Hiking, Mountains and Thai Food

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Posting more updates has grown harder since the weekend considering my wifi refuses to cooperate with me at home. The only time I have decent wifi is at the University, which is where I find myself spending most of my time now (usually accompanied by a little cappuccino). Over the weekend, we did a lot of adventuring. On Saturday afternoon, we spent some time walking around the Glebe Markets, covertly located just up the street from where we've been living. The markets are adorable and open every Saturday, and you can find almost anything you'd ever want there- vintage clothes, handmade jewelry, Turkish foods and decadent desserts galore. We spent hours walking from stall to stall and browsing what each had to offer. I came home with one successful purchase of a vintage jean jacket that will look super cute with some leggings, so I was more than satisfied

My friends and I spent Saturday night in the apartment, watching Gatsby and doing some sociology homework. We were leaving for a hike in the Blue Mountains at 7:30 the following morning, so I think spending the night in was the smartest choice we had. 7 o'clock the next morning came rather quickly, I of course overslept and had about 10 minutes to situate myself before boarding the bus for our day trip into the mountains. It was chilly out that morning, but luckily it did not damper the mood during our first stop for the day- Featherdale Wildlife Center. Here, I was finally able to come face to face with a koala and it was just as amazing as I had expected it to be. Koalas are super soft creatures, and as I was petting him he continued to munch on his eucalyptus leaves as though being patted and photographed was all in a days work (it probably is). The next exhibit was a door directly into Kangaroo Land, where all the kangaroos and wallabies you could ever imagine roam the exhibit freely- literally. They hop right over (or in a wallaby's case, under) the knee high wooden barrier about their habitat and walk right out onto the walkway. For $2, I was able to buy a sugar cone filled with what looked like little grass clippings to feed to the animals. The first kangaroo I encountered was actually not at all interested in the grassy food supplied, however he did swipe at my hand for the cone which I immediately dropped in fear of his long claws (or being kangaroo kicked across the exhibit). He sat with us while he chowed down on his sugar cone and let us take some pictures, and I even got a few selfies. Watching a real life kangaroo hop around an open exhibit truly is a funny experience, because their hopping is just as awkward and funny to watch as you could imagine. That's definitely something I'll never forget (and I have pictures to prove it).

After a quick hot cappuccino (my drink of choice) to warm up my frigid body, we boarded the bus once again for a slightly longer drive over to the Blue Mountains. I fell asleep about 5 minutes in and awoke just as we were arriving to our final destination. First, we took a short hike to see the beautiful canyons of the mountains. Words and pictures really could never do this place justice. It really is something that you need to see firsthand to understand its beauty. The mountains had a light haze of blue over them (hence the name "Blue Mountains") which our guide explained is from the eucalyptus leaves and something about the chemicals in them and blah blah something or other; bottom line is that they contribute to this beautiful foggy haze of blue covering the orangey yellow mountains. We then saw the Three Sisters, which consists of three big rock formations. The real interesting part is the aboriginal story that explains these three rocks. Supposedly, there was a witch doctor who had somehow obtained a magic wish bone. With this magic wish bone, he could change himself, or whatever he pointed to, into whatever he wished. Long story short, he accidentally turned his three precious daughters into rocks (actually, it was purposefully, to protect them) and then he turned himself into a bird. After these transformation, he lost his magic wish bone, and could not change himself or his three daughters back into their human forms. So, forever they sit as rocks in the Blue Mountains.

The mountains were beautiful. Indescribable. The forests resembled rain forests and were just as breathtaking as the views. The hike was much more fun than I had expected any hike to be, and I would throughly enjoy going back there to hike some other time. Once we arrived home after a long day of walking and what felt like an even longer drive home, I was more than thrilled to take a hot shower and then venture out for some Thai food with friends. Now, I'm not sure if its because Asian influence is so close in proximity to Australia or if its just because we aren't far from Chinatown in Sydney, but the Asian food is unreal. Thai, Chinese, Sushi, everything! They even have Asian markets! All of the Asian food I have here has been so amazing! I'm very impressed and it is quickly replacing Mexican on my list of favorite international foods. The Thai restaurant we went to was delicious, we all ordered our dishes and decided to share with each other, to have a little bit of everything. Pad thai, fried rice, curry, it was all so good! We stayed and chatted after our meal for about an hour while we waited for the check, until we realized that at this particular place, you actually walk up to the counter when you're done eating to pay... oops.

All in all, this weekend was definitely a fun one. It was back to classes yesterday morning, and back to the grind of homework and reading and also back to the anxietizing act of being in a class alone and wondering if you're even in the right place... which happened to me this morning. Luckily, I was in the right place and my panic attack was halted before I was reduced to a sobbing 18 year old girl in a lecture hall because "college is scary". But I'm getting the hang of it (I hope).

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