My thoughts were completely altered after about 5 minutes into our drive to our place for the night. Our bus diver/tour guide talked all about the aboriginal people and how they all settle in Alice Springs. They are practically homeless by choice and totally reckless with the law. We were told there was another raping the other day and to never be out at dark, even in large groups. The tour guide man told us they are always drunk all the time and do NOT take photos of them or not even of each other if there is a chance there is an aboriginal in the background...they believe a photo takes some of their soul. And sure enough we reach the town we are staying and there are aboriginal people everywhere, just hanging out all over the sides of the road and honestly everywhere I looked, they were hanging out, EVERYWHERE, and being 100% satisfied doing absolutely nothing.
We spent four days hiking and camping through out central Australia. Jason was our tour guide/bus driver and he was an aboriginal text book! I feel so educated on these people after listening to him for four days. We stopped at literally a million places! Our days begun early in the morning, we drove throughout the day and would stop everyone hour or so for a 4-11 mile hike, and we would retire at a new campsite each night. The hikes were gorgeous! The outback seemed like a perfect hybrid of st. george/zion and Africa...huge red rocks and safarish brush and trees. I seriously loved the hikes too! They allowed me to walk and talk for hours with new friends and it confirmed my belief that yet again...walks are the perfect bonding opportunity. Nothing can bind friends or families more than the peaceful time you have on a walk. It forces the best of conversations.
I can say that the nights spent in the outback were the coldest nights I've ever had to endured (it's the dead of winter here). 6 layers of clothes (all I packed), 3 pairs of socks (wool, fuzzy, and kb...all I packeted too), my fancy newly purchased sleeping bag, 3 blankets and some north face paw gloves, and my fuzzy north face eye mask covering my exposed ear, seemed to do nothing! I couldnt relax and fall asleep because every muscle in my body was fully tensed up! But on the bright side, it enabled me to finish my book! I read the Lucky One until the wee hours if the morning and our 545am wake up call didn't seem too bad! But! Its all about the experience and i actually look back and i'm grateful for my nights locked in a freezer. On our last night we were given "swags" to sleep in. Yes, swags! A "swag" in Australia is what you sleep in when you sleep under the stars. It's it pretty much a super thick sleeping bag that has a little mattress pad at the bottom. So, wearing the same out fit as the previous nights, me and my sleeping bag slipped into my swag for a night under the stars. Surprisingly, it was the warmest of off the nights! I had wet hair so that made my head kinda actually freeze but for the most part, I was warm in my cocoon and the stars were incredible.
The night sky was one of the highlights of the outback. One night we went stair gazing at this random location where not a speck of light was to be seem around us, so the sky illuminated beyond belief! I'd never seen the sky so beautiful. The milky way expanded from horizon to horizon! Saturn, mars, and Venus burned so bright! It was an absolute perfect view of God's masterpiece he created above us. At first, I looked up and felt so insignificant. Who am I to think I am anything of importance, when I am merely a speck on a planet that is just another speck in the universe? But instead of feeling utterly worthless, i am comforted to truly believe that, ya I am a speck on a speck on a speck but I have a Father in Heaven who created this universe for me and you, His children! And he knows me perfectly and has a perfect plan set individually just for ME, a measly speck! And I feel that love He has for me on the daily and nothing could bring me anymore happiness then feeling that love.
After miles of hiking, a million pictures, sleepless frozen nights, and a sufficient amount of smelly dirty girls, we move on to our next location...Sydney!! I look forward to all the amenities that await us!.. A roof to sleep under, a bed, a shower, and maybe some wifi if we're lucky! We have barely been traveling for two weeks and I've already made life long friends and memories. There are countless moments in my day where i stop, look around, and take a deep breath while thinking, "is this real?" and then I humbly smile and continue trekking.
No comments:
Post a Comment