Into the Wild

After being in Sydney and Melbourne it was finally time to get out into the mountains and the outback. First up were the blue mountains outside of Sydney.

Before getting to the blue mountains was our first stop at a wildlife preservation. Here I got to see nearly every animal from Australia. Tasmanian devils, kookaburras, kangaroos, and many, many more. It was cool to see them even if it wasn't technically in the wild. I got to feed a bunch of wallabies too and even picked up a baby, which I'm not really sure if I was supposed to. Oh well, it was worth it.

Then came the long ride into the mountains and as luck would have it, it was cloudy, cold, and rainy when we went up. Our guide had us stop a few times to see if we could see anything to no avail. I did see a waterfall shrouded in the mist, so that was really cool! After realizing that we couldn't see anything out in the mountains we had the opportunity to see aboriginal dances and learn more about the culture and the didgeridoo.

One guy even started teaching me how to play the didg. After about 15 minutes I was getting a good sound to resonate. It's a lot harder to play than I originally thought, but once you hear the sound you're listening for it gets easier. It would take a lot of time to learn to circular breathe and keep playing, but maybe someday I'll practice and figure it out. The guy there told me it took him two months to learn and his brother, a musician, only two weeks.

The next stop on this two week trip with my parents was Uluru and Ayer's Rock. Finally some time in central Australia and the outback! Flying in we could see the massive rock in the distance and then at night we got to see it closer at sunset and eat a barbecue under the stars! I got to see the southern cross and the milky way again. Though this time, because of a full moon, the milky way was tougher to see. But that also meant we got to see a partial lunar eclipse! The earth was casting a shadow on the moon and it was incredible to see.

In the morning we went to look at the rock again, but this time at sunrise and on camels. It was a lot of fun and interesting to learn all the things a camel can do. One very impressive thing is their ability to retain food and water for four weeks. They can go without either for that amount of time. Just awesome. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to climb Ayer's Rock, but now I have a(nother) reason to come back to Australia.

Made it to Port Douglas today and now I'm off to the barrier reef! Hooray!