The last adventure!

Hi! Wow, it’s been awhile, hey? Sorry about the long delay. Life has definitely been crazy since I’ve been home. I haven’t had much to do, but I’ve stayed incredibly busy somehow. I think I’m emotionally exhausted as well! But it’s all good. Today has to be my ultra productive day - everything on my to do list needs to be crossed off! I’m going home this weekend, and starting Monday I work full time for a week, then part time for two more weeks, just some temp work at the bookstore for the rush. I get a discount on my books and merchandise too, sweet! Anyway, life just stays busy! It’s been incredible to not have to work this month that I’ve been home, though. It gave me time to adjust and unwind and do what I wanted and needed, and I still stayed busy! So finally here comes the long awaited, exciting tale of my last adventures in Australia! It seems both like yesterday, and a million years ago. This trip was incredible and I hope you can imagine so through my poor attempt at capturing that in words.

After my long and sad goodbyes in Geelong, it was finally time for me to leave. Jared was nice enough to take my big suitcases since I only took a duffel bag and had to move out of the unit. He was coming up to Melbourne when we were there our last days, so it worked out well. I said goodbye to Jared then headed down to meet the cab with Donald. He had decided about a week before that he wanted to go on the tour with me so I didn’t have to go alone. A couple girls from South Carolina were still there so they came to say goodbye to us as we drove off. That was a difficult moment, driving away from uni for who knows how long, if not forever. We had the cab driver go downtown to stop and say goodbye to Marc really fast, then headed to Avalon airport. That was it, out of Geelong, away from all those people. But we were headed off on a wonderful trip! Definitely a mix of emotions. The flight was good and we landed across the continent in Perth, tired and hungry. We got to the YHA Hostel, my first time, and I was quite impressed. It was actually nice, different from other hostels I’d experienced! We put our stuff away and headed out to find some dinner. We walked a ways, getting a little lost, but eventually coming to a street one lady recommended. It was raining and chilly, but dinner tasted great and the restaurant was pretty cool. Then it was bedtime.

Bright and early the next morning we started our 5 day tour around Western Australia. The bus was full, about 20 people total. Our tour guide/driver was awesome, very energetic and excited to show us his country. Our first stop that day was The Centre of the Universe. I’m not sure why it was named this, it was a gas station and convenience store. And it’s not really in the centre of anything. I reckon Western Australia is terribly desperate for tourist attractions, I mean who wouldn’t want to visit the centre of the universe right? And obviously there is too large a number of people in this world who will believe whatever they are told. They say this is the centre of the universe, “they” must know something we don’t, let’s trust them and go see this wonder so we can just say we’ve been there. That’s what they think, right? So anyway, it was pretty exciting for a toilet break. We drove awhile, before Chris, the driver, noticed he left his gas card at the centre of the universe. We had to make a u-ey and grab it before it was lost forever. Next we stopped at a Dolphin Discovery Centre, but alas there were no dolphins in the bay that day. Things just weren’t turning out so fabulously early on in the trip! Made me wonder. Our next stop was an old cave. A bit freaky in some tight quarters, but cool looking for a cave you know. BUT! Then a little taste of alcohol saved the day! We visited a winery and quickly tasted most of their available wines. The lady was a little crazy and thus quite entertaining. I didn’t like about half of what we tried, but it was interesting, informative, and delightful. We concluded the day with a nice walk on the beach at sunset, how fabulous! It was beautiful and I found some lovely seashells before we found our hostel in Augusta.

Day 2! We were up before dawn. This was a common theme seeing as there is not much in Western Australia, and it’s quite a large place, about half of the country. That’s also like half of the continental US. Yeah, a lot of land. All in 5 days we had to cover this southwest corner of the country. So we drove awhile before reaching our first adventurous stop of the day, the Bicentennial Tree. It was a Karri tree in the forests that they used to keep watch over the land. These trees can grow from 70m to over 85m tall and live to be 150 to 300 years old. Pretty impressive trees really. This particular one has poles sticking out of it all the way up around the tree that you can climb. There is a bit of netting around the “stairs” as well. Needless to say, with my small fear of heights, and the fact that it was rainy, I opted out of climbing. There were about 6 people who did. I wish I could’ve seen the view from the top, but it was a long way up and we really didn’t have too much time there. So it was better for everyone that I didn’t go up! It was still cool though, and fun to throw the footy around a little and such. We stopped at this little café called the Hollowbutt Café, no joke. I laughed. I also got the best sausage roll I had in Australia and a Big M Mocha. I could really go for one of those right now! We were off in search of more fun and found it at the famous Valley of the Giants. It is this treetop walk where you’re up high off the ground among all these karri and tingle trees. There were red and yellow tingle trees that were also quite tall and large. These were especially interesting because they hollowed out naturally after a period and it was this huge empty tree you could stand in, pretty sweet. It was a tree filled day, which I fully enjoyed, especially since Chris was particularly excited about trees! We stopped at this gas station for lunch and enjoyed the company of a couple friendly dogs. The whole afternoon and evening was spent at two different beaches. The first one we stopped at a few brave souls went swimming. It was winter there. Granted, it was decent temperature water, but still quite chilly by my standards. I reckon I was able to wear my short sleeve shirt during the day. That first place I was able to explore awhile which was fun. It was called the Elephant Rocks because there were big huge rocks I guess. I couldn’t see the elephants, and I love elephants. It was a gorgeous Australian day to walk some beaches and hop on some rocks and take some snapshots. Everyone dried off and we were off to the next beach in time for sunset. This place was called the Natural Bridge and Gap. Surprisingly, there was a gap in the rocks that occurred naturally as well as a natural bridge made by the rocks. It was actually pretty cool looking. The area was a bit dangerous with all the rock faces, but we were safe and it was absolutely gorgeous. We saw a whale breaching way off in the distance! We saw the entire sunset over the Indian Ocean there and it was breathtaking. We stayed in Albany in this interesting, confusing hostel. I was definitely sick by this point in the trip which was no fun, but that meant I got a good night sleep when all the others had a big night out on the small town.

Most of the people on the bus were actually on the 3 day tour rather than the 5 day tour, so they all were leaving us on the third day after lunch to go back to Perth while we went on further. We started the day before dawn once again, but this time it was absolutely amazing. We drove a little ways to this point above Albany and the ocean to watch the sun come up over the horizon. It was a spectacular sunrise, too. Wow. Something that made it even better was a rainbow over the water directly opposite the sunrise. We took a short walk down the hill and over to Middleton beach. I enjoyed some seashell hunting a nice swing pushing before we were on the road again. I slept a good portion of the time in the bus since I was sick as a dog. I stole a roll of toilet paper for my tissue supply, and I went through it in a couple days. Yikes. My head was banging. I tried to watch the landscape roll by, it was quite pretty, but usually fell asleep with my mouth wide open. I remained brave and strong and took on our next challenge full force! We arrived at this mountain, Mt. Trio in the Stirling Ranges, 800m tall and proceeded to climb it! It was wonderful really, just difficult when you can’t breathe too well, and let’s face it, no matter how small I may be I am not in good shape. It really wasn’t too difficult though, only for a short period that was quite steep. The view from the top was incredible. I felt like I was on top of the world, I was pretty much in quite some miles at least! It was gorgeous from up there, no matter how hard it was to stand up straight from the wind gusts. I felt accomplished as well. We stopped in a park a little way from our mountain to eat some burgers for lunch before breaking groups and saying goodbye to most everyone. There were six of us left for the last two days. Chris took us to visit his friends, a couple horses and a very old sheep. We made their days by feeding them carrots and apples and bonding a little before out long drive on to Esperance for the night.

Our fourth day was pretty jam packed, but all wonderful. We drove around the bay at Esperance to the national park where we came to another mountain, Frenchman’s Peak at 300m tall. It was pretty steep and all rock, freaked me out quite a bit. I was honestly scared to climb this, especially still being sick and there being strong winds that day. It was all open and seemed like you would just slip right off the side. I didn’t though, and climbed it just fine. I will admit by the time I reached the top I was a little shaken up, a little freaked out since it was a small point on top, but it was good. The view was pretty awesome since you could see the ocean out a ways. Starting to climb back down freaked me out a lot, I didn’t know how I was going to get down. Chris talked me through how to get down the real steep part and we just had a nice conversation the rest of the way down and everything was fine. I went down easily since I was focusing on our conversation. Chris was like, are you sure you were freaked out? That was really fast! He said he’s actually had to carry people down before. I guess I wasn’t that bad, really I wasn’t though, I am a strong woman! Anyway, I felt accomplished again and it was fun. We drove off to the ocean to Lucky Bay. WOW! It was amazing. This was the most beautiful beach I’ve seen in my entire life, not that I’ve seen a ton of them, but still. It was perfect soft white sand with turquoise water that turned to this deep blue further out. Perfect paradise. It was made even better by the fact that we were the only ones there until a couple came when we were leaving! Since it was winter not many people wanted to visit the beach, but it was honestly quite a gorgeous day with the sun shining and decent temperature. We played around there a little while before pulling out our lunch. Then we went off to explore Rossiter Bay just a couple miles down the way. It wasn’t as awesome, but still pretty. After the quick stop we were off to Hellfire Bay, a little scary sounding, and a little creepy place honestly. We walked along the rocks and around corner to Little Hellfire Bay. There had recently been a bush fire so everything was dead, which is what made it a little creepy. It was truly beautiful though. Especially seeing the first signs of new life. Everything was charred and black but there was white sand all over! We found some bones of a wallaby or something. I loved exploring so many beaches and everything, it was great. Chris drove us back to our hostel to drop off dinner that the owner was going to make for us. Then it was straight back on the road for awhile before the sun started to go down. We went along the other side of Esperance on this ocean highway that winded along the ocean. That was amazing, though not quite as much so as the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. We stopped along the way at a couple beaches. The last beach we stopped at was the 10 mile lagoon. There was this really awesome natural reef type thing that you could wade out to and walk quite a ways out into the ocean but still be knee deep in water and be protected from the waves! It was so incredible, I love nature, it amazes me. I didn’t go out very far in it though since I had jeans on and couldn’t roll them up very high. Still, it was absolutely breathtaking and the sand was so smooth and felt amazing. Walking on the beach at sunset, it was a dream! Granted, it would’ve been much better with a special someone, you can’t have everything you want, right?! No, I was perfectly content in that moment really. We drove back to town and made a stop at the jetty to visit Sammy the Sea Lion and get an ice cream cone from the local stand. That was awesome! Sammy was quite entertaining, especially for Louise, the French girl who had never seen one before!

Our last day was definitely a long one. We had to drive all the way back to Perth, and it had taken us three days driving to get to where we were, even if we were cutting through the land rather than going along the coast. The road out of Esperance in the morning was lit by the gorgeous sunrise. Our first stop was for the toilet in cool tiny town called Raventhorpe. Next was the main, and really only, attraction for the whole day, Wave Rock. It’s about all there is in the interior of Western Australia as well. It was pretty cool actually, even though it was just a big rock shaped like a wave. The top stuck out, then it curved in before curving back again. It was neat to see all the erosion after hundreds of years and all the water running down it. We got to climb on top of it where it was just flat rock on top and we could explore for awhile. The view from the top was great, you could see forever as it was quite flat and barren out there. Even so, the land was quite impressive and pretty. There was a short stop at Hippo’s Yawn, another rock. I think they have stretched it a little, but I guess the yawn was there. It was basically just the Hippo’s mouth you could see and you stood up in the centre of the mouth. On our way back to the main road we stopped to move a lizard out of the middle of the road. It was a really awesome lizard, different than anything I’ve ever seen! Chris knew about it and gave us a little lesson on lizards, pretty sweet. Our next stop was in Corrigin at the servo for some gas and snacks. Just out of town was a dog cemetery we stopped to pay our respects at. The people just have to get permission and then they dig and make their own graves for their dogs. It was pretty sad, and also interesting to see the extravagant graves some people come up with. It was certainly a long driving day, but made so much better by having 5 wonderful people to talk to. We all got to know each other pretty well on the 5 day tour, we could turn the music up loud, tell jokes and funny stories, it was a great time. There was Chris the driver, a young guy from Queensland, a girl from France, a Canadian, a guy from Pennsylvania, and then me and Donald. We stopped in the Shire of York for a quick break and rode this wombat at the local park. Then it was the home stretch into Perth where we were all dropped off at our hostels after saying goodbye and hugging it out! The whole trip was really great. It was mostly all extremely beautiful scenery, plenty of beaches, good conversation, some interesting laughs, and really nice weather. We saw some great wildlife as well. I saw lots of wild kangaroos and wallabies, which I really hadn’t much yet. I also saw tons of wild emus! They are crazy animals. Lizards and birds that were new to me were also pretty cool. Much of the land we went through was farmland as well, so sheep and cows were everywhere, and Chris honked at them the whole way! There were hardly any cars on the road the whole trip, there aren’t many people, or really much of anything at all, out in Western Australia. But it is absolutely beautiful country and I’m so glad I got a chance to see it. Donald and I found a souvenir shop in the mall nearby in Perth, as well as a good fast food chicken place for dinner. It was going to be another early morning and long day ahead!

Donald and I were at the airport early and he was the first to leave as he was headed back to Melbourne. I waited for quite awhile so I called my parents and got online since I hadn’t all week. I wasted time well before my flight to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. I missed my shuttle by about three minutes because it took awhile to get luggage, so I had to wait another hour before heading into the city, it wasn’t worth it to me to get a cab. So I checked into my hostel, wow was that a great place to stay. Not. It was a pokies/bar/bottle shop downstairs and you had to show them your key and they let you in the door to go upstairs. It was on about the only really bad street in town, though right on the edge. However, it was cheap as, only $16 a night, so it wasn’t too big a surprise for me. The location really couldn’t have been better though. I was a street away from everything I was there to see, so I could walk everywhere. Anyway, I went out right away since there were only a couple hours of daylight left. I headed over to the botanic gardens for a bit before walking back and running into the Woolworth’s to grab some muffins for breakfast and Shapes for a snack to carry with me. Boy do I miss Shapes, I could really go for some Pizza ones right now. Anyway, right across the street from my hostel were a whole bunch of fast food places, so I came back there to eat dinner before heading in for the night. I ate at Nando’s, Australia’s most amazing chicken place, I wish we had some here. It was dark then so I went in. That part was sort of no fun because since it was winter, it was dark by about 5:30, not giving me a whole lot of time, and way too much time inside alone. I guess that’s the price of travelling alone as a female. Well, at least for me, some girls went out, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. Anyway, I just wrote and read a lot every night. The next morning was my full day in Adelaide. I got up and around early to go to church. I went to the oldest church in the state, the Anglican church a few blocks away. It was gorgeous inside and interesting to go to an Anglican service, I’ve never been to one of those churches before, it was really good. I headed back to explore the botanic gardens a little more. It was going good until this creepy man walked by me. He turned around and started following me for a few minutes. I stopped to see if he would keep walking and I was just crazy, but he stopped and kept watching me, even when I kept looking at him. It really freaked me out, especially since nobody was really around. I started walking towards the main path with him still following, thinking of how I could use my umbrella as a weapon, when I think God sent me a man who worked in the gardens who walked by and I could follow him to safety. The guy stopped following me once another man was around. It freaked me out quite a bit, and made me a hundred times more cautious than I already was. But nothing bad happened thankfully. So I left then and headed back through the mall and cafés before grabbing lunch. Then I visited the old and new Parliament houses before seeing the War Memorial. I stopped in the South Australia Museum for awhile, pretty uninteresting for the most part, but still worth visiting. Next I went into the Art Gallery of South Australia where I saw some great paintings and other art. My favourite was seeing Eros, the cupid, it was gorgeous. These were all on the same street a block from my hostel. I headed over to Ayers House, Henry Ayers that is, for whom Ayers Rock is named. That was pretty cool, very enjoyable. It’s just an old mansion but it was gorgeous and I got a personal tour. The old lady just volunteers but they give tours to everyone who comes in and she was fabulous, it was like talking with a grandma or something, quite nice. I needed that after my day all alone, travelling gets awfully lonely really, so to have some nice conversation was great. I stopped at a souvenir shop, and on to see Town Hall and Victoria Square real quick before it got dark. That night wasn’t so great, McDonald’s for dinner before heading in for the night. I had free internet at the hostel, so that helped pass time a little. I was quite lonely after only two days. It just wasn’t good timing dealing with all the emotions of leaving and going home. The next morning I walked out to the Adelaide Oval for a tour. It was recommended to me by one of my favourite housemates and I didn’t have anything left to see, so I figured why not. It was a great way to experience some of Australia and their culture. It’s the cricket ground, a little boring, but very historical so it was actually pretty cool even if I didn’t understand it all. Then it was back to the hostel to check out and head to the airport for my flight to Canberra, the capital of the country, in the Australian Capital Territory.

My last stop that completed my visiting every state and territory in Australia was to Canberra! It wasn’t a very exciting town, in any capacity, but worth seeing I suppose. There was really not much of anything there, including people. I was glad I only really had one full day there and an evening and morning. When I landed I got the shuttle into the city and settled into my hostel, a YHA, and I was so happy to be there. A clean, new, very nice hostel for not much money, I love YHA. I could finally take a shower and actually feel clean, the sheets seemed ultra clean, and the rooms where pretty new and lacking that stale, damp odor and feeling, how fabulous! Plus, this one was really nice, there was a TV in the room! That made the whole travelling alone and being stuck inside all night much better! Anyway, that was nice to have that. I didn’t want to deal with trying to ind my way around the city because it was definitely not made for walking around, and the busses seemed a little confusing. I was tired of planning everything myself by then so I decided to sign up for this day bus tour that took you to the major attractions and gave you a couple hours at a few of them before it picked you up again. I didn’t know quite what to expect but didn’t care as long as I was going to the Australian War Memorial, really the only thing I truly wanted to see before I left. So I didn’t have to get up til late, it was nice to sleep in a little. The bus came to pick us up right from the hostel and we were on our way. Our first stop was the War Memorial. I made friends with a guy, Andy, on the bus tour. He was about my age and also travelling alone but from New Zealand. I hadn’t actually met anyone from New Zealand, or if they were they had been in Australia for many years, so it was difficult to get used to his accent which was a little bit different somehow. It was really great to have a friend for the day though, we checked out all the sites together and talked some. So anyway, the war memorial was really awesome, I definitely could’ve spent a lot more time there. There were exhibits on WWI and WWII as well as a big exhibit on aircraft in wars and such. Then they had the tomb of the unknown soldier and the honour hall or something like that, on either side there were walls with everyone’s name who had served in all different wars with the eternal flame in the middle. It was pretty spectacular. From there we headed down Anzac Parade, which you can see straight from the memorial down across the lake to the old and new Parliament buildings, it’s pretty cool. Along the Parade there were different war memorials to specific wars and groups of people. We had a short stop at the Captain Cook memorial fountain, it shot 90m into the air and made a rainbow as it fell over the lake. That was pretty. From there we went down to this road with a bunch of flags on it and drove past the old Parliament house before heading to the New Parliament building to stop in for a couple hours and have a look around. I went on the free guided tour so I could actually learn a little something about it. That was really pretty interesting. It was awesome to get to see everything, the Senate and House chambers and such. The guide told us all about what happens and when they meet and where people sit, it was cool. The building itself was neat as well with some interesting architecture and a huge flagpole thing over the top. After this the driver took us through the part of the city where all the embassies are. They all are sort of decorated or built like their home country so that was cool. Of course ours was the biggest one on the biggest plot of land with the most security, a little funny. Our last stop of the day was at the Australian Museum. This building was absolutely incredible, I loved it. The museum wasn’t as wonderful, but still pretty good I guess. Overall, a good day, a good way to see the city even if there wasn’t much of it there to see. There was more I could’ve gone to visit, but I didn’t feel like I really missed out on anything, as long as I saw the memorial! So I got some food at the mall around the corner for dinner and headed in for some TV and chatting with the other girl in my room. She was interesting, and quite the talker! But that was nice. I called it an early night since I had to get up early to go to the airport and head back to Melbourne! I was glad to get back there and be with my friends! My last trip was definitely well worth it, and a wonderful experience, but the last 5 days got lonely for sure. It was an experience I’ll never forget and definitely taught me some things, I felt quite independent. I can make it alone in a foreign country! I saw some good sights and met some cool people, so that was awesome. And I’m glad I got to see three more different cities in the very diverse country of Australia! It was a pleasure.

The past couple of weeks have sure been busy. I had to pack up all my stuff at home, and then come to pack a few things left at my old apartment with my roommate Amanda. Then we moved into our new house with our new roommate Kelsey. We moved her stuff into a U-Haul, and then out of it, then moved our stuff into the U-Haul, and out, and then more of our stuff in and out. We also had to get a whole carload of stuff our of my car, Amanda’s car, and Mom’s van. It was a long day! A couple of Kelsey’s guy friends helped us to move the couches and heavy stuff, but they had other things to do so we had to do most all of the moving. It was a workout, especially in the heat! The very next day I headed to Salina in the afternoon to meet Mark so we could drive out to Ness City for the wedding! We got there Thursday night and worked a little bit on the programs before calling it a night. We got up early and went to the Legion Hall to decorate for the reception. That was another long day! There were maybe 10 of us working on it all day to make it pretty, and that we did. That night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner following. That was a fabulous meal and nice to have everyone together. Saturday morning started early as well, but we were all very excited, Wedding Day!! We all got our hair done and headed to the church for a bite to eat before getting all ready. Then it was time to get Talicia ready and do our own makeup and such. She was absolutely gorgeous and ran off for pictures. We had to hurry and get all dressed and ready for pictures ourselves. Pictures took a bit longer than planned, but it was all okay. It was then wedding time! Everyone looked great and the ceremony was beautiful. I was so happy for my big brother! We left in the pickups and after awhile went to the reception to eat and start the party! It was a wonderful evening with everyone and I couldn’t be happier for Mark and Talicia. Now I’m back in Manhattan trying to settle into our house and everything. It’s such a cute house and bonding time with my roomies has been fabulous!!

So, that is my last trip across Australia, my last couple weeks there, as well as the last week or so here! It was great. I’ll be happy to show you pictures anytime, or talk about it more if you care to. I miss it so much a lot of the time, I feel bad for talking about it so much at times! But it really did leave a huge imprint on my life and quite a positive one. I’ve been busy though since I’ve been home, and that has also been positive for the most part. I know I’m super blessed and that’s awesome. I still can’t believe I actually got to do that and live my dream, I actually experienced all that! It almost feels like a dream. I’m so happy it was real. I guess that’s all I have for updates! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this beautiful life. I hope to see you soon! Until then keep smiling and read these quotes!

Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen. Peter Marshall

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ~Colossians 3:12

Let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. Romans 14:19

No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may soon become the step that will lead us to better things. Channing Pollock

Love always, Alissa