, thats what they call beers here lol). the man at the door said i look 16 (slightly annoyed i had to dig out my id, but i guess i should flattered that i look young too?), noirin had her id out in a FLASH, which i assume to mean she was definitely flattered by the situation haha.

quick! which one is the irish arm and which is navajowegian arm?

they had a great band, and i was enjoying the music when i spotted a guy wearing almost the same shirt as me. twinning! we were talking about the random coincidence when out of nowhere an asian kid appeared came into the bar ALSO wearing our shirt. haha wtf? mint green stripies must be in right now. you heard it here first :)

sunday was lazy, but i did end it with a fantastic bike ride along the beach and a bbq with friends. the ocean smells and sunset colors were like magic. the photos dont do any of it justice, but here is one anyway.

although im living in such beautiful place, with beautiful beaches and sunsets, i'd give my left pinkie (mostly since its pretty much useless) for a powder day at brighton. miss my mountains and my home. although, light at the end of the tunnel...my sweetie is flying in on friday for ten days!!!! cant wait to have a little bit of home come to me!

 <3