I rented a car with some girl friends and took a drive to the South Western most part of the Island. It was a competely new and undiscovered place for me. We drove 2 and a half hours out of town to a tropical rainforest to a place known as Russell falls. The falls were awe inducing. Absolutely nuts. There was also Horseshoe falls, cleverly named for the water falls in a horseshoe shape (A+ for the namers) and another far far away falls. It was nice to trek around the area. Apparently, you can do the hike at night as well and see glow worms!! I wanted to see glow worms so badly but that was just not happening this trip.
Following the russell falls, we decided to drive over to the Gordon Dam. SO COOL. Never underestimate the coolness of dams. Ever. First of all, they are tall. They are so uncomfortably high up that when you're at the top all you want to do is get off of the platform and back onto solid ground. Second of all, they are surrounded by water on one end and not so much on the other. Translation: one side is full to the top with a terrifyingly black liquid and the other side is a plunge to insta-death. Then there is the wind: it echoes. Oh! But wait! You can make your voice echo as well, not just the wind. Anyways. The dam was amazing. Walking up and down to it was like a death trap but it was worth it. I was shaking the entire time. I almost passed out when my friends told me that people actually repelled down it for "fun". I would repel down that if someone paid me a hefty sum of money. That valley/cliff full side of the dam was scary enough to get each of us tired girls to sprint up the steep steps.
I drove all day. I was so tired afterwards. I really thought a few times we were going to die. Never ever drive at dusk or at night in Australia unless you are driving a jeep. Wallabies the size of cows will hop in front of your car and wait for you to hit them. Then if that doesnt kill you, wait for those wombats. Those sneaky, tank like critters, will waddle right out in the middle of the road and instead of you breaking them, they will break you. Oh and please, never neglect to be wary of the giant running peacocks. They are not cassowaries because those birds are only on the mainland, but they are just as scary--especially in a small car. They ran in front of the car multiple times. Each time, they would spit out all their feathers to my car as if sticking out their tongue to my face. "Hit me I dare you, sucker!", Im pretty sure that's what they were telling me. Breaking for animals is strictly illegal in Australia. Yea I get that's an important law because it's dangerous to swerve for an animal, but A) I didnt want to kill any animals and B) I feared that they wouldve done more damage to my car than to themselves (especially for the wombat incidents).
Besides that trip, friends and I have just been spending as much time together as we can. Tess, Corey, Bobby and Carmen decorated my room for my birthday when I got back from NZ which was so nice of them. We all went out for birthday drinks on a night no one had finals the next day. I went on a hike to Mt. Nelson with Mattie and had a nice therapy session with her. We talked about life and love and how we have changed since coming to Tassie. We went on a stroll to the beach a few km down from the colleges (our beach) and picked up some shells. We had to say goodbye to great friends like Amy and April. We stayed up all night with Amy and watched the world cup and drank wine. It was so hard to say goodbye to her at the airport the next morning. Oh, it's so weird here. In Tassie, you can go through security without a ticket and sit with people who are flying out. No terrorist threats here obviously. You dont even have to take off your shoes! Except for Mattie. Every time Mattie walks into that airport, she gets stopped and searched. Apparently, white, females with brown/blonde hair are obviously on the aussie hit list.
Tomorrow is officially my last day in Tasmania. I cannot believe that that time has come. Nick bought all his international friends Australian flag capes for people to sign. I am so sad to leave but I guess Ill just save those sentiments for my last blog. Until then, only happy current memories. Goodnight everyone :)
No comments:
Post a Comment