Picture
Thanks to our wonderful mate Asha, Devin and I finally ventured out into the Australian countryside. Asha took us back to her home in place called Banella this past weekend where we were able to enjoy the company of family, home cooked meals, sleeping in a caravan, and seeing our first Huntsman spider. While we were told it was still nowhere near the actual Australian outback, we didn’t know the difference so we were pretty stoked about the fact we were finally away from the city and any tourist traps.

On Friday, we ventured out to Mount Buffalo with Asha and her mom, Wendy, as our guides. The trails they took us hiking on were so neat, and truly off the beaten path. With one of the trails, the path took us through a cave that required us to crawl under rocks and down ladders to reach the other side. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared at first, but it helps when the manly man you are with volunteers to go first. So needless to say, after Devin descended down into the depths of the cave unscathed, I happily followed. Because the scenery was so beautiful, we also made sure to take plenty of pictures, landscape as well as ones of each other, to accurately document the day. Examples of the ridiculous photos taken of each other include, but are not limited to, Devin and I reenacting The Lion King scene with Simba and Rafiki as well as the Titanic scene with Jack and Rose and pretending to be koalas in a tree.  All in all, the whole day was full of unique experiences that we are both so thankful to have to take back with us.

Saturday was another action packed day, with us waking up with the screeching cockatoos bright and early at 7:30am. First on our to do list was to attend a festival that was held at the wetlands just outside of Banella. The highlight of the festival I think for both Devin and I was our opportunity to creatively express ourselves through painting some of our own aboriginal art. It was totally free and the woman who was providing the art supplies was absolutely awesome. While some were quick to critique our attempt at creating our aboriginal paintings, she was persistent with her motivation in that “there [was] no wrong way to create art”. It’s funny how quickly I felt like I was back in my elementary school art class, with my earthly, bangle covered art teacher encouraging me to express myself. While I don’t think my piece of artwork would sell for really anything, it was awesome to get caught up in the process of creating something meaningful. After our visit to the wetlands festival, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring some more of the countryside and squeezing in a catnap or two in between each stop.

By the time we arrived home yesterday, Devin and I were both pretty wiped, so we were looing forward to the day we had before we left for Cairns to relax and spend how we pleased. However before I went off to sleep around 1:30am, I decided to check my email just to double check when exactly our flight was leaving Tuesday. Much to my surprise, our itinerary told me that our flight wasn’t on Tuesday; it was instead Monday afternoon – aka less than 14 hours away. After my mini panic attack and after the initial shock of my complete idiocy wore off, Devin and I adjusted to this new found knowledge that our vacation was actually starting a day earlier than we expected.

So now we are off on our next adventure to Cairns, where we will snorkel the Great Barrier Reef and explore the rainforests for nine days before returning to Melbourne, five days before we head back to the states. Just where has the time gone?


Asha
11/20/2013 02:43:00 pm

It was great to show you around my country that I adore and value so very much :)

Reply



Leave a Reply.