Meet Julie

First of all, I warn you that this has nothing to do with Australia. But it has to do with an awesome cause. And I think you should all support it if you possibly can . . .

Julie was my babysitter when I was growing up. Unlike most kids, who cling to their parents when the babysitter arrives, Mike and I would actually ask my mom and dad to leave. Why? Because Julie was my hero. When Julie was around, we got to play tag in the house, stay up past our bed times, and pretty much do whatever we wanted to. I thought she was the coolest person in the world, and I did everything I could to try to impress her.

As years went by, we slowly lost touch. She got too old to babysit, and we got too old to need a babysitter. But I never stopped thinking about her and the difference that she made in my life. She always provided me with support.

So why am I writing about her?

Because she is still one of my heroes.

Thanks to facebook, we have gotten back in touch, and I have learned about what she is doing now. She is still being a hero and still providing support. Except now she does it for children with Autism and their families.

In the month of July, she is holding a raffle to benefit those children. The prize is two tickets to the Barenaked Ladies concert in August.

How did she get those tickets? Well, I'll let her tell you that.

http://barenakedautism.wordpress.com/

Please visit the site, learn about what she is doing, and consider donating if you can. Every dollar makes a difference!

Hello from Ayers Rock!

We are now in location three of our five stop vacation. It has been a lot of nonstop action, and I cannot wait to get to Sydney, where we will do what we want, when we want to do it, without having to worry about waking up early for tours.

Our plane does not leave until 1 pm tomorrow, so we will get to sleep in and get some much needed rest before we leave the red center for the hussle and bussle of the big city.

Our first stop was Cairns, where we did several things. First of all we took a train to the city of Karanda, where we did some shopping and Mike and I got to hold a Koala. We got some great pictures! Then after that, we went to an Aboriginal cultural center, where we learned about a tribe of Aboriginal people. I forget which tribe . . . when I have my paperwork, I will let you know what it was.

Then we went to see the Great Barrier Reef. Mike and I took a snorkel trip that was guided by a marine biologist which was awesome, but a bit of a let down once we got in and the lifeguards informed us that a dolphin had been following us out there and we hadn't noticed! The reefs are beautiful. It is nice to see so much wildlife in the ocean. It is amazing to think that basically everything I saw there was actually alive.

Our second stop was in Alice Springs. Where there is nothing. Literally nothing. Wait, not nothing. There was a mall. That was it. We stayed in our hotel resting and watchign movies, because the next morning we had to check out by 630 and be on a bus that took us to Ayers Rock.

The ride was nice, but I had already seen so much outback countryside on our trip that I slept most of the way. We took a tour around the rock itself, and then we got to watch it at sun down. It was great! For dinner Daddy and I bought some meat (including crocodile!) and cooked it on a barbeque here. Mike just had pizza . . . boring! But he wasn't feeling all that good so I guess I will cut him some slack.

Today we went to another one of the rock formations, and will be having an Aussie barbeque at sunset at the other rock formation. They will be feeding us kangaroo, crocodile, and emu, which should be interesting!

I will try to check back in at least once more before I come home. Once I am home, count on a much more detailed account of our adventures, complete with pictures!

Miss you all! Can't wait to see you in a week! *insert me jumping up and down excitedly*

O Kate, when you return
Of your travels we will learn
Of how much you were burned
Of whether there were ferns (were there?)

Though we already know much
Because of technology and such
It means more to touch
The kangaroo you're bringing me for example.

And Skype it's so grand!
Seeing people in distant lands.
Pixels smaller than sand,
But still just Pixels, oh man!

When you're back in the States
All your friends will celebrate
You will set up lunch dates
And declare, "My name is Kate!"

KATE is indeed her name.
The woman of towering fame,
Though many are named the same
Only one is true KATE (I exclaim!)

This was a poem written by Carolyn Lusch and sent to me for my birthday. I just thought I would share it with you as I leave Perth for my next adventure. Less than 24 hours before I see my daddy and brother in Cairns.

I don't know if I will be able to con my dad into paying for internet, so you might not be able to hear from me until I am back in the States on July 4th. But I shall try to keep you all updated, and if not, I will post blogs about my final adventures, including from this weekend, which I got to spend with Tyler.

Signing off until we meet again,
Kate

I think it's time . . .

I'm ready. I've had my fun, I've met a lot of fun people, but I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to have McDonald's breakfast again. I'm ready to sleep in my own room (though I got a new bed while I was gone). I'm ready to hug my father goodnight every night. I'm ready to have movie dates with Andi. I'm ready to celebrate Kathryn and Jeff's engagement. I'm ready to celebrate Matt and Sara's marriage, though I missed the wedding. I'm ready to give my nieces and nephews huge hugs and shower them with the presents I bought while I was away.

I feel like I've missed so much since I left. It's weird because subconsciously you almost expect a pause button to be pushed when you leave for a long period of time. You expect that everything will be the same as you left it when you return.

You don't expect to look at pictures of your cousin's children on Facebook to discover that the baby you left at home is no longer a baby. You don't expect your best friend to get engaged while you are gone. You don't expect your family to still get together for holidays without you.

It is going to be an adjustment coming home. I realize that while it still seems strange to me now to have them there, it is going to be strange to not have grocery stores in malls. It is going to be strange to drive on the right hand side of the road. It is going to be strange to be able to go shopping after 5 and on Sundays. It is going to be strange to have everyone I've come to love on the other side of the world instead of just a stone's throw away.

People have begun to leave, and it is a strange feeling because I know that I will not see most of these people again for as long as I live. I hope to return to Australia, and if I do, I'm sure I will see some of them. But what of those who live in Sweden, or Norway? Will I actually make it to France, as Tyler and I have planned, or will I never see my French friends again? I suppose only time will tell.

One thing is for sure. There IS one friend I am going to see again. And I will see him soon. Tyler is coming down from Karratha on Thursday and staying with me until I leave.

And it doesn't end there. Since he had to drop out of uni, he has managed to work several jobs that have allowed him to save enough money to come and visit America in December. He'll see large amounts of snow for the first time, and I'll be reminded of the awesome semester I had.

The semester I wouldn't trade for the world, even if I am ready to return to the good old U S of A.

Where are the monkeys????

After a bit of driving, and a bit of rain, we landed at the last stop on our trip. Monkey Mia. Now please don't ask me why it is named as such. I have no idea. There were no monkeys anywhere. But one thing was certain. It was gorgeous.Beaches made it fun. However, the fact that we got to set up the tent on grass made it amazing. They had kitchens that we got to cook our food in, and running water. We took the first real showers we had had all week, and got to go to the grocery store. I got my fix of Thai Sweet Chili chips, and we truly felt like we had reentered civilization.
There was a fridge to cool off the beer, which made some of us happier than others (I don't drink beer . . .), and there were a lot of activities.

First and foremost, the dolphins!!!!
While they are wild dolphins, the park rangers still fed them three times a day. Actually, Becca got to feed them, since it was her birthday when we were there.

Speaking of Becca's birthday, we decided to make her work for her present. We sent her on a scavenger hunt all over the resort, until she finally ended up in the bar, where we were waiting for her with drinks in hand. Well, they were waiting. She needed me to help her work out the last few clues.

We spent the last night of our trip in style, taking many pictures and making memories.

Here are some of the pictures:


I feel kind of bad for Terry . . .



Yay for two girls from Michigan State!


And finally, Terry and I recreating the dramatic rescue in the gorge. We can laugh about it now. You know, since I didn't die.

The next morning, we left again at 5 in the morning, and came back to Perth. We were back here by late afternoon, and cleaned the car and aired out the tent.

I knew my life here wouldn't be the same. First of all, there was no Tyler anymore, since he had to move back to Karratha. But mostly, it was because I changed over that trip. The stars didn't seem as bright, but I appreciated everything around me more.

Despite some drama and disagreements along the way, I wouldn't change a thing about the trip. It was perfect.

Away from the Red, onto the Blue

We got up super early once more and drove for the entire morning. Our destination? Coral Bay. This was our second to last stop on our journey. The weather was gorgeous and the prospects of the ocean and beach made it less bittersweet to leave the national park. It was definitely easier to unpack the tent than it was to pack it up, so packing the "boot" of the car was interesting. But we successfully got on the road before the sun was up. The traveling went well, except for a slight b ump in the road that took the form of a speed radar that caught us in the middle of no where going 40 km over the speed limit. On a holiday weekend (which Easter Monday still counts as here in Oz), that resulted in a 700 dollar fine. I'm incredibly thankful that I was not the one driving.

We arrived to cloudless skies and perfect weather at about 1 pm. We sun bathed, read, snorkeled, and ate fresh fruit that we purchased.

We debated between camping there or finding somewhere on the way to our next stop, and decided to camp on the way. We drove for a couple of more hours, and found a side of the road campsite. It was the first place we found where we were allowed to have a campfire, which was nice. The only problem was that we had no wood. So Mallory and I went about finding some kindling, and Terry and Elizabeth went in search of stuff that would burn for a long period of time. Between the four of us, we managed to get a decent campfire built, and were able to cook our pasta over the fire.


Instead of wrestling with the tent again, we slept out under the stars, looking forward to the next day and the promise of dolphins at Monkey Mia.

An Amazing Way to Spend Easter

I'm incredibly spiritual. In my own way. Definitely Christian, but not really affiliating with a specific denomination.

That being said, this was the first Easter that I did not go to a church building.

I specify building, because I feel that I went to church on Easter. I have never before experienced the wonder of God's creation like I experienced it in Karijini National Park. It was such a religious experience being in this amazing place on the day that defines my faith.

We woke up with the sun again and ate breakfast before driving to the visitor's center as soon as it opened. We were unsure if we had enough water to get through the day because we were going on an even more intense hike, and it was even hotter than it was the day before. After purchasing several bottles, and a new calling card to be able to talk to Tyler more, we drove forty minutes to Hancock Gorge.

Once again, as it had been on the day that I went cliff diving, my fear of heights was tested. Instead of a staircase to get down into the gorge, this time it was simply a ladder. It was not a very tall ladder, but I was still frightened because I had no way of knowing how sturdy it was. We got to the bottom in one piece and discovered the wonders that awaited us. Luckily, a random adventurer warned us not to take our cameras with us. He said that there was way more water than there was in Dale's gorge, and at times, we would have no choice but to submerge ourselves to continue along the gorge. Also luckily, Mallory had a water proof camera, so we were able to still document what ended up being the experience of a lifetime.

The person who told us to leave our cameras behind was right. We did have to submerge to get across. Mallory, Terry, and Elizabeth were able to rock climb to get to the other side. My pack was too heavy, and I'm not that steady on rock walls. I only do those when I have to. Therefore, Becca and I put our packs on our heads and headed to the other side.Two seconds after this picture was taken I slipped and fell and my backpack went under anyways. Not to mention the fact that as you can clearly see in the picture, the strap got stuck around my neck. Terry almost jumped in to help me but I got it untangled quick enough. Close call! But not the closest call I had that day . . .

This gorge was the perfect one to do on a day that was so much hotter because there was so much more water to cool off in. We did not end up drinking as much as we thought, but we did not need to either.

Hancock Gorge was a much tougher hike than the day before. There were times where we had to trek through water, times where we were forced to climb on the walls. And Reebok did nothing to help me. I love my tennis shoes. I have a pair of the Reebok Easytone shoes that are supposed to help tone your legs as you walk. I don't know if they work or not, but one thing that they do not have is traction. But I adjusted. And I took them off a lot too. And I definitely slipped and fell a bit. But it was all part of the experience. For the most part anyway. One of the most interesting part was the Spider Walk. This was one of the times that we were forced to climb on the walls of the gorge. I was slightly nervous, but we got some great pictures.
At the end of the Spider Walk, was the rope ladder. And this was where I had the closest call of the trip. Change that. The closest call of my life.

I realize that in this picture it looks like it is water at the bottom of this rock wall. It isn't. It's rock. Slippery rock. And at the top, more slippery rock. And my shoes didn't like it. I slipped at the very top, and fell down the wall. I grabbed hold of the metal railing at the top. It took a few seconds for me to register that I hadn't fallen all the way down. I had NO idea how I had time to grab hold of the railing. I should have been on the rocks below.

Enter my savior. Terry had almost thrown himself to the ground when he saw me start to slip and he had grabbed my arms, allowing me to have time to grab the rail. I do not know how he had time to process what was happening and manage to save me, but he did. I definitely owe him. We talked about it later, and we aren't sure I would have died. But one thing was certain. I would not have made it out of that gorge of my own free will.

After bursting into tears for a minute or two, I was able to regain my footing and make it down into the pool. On the other side of the pool, we took a much needed breather. I needed a break after my near death experience, and all in all, we were pretty exhausted.


After the long hike back, through the spiderwalk, rock climbing around the water this time since I was hesitant to slip in water again, and back up the ladder, we were fairly satisfied. It was the end of our time at Karijini, and on to the more restful parts of our vacation. My Easter dinner that night consisted of rice and beans, which I ate because nothing else was bought for me that I would eat.

We took stock of all of our red stained possessions and got ready to pack up the tent long before the sun rose the next day, and then went to bed.

It was the most amazing two days of my life, and it is going to be fairly hard to top it. I have been very fortunate in my life and seen a lot of amazing things. I have seen a snow storm at the top of a mountain in Colorado. I have seen the beaches of Hawaii. I have seen the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear national park. I've seen the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean.

But I've never seen anything like Karijini before. And I doubt I ever will again.

And that is okay. Because the memories I have of the days I spent there, of the people I went with, and of camping in a tent for the first time since I was a toddler will last me a lifetime, even if I lose all of the picture I have from there.

Those two days were enough for a lifetime. And I'm completely satisfied.