OUTBACK BABYYYY!
I have just recently returned from the Australian Outback. A 7 day trip with nothing but Thrifty vans, packs, tents, food in stock and high spirits. By far one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I have a feeling it will be in competition for years to come. 17 International kids and 2 guides cruisin’ the outback going from site to site, from rock formation to rock formation. It happened to work out with 15 girls, 2 boys, and 2 male guides. Not a very even ratio, but Michael and Ben had a great time as did the rest of us. We flew into Alice Springs and slept in the Finke river the first night. The Finke river is the oldest river in the world!! Luckily it has been dry for some time, so we snuggled up and woke up to frost on our tents that first evening. The terrain is much different than I expected, much more green with an assortment of spiny poky desert plants everywhere, and marvelous giant Eucalyptus trees by the waterholes. The red sands become even more vibrant through my purple tinted sunglasses, and tend to stain anything white or light-colored. Camping every night, hiking with large packs and breathing fresh air acted as a detox for us restless college kids. No vices for a whole week! Some came back with bigger butts and larger muscles, some developed smooth skin from the dust and dirt clinging to our sweat every day.
Every day was a new adventure. We hiked up mountains at 2am to see the sunrise, swam in enchanting FREEZING cold waterholes, saw giant spiders, slept on the top of 20 meter domes under the stars and more. This is going to take more than one blog post to capture all that was the Outback.
OUTBACK BABY!
