A little leap back in time- my last couple weeks in Australia

I am now going to back track to fill in the gaps  of where I left you off in Australia. I had  been so busy that I didn't have  time to write and then when I got to the airport (the perfect place, I  had decided, to write my blog) I didn't actually end up flying and for the  next week I was, unfortunately, too sick to even consider writing...or really doing much of anything for that  matter. But,  I will explain all  of that a  little later. For now, just the good stuff!

My first stop after leaving the boys was into the outback to see the  world wonder  of  Uluru or in english, Ayers Rock. I didn't know  too much about Ayers Rock, but  after  much convincing from the boys and a desire to experience the true Australian outback, I was on my way! All I knew was that it was a big rock sticking out in the middle of nowhere  and that I was going to sleep in a swag, head exposed, under the stars. Honestly, the later part was the major draw for me. I arrived by plane to Ayers Rock airport in a tiny little plane. Although something recently has sparked a huge new found anxiety of flying, I was calmed a bit by the beautiful birds eye view I was able to see of Ayers Rock from the  plane window. Shortly after landing safely, I gathered my bags and headed outside where large buses  were  waiting to take us to the resort. The resort, a large almost  city-like operation in the  middle of nowhere, had everything you could possibly need or imagine as well as many different offerings for accommodations ranging from the budget backpackers dorms (where I stayed) to luxury suites. Although it was very nice, I felt as though I were trapped in the Truman show....needless to say, I was very happy  to leave for my 3 day  tour the next  day.   

On the tour we went to three different, beautiful sights. Our first day, we hiked around Ayers rock (Uluru) and  learned about its sacred sights.  Ayers rock is a large sandstone rock formation in the Northern Territory and is the worlds largest monolith and is very sacred to the Aboriginal people. That night we watched the sunset over Uluru. This was a much different  kind of sunset than I had ever seen before. Uluru, east from us, changed from brown to red to dark red, to purple, to purple\brown before fading into the black of the night...gorgeous. The next morning we woke early and watched the sunrise, this time over Uluru itself. This is only my second  time seeing a  sunrise (both times on my trip to Australia) and  I am hooked! It is so amazing to see the  sun make  its  first appearance to the day. To sit and watch nature in action in this way, gives me a new  deeper feeling of life...life, nature, is truly amazing. 

The next day we hiked around an even larger rock formation called the ogres. This hike was one of the most beautiful I have ever taken. And finally on the last day, we hiked by the  natural light of  the full moon to watch  the sunrise over King's Canyon. Thinking that I  had already excited my senses as much as they would allow, the first morning light hitting the canyon walls was like nothing I had ever  experienced  before.  Honestly, experiencing nature like  I did those three days allowed me to feel  completely my breath giving life to my body and heightened all of my senses like they have never been before. The best part about  the  whole experience, I fell asleep, in open air, star gazing. I  woke up in the middle of the night and drifted back to sleep once again under the beautiful night  sky, wishing on a shooting star...it was truly amazing.

Then it was off to the Great Barrier Reef for my final stop in Australia. My  dream of going to the  great barrier reef was  my reason for learning how to  dive in the first place, so as you can probably guess, I was very very excited! I chose to do a 3 day 2 night live aboard package with  12 dives including 2 night dives. To my luck I found that everything I hoped  for while  diving at this very special spot  came true...although I didn't even see one turtle! :( The reef was full of so much  life it was  amazing. There was beautiful soft coral, with little nemos and other cute fish hiding within them. I swam with  many reef sharks and crazy looking alien cuddlefish, schools of unicorn fish, hung a little too close to a triggerfish (although they do enjoy  attacking  at times I was really into my underwater photography  and didn't quite  consider their sometimes aggressive nature, but got lucky with a non attack), and lots of other  beautiful sea life. I feel  so lucky that I have the  ability to  witness  how life under the ocean exists and to see how each  fish coexists with the others. I can't wait  to  dive again!