The Australian Outback

Wednesday: Anzac Day-Australia and New Zealand Army Corps celebration day-a HUGE deal in Australia. Unfortunately, I spend the day in the library working on a project and then throwing up all night with the stomach flu. Memorable Anzac Day for sure. Everyone else enjoyed playing the traditional gambling game 2-Up all over Sydney and honoring the soldiers. Gotta love the Aussie spirit.

Thursday: Woke up at 6:00 am to begin our adventure to the Australian Outback! I spend the night in the bathroom throwing up the little I could eat, so I was absolutely exhausted and a little nervous for how my stomach was going to handle the trip. I literally only packed a backpack this time-I managed to only take 3 pairs of shoes-now tell me that isn't impressive? Took the bus to the airport and met up with our crew-11 Americans (okay, 1 Canadian)-we quickly were named Team America on our tour group of 24. The flight to Alice Springs was a lovely treat-I forgot how nice Qantas was. Lunch, personal tv screens, comfy seats... a real upgrade from the cheap airlines I've been using to travel throughout Australia. I still felt really sick, but I managed to not puke on the plane, which I took as a large accomplishment for the day. We spend the rest of the day at the Alice Lodge Backpackers hostel, where I slept off my illness. We walked around town for a bit (I think seeing the entire town took all of a half hour) and bought spaghetti to cook for dinner. Watched American Pie and Pulp Fiction with the crew and then passed out early.

Friday: Bec-our amazing tour guide-met us at 5:45 am to begin our journey to the outback! She informed us we would be driving about 1,000 miles throughout the weekend, so make sure to pick a good seat on the bus. We threw our backpacks in the trailer and headed off to no man's land. First stop-a camel farm. Best $6 I've ever spent. A bit of history: the camels in Australia only have one hump, and they were imported years ago to help carry goods throughout the outback. I personally absolutely loved riding it around like a pony, and I didn't even seem to have allergies #winning. Next stop-the side of the road to gather fire wood for our camp fire. Bec secured the wood to the top of the trailer, and off we went to our next stop: a random campsite for lunch. Bec divided the tour group into two, and had one team make lunch and one team make dinner. I was on lunch duty that day, and I don't think I had actually eaten real food since lunch Wednesday morning. AKA I was going to pass out and die. So I somehow managed to eat a sandwich. But the flies were disgusting and wouldn't leave you or your food alone throughout the whole weekend. After lunch, it was back on the bus to head to King's Canyon. We went on a 3 hour hike through King's Canyon, and man, was it gorgeous. Started off with Heart-attack Hill, wound our way around the canyon, into the watering hole, and finished in perfect timing for sunset. We were all absolutely exhausted and sweaty and smelly by the time we arrived at our camp site. Team 2 cooked a pasta dinner while Team 1 made the campfire. Slash showered. Man was that needed. We sat around the fire, ate our dinner, and then hit the sack early. And by sack, I mean SWAG. We set our sleeping bags up in a circle around the campfire, and you put you sleeping bag inside a swag. A swag is like a hot pocket that you slip your sleeping bag into and zip up to keep you extra warm. And it has a built-in mattress and cover to go over your face in case it rains. I loved that swag. The swag jokes were endless during the trip. We had a lot of swag, what can I say? Bec slept in her delux swag on top of the trailer... The stars were absolutely incredible. It was so cool to be camping in the outback-what a unique experience. City, beach, camping-gotta do it all!

Can you see me? I'm on a camel.

Heart-attack Hill

Bec in a nutshell

King's Canyon

I've got mad swag

Saturday: We woke up nice and early (6:00 am, yet again...) and got back on the road. I read the third Hunger Games book (and LOVED it!!) on the bus and slept several hours before arriving at the infamous Uluru! Also known as Ayer's Rock to us Americans. I felt like crap again unfortunately... Managed to eat a piece a bread for lunch (stomach flu go awayyyy!!) but it was still an amazing day nonetheless. We started off by looking at the cultural center, then proceeded to go on a hike of choice. I opted for the 10 km base walk around the entire rock. I almost went for the 5 km walk, but I ain't that weak! A few chose to climb Uluru. The Aboriginals hate this because they don't want people disrespecting their cultural landmark. It is strongly discouraged, but for some reason still allowed. 40 people have actually died trying to climb it... So yeah, not feelin that option. The base walk was super flat and easy and beautiful. Bec pointed out lots of cool artwork drawn in the rock and different geological formations. What a wealth of knowledge, that one. My brand new sneakers became dyed with the bright red sand... Oh well. After our hike, we all gathered to watch the sunset. Driving home, the sunset got even brighter. Actual orange and pink across the sky. It was the never ending most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. This life truly is unreal. Headed to a new camp site, cooked a barbeque dinner of camel sausages, kangaroo meat, and steak. I actually tried the camel (although it felt so weird seeing how I just rode one the day before), and it wasn't awful. Showered, sat around the fire, then got my swag on. 2 pairs of pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, socks-it was sooo cozy in that swag.

Aboriginal art at Uluru

On our hike around Uluru

infamous Uluru!

unreal sunset

Sunday: Woke up to Bec screaming GOOD MORNING at 5 am. Worth it-we watched the sunrise over Uluru/Kata Tjuta. It's like, could this trip get any cooler? We then proceeded to go on the earliest hike of my life-a 4 hour trek through Kata Tjuta. Without a doubt, the prettiest views, but definitely the toughest hike of the trip. You couldn't keep your eyes off the ground because it was so rocky. I wish I could have spent more time taking in the view because it was incredible. Kata Tjuta means 'many heads,' so the rocks appeared to be beautiful rolling hills... We speed-hiked because half our group had to get to the airport to catch a flight home that afternoon. I spent the 6 hour bus ride back to Alice Springs OUT like a baby. Only to be occasionally woken up by Bec, such as when she stopped the bus in the middle of the road because she 'spotted something really cool.' She ran across the road to pick up a thorny devil, aka a little lizard with spikes all over its body and brought it on board. I was less than thrilled to be woken up for that, I'll be honest. But Bec was stoked. She made sure to put it back on the road facing the same direction so as not to confuse him. How thoughtful. Honestly one of the funniest people I have met in my entire life. Such a bogan (yes, I did use appropriate Aussie lingo there-go me!). The remaining half of the group went to Annie's for dinner that night before some of Team America crashed at the hostel again. Learned that a napkin is called a serviet, and that sprite is called lemonade (lemonade is therefore called lemon squash). Learn something new every day... Watched Good Will Hunting and then passed out. The immense amount I slept (at times not during actual bed time) and the little amount I ate during the weekend is honestly concerning haha.

sunrise

Lookout on the Kata Tjuta hike

Group shot

thorny devil

Monday: Slept in... Woke up at 8 am. Got on our flight that afternoon to head back to Sydney. After an insane month of traveling through Australia (Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Outback), it felt so damn good to be back in Coogee. Grabbed dinner at Samui Thai with my friends I had missed oh-so-much, took the best shower of my life, did laundry, and slept in my warm BED. I think I've had enough of hostel life for the time being...

What an amazing weekend!! Such a perfect group of travel companions, great weather, gorgeous views, fun hikes and adventures... A definitely unique Australian experience. I can only take so much of the city life-that Oregon side to me comes out every now and then and craves a different scene. This was probably the coolest trip I have been on so far-it is also one I feel lucky to have gone on. Not many people (not even local Aussies) get to go to the Outback. It was exhausting, but sooo worth it. My body is finally starting to feel normal again and is thanking me for returning to a routine/schedule. Unfortunately, May (holy hell-how is it May?!) is devoted to school work, but then off to do some more traveling throughout June-hopefully to New Zealand! Can't believe I'll be home in a month and a half... Can't time just slow down a little bit?! Cheers to all my fellow Mustangs that are graduating in 2 weeks!! And let the good times roll...