KIA ORA!

Greetings from the North Island of New Zealand!

(Quick note: I have had to been purchasing internet minutes through hostels and uploading photos is not feasible at the moment :( So use all of your imaginations to visualize my stories please! I apologize!!)

I want to share with you firstly about my Outback adventure! I arrived into Alice Springs on the 30^th of December 2011 after the Goodways so kindly dropped me off for the last time at the Sydney Airport. It was a little difficult saying goodbye, as I felt like I had been living with them for years rather than only months. I spent this first day in Alice Springs exploring the city and learning about the Aboriginal culture of the area. My first stop was at an overview of the city called The Anzac Hill with a monument capturing Anzac Day. I also bought myself a fly net, from Carol’s suggestion, as Aryes Rock at Uluru can have heaps of flies in the summer and I am not keen on swallowing them! My favorite art gallery I stopped in was the Mbantu Gallery and Cultural Museum. The gallery’s mission is to continue to promote Aboriginal culture and art, learn as much as possible about their culture, and to work in harmony with the traditional Aboriginal people in Central Australia in order to keep their culture alive. It was here I explored the Aboriginal custom of “Dreamtime,” including the mythology, initiation, ceremonies, and sacred sites of the Aboriginal people. A “dreaming” is the secret life of the Aborigines, where the life of rituals, mythology, and sacred rites and objects all fuse together. The sacred sites allow dreamtimes to occur as an objective experience and allow a totem, the door into eternal dreamtime or a time that is past yet present. I also learned about their “walkabouts;” a period of wandering in the bush by an Australian Aborigine encompassing the rituals, mythology, and sacred sites of their individual families. The people go on walkabout to refresh their mind and spirit in order to regain courage and strength to return to the real world.

My first day of the Outback tour began on New Years Eve, YAHOO! Our tour group departed Alice Springs in a 4-wheel drive truck and made our way towards Uluru. Along the way we stopped at a camel farm where I learned the first camel was brought over in 1840 from the Canary Islands in order to travel around Australia’s desert terrain. After a morning of driving around 500 km, we arrived at Aryes Rock at Uluru. Here we were able to walk around the Rock as our tour guide, Adam, gave us informative explanations of Aboriginal sacred sites and the history behind the Rock. The land surrounding the Rock is the Anangu land, belonging to the Yankunyytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara people. Uluru is part of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. With the temperatures about 43 degrees Celcisus on the first day, we did not complete the base walk of the Rock as it is 10.6 km full circuit. Rather we only did a section of it and finished the afternoon with the Mala Walk to Kantju Gorge. The Mala is a rufous hare-wallaby and has significance to the Anangu people. The Kantju Gorge in the afternoon time made the Rock, sky, and land appear in vibrant colors. On this walk we saw several wild dingos, who actually looked like normal friendly pets rather than feral dogs. As sunset approached, our group went to a special sunset viewing spot in order to see the sun fall opposite to the rock. Brilliant shades of gold, oranges, pinks, and yellows filled the sky. We had champagne and nibbles before seeing our first snake and heading to our bush campsite. Here we all cooked dinner and the carnivores had a kangaroo bolognaise where as the rest of us had a spicy vegetable pasta. We set up our swags, thick sleeping bags, under the stars and rang in the New Year 2011 with wine!

We woke up at 5am the next day in order to hike up to a lookout to watch the sunrise over the Rock. Amazing. My pictures do not do it justice!!!! After brekky, we packed up camp and headed to Kata Tjuta, the other huge “rock” formation at the National Park. The name means, “many heads,” as it is appears in parallel bumpy formations and is a sacred Anangu men’s site by traditional law. However, everyone is welcome and encouraged to visit. Our hike here was a little over 5km through the Valley of the Winds to an incredible view! We had to finish the hike by 11am when the walk closed due to the intense heat. We then had lunch at the Uluru Resort and jumped into the pool as quickly as possible. A pool never felt SO GOOD! After lunch we stopped at Mt. Conner, commonly known as “fooluru” as many visitors mistake the rock from the highway as Aryes Rock and is often the forgotten wonder. Here I used an Aboriginal plant called, “rock fushia” that you roll up into a ball and place up your nostrils in order to help relieve congestion. After about 15 minutes with it just hanging out in your nose, you bushman style blow it out. This stop followed with a 4 hour drive to King’s Creek Station where we had our second bush camp out with fire cooked vegetable curry, and of course excellent refreshing cool beverages before sleeping on the swags!

The next morning was also an early one and we saw wild camels leaving the campsite. WE traveled a short distance to Kings Canyon for a 7km hike and swim. The hike often reminded me at parts of the Grand Canyon here in the States. I had an amazing time on this hike soaking in the once in a lifetime views. We had a nice swim in the Garden of Eden swim hole set back from the canyon. One would have never guessed a massive swim hole would be where it was! It was another refreshing swim as temperatures were again plus 40 degrees. After lunch we dropped off the 10 other participants doing only the 3 day tour and the four of us and our guide changed vehicles into a smaller Toyota Land Cruiser more adept for our upcoming 4 wheel drive adventures the last two days. It was a German father and daughter, she is studying law in Brisbane, a gal from the Netherlands, myself, and our guide. By now we were geographically located at Glen Helen Gorge in the West MacDonnell National Park. This park has immense beauty, rugged twisted ranges, scenic gorges, and rare plants. My favorite part was the fact that the park contains so many shaded waterholes that one would never expect to find out in the middle of the Outback! Our campsite this evening was my favorite along the Finke River, said to be the oldest river in the world. Sleeping just under the stars by the water was an amazing experience, and I surprisingly woke up with the sun feeling refreshed and ready for the last two days of adventuring about Australia.

Our fourth day began by hiking through the Ormiston Gorge to a beautiful swim hole. Several of the other hikes we planned to do were closed due to bush fires, but that was OK. The next hike was to Red Bank Gorge, where we followed a long, dried up river bed into yet another swim hole. It was very interesting as the depths of the gorge changed dramatically to where I was treading water for distances to where I was crawling on my belly across slimey, rocky formations in order to reach the end. We had to be careful of snakes here, as sometimes they fall off the top of the gorge and get stuck in the water. Thank goodness for our guide, we of course made him go first! After lunch we hiked to the Ellery Creek Big Hole, another beautiful swim hole shaded by high cliffs with a nice sandy beach to relax at. I couldn’t think of anything more relaxing than water hole hopping after three intense days in the sun! We ended the day by changing the itinerary completing and off roading on a 4 wheel drive adventure of our guides that landed us yet again bush camping in the middle of no where, but the scenic were unforgettable. Not to mention we got stuck in the sand multiple times and we found ourselves digging and pushing the land cruiser out each time. Although I loved our big group we had the first three days, I really enjoyed this day as it felt like you were just hanging out with your mates.

The final day we returned to Ellery Creek for a morning swim then drove to the Rainbow Valley, 4 wheel driving the entire time through old dried up river beds and bumpy dirt roads. Rainbow Valley was where were we had lunch and met with Ricky, an Aboriginal man whose family the land belonged to. His mother was of Aboriginal descent and his community helps to inform outsiders, like myself, of the land’s history, dreamtime, and Aboriginal traditions. We took a 3 hour hike with him through the gorges of Rainbow Valley were we saw heaps of Red Kangaroos and even a special white one! We learned of medicinal plants and roots used by his people, weaponry, boomerang and spear throwing, and he told us stories of sacred cave paintings we were not allowed to photograph out of respect for his people. Our little group then thanked Ricky for being so generous in sharing his family’s traditions and history with us, then returned back to Alice Springs where we all had a nice little dinner and drinks before all saying goodbye. My time bush camping in the Outback is one I will never forget. The fact that I experienced such amazing natural wonders just blows my mind. Even though I experienced these things with complete strangers, by the end we all were able to hug goodbye and wish each other the absolute best on their future endeavors. My experience would not have been possible without our guide as well, one of the coolest people I have met in Australia.

The next day, 6^th of January 2012 was spent flying from Alice Springs, to Melbourne, then finally to Auckland, New Zealand! I arrived into the Auckland City YHA (hostel) at midnight and practically fell over in my bunk. I had a leisurely sleep in for once before exploring the city of Auckland. I finally caved and bought Subway for lunch, the first time I have had it since the States, and IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! I purchased a tour around the Auckland Harbour and Devonport Island. The harbor is called the Waitemata Harbour and saw the historic Bean Rock Lighthouse built in 1871, with space for only one lightkeeper. Next, we stopped at Ranitoto Island that erupted from the sea in a series of dramatic explosions about 600 years ago and is now dormant. We then ferried under the Harbour Bridge where I was lucky enough to witness three bungy jumpers! AWESOME. That is calling my name in Queenstown… Sorry Mom! J At Devonport, I hiked Mount Victoria giving me fantastic 360 degree views of the city. Just before sunset I hurried back to the hostel in order to buy more Internet to check the score of the IU v. Michigan game online at ESPN. GO HOOSIERS!!!!!!!!! You don’t realize how much you love IU basketball until you cannot watch it with your friends and family on the tv, or in person! I make sure to wear my IU basketball shirt though on game days, even if it is smelly.

Now onto the 7^th; the tour bus picked me up early in the morning as we made our way out of Auckland city into Thames, an old mining town. Boy what a change in temperature to be just below 20 degrees and rainy compared to the Outback! We then stopped in Paeroa, world famous for their L & P lemon soda where I had my picture with a giant bottle of it alongside the road. After hopping back on the bus, we stopped at Shires Rest near Matamata, home of the world famous Hobbiton Movie Set overlooking the Kaimai Ranges where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. I have never seen so many sheep in my life! I then went to the Tamaki Heritage Experience at the Tamaki Maori Village located in Rotorua. Here we learned about Maori sacred places and traditions through a Powhiri (formal welcome), a te wero (challenge to our nominated chiefs), demonstrations of different activities such as poi twirling (my favorite), hand games, weaponry displays, and the reciting of chants. From these presentations outside, in the rain, we went into the Wharenui (the Big House), a meeting place where the Maori people performed welcome speeches, dances, and songs that told stories of their proud race. The inclusive dinner portion, or feast called the Hangi, had been under the eacth on hot rocks for 3-4 hours prior to our arrival. It is an age-old traditional cooking method of the Maori. I dined with heaps of strangers from all over the world and had a blast talking to a couple from Britain wanting to travel in the US, more Germans, Dutch, and last but not least… a guy from Green Bay, Wisconsin who shared his woes of missing Big Ten Basketball! HA! The experience ended with the Poroporoaki, closing ceremony, with waitas (songs), whaikorero (speeches), and more Haka dancing. The Haka is the official dance the All Blacks Rugby team does before each match out of respect to the Maori traditions and culture thriving again today.

Today I begin the volunteer portion of my trip in the Magic Forest located just north of Rotorua. Here I will be experiencing a selection of egg-to-egg Kiwi encounters, participation in Kiwi conservation project, learning Maori customs, visiting local Maori Mareas (meeting houses), installing native wildlife tracking tunnels, building forest trails, conducting native bird feeding and night count surveys, collecting and monitoring native seeds, planting, and maintaining native tree seedlings. That is all I know about the next 3 days, so it will be a surprise for me as well in what I end up doing! It is still pouring down rain outside, so we will see how this all works out!! Very excited and I hope to be able to share more soon!

Love you All!!! And KIA ORA! (Hello, welcome, goodbye, wishing you safe health!)