Uluru & Kata Tjuta (outback, Australia)

last week i was in uluru (ayers rock) and did a lot of hiking near 'the rock' and kata tjuta (pronounced cat-a choo-ta). both are very spiritual places for the three aboriginal communities in the area. most of the pics from this cd are of kata tjuta, which is alright because 'the valley of the winds' walk was fantastic! just take a look at some of these...but like everyone always says, it's better in real life.

These are some pics from the valley of the winds walk:

here is a pic of uluru. this is the famous 'ayers rock' that is in the middle of the outback. it is pretty amazing to see in real life because everything is VERY flat all around it....

this is another one from the valley of the winds walk. this is what i saw from the 2nd look out point, probably about 2 hours in...and after a very steep scramble up the red rocks.
but i'm off to a cabin near mt connor for a 3day workshop on the environment. i ended up getting that ride into alice springs from the trucker (i knew his boss and arranged it ahead of time) and i think i might stay in alice springs for another month or so. there is a lot happening here and a lot of opportunity to learn and grow.

quick pics from melbourne

so this is incredibly late, and totally incomplete for my trip to melbourne, but it's all i can get uploaded online right now, so it will just have to do!

from christchurch, new zealand i flew into melbourne. i chilled out in st kilda (a part of melbourne) for a few days and then met up with my friend calum who i first met in peru way back in december. we rented a car and went up the great ocean road (pics to come).

some aboriginal art at the gallery:

here's a pic from the museum of the moving picture (awesome place!): in it you can clearly see that calum is playing a computer game from the 80's, but the only other people in there playing were little girls...

and i have to give credit to calum for the first pic, it is one he took at night time of the melbourne skyline... really great huh?

but a lot of really great pics will be posted once i sort my stuff out!

Outback Addy

so no pics this time - nothing to download them onto just yet - but i thought i would post all the same!

right now i am at Uluru (Ayers Rock) National Park in the heart of the Australian Outback. i have been here a week and have done lots of hiking and have seen a LOT of sunrises and sunsets... yes, that means that i am normally up at 5am... i know! crazy!

some funny things:

- near my campsite is where the infamous woman once claimed that "THE DINGO ATE MY BABY!". more recently a dingo on frasier island attacked a little girl in her tent... so when i first heard the dingos howling at the moon right by my tent i think i was justified in planning an escape. but in the light of morning i realized that it was rather silly to freak out and now enjoy their nightly howling session. maybe it had something to do with finding a red back spider in my tent the night before? i think it's starting to kick in that toto's not in kansas anymore...

- speaking of freaky crawly things, yesterday this insane guy who rode his bike from alaska to panama, and now is doing every major land mass in the world for the next 7 years, got pinched by some really freaky looking thing at dinner. he only knew the japanese word for it, but what made it even stranger was that the same thing happened to him the night before in the same seat with the same freaky insect... i don't know about you, but i just wouldn't sit there anymore!

the last strange thing that happened yesterday was that a mini twister, called a willy-willy, blew through camp and uprooted someone's tent. now, if you have ever seen any space i have slept in, you'd probably know how true what i'm about to say really is... so after seeing the willy willy toss that tent about, i decided that if anyone sees the inside of my tent and comments on it's general disorderliness, i will just use the excuse that a willy willy must have gotten a hold of it and tossed everything about. but in defense of my mess, i think that mess is an excellent security feature when camping. i mean, who in their right mind would be able to find anything in that disaster?!

i am here until sun/mon chilling out with two really great girls and getting lots of swimming and writing done. right now the non-plan plan is to go a bit south to Alice Springs and then probably find some work with the aboriginal community there. if i like it, i might stay there for 1-2 months. we'll see. i'd love to hear from you!

love,

addy :)

Dolphin Swimming

yes yes, i did the obvious plunge into the water and swam with the dolphins. after the confusion died down over which city we had reservations for died down, we ended up just east of christchurch on a little farm 6km outside of akaroa. the place was stunning! we really didn't want to leave!

but what was really cool about it was that the owners took 2 of us out on their little boat to check out the dolphins. this was great because 1) we could lean our heads over the tip of the boat and the dolphins loved it! they kept racing along with us and checking us out! so we got SUPER close when we were racing along. 2) (this one is really only good for me, not my friend!) micheal felt sick after 30 mins and so when i went in the second time, it was just the dolphins and i.

This is me reenacting the swim...


it's too bad that this blog doesn't show video because i was able to film them underwater with my camera! but here are some shots anyways (can't capture what it was really like though)...wait, i can't seem to find the pictures. i think i might have sent them home by accident. ops! but here are some anyways.

here's one dolphin as it raced our boat!

here's a view from the boat:


so after two days on the farm, we regrettably packed up our stuff and i got dropped off in christchurch. the next day i flew to melbourne, australia and so the new zealand chapter of my trip ended. :(

but i spent a week in melbourne and the great ocean road... i have to update that part soon! some great pics. but it was a LOT of fun meeting up with my friend calum for a few days. tomorrow morning i head out to ayers rock and hope to stay in the outback for a bit. it will be lots of fun!

lots of love!!

addy :)

3 day Kayak Trip - Doubtful Sound

you know why they called it Doubtful Sound? because the wind is so strong against you, that when captain cook first discovered it, he was highly doubtful they would ever sail out of there... true story.

so after a few days of chilling out in milford sound (no, i did not hike the milford trail, it's for the next time i'm in new zealand!), i headed over to doubtful sound on a three day kayak trip. this was brilliant! i was ssooo glad that i did! here are some pics:

look how clear the water is!

near the end you can see that it was really rainy and the wind was strong. so we were able to set up sail and fly! it was great! we even had races... i should add that my team won both times... despite the others singing that they won... come on guys, we all know the truth!