So my next adventure started that Friday, June third. This time our group was a little bigger, made up of Kyle, Olivia, Isa, Kyle, and Marcus. Friday morning we left Brisbane, and flew to Melbourne. Our flight was delayed, but other than that the trip to the hostel went fairly smoothly. We were a little bit out of the city, which was a little disappointing, but it was really nice, so that was okay. We also got a deal at a local burger place, which was really good. That night we just hung out in the hostel, because we had a pretty early morning Saturday.

Saturday was our only full day in Melbourne, and we decided to go on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road is a really long, windy road that goes right along the southern coast of Australia. The day was spent mostly on the bus, but we saw wild koalas and parrots, and got to feed some of the birds, and they came down and sat on our arms and shoulders. That was pretty cool. There were so many unique houses along the road, there was one in particular that was pointed out to us, and it was called the post house, because there was a bridge type walkway too it, and the whole house was built on top of post, about 50 feet high. We stopped for lunch in some small town, and then continued on our way. The last sight we saw on the tour was the 12 Apostles. There are actually 14, and they were originally called something to do with pigs that I can’t remember, but now they’re called the 12 Apostles. Anyways, they were pretty amazing. They are these rock pillar island type things that are standing off the southern coast. They are there because the softer sandstone around them has eroded, leaving just the limestone pillars. We stopped in one place to see them from the mainland, and then went to a second place where you could go down to the beach level around them. That was pretty cool. After a few hour bus ride back to our hostel, we went to bed pretty early, because Sunday was yet again an early morning.

Sunday we ventured to the outback. We had a flight from Melbourne to Alice Springs, which was delayed because we flew Tiger, and we got there around mid-day. Alice Springs is a nice place, but there isn’t a whole lot to do. We got lunch at a little café, where I had a Kangaroo burger. It was pretty good, except for the fact that they put raspberries and blueberries on it. That day/night we just hung out around the hostel, and got ready for our journey into the desert that started Monday, yet again really early.

Monday we got up while it was still dark, for like the third day in a row, and checked out of the hostel, and got on a bus. I went back to sleep. When I woke up we were in the dessert in the middle of nowhere, and we had stopped at a gas station/convenience store. This was some of the only civilization we would see that day. We drove for a few more hours, stopping to take pictures of camels and other assorted desert life on the way. We stopped at a cattle station for a break, and here we could have gotten camel rides if we wanted, but I passed. We had lunch on the bus right after that, and then we arrived at King’s Canyon. We took a four hour hike around the canyon, which was pretty amazing. There was a water hole that we could swim at, and out of the 24 people on our tour, Marcus, Kyle, Kyle, Olivia, one other guy, and I were the only ones to go swimming, because the water was around 55 degrees Farenheit (13 Celsius). Quite cold. Also, right outside the lake was a baby poisonous snake. I forgot exactly what kind it was, but at full size it was deadly. So we looked at it for a little bit, and then finished up our hike, and hopped back onto the bus. The bus took us to another place of civilization for a quick break, and then we continued on to our campsite for the night. When we got there, it was already dark, so we had to find firewood and start the fire in the dark. We had pasta and curry chicken for dinner, which was surprisingly good. We slept in “swags,” which are kind of like big cases for sleeping bags with a mattress in them. We went to bed soon after that, thinking that we were going to get rained on a little bit overnight, but nothing much.

We woke up Tuesday cold and wet. It had rained all night, and since there were no tents to be found, all of our stuff was wet. It had never rained very hard, but it had rained most of the night. So we slowly got up, made breakfast, packed up, and then took off to find a place to dry our stuff out. We went to the campground we were staying at the next night, as it had some covering. We hung our stuff up, and then continued out on our way to Uluru. We drove a lap around Uluru, and our tour guide, Huss, told us all kinds of stories about the Aborigine’s and their beliefs, and other information about the history of the rock. We went out to a lookout point and got to take pictures of it, but since we were coming back on Wednesday, we didn’t spend too much time there. Most of Tuesday was spent at Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta is another rock structure, and is actually connected to Uluru underground. Kata Tjuta is a series of 36 dome structures in 38 square kilometers. We hiked through here for about four hours, but since it was still raining, it was a little bit of a struggle. We had to cross through streams and climb up pretty steep, slippery rocks. It was really amazing though, because all of these rocks each had their own series of waterfalls running down them. Huss has been guiding tours through the Outback for eight years, and he said that he had never seen it like that before, and it was something he had always been waiting for. After this hike, we went back to Uluru, to look at the waterfalls coming off of it. They were also pretty spectacular. We only spent a few minutes there, as everyone was getting tired, wet, and cold. We went back to the campground, where some of us ran to the dryers to try to dry out a sleeping bag to have something warm to sleep in. Since I did that, I missed out on dinner, but I wasn’t alone. We decided to go to a pub down the street for dinner. We got there after they stopped serving dinner, so we all just got pre-cooked meat pies and chips, which were surprisingly good again. We went back and slept on the bus, as all of the ground was wet from the constant rain all day.

Wednesday we got to “sleep in” to quarter of seven. How nice of Huss to let us do that. We woke up, had breakfast, and took off for Uluru. When I had woken up, I had some pretty bad stomach pain, but didn’t think much of it, and when we got to Uluru we had the option of sitting in the Cultural Center, doing an eight km long walk, or a five and a half km short walk, both of which were just around the base. Since I wasn’t feeling well, I opted for the short walk. Pretty quickly it became apparent that I had made the right choice. The pain kept getting worse and worse, and twice I had to stop because it hurt so much. Then, about halfway through the walk, it just disappeared. I was glad it was gone, but kind of confused (I’ve felt fine since then). I didn’t get to take any pictures of Uluru, partly because it hurt too bad to look up for half of the walk, partly because I got water in my lens the day before, so they would’ve been blurry. After finishing the walk, and right as Huss met us at the end to pick us up, it started to rain again, another reason the short walk was the right choice. Huss took us back to the Cultural Center to wait for those who had chosen to do the long walk, where we waited for around a half hour. After they had finished, it was back on the bus, heading back to Alice Springs. I napped until lunch time, which was back at one of the cattle stations we had stopped at before. After lunch we had an on bus trivia competition, based on stuff Huss had told us about on the trip, and other random information. The team I was on came in second, but it didn’t really matter anyways, it was still fun. We arrived at our hostel around six, and at eight, Huss came back and we all had dinner together. Soon after that I went to bed, as I was exhausted.

Thursday we had no plans, and we were stuck in Alice Springs until Friday. Huss came back and drove Olivia, Isa, Kyle, and I to the Alice Springs Desert Park, where we spent most of the day. There were all kinds of exhibits on different wildlife of the desert and different habitats in the desert too. We stayed until around 4, after the birds of prey show, which was pretty impressive and cool. Thursday night was spent studying, as Olivia, Marcus, and I had an exam on Saturday. Friday we woke up, got a shuttle to the airport and flew to Melbourne. Marcus, Olivia, and I continued on to Brisbane, while Kyle, Kyle, and Isa stayed in Melbourne one more day. The three of us going to Brisbane hung out and studied in the airport for five hours, and then got back to campus around 10:30 I think. I stayed up and studied some more that night, but not too late.

So that’s it for my adventures in Australia, I have 12 days left in this amazing country. I have two finals left, and then I’m homebound. Don’t worry, there will be one final post, probably going up once I’m back in the USA.