It's been kind of a rush the past couple of days. Two hostels and now I'm in Tamworth about to go in to the bush. The train from Sydney to Tamworth took me through some of the most amazing country I've ever seen. We went through what looked like oyster farms, don't quote me on that, prairie like home, foothills like in Colorado, scrub land like Mexico, and mountains like you would expect in some Brazilian rainforest.

I also had a conversation with a retired lawyer/debt collector/bus driver named Shirley who was half sweet grandmother type and half spit fire. If you know my mom, imagine her in 20 years. She informed that I was a "naughty lad" for not having seen my own country before seeing another but that it was fine as long as I fixed the situation when I go home. I agreed that I was ok with that deal and we moved on. She was orginally from New Zealand, has two children, and informed me that they wanted her there but she wanted to be in Sydney...so there. She also let me know that whenever she wondered if she should go to the opera in Sydney she would ask herself the question "Am I worth it?" The answer is always "yes."

The fact that I'm going in to the bush means I won't have e-mail or internet access or access to my mobile until after next Friday. I wish those of you who read this blog, and those of you who don't though you'll never know it, the best and I'll let you all know how it goes next weekend. Good luck with all that you're doing and I'll look forward to letting you know what a Jackeroo actually does! :-)