OZ9/10: Litchfield, Waterfalls, and Breakdowns

The next morning when we got up, Marco was already packing.  He thanked us for standing up for him and we thanked him for being such a good dude.  We all worked hard to make sure when the other two got back that they couldn’t find any faults with our packing job.

And they couldn’t.  We were ready and waiting by the time they got there, and they still had to pack up their tent.

It was Gwen’s turn to drive, but the road that Marco had found that would take us to the best spots in the park was 4WD, one lane, and pretty intense.  Gwen must have not had a ton of experience driving in snow or sand because she was over-correcting like mad, coming within inches of hitting a tree.  That was the last straw for Jojje, who took over driving.

But honestly it was great that he drove because he was a hell of a driver.  He took corners hard, flew over bumps, skidded and slipped through the sand.  We did a couple of river crossings along the way, which was super exciting, especially since we didn’t have a snorkel on the car!  Most outback Aussies have snorkels on their trucks because in the wet season, crossing rivers without one means the engine takes on water, which is not so good.  It was exhilarating to take the water on though.  Jojje was a great driver in that.  We all were pumping after that.

We visited three waterfalls that day, but sadly I made it to only two of them.  Joe and I had a fight on the very first one and I almost stayed behind for that.  Marco came back to the car to grab something and then started to head off, but was confused that I wasn’t coming with him.  I told him Joe and I were fighting and you could see the sympathy on his face.  He is such a sweet person.  He offered consolation and tried to get me to come along anyway, but when I said I needed time to cool off, he said he understood, but also said, “Listen, I know how bad fights can be, but don’t let the fight make you miss the cool things that we’re doing and seeing today.”  It was very sweet.  He reluctantly went on without me.

I realized how right he was though, so I went up and joined them at the waterfalls, which ended up being really cool.  The falling water had created a large plunge pool that we so deep we couldn’t feel or see just how deep it really was.  I stayed away from Joe because I was hurting, which is painful to think of now.

As we were leaving the first waterfall, a family came to swim behind us and as they were climbing up the rocks, a bottle of beer fell out of their backpack and smashed on the rocks, rolling down and down the rocks, leaving broken glass the whole way.  Major party foul.  The wife tried to act like it was the husband’s fault and the husband tried to act like it was the wife’s fault.  They spent lots of time picking up shards of glass.

The second waterfall our fight rose higher and I stayed behind for real this time, crying for most of it.  I felt so shitty.  There are more details that I could explain, but it’s unnecessary.  I felt so miserable and I knew I was being the world’s biggest jerk.

I noticed today how Gwen’s feminine charm was turned way up.  By the second waterfall she was sitting as close to Jojje as possible, doing the flirt giggle with her whole body turned his way.  He had her full and undivided attention and you could tell that he was only mildly interested, but never made it happen.

Then, suddenly, my mood broke.  At risk of TMI, my period started.  I wouldn’t be telling the general public about this detail normally, but it is so vital to this ugly section that I have to.  And it was like the pressurized bottle was finally opened and my mood stabilized.

The third waterfall of the day

At the third waterfall I wasn’t quite warmed up to Joe yet, but I went along with them, but decided to stay out of the water.  After a half hour or so of sitting by myself contemplating, I was finally able to go over to Joe, who was as surprised as I was that I was finally able to communicate again.  I told him that I wasn’t sitting the swimming out as punishment to him, but because I was allowing my drained body to rest.  From then on, I remembered how much I needed him, especially in the moments where I hate him the most, because those moments are when I am actually a freaking werewolf and not myself.

This was by far the most dramatic cycle I had had so far.  The one before with the other Emily was pretty bad, but this was like going from the dark and scary night to the warm and pleasant day.  I hated it.  I was so scared by the fact that I could go from one to the other so fast and seemingly without my awareness or ability to control it.

Poor Joe.  Poor, poor, poor Joe.  He doesn’t deserve it.  All he’s ever been is good to me (though admittedly he gets very short by the end of my werewolf stage, but for good reason, as he’s been putting up with a lot of abuse).

If there was one good thing about this cycle it was that it was so dramatic and sudden of a change that it really shocked me and raised my awareness levels.  I mean, I was sort of aware before, but this was so far and away worse than most cycles that I couldn’t pretend the problem is less than it is.

Am I being honest enough for you yet?  :)  I am a lucky woman to have Joe, who sticks it out with me.

Back to the story, we finished the day out at a boardwalk that overlooked termite mounds.  As we learned, there were two types of mounds: cathedral (they sort of look like a multi-spired structure) and compass (these look more like a fan folded out).  The cathedral ones are the prettiest, but the compass ones are the coolest, since they point north to south, a tactic used to control heat, as the heat of the day in Australia could easily kill everything in the nest were it not for their little compass trick.  While there we got my favorite picture of Marco and I.

We do battle

The sunset of a long, trying day