"Why travel? To learn and grow, challenge yourself, stretch your limits and foster an appreciation for both the world at large and the chair waiting in front of the fireplace back home."

So I'm sitting on my couch right now, with the fire right in front of me, snow outside, and it's COLD, but I really really appreciate it, as well as I have appreciated every minute of the incredible journey I have been on for the past two and a half months.

For our farewell dinner on the last night, we were asked to write a paragraph about our favorite part of the trip.  I think my response to the prompt is the best way I could explain what this trip has meant to me, at least now with only two days of reflection.  I know it will continue to impact me, but it already has so much, and I am so thankful and grateful to have had this opportunity!  Well, here's my response:

"Instead of describing my favorite part in one experience, I have to explain it as many smaller experiences combined (this may be cheating, but oh well!)  Only with these tiny dreamlike fragments combined can I express how important and amazing this whole trip was for me! Well, here it goes:

sleeping outside under the greatest number of stars I have ever seen in my entire life.  swimming through a school of glittering, shining fish that change from pink to turquoise to blue to green.  hearing the sound of carving wood.  realizing and appreciating the incredible colors of the Moss Garden by painting and drawing it.  floating above a sea turtle gliding through the water.  searching for two hours, almost giving up, but then finally spotting a sperm whale and seeing it gracefully dive, tail-up, into the depths of the ocean.  rolling down the hot black sand dunes to splash into the cool water of the suspended lagoon.  being two inches away from a wombat wiggling its butt and ambling past all of us on his own time.  watching the little mermaid with all my friends and singing along the whole time.  getting to know new cultures, new people, and new stories in Rarotonga.  playing games, singing songs, and feeling like I could fly with the happiness and laughter that surrounds me at the marae.  eating and slurping up every last juice in the passionfruit, starfruit, and mangos.  scurrying up the golden hills to see the most incredible sunset reach from behind the hill, over the sky, to touch the horizon of the ocean on the other side.  dancing and stomping and running on the beach to make it sparkle!  sitting on the top of a volcano and witnessing the sunrise touch every hill individually in front of us until it reached ours.  eating lunch at the top of a volcano looking into a huge abyss of a redblack crater.  dribbling and kicking the soccer ball around jellyfish and huge boulders and the sea rushing in a beautiful, beautiful beach.  hiking through the eerily beautiful white burnt trees that stand out against the blue ocean.  watching a rainbow follow our bus for an hour and a half and then disappear behind a mountain in what looked liked a rainbow sunset.  and finally, meeting an amazing group of people, and learning so much about them, and about myself and who I want to be through them and our shared experiences."


Thank you to everyone who followed me!! Knowing I had people at home supporting me made me be able to be less homesick and fully engage in everything!  I can't wait to see you all in person and swap stories from the last few months!!!

Love,
Megan

Lady Elliot Island

Our last stop - Lady Elliot Island.  This tiny island, that takes about 30 minutes to walk around, only has an ecoresort and an airstrip.  It was really beautiful, and everyday we snorkelled and drew and just relaxed.  I read a lot, which was amazing.  Snorkelling was incredible, and we saw huge turtles, squid, manta rays, sting rays, jelly fish, beautiful coral, the most amazing colorful fish I have ever seen.  Did I mention we were in the Great Barrier Reef? It was incredible.  And it was turtle-hatching time! So we saw many baby turtles, and even helped some who were lost at night find there way into the waters!

It was so amazing, and an incredible, incredible way to end the trip.

Carnarvon Gorge

This was definitely one of my favorite spots ever on the trip - and I think that's saying a lot based on all the places I've been!  Carnarvon Gorge is another national park more inland from the east coast, and nearer to the north I think of the east coast of Australia.  We camped in safari-style tents, which were amazing, and slept out under the stars when we wanted.  I woke up with a few friends every morning to sit quietly at the Platypus Pools to spot one. Unfortunately, I never saw one as they are extremely shy creatures, but I did always get to here the forest waking up around me with the kookaburras laughing first, then the cockatoos screeching, then the rest of the birds waking up, and finally the smell of bacon coming from our caterer's grill :).  

The Platypus Pools creek runs to the right of this

There were so many kangaroos at the visitors center! This mum has a joey!

The Moss Garden - a stop along the main trail.  If you look closely, you can really see the amazing colors of this little cove.  I was incredibly blown away by the colors of the rocks, that it was actually REAL!  And I spent about four hours drawing it, of course!

Ward's Canyon - An offshoot of the trail, skinny canyon with glowing green moss everywhere and king ferns that were so huge! I think they are from prehistoric times!

The Ampitheater - You looked up from where you were sitting, and this was the view.  It was really incredible, and if you sang, the song echoed and bounced off the walls and created a beautiful sound!

The Art Gallery - this art has been here for thousands and thousands of years I think - Aboriginal art on the rocks.  The colored images are created from blowing ochre by the mouth onto the object in a stencil way, and the ochre doesn't wear out! There are also carvings - it was so cool to see this!!

A betton? bettol? not quite sure the name, but it looks like a large mouse that hops like a kangaroo!

We hiked to the top of Boolimba Bluffs for this view of the Gorge - it was truly incredible!

Wilson's Prom

So after Apollo Bay, we headed on a long drive to Wilson's Promnatory (spelling! ahh!).  It is the southernmost tip of the state of Victoria, and it is a national park and absolutely spectacular!

We drew and hiked and went spotlighting at night with our biologist, Pete.  We spotted so many possums, and saw the stars at night, and saw many wombats! They are really funny marsupials that only come out at night - and the kind of waddle and wiggle their butt as they walk - they are realyl adorable! We also had a chance to draw kangaroos at the airstrip - I guess the favorite hang out place for the kangaroos there. Oh, and I saw an emu!

Two years ago there was a fire here, so there are many dead trunks of trees, but they are so eerily beautiful, especially against the blue of the ocean.

Our beach :)  The most amazing thing: We came here at night, and danced and stomped and ran by the water on the far side where there is a little river - and the beach glittered and shone and sparkled.  It was like being in a disney movie, but better.  There were bioluminesence in the sand I guess, so when we walked on it, it sparkled! It was so incredible, and I have never been so blown away I think ever! And happy and exultant and jumping up and down!

The Lilly Pilly Gully trail - how cool of a name is that?

A tough hour long straight up hike, to be here, at the top of Mt. Oberon - not too shabby huh?

And that beach is the same one that is ours in the picture above! To give you some perspective of the amazing place we were in.

Look down from plane flight to our next stop.