Every little thing, is gonna be alright!

It’s amazing how quickly life goes by. Not "by" maybe, but “on” – how it continues no matter what choices, experiences or opportunities arise. I've quickly nestled back into “home-life” and being on the road seems so far behind me! I've been back on the east coast for just a few days now, super excited that my plan to surprise Kerry on her birthday worked!! We had such a beautiful luncheon at a gorgeous vegetarian restaurant followed by a few of us going off on an adventure to see an art exhibit on Cockatoo Island; which actually ended up being a harbor-side walk and ferry ride under a beautiful sunny blue sky! I hitched a ride with Kerry and Rock back to the farm to relax for a few days until this weekend when we have Steph's goodbye celebration on the coast -woo hoo! And then I potentially start working! But before all of that consumes my existence (which I very much look forward to!) I want to give some more insight on my latest experiences! I took tons of pictures, so hopefully those will help me recount the experiences once I'm back home as well.

*Part of me is eager to share the details of my road trip across the country and another part of me is feeling so beautifully grounded here on Waverleigh Farm that it's hard to think outside of this moment right Now! It's a gorgeous (nearly) spring afternoon and the flowers are blooming, birds are singing, the sun is shining and the cookies are baking!! Yay. Today I encountered a beautiful lesson in nonattachment when my original plans for work fell through. Fortunately this simply opens the door to a whole world of possibilities for me. Hopefully I'll know more about them soon! But right now let's go backwards a bit shall we...

Jennifer and I had a beautiful time exploring (and trying to make sense of) the big red rock in the center of the country, as well as the “neighboring” rock formations (100 K away.) They are really indescribable; it was one of those things where you just have to be there in person. There are many places like that in Australia actually – it’s amazing that I got to experience them! While we were staying in Uluru, (again let me reiterate- the middle of nowhere! where they are bloodsucking tourism maniacs,) I was on a mission to find a ride to Alice Springs before Jennifer flew home. There were hundreds of people there, all on holiday and many on road trips, so I figured surely someone can take me along for the 4 hour trip to the next town. (Yes, the nearest town was 4 hours away, like I said...) So I wrote up little notes about myself (Hi, I'm Hannah. I'm a preschool teacher traveling for a year....) and put them on all the dashboards of the non-rental cars and campervans. I also put them up in the bathrooms. And I got NO response. However, it made me famous! I was also chatting everyone up and people I talked with said, "Oh, you're the preschool teacher." Yes. Can you give me a ride? No? Bummer. And so this went on for a couple days. (Meanwhile Jennifer had her fingers crossed that her new passport would be ready in time for her to fly out of Australia and into London!) My last resort was greyhound.

Finally it all fell into place! Jennifer and I were cooking in the shared “resort” kitchen and chatting with a couple lovely ladies, Deborah and her daughter, Natalie, who was my age. They were on a road trip adventure AND they were going to Alice Springs!!!! Jennifer and I looked at each other (EEEEE!!!! :) These were my people! We did lots of happy dancing that day! I also got to visit Kings Canyon with them, which I really wanted to see as well. Kings Canyon has spectacular views and I feel so lucky that it worked out for me to travel there with these awesome women! I think it was a five hour hike and we all did great! Nat and I left Deborah wandering without water at one point! Oops! But the views from inside the cliffs were amazing and we got some great photos to share with her. It's fascinating to think how it was all formed so very, very long ago! Natalie's a great photographer and took some gorgeous shots. During the drive to Alice we encountered wild camels crossing the road! (To get to the other side, of course.) Which was a much more exciting camel experience than the camel trains at the farm. (Though going for a camel ride was a very cool experience.) Natalie and Deborah were wonderful travel mates and we had such a great time together. We enjoyed some fun music in the car and took loads of pictures along the way. Deborah's only hope was that the kindness be returned to them one day during Natalie’s travels. In this beautiful world, I know that's definitely possible! On our last night together we shared a cheesecake in our "cabin" while watching a bit of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. The next day they dropped me off in Alice Springs and promised me a place if I went down south to Melbourne.

Alice Springs was not my favorite part of my adventure I admit, though it certainly had it’s magic. I was getting nervous as I ran into wall after wall trying to find wwoofing jobs in the area or the “neighboring” towns and I was officially alone for the first time in my travels (in my life?) No one was answering and nothing seemed promising. I knew something would work out, I just didn't know what it was. The discomfort of my uncertainty didn’t last too long as I met a lovely German girl in the backpackers I was staying at and it was good to have a friendly face to talk with. When I realized I needed to spend another night in Alice Springs I had to lug my stuff across town to the only other backpackers because the one I’d stayed at was booked up for that night. Ugh! It wasn't too bad considering I could carry everything I own on my person (one large backpack, a smaller “carry-on” backpack and my “pantry” which was definitely necessary thank you very much!) At the new place I met another sweet girl right away. I feel so fortunate to make friends quickly! It makes traveling much more fun and less scary! Amanda and I walked to the Alice “botanical gardens” and then I met up with Natalie and Deborah to visit the Telegraph Station! I really love seeing history right in front of me. My imagination allows me to create the experience all over again and it feels so real! The kitchen was the most interesting part of the experience for me, as I walked in and was suddenly overcome with emotion! It was the strangest thing. I want to look into more of the history of that place and I’d like to read a book about it called, “Alice on the Line,” if I can find a copy!

That evening Amanda walked with me to post requests on the bulletin boards at the two hostels about a ride outta there! Then she and I walked up to watch the sunset at the top of Telegraph Hill. Just fifteen minutes after I’d put my sign up, I got a call! The caller was obviously French and told me he and another guy were leaving in the morning if I wanted to join them! I was hesitant at first, but agreed to meet them. It was a silly series of events as we ended up meeting unexpectedly in the kitchen over dinner. Yay for kitchen-connections! I spent the evening hanging out with him and was excited about the prospect of a road trip up north and then along the west coast! I didn’t know how I would get a chance to do so much traveling otherwise and I’d heard wonderful things about the northwest! Yes, I would be ready in the morning! It wasn’t until putting my things into the car that I met our travel mate from Ireland, John. He seemed really friendly and there was plenty of space for me in the backseat so it was looking good! We had a rough start, though. One window was broken and was being held up by plastic stabilizers, the coolant wasn’t registering as full (even though they just changed it) and apparently there was a dead bird in the “grill” (I only know the bay area word for it!) Once we finally did get on the road we ended up picking up a backpacker, Darren, who shared the backseat with me. He was from Canada and had been backpacking for nearly two years. He had some fascinating stories and got me interested in a canoe trip across Canada! Not sure when that will be… (This picture is for you Gene!)

The first leg of the trip was quick. The idea was just to get to Darwin, drop off Darren, pick up Cesar and then begin the adventure back down and over. We did make one stop on the way up at the Devil’s Marbles which were giant round rocks scattered all over the place! Exploring is tricky in a small two-wheel drive car when you’re in the outback and venturing into national parks meant for off-road vehicles! The boys were grateful that I love to cook and gladly let me take the reigns in the evenings. Though really in the end, the job was shared in a lovely family style fashion. Unfortunately our diet was consistently simple, as cooking from the back of a car on a small gas stove would be. (I was super grateful for my “pantry” at this point!) We had lots of canned things but no cooler. I bought fresh veggies for dinner whenever we found them; which was ridiculously rare for the most part, traveling through huge masses of land with no town for miles! It’s just like it’s described in books, I would compare it to a treadmill of a highway most of the time. The landscape was fascinating though, being used to city or countryside, a desert offers amazing plant life – like ginormous termite mounds! (We never did dress one up, though we saw it several times.) When we got to Darwin we discovered there was no place to stay! And so began our pirate camping experiences – if there had been another option we would have taken it! First, we stayed up as late as we could at the beachfront park singing and dancing with a group of French travelers in the same situation as us. (They got fined $150 for camping illegally though and we slipped through the cracks.) That next morning I took the first of many cold showers in a beachfront rest area and then we began the journey south.

*I know if I don’t publish this now it’ll just keep getting pushed back so I’ll just post in pieces! There is more to come! Thank you for reading!