More Adventures in the land of the Queen....

And by the land of the Queen I mean, of course, Queensland-so far the only state I've seen here in Australia. Technically though all of Australia is the land of the Queen being as Queen Elizabeth II is the reining monarch (yes, she is not only the Queen of England but also the Queen of Australia; Argo, the Queen of England does NOT hold sovereignty over Australia. The two separate titles just happen to be held by the same person. Confusing I know.) However, I don't think the Aussies are to keen about claiming that heritage-they've recently removed her from the currency for goodness sakes. Interestingly enough, they ARE happy to honor the Queen on her official birthday. Wonder if it has anything to do with getting a day off once a year for the national holiday? Hmmm...you be the judge. But when you get down to the nitty gritty, the country still has ties to her; the last effort to become a separate republic was defeated 10 years ago so I guess they like old Queen Lizzy a bit still. And in case you were wondering, no. I am not an expert on the common wealth ruling system. I read an article about it recently, found it interesting, and thought I'd share.

Well enough of the semantics and politics; time to give you what you really want....ME! Not to be immodest but this is my blog after all. So you might be asking yourself, "_____(insert name here, preferably yours) what has my fantastic, wonderful, exciting friend/sister/daughter/idol Shivonne been up to in the past week since her last update?" The answer: a lot. Then you should ask yourself why you are referring to yourself in the third person. Kind of an odd habit don't you think? Oh well no worries. Here's a list of activities from the past two weeks:

• Visited the Quantas Museum in Longreach (where the iconic Aussie airline was born) which included a tour of a restored Boeing 707. Incidentally both Madonna and Michael Jackson had flown on this plane which was previously owned by a Sheik from the Middle East (the tour guide pointed out the odd smell might be attributed to the smoking of dairy and tobacco in hookahs by the Saudi Arabians. Not really sure he actually knew what a hookah was.) The only other plane like it is currently owned my John Travolta. Gotta love the star power.
• Learned all about drovers, cattle, mining, frontier life, pioneers and the history of the harsh Australian outback lifestyle at the Stockman's Hall of Fame. This came in handy when we watched the movie Australia on a bus a few days later-I had never heard of a drover before (you know-Hugh Jackman's sexy hot character).
• In Barcaldine we saw the famous Tree of Knowledge-the 19th century tree was the birthplace of the Labor Party and a sign of power for Australian workers everywhere. Unfortunately the tree was poisoned in 2006 by an unknown vandal and the monument was only restored recently this year. Honestly, it's kind of an eye sore but still a fascinating piece of history.
• Pulled an all nighter at the cinema in Rockhampton after being deprived of new releases for three months-we didn't come home until 6 in the morning and saw five movies in a span of two days. Gotta love a movie marathon; not everything can be culturally enlightening after all.
• Explored the Capricorn limestone cave system. I love caves; they have such a beautiful mystery to them. The aptly named Cathedral Cave there is famous for it's acoustics and is on par with the Sydney Opera House, though a slightly smaller venue to say the least.
• Finally saw my first LIVE kangaroo of the trip (the only kangaroo I'd seen so far had been on the side of the road or on my plate). I almost felt bad about eating one...almost. Hey-I think cows are cute too but I'm not giving up steak.
• Witnessed the huge, intimidating, powerful creature that is the saltwater crocodile in person at a crocodile farm. I even got to hold a baby croc! Adorable. It was amazing to learn about their habits, physiology, territory claims, and reproduction. Did you know you can determine the sex of the crocodile by the incubation temperature of the egg? Also, they are the only creature that hasn't changed in form or function since the age of the dinosaurs. So I saw a dinosaur. Lots of them actually. How awesome is that?
• Experienced two days at the Myella Farm Stay. This might have been the best thing I've done in Oz yet. I learned how to drive a motor bike, rode horses, stacked hay, ate amazing home cooking (a rarity for backpackers), gazed at the stars, and came away exhausted, smelling of campfire, crazy sore, but exhilarated.

Now we are ending our Queensland adventure in Brisbane....right where we started it. Unfortunately the funds are in a dire way-we weren't exactly responsible with our finances over the past two weeks, and we let ourselves get out of hand with spending money on going out to eat and living at the cinema. Therefore, we have to lay low here until we catch our flight to Melbourne on Tuesday where we are back to the task of job hunting. Goodbye Sunshine State...hello state Victoria of the cold.