Australia: a brief summary

I grew up. Emotionally (whatever that really means) and mentally. I had a lot of time to think, reflect, ask questions and find answers with no distractions. None. And that's not to say that my very best friends back home are distractions, but being left completely to myself physically, meant that I had a lot of alone time to just contemplate me and my life and where I'm going.

I've become better spiritually grounded and have had adequate time to assess every difficult situation, big or small, with clarity and significant help from the scriptures. It's been amazing to see the changes I've made in myself that I didn't necessarily know needed to be made or could be changed.

I think that when someone finds themselves in a highly populated area of their own religion, they may inadvertently lock themselves in a mindset that tells them that they can't become as good as those around them. That they're always doomed to be two steps behind everyone else. Well I am here to tell you that you do not have to become an apostle to be a worthy member of the church. Surprise! Isn't that nice to hear? It was nice for me to finally realize. Not that I ever truly thought I had to achieve that calling (which I realistically couldn't) in order to be a faithful member of the church, but you'd be surprised at how little we think of ourselves when you look back at harder times.

I am more confident in my ability to control my future with the help of the Lord. I can choose how I want to live my life, what I want to do, and who I interact with! That is all within my ability. I have a stronger desire to get an education and explore many different experiences that are available to me now, and ones that I know will become available if I'm willing to push myself and look for ways to improve myself in all aspects of life.

The people I have met here have greatly influenced the way I grew and the new (better) way in which I view myself. I am and will always be grateful for the people I met here, they way they treated me as a friend, and the trials I fought through and difficult experiences I overcome. As well as all the great Australian adventures I got to take.

Australia has instilled in me the long awaited courage to take a leap of faith back into my own life.

Look out USA, I'm comin' for ya.

-m

Bali Bali Bali Bali rockin' errywhere

(^What went through my mind almost the entire time we were there.)

Bali was MY FAVORITE. It's hard to choose between Queensland and Bali, but I'm gonna say they're both my favorite because they're different countries so ... I win.

Because my mom has stellar connections through Zumba, we stayed at the Villa of the mother of one of mom's friends. And it was 5 star, let me tell you. There was a fresh water pool, breakfast served every morning on the terrace over looking endless hills of greenery, authentic, home made Indonesian dinner served, and our own personal driver, Tegu.

When we got there, our hostess, Maria, showed us around and we were all awe struck. It was gorgeous and way more than what we expected. The rooms were large and the shower had these windows so you could WATCH THE SUNSET WHILE YOU SHOWERED. Man, it was amazing.

She set us up with a driver because navigating the streets there is like crossing the freeway blind and deaf. You will die. So Tegu took us everywhere we needed to go in this rad, low key short bus. No seat belts, yeah! It made for a bumpy ride but I really enjoyed it. In Bali, there is no stop signs and no turn signals and not traffic lights. There is only one rule and it is "drive when you can and stop when you can't" it's kind of like every man for himself out there.

We visited Ubud and all the street markets (Which surprisingly sold a very large number of wooden penises? Um ... what?) and the Monkey Forest the first day. I made sure to keep all items close to my body and sent out a lot of "DO NOT TOUCH" vibes because those monkeys will just jump right on ya. Trust me I witnessed it. They were wild. We ate dinner at a restaurant, the kind that you take off your shoes and sit on a pillow kind, that sat in front of a palace with a huge pond out front that had lilies floating around. IT WAS WILD OK.

The next few days we went back to Ubud, and rode elephants, which was the best because we had a great guide. He would sing, threaten to grab us spiders so we could take them home as gifts, and refer to our elephant as either: Lady Gaga, Sexy lady, Beyonce, or Obama. I think mine and Karly's favorite quote from him was "Lessgo, lessgo jurassic taxi!" He offered to take a picture of us on the elephant, and then insisted on a selfie with him in it. We adored him. We got to feed the elephants afterwards and obviously treat ourselves to some pictures.

Be prepared, there's 37 of them.

^^ The 6 hour flight was a doozy. Luckily, we had a chat feature and could send messages to each others screens. Karl and I had a grand old time sending each other unreadable song lyrics back and forth even though we were sitting right next to each other.

^^ You're looking at the terrace we ate breakfast on every morning. With lots of croissants. Lots of them. And the most delicious blueberry jam I have EVER tasted.

^^ Balinese style Villa

^^ Just chillin' in our fresh water pool. We had the place all to ourselves.

^^ I'm hoping someone else has read the book "Weslandia" because I was have dejavu.

^^ SEE? WESLANDIA.

^^ The humidity. GUys. 87%. My hair was untamable.

^^ Just a small town street.

^^ Oh that? That's our pool. 

^^ Scenes from an Indonesian restaurant

^^ Sitting in the shade outside a 7 eleven barely living because the HUMIDITY.

^^ We visited a Hindi temple, but here and everywhere you looked on sidewalks and outside businesses, were these little baskets woven out of leaves that contained flowers and little candies and incense as offerings. I thought they were cute.

^^ Inside the Hindu temple

^^ A monkey totally uninterested in anything to do with me.

^^ Just chillin. No worries. No cares. Just chillin.

^^ Ridin' dirty.

^^ Our elephant driver. I can't remember his name and I feel terrible. But he was the best ever.

^^ My elephant love affair.

^^ Still active volcano. Thankfully it was calm. We went to some hot springs nearby that are naturally heated because of this volcano (hence the name hot springs) and it was a beautiful outlook.

^^ An Indonesian dance show. Very long, crazy fast music.

^^ The view from our Villa :)

^^ WARM WATER GUYS WARM WATER YA HEAR.

^^ At the Tanah Lot temple/beach. Getting her to look was not worth my time. Also there was literally sweat rolling down my back and legs it was so hot and humid.

^^ Sunset on the beach on our last night there. So dreamy.

-m

The Land of Queens

My mom and I booked this trip super last minute. As in a week before we left. It was a birthday present/"Can I please just visit a nice Australian beach?" vacation. And it was lovely.

We went for three nights, which was just perfect, and although the hotel we stayed at was subpar, that was alright because we were simply a half block from the beach and only a block from the main hub of the cities stores and restaurants.

^^ The sand was so white and soooo soft. I could've just wrapped myself up in it. Except it was sand.

^^ The water. WOw.

^^ Flying it. We were seriously right on the beach.

^^ Guys people live here. Like. Forever.

^^ We went paddle boarding twice while we were there and it was such a nice, calm hour of our time. 

^^ Post sunburn. Yeesh.

^^ The last night, we bought strawberries from the beach front markets and ate them while watching the waves and the stars. It was like a dream. A really impossible dream.

^^ Dreamtime Beach. Seriously a dream.

Our last stop before going home on Thursday night was a beach called Dreamtime Beach that was just outside of Queensland in New South Wales. My mom wanted to have sea shells from every state, and NSW was her last one. And I am SO glad we made the drive down (it was only about 45 minutes) because it was hands down the best beach I've visited. It was absolutely beautiful, the water was crystal clear and teal blue, it was just gorgeous. I wanted to sit and stare at it forever. 

AND. The water was warm. Can you ever comprehend that? Warm ocean water? Well it's true, and I found it and experienced it and I wish I could have stayed forever. It was just stunning. The view and the water and the sand and the weather and I wanted to hug it all and never let it go. 

When we went paddle boarding, our instructor, who's been doing it for about 5 years now, told us that she's gone paddle boarding in the Philippines and highly recommends. Yeah I bet. What I wouldn't give to take her up on that. 

Queensland was the dose of Australian beach life that I needed, and how I wish I could've visited more frequently, if not lived there. But there is a high number of deadly spiders more prevalent there than in Melbourne, so maybe visits are better in my case.

Magnificent trip. Well presented, Australia. 10 out of 10.

-m

Ewlewrew

I cannot sleep. So I thought this would be a perfect time to update my blog with all the adventures I failed to account for.

First off is Ayers Rock, or Uluru. The center of the center of the center of Australia. It really is just a giant land mass in the middle of Australia that people pay good money to come and see from all over the world. (Tons of asians, guys. Heaps.)

^^ We drove a lot. Hard to find a solid sleeping position. Obvi.

^^ The colors were just amazing. It reminded me of Southern Utah which is probably why I loved it so much.

^^ You can see the red sand reflecting onto the clouds. 

^^ Isn't is GORGEOUS!?

^^ This was Kings Canyon. Off a ledge. That would've dropped me a solid one million feet down if someone would've nudged me.

The trip included my dad and all the girls (minus Jo). We spent Wednesday driving around and getting sunburned, then Thursday hiking around Kings Canyon. The views were absolutely wonderful and I just loved the Southern Utah feel. I miss home. Can you tell?

Friday we walked around the rock. The giant rock we all payed to come see. It was a loooong walk. A couple hours? The walk was about 6 miles around. AND THE FLIES. Gosh. Those damn flies were relentless. In your ears, your nose, your eyes, everywhere all the time never ceasing. It really put a damper on the walk (that and we were all pretty fatigued from our go-go-go mentality the whole trip) but we made it around the rock nonetheless and now can say we have seen it. 

Unfortunately it was overcast for the majority of the time we were there, but it only drizzled rain a few times, and we were lucky to not suffer from awful sunburns. (Which I can promise I would've gotten.)

It was a great excuse to get away and visit the center of Australia. Till we meet again. (Probs never.)

-m