Next Stop

I was getting Arrgh-I'm-Stuck-in-a-big-city-itis, so I had to make a decision and get out of Melbourne. I bought a ticket to Costa Rica! I leave from Sydney on July 10th, then meet up with my cousin in Nicaragua in late July and Thais is going to meet me in Belize in Early August. Then I'll probably come home.

I said goodby to Trevor, lost my bag of food and spices, and rode a very entertaining train out of Melbourne . The train ride was packed with people on their way home from work. Next to me was a girl listening to her headphones way too loud. I also think she had some minor mental handicap. Halfway through the train trip she started singing along to her music. She started off quit, but then soon started belting it out like an opera singer. Only she didn't know all the words.

mu mu bu TOGETHER!!
blah da da UMBRELLA!!
ELLA! ELLA! ella!

and then a bunch of

EH! EH! EH!
AH! AH! AH!
oh oh ...

all with no musical inflection whatsoever. and all very loud.
The first couple times she sung the song it was humourous, but by the fifth or sixth time through the same song in a row, the whole train was trying not to laugh. She was sitting right in front of me, with her back to the rest of the people on train, so I could see the whole show.



And now I'm on the road again. Hitch-hiking in this part of the country is a little slow-going, but very rewarding. The first ride I got wasn't until after dark. There was no moon and it was raining, so it was very dark indeed. I had actually given up on hitching and was just trying to find a flat and dryish place to put myself down. As always, things happen once you give up. within minutes a guy stopped and offered me a ride to the next town, about 50 km away (he was on his daily 2-hour commute from work). This guy knew a lot about hiking in the area and the local parks. He drove me out of his way to the trail-head of one of the parks along the Centenial Trail, a trail that runs for hundreds of miles across Australia. "This is where I'd like to wake up" he enviously told me.
He was right, it was a beautiful area. I spent the next day walking through the ferns in an old eucalyptus forest to the top of a mountain.

I had intended on spending two days walking, but there was a road on top of the mountain instead of a trail, so I decided to keep my thumb out as I walked. Again, nobody stopped until after the sun went down, but I didn't mind much. The weather was cool, and I was delighted to walk amung the greenest grass I've ever seen in my life.
The guy that finally picked me up was a little spherical man who spoke incredibly fast. He was on his way to work the night shift on the railroad tracks. His company had rented a cabin for him in the caravan park at the nearby city. He said that since he works 12 hour shifts he wouldn't be using it at all until 9:am the next morning and told me that I could stay there. So he unloaded all of his belongings into the cabin, showed me his portable Sony Playstation, Portable DVD player, and other very valuable items, then gave me the keys and headed off to work. The trust and generosity he showed has kept me from giving up hope on people. The world could stand a few more folks like this.

Today I got a ride from a Beatnick/sculptor to the town of Yea (pronounced like the celibratory sound, but with no emotion). I found two lemons and squeezed them into my water bottle and made the best lemonade I've ever had. I've been eating lots of banannas, but must have been low on Vitamin C because I devoured the squeezed out fruit, and felt so much more energetic afterwards.
I am now continuing on toward Sydney, hoping to get out of the rain soon. All the highways down South are flooded with 4 feet of water. So I'm trying to steer North. Trevor got rid of the car when I left him, and it's so good to be traveling without one.

That's my story:Eric.