Amazing Experience

Hey family,

We just got back to Sydney. What an amazing time!

Since I haven't been on the internet for so long, it's impossible to write everything that happened. I've had so many wonderful experiences in the past week and few days. Here are a few memorable moments...

We went to Kakadu National Park, which is a very famous national park that people from all around the world go to see. It was getting near wet season, so the flies were REALLY bad. They bite too! And it really hurts. But if you kill a fly, the others will smell the scent and come and attack you even more. Honestly- if you had 10 flies on you, killed one, the next second you would have 30 flies biting you. But the park was gorgeous! There were so many waterfalls and beautiful hikes! It didn't rain except for at night, so it was really humid. Philip couldn't sleep :( I slept, but I woke up dripping wet- literally.

One of the hikes at Kakadu was to a waterfall and it was several miles long and took 3 hours to hike to! By the time we got there we were sweating like crazy, had fly bites everywhere, but had amazing pictures on our cameras because the view on the mountains were amazing. The walk was so worth it! There was a bunch of huge boulders we had to climb over at the end, and when you stood on top of the last one you could see this beautiful waterfall and water hole. I immediately took my clothes off (I was wearing a swim suit- don't worry!) and jumped in. The water felt soooo good. And the flies couldn't get me either! Philip and I swan to the waterfall and swam underneath it letting the water rush on our backs. So amazing!

We also had a three day tour from Darwin to Alice Springs. Darwin is over 1,000 miles away from Alice Springs. It was a loooong bus ride. But we had great tour guides! Their names were Wayno and Rael. Rael was getting trained to be a tour guide. He was my favorite. He was so crazy! He ate bugs, jammed to music, danced like a crazy man, and was really nice. The drive would have been boring at times if we didn't have him with us. The other guide, Wayno, was a retired chef from France. Well, he trained in New Zealand, but cooked at a 5 star restaurant in France. Anyways, he made all of our meals for three days. They were AMAZING! He could chop veggies so fast and would put the weirdest ingredients in our food, but it always turned out wonderful.

During that tour, I think my favorite part was stopping at all of the little mom-and-pop shops that were in the middle of nowhere. Some towns had a population less than 10 people! At one stop, we played bowling on the road. No one ever comes so it was safe! lol. Another store has all of the people stop in there leave something of theirs that represents them. The entire shop was filled with knick-knacks from all around the world. I left a "Boost Dollar"- a coupon for my favorite smoothie shop here. I wrote my name on it and stapled it to the wall. I thought it was neat to be able to leave something of mine somewhere in the middle of the desert.

We also did famous stops such as Devils Marbles, Kings Canyon, and lots of other mountains. I climbed many mountains and canyons this trip. Today alone I have walked over 8 miles! And half of the day I was in a plane!

I guess I will tell you a little about today and then I will stop writing. This is already a long post!

Last night we set up camp right underneath Ayers Rock. We watched the sun set over it and had an Australian BBQ complete with camel and kangaroo. I tried both and liked both! OH! And earlier that day I saw a wild emu! SO COOL!

Anyways, after our BBQ we were supposed to go to bed because we had to wake up today at 3:00am. Yup, that's right, 3:00. I have had like no sleep in the last week. Mostly 4-5 hours a night. So anyways, Philip and I decided to camp under the stars for out last night instead of in our tent. So we took our sleeping bags outside and as I set mine down a 1.5 inch cockroach climbed up my leg and a spider crawled out of my sleeping bag. I'm over it though. I've lived with cockroaches for 5 months now. I've seen spiders larger than a dinner plate that ate birds. I decided that I can't live in fear of bugs, spiders, and snakes anymore, I just wanted to buck up and really experience the desert. So I did it. I slept outside with the bugs and the cold (the desert it REALLY hot during the day, but extremely cold at night) and it was amazing. The stars were beautiful and I felt at peace. It was the best night of sleep I had since we left Sydney.

We woke up this morning at 3:00 and watched the sun rise at Ayers Rock. I've never watched a sun rise before and I can promise you I will do it again. It was amazing seeing the rock turn red as the sun rose. Afterwards, Philip and I walked around the base of it which was over 10 km, or 6 miles. After that we went to the Olgas and walked around them for another 4 km. Then we hopped on the bus to get to the airport. Thank goodness we are home in time for my exam tomrorow!!! Yikes.

I wish I could write down every one of my days but I don't think most of you would want to read it because I could write a novel on them. I've learned so much about myself and who I am and it's wonderful. I've completed my journey to Australia now. I've seen everything that we hoped to see, and more. Philip and I are still coming back here someday though. Australia is so big and I want to see even more! But I'm so thankful that I got to see most of the major cities and attractions that Australia has. I'd say that it's pretty good for a 20 year old to accomplish!

All that's left is three final exams and 12 days. I can't wait to give all of you a big hug.

Love you!

Brittaney