Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Canberra and Camping on Pebbly Beach

I was amazed at how well my body had adjusted to the crazy lifestyle of a backpacker. I had never really believed it was in full effect until I was on the plane from Melbourne to Canberra. With an enormous 48 minutes of airtime, my body shut off as soon as we were in the air, and was back to consciousness within minutes of landing. Quite impressive how the body knows when to sleep.

Now for Bek's Fellow-Passenger Rule of Thumb:
After many experiences on planes, trains, buses, boats, and any other mode of transportation you can think of, I would like to suggest a new rule be officially set in place. All passengers are to be freshly showered (or at least deodorized) and provided with some sort of breath freshener. There is hardly anything worse than being stuck in less- than comfortable arrangements next to someone who doesn't know what soap smells like.

Once I landed in Canberra, I was greeted with an excited and friendly Jess and her lovely boyfriend Joel. They showed me around Canberra and we settled in for a quiet night. Sunday we got up and headed 2 hours towards the coast to Pebbly Beach. We set up camp, and as we grabbed a few chips, we noticed a parrot nearby. Jess was brave enough to let it jump to her arm and eat from her hand. Joel suggested that I take a go, and as I stretched out my hand with some level of precaution, a flock of parrots flew from the trees landing on my arms, my head and the ground around us. They were incredibly tame and friendly; becoming our new friends for the weekend. As terrified as I was, I will admit it was pretty cool walking through the forest and outstretching your arm only to have a parrot come and land on it... There was also one parrot that loved to land on my shoulder which I became quite fond of..Yarrgh!

We headed down to the beach where we met many tame kangaroos grazing. As we frolicked into the water, we noticed a beautiful rainbow just behind a cliff as a sea eagle flew over head. We were all in awe of how amazing this place was when we noticed a sting ray and quickly headed back to shore.

The next day we went for an awesome hike where we built an Inukshuck named "Brian". Joel had bought a foam cricket set and we all went down to the beach for an afternoon game. While trying to figure out what to do that night after our BBQ as there was a total fire ban on the National Park, there was only one answer. Glow in the dark Cricket. We attached glow sticks to all of the equipment, as well as creating different pieces for ourselves, and headed back to the beach after dark. Definitely a highlight.

I still can't get over how fortunate I am to have so many amazing people at home as well as so many welcoming and loving friends away. I'm one lucky girl.

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