Ahhhhh...

July 23, 2012

KROOMBIT TOPS NATIONAL PARK, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -- Ahhhh... so nice to wake up with no messages on my phone! This is the joy of having to be somewhere with no reception for an extended period of time. Come to think of it, I haven't spent a night anywhere other than an airplane without reception since my Antarctica trip last December. It's good for the mind every once in awhile.

In any event, we woke up to a chilly morning and started our day with some brekkie and hot tea. This morning everybody got to go horseback riding, and we were divided up by teacher. I led group three mid-morning, and I had the pleasure to ride "Tramp," a beautiful brown horse. Interestingly enough, for all the times I have been on or around camels in the past six years, I have never been on a horse (at least that I remember). Tramp was kind to me and made it easy - we went on a stroll through a meadow along with a couple of donkeys and a bunch of goats. We saw one mother goat help a baby goat through a fence after it got lost from the group - adorable to watch.

July 23, 2012 - Going for a stroll on a lovely morning!

Tramp, my friendly and well-behaved horse.

Overall it was a lovely morning with not a cloud in the sky. We had a few minor uphill and downhill sections, and crossed a river twice at a nice walking pace. One particularly hilarious part of the ride was crossing the Drop Bear zone. Drop bears are a completely made-up practical joke that Australians enjoy having at tourists (mostly Americans') expense. The joke is so famous that even the Australian Museum has a profile of them. The idea is that they are carnivorous Koalas with fangs that, if woken up, will drop out of the gum trees and attack. Needless to say, when the students saw a sign that we were entering the "Drop Bear Zone" on our horses, all of a sudden we had complete silence. I've never seen a group of students remain that quiet for that long (15 mins or so). Even better? After the ride, half of them came up to me to show me pictures of shadows of the drop bears they saw in the zone. :P

Look out and keep quiet!

Stay away from the drop bears!!!

Luckily everyone made it out!

After horseback riding I played some cricket with a few of the students, and then it was time for lunch. In the afternoon we took a nice hike to the summit of a nearby mountain, providing unobstructed views for miles in every direction. Along the way we learned about various plants, including eucalyptus "gum" trees. We did a small service project as well, helping to bridge an erosion gap on the farm with heavy rocks. 

Our guide Jonathan giving a lecture at the summit.

A couple of hours later we returned from our hike and everyone was exhausted! All the other teachers left to shower and relax, and I ended up playing an hour-long one-against-all basketball game. Running around everyone was exhausting! Dinner was delicious (as all meals here are), and tonight was even MORE exercise! We spent over an hour with two of the workers learning and doing choreographed dances, which was a blast. Most weren't too difficult to figure out, and it was a great workout too. To wrap up our day, I just did 250 crunches and then took a much-needed, very refreshing shower - ahhhhh...