Easter Break Part Tres

Let’s get right into it this time! Then I’ll have to catch up on this past week and such later. Today I’m headed to Tasmania for 5 days with 8 others, so that should be good.

So, Tuesday started with the Uluru sunrise tour. We ate lunch, relaxed, and I got to lay out by the pool awhile which was wonderful. Then we had to be on our way again though. We had an afternoon outing to Kata Tjuta. That was a bit further drive than Uluru so we got to hear a little more about the Aboriginals there and such. Our guide was pretty cool on this tour, a little crazy. She was very informative though. She talked some about they way the people used to live on this land, how they got around, what they hunted and how they slept, and how they interacted with each other. There weren’t as many stories about Kata Tjuta, it is mostly a sacred men’s site. They haven’t revealed very much about it because a lot of the initiations go on there and other things that are very spiritual they aren’t prepared to share. So most of the stories we heard were about white man coming out there and “discovering” the rocks. They were named The Olgas by white man. I forgot all of that story, but I remember it was very difficult to get to these rocks from the direction they came because the salt lakes, I think namely Lake Amadeus. It took them a few different tries to get across or around or something. Then from Kata Tjuta they could see Uluru off in the distance when they climbed up. I started to stop writing as much down at this point in the trip, so I probably won’t be as detailed from here on out as I don’t remember as much! Probably better for all of you though, to not have me go on and on about every little thing! We stopped at a viewing spot a little ways away to take some pictures. Our guide also told us about the desert oak trees that are everywhere out there. There are a lot of young ones that are just real small and the leaves are just real close to the tree. They don’t mature until they hit the tap or something down below and that way they can get water from it and grow even bigger and spread out their leaves. They were really pretty actually, and like everything else at the moment were quite green, a beautiful contrast to the red dirt. We left from there to head in right next to the rocks. We stopped at a place around the other side, that wasn’t so sacred, called Walpa Gorge. Here we got out and took a bit of a hike up into the gorge to see it. That was pretty cool. The rocks were huge! We went between the tallest one of the “domes” as they call them, Mt. Olga, and another one. They just went straight up and had awesome looking faces. There were little holes and caves at different spots, and along the path there were big stones that were made up of little stones if that makes any sense. The path was uneven rocks just like what those balls of stones were made of. There was one little creek along the way. It was just gorgeous, and in between the domes the sun kept changing as it was later afternoon so the rock colors above us were changing depending on if the sun hit it or not. So we got the end and it was quite gorgeous. Looking both ways, either the slit between the two domes, or the large opening back where we came from with the bright sun and wonderful blue sky. You could see all the rays coming from behind the clouds, it was very nice. Then we just turned around and headed back. It was a very nice hike, pretty short and really easy, it felt good. I talked to the guide a little on the way back. I told her I was studying in Geelong and she said she was from a little town between Geelong and Melbourne, but I haven’t heard of it. I talked to her a little about some movies I’d watched depicting Australian life, mostly The Castle just because I loved it so much, it was hilarious. I told her I refused to watch Wolf Creek before I came and she said she refuses to watch it because she lives out there! It’s a movie based on something that happened, about a guy killing people he helped stranded on a road in the middle of the desert. Scary! There were a couple little kids in our group, one in particular added some entertainment for sure. He talked and talked and talked, and was very confident and outgoing. He had a hat on that said Jellyman, like from Finding Nemo, so our guide called him Jellyman the whole time, it was cute. We came back to the bus and the sun was going to be setting soon so we then headed over a little further away again to the sunset viewing area. The sunset was happening opposite Kata Tjuta rather than behind it. Our guide set up some “bubbly and nibblies” for us. We had sparkling wine and some tasty bread with oil and vinegar dipping sauce and then some other stuff to dip that into, spices or something. It was really good, I ate sort of a lot of it! It’s so wonderful to sip on some bubbly and watch the sunset, really it feels like some sort of paradise. Anyway, that was another spectacular sunset for us. The domes changed colors so many different times and it was brilliant. The sunset behind with a few clouds was also magnificent. Really vibrant and incredible. After it had pretty much gone down we packed up and headed back to the resort. The last of it was setting as we drove off and we were driving as the blue dusk turned into black. So we saw sunset, dusk, black, black, dawn, sunrise, sun up, sunset, dusk, black all in a row and it was totally amazing! It made for a couple long days, but it was really incredible. When we got back to the resort we had to go over to the backpacker’s place to get some dinner since it was the only thing open that late. That made it very packed as well, so we had to wait awhile, and just got some sandwiches and burgers, but it was good. Then it was crash time again.

Wednesday we ordered room service breakfast because it was cheaper than anything else really! We got a meal that came with a little of everything, like a complimentary breakfast buffet sort of. Mom and I then headed out on an adventure to the lookout point in the middle of the whole resort area. There’s a little dune out there and from the top you can see Uluru really well and Kata Tjuta off in the distance a ways. It was pretty cool. There are a couple paths out in the middle there so we took the wrong one and got a little lost in the bush, I got scratched by the “grass” out there, it’s like needles I’m not even joking. But we got to see some snake tracks where they slithered, and some little tracks of some sort. It was cool. We had to check out at 10 which was sort of annoying because then we just had to sit and wait in the lobby for awhile before the shuttle came to take us to the airport. Then once we got to the airport we had to wait a little bit before getting on the plane. It was cool to walk out to the plane and up the stairs though. I had a whole side to myself, all three seats, so I got to sit by a window which was nice. There was also another movie and a nice sandwich for lunch. The movie was Freedom Writers and really a good movie, based on a true story and pretty inspirational. We got into Cairns, which was cool to see everything and fly over the ocean before landing. We got picked up again and taken to our hotel in Palm Cove about 20 minutes away. It was really nice, I loved the town of Palm Cove, all along the Esplanade and everything. It was gorgeous and felt very resort like, very relaxed. Our room was amazing, more like an apartment! It just added to the whole feel of the place, like you were truly on vacation you know. We just walked along the esplanade looking for a place for dinner and ended up at the restaurant right next to our hotel. It was very delicious, I had some veal tortellini that was amazing. We just went back to the room again and called it a night. I spent a lot of these empty nights showing Mom all my pictures on my computer I’d taken so far since I’ve been here! And that was Wednesday, mostly just a travelling day but it happens.

Thursday just so happened to be one of the most amazing days of my life I think! I experienced the Great Barrier Reef! It truly was incredible. You know it’s going to be wonderful of course, but you can’t imagine it until you get in there. I just went snorkelling, not diving, but I was pretty much in awe the whole time. Not only is it gorgeous and the fish are amazing, but just the fact of what it is and how it works, the natural beauty and wonder of it. The coral just grows and dies and regenerates, and there is so much LIFE down there, in general. It’s amazing to see so much life in one spot, very inspiring, makes you think and wonder. The coral itself really wasn’t that colourful, as they told us is normal because there are little creatures that grab on and live on the coral that make it brown. The first colors to leave are orange, yellow and red, and that seemed to be the case. We saw mostly the brown, but there was also blues, greens and purples in there. Some were very vibrant and it was all just beautiful. We got up early again and headed into Cairns to leave on the Ocean Spirit catamaran. It took a couple hours to get out to the reef, and we were moving fairly fast! When we left land it looked pretty dreary and the water wasn’t too pretty. The further out we got, the more the water turned prettier blues and became clear. They served us biscuits (cookies) and coffee and showed a slide show to help them talk a little about the reef and the creatures that lived there. That was interesting, it’s nice to learn a little about what you’re doing and seeing on top of just being there. When we arrived at Michealmas Cay we dropped anchor and everyone got ready to do their respective activities. Our first one was a trip in the glass bottom boat! This was pretty amazing, our first view of the real reef! And now I leave you in suspense!! I have to catch the bus to the airport for Tassie now!!

You all have a wonderful week, think of me. Remember I care about you and miss you! I’ll continue my exciting adventures when I get home and there will be even more to catch up on! Your quotes:

Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway ~John Wayne

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin ~Mother Teresa

Love, Alissa