Outback Australia

This past week, I traveled to the Northern Territory and did a 2 night/3 day tour which included Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon. All these sites are out in the middle of nowhere in the desert.  Just to give you an idea of how far Uluru is from Canberra...Think of the distance from Nashville, TN to Los Angeles, CA. That is about how far Uluru is from Canberra (according to the reliable source of Google Maps). It was such an amazing trip full of indescribable views.

Uluru sunset

Tuesday we flew into Ayers Rock Airport, and straight away went to visit the Cultural Center and do a base walk around Uluru (Uluru and Ayers Rock are the same thing-Uluru is the Aboriginal name given to the rock). I did not realize how massive Uluru was until I was standing next to it. I’ve seen multiple pictures, but none of them do it justice. Uluru is a very sacred site to the Aboriginals full of tales about how it formed. Although it is still legal to climb Uluru, the company we did the tour with highly discourages it because of how sacred it is to the Aboriginals. 35 people have died attempting to climb it, and I’m honestly not sure why anybody would want to climb it. After the base walk, we went and viewed the sunset, which was nothing less than amazing.  

Sunrise over Uluru

Karingana Lookout 

The next morning, we got up at 4AM to go watch the sunrise over Uluru. Yet another amazing view. We then went to do a hike through the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta, which ended at a lookout called Karingana. We went back to our campsite to eat lunch and chill in the pool before making a 3 hour drive to our campsite for the night.  We went to the pool, made dinner, showered, and spent time just hanging out with the other people on our tour Wednesday night. It’s amazing the awesome people you can meet on a tour like this. So many different stories about what everyone has done with their life and why they are in Australia and what their future plans are. I’ve met some truly inspirational people through all my traveling this semester, and this trip was no different.

At the top of Kings Canyon

Thursday we once again woke up at 4AM (ugh), ate breakfast, and headed to Kings Canyon to do another hike. The first part of this hike is what is called “Heart Attack Hill” and goes to over 100 meters high. It led to an amazing view, and after climbing all those stairs and chilling for a while at the top of the canyon, me and a few others decided to head back down and do the Kings Canyon Creek Walk through the middle of the canyon. After Kings Canyon, our tour was pretty much over, and we headed to Alice Springs where everyone was staying for the night. After having time to hang out at our hostel, go for a swim, and shower, we headed out to meet up with the other people from our tour and have dinner and a few drinks. After dinner, me and the 2 friends I was traveling with went back to our hostel to hang out and just talk because it was the last night I would spend with one of them in Australia. :-(

During the tour, our sleeping arrangements were literally out under the desert sky in a swag and sleeping bag. There was a shelter at both campsites, but I did not sleep under the shelter either night. The first night it was cloudy and actually rained at one point and instead of moving under the shelter, I just zipped my swag up more and went back to sleep in the desert rain. And I was totally ok with that. The next night, the moon was so bright I had trouble sleeping because I felt like a light was on. It was amazing to be able to just lay under the stars. Even when camping, I’m always in a tent, so sleeping without a roof over my head was different from anything I’ve done before! Since we were in the middle of a desert, it was super hot. It was a different type of heat from the Tennessee heat I’m used to. Instead of the disgusting humid heat, it was a very dry heat. It was so much more tolerable than Tennessee heat, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it was WAY hot and I was sweating the entire 3 days, but I would prefer that heat over the humidity from home. It was so nice to get to our air conditioned hostel in Alice Springs and be able to shower without sweating the literal second you turn off the shower water and then have to walk back to camp in red dirt. It was a great experience for my 3 day tour, but I’m not sure how people actually choose to live in those areas. More power to them if they do.

Yesterday was my first real goodbye to one of my closest friends here. It made everything seem so real that this experience is almost over. We had a tearful goodbye at the Alice Springs Airport (tearful at least on my side) as I headed back to Canberra and my other 2 friends headed to Melbourne. It would have been much more tearful, but I already have plans to go visit her in California in June, so it helped being able to say see you in 7 months. Still not a fun goodbye as it did remind me that our group of friends will never be altogether again in Canberra.

Also, while I feel like I always seem to make everything seem like it is perfect and nothing goes wrong, I feel like I should inform you that things do go wrong. Way wrong. It is something that you learn to deal with while traveling and you just have to take things and run with it. This is a good life lesson to take back with me, although I feel I’ve always been a pretty chill person who just goes with the flow. The latest and one of the worst thing to go wrong for me yet? My debit card being cancelled due to a fraudulent charge while I’m on the other side of the world. That was a fun thing to deal with the night before leaving for Uluru. I would love for a guy in Spain named Paul to have a miserable life for thinking it was a good idea to make a $220 purchase from the Spanish version of Amazon using my debit account. Even if not abroad, a good life lesson: Stressing over things doesn’t help. Try to make the best of things. It’ll all work out somehow. 

It is December 1st here, which means this is the month I come back home. I do not know where this semester has gone and I do not like thinking about coming home. I miss my family and friends and it will be great to see them but man...I’m going to be angry at the world for being back in the States. Ask me where I see myself in 5 years, and I can no longer even tell you the continent I’ll be on. I can’t tell you what I’ll be doing with my life. I can’t tell you anything besides it’s going to be an adventure that I am so excited for. There is so much more to life than the US, and I would give anything for more Americans to realize that. I completely understand why we have a reputation of being ignorant, and it sucks to meet people who say that about Americans. It sucks even more to know it’s so true. 

One thing I am actually excited to leave behind here is the drinking culture. I am so sick of EVERYTHING here involving alcohol. Even on our tour through the middle of the desert, we stopped to buy cider and beer. Like...Seriously...EVERYTHING involves alcohol. Other things I won’t miss: everything being so expensive, not having a car, the stupid crows and their dying baby sounds, the Australian school system, and that’s about all I can think of. 

My next adventure starts on Wednesday when I’m headed to New Zealand! That’s going to be so awesome, and I am so excited! I have an exam on Tuesday, and until then, I’ll probably just be chilling with friends and maybe studying a little. We’ll see how the study thing goes...