Back to civilasation....Happy Happy

Well, I just finished a 10-day/9-night camping trip,.....er Adventure. Yes, this uber-urbanite paid $$ to sleep in a tent w/o ensuite. It was an exceptional experience, however, I'm certain I won't be repeating it in this lifetime.
I, a driver/guide, cook and 8 other tourist sardined ourselves in an luxury, 34-passenger, coach bus and took to the wide open spaces that is Western Australia. We departed Perth, WA and 3600 km later, arrived at the beachside, perling town of Broome. I was mercifully dropped off while the others continue on their 18-day trip.
Had the weather cooperated, I'm certain my lamentings would be few. The first 8-days were cold and windy (17 Celsius at most) and nights were even colder, oftentimes just above freezing. (1 Celsius for 2 nites). We shivered eating breakfast, shivered at dinner time, and thereafter, waiting to retire.(sundown was 530pm/dinner 630pm) The only escape seemed to be the bus or the 2 sleeping bags I was under. There were NO campfires to be had, as we were not allowed fires in national Parks. Bedtime was obvious early, 900pm as 700am was our morning breakfast and well, with the sun setting so early and the dark bringing on such cold temps, there wasn't anything else to do. More than a few locals let me know that 'this was the coldest it would get' or ' we come here all the time and this is the coldest we've ever experienced it'. Lucky, lucky me! Even though this past June was the driest month on record in WA and the whole country is experiencing a terrible drought, we were fortunate to experience rain, each night for the first 5 nights, and slept in canvas tents. (the previous lessons I learned about not touching the tent after rain, served me well but our tent sprung a leak anyway) My attitude was beginning to match the temperature gauge, plummeting as the days passed.
It was obvious, from what clothes I packed, that I was hopeful things would surely gain in temperature, esp. after crossing the tropic of Capricorn......It didn't , so I was left repeating my outfits on many occasions and since I didn't bring any winter gear, it was pantyhose to bed and sox on my hands (ideas girl!) At the Karajini Nat'l Park it was 'bush' camping (Ozzie term for roughing it - no electricity/H2O) for 2-nites.
One of the highlights was the National Park where we climbed into Gorges, with the jagged, iron ore rich earth, creating a stark contrast from the rivers running thru them. The star's brightness each night were spectacular. Not only did I see the Southern Cross, but a few black holes and Milky Way were almost at an arms length - each night. When bush camping, it was easier to just walk a few yards past the campsite, for the nightly pee run, but a few nights the mid-night sky was so bright it wasn't possible to be hidden by the darkness, ..so an anxious walk by flashlite , to the outhouse it was. One night a few of the girls and I went on a Dingo expedition and found several near our site....the night time howling woke a few of them up.
Another highlight was seeing Kangaroos, emus, running about in the wild. At Monkey Mia, a marine park, I finally witnessed the wild dolphins coming up on shore to interact with humans....a rare occurrence indeed.
I had never taken a guide trip before and wasn't used to constantly being with a group of people all day and all night.. It was a UN of passengers, and because of the temperatures, most of them just tried to focus on staying warm and didn't really open up until the last few nights, when the temps rose as did the drinking. My roommate, Kylie, was from Adelaide and terrific at showing me how to put up the canvas tent, sometimes taking over b/c I was simply 'too slow' for her. There were 2 brothers from Austria, who spoke just like Arnold Swartz and laughed in unison. A philosophical Englishman and his wife. The trip wasn't w/o its drama of course. There was our cute,blue-eyed tour guide which attracted the attention of a few of the girls. It became interesting on the last evening but lets just say, he picked the prettiest and nicest girl there.

I was, glad, however, to get to civilisation and be in a somewhat urban setting with cafes and stores closeby. After 10-days, I am ready to be a drifter and spend some alone time contemplating the universe again (evern though I'm sharing a room with 5 other girls at the Broome hostel) The skys are clear, the beach is nearby and I have a room stratigically situated close to the toilets. My 'living on the edge' experience has passed, I survived the challenge and now there's a big smile on my face because I have warmth surrounding me. Ok, now I have some TV to catch up on... :-)
Trip itinerary: http://www.connectionsadventures.com/content.asp?document_id=16961

The Western Australia Outback