What a week!! Things have finally started to feel a bit more settled, getting back into a routine, feeling super productive, making lots of progress in work and personal projects, and learning lots.  It’s been so, so good.

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Monday I had my first day back in the gym in like 5 months! Felt amazing to get a proper workout in again.  Some of you probably know that I had injured my knee a few years ago, so working out has been really important for me to be able to keep up various activities.  A few of us out here are planning to hike the Larapinta Trail in the next few months, so I need to get properly prepared to avoid re-injuring myself! The Larapinta is a 223km trek in the Northern Territories, that takes typically around 2 weeks to complete – so definitely no small feat.  Work was spent getting more uni assignments done and driving the bus again.  I left a bit early to run some errands, and made an exciting stop at a music store… got myself an early birthday present… a guitar!! It’s been so nice having one again!  Guitar became such an important part of my life the past couple years and it’s felt so weird not having one the past couple months.   Once I got back to the hostel I made some dinner and read in the hammock for a bit, then spent the evening playing card games with Troy, Pablo, and Ash!

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Tuesday was another productive day starting with the gym, getting a bunch of assignments done at work, starting my first blog post for the ‘Healing’ section of Golden Hour, caught up on some personal admin and health organizing stuff, and got in an after-work sunny yoga session!

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Wednesday was a BIG day and such an exciting one (starting at 4am)!! Since I was sick when everyone else went to Uluru, and Pablo wasn’t in town yet, we got to skip out on giving tours and go spend the day out at the Rock (as everyone here calls it)!  This was honestly such a great experience for me – when planning to come to Australia, anytime anyone asked me what was on my bucket list, aside from the obvious “visit the great barrier reef”, Uluru was the only other thing that I HAD to see.  I honestly didn’t know much about it until seeing it on “Down to Earth w/Zac Efron” on Netflix.  After that, I became so fixated on the need to learn about and experience the history and culture of this sacred place in Australia’s Native history.  It definitely lived up to the expectations and I can’t wait to get to explore it more! We also visited Kata Tjuta which is equally as cool and beautiful in its own way.  Sunset at Uluru though… you see the photos, but it’s nothing like experiencing it in person.  The rock literally looks like it’s been photoshopped and is glowing in place.  It’s stunning and 100% worth the hype + trip out.  We made the long trek back to Alice Springs after dinner, and got home at around 1am.

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Since we had the full day at Uluru, Pablo and I didn’t have to wake up and go into uni for work. Thank god ‘cause there’s no way I was getting out of bed before 11am lol.  Was feeling pretty out of it, so did a quick yoga park session and tried to get some work done, but couldn’t really stay focused long enough to make too much progress.  Ended up spending the evening helping Jono move and grocery shop, connected online with some of the other Sea Shepherd photographers, and got my commentary ready for tour the next day.

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Friday I was feeling energized and got up for a quick 430am workout before starting work at 6:15. Takk, Jono and I got sent out on the Palm Valley Tour to practice giving commentary and learning more about the tour!  I had to talk about John McDouall Stuart, and honestly… it’s made me realize that I’m really only interested in the flora + fauna and the Indigenous culture + history of these places.  It was really hard to get excited to learn about another white European explorer… Commentary went okay, but what really exciting thing happened at work was we had a woman fall and get a huge cut above her eye!  Obviously not good exciting lol she ended up needing to get stitches… but it was one of those things where our boss who’s been working these tours for 35 years, hasn’t experienced any accidents in like 5 years.  So was a great learning experiencing to see what can go wrong on even the simplest of tours.

After work, myself, Jono, Pablo, Ash, Emma (another coworker/manager), Cata, and Troy all went to a nearby bar for dinner and played some pool for my birthday! Was so fun to get out with everyone, and honestly didn’t do as bad as I was expecting at pool haha!

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Saturday was a bit of a rough day emotionally for me so I took it easy and spent some time on my own.  Ended up going for a very much needed quick hike at Sunrise Hill – which was quite beautiful! But definitely still missing those coastal hikes/landscapes… and then spent the afternoon just hanging out in the van watching criminal minds.

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Sunday was SUCH a productive day!  I took social media off my phone for the day and made a point to not go on any apps at all, which is something I’m going to need to make a point of doing at least once a week moving forward.  Felt so good and super focused.  It’s also interesting to notice how frequently you go to click onto these apps with no real purpose – it’s such a weird reflex that’s been created, and been a great reminder for me to disconnect more again.   Started my morning with tidying up the van, getting Duolingo done, and a quick meditation in the park in the sun.  I’ve been using the Headspace app again the past couple weeks, and it’s been so good for my mental (and honestly physical) health.  Before lunch, I finished up my first ‘Healing’ blog post for Golden Hour which goes live on May31st (ACST), and then read for a bit while I ate.  The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent working on (and finishing!!!!) my Uluru accreditation course for work!  Feels SO good to have it done – means I’m one step closer to getting to give tours out there!  Finished off the day with some photo edits and writing this week’s blog post.

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This week felt like the big win that I’ve been needing.  I feel like I’m starting to get into a proper swing of things, re-adjusting to the regular “work life” again, re-connecting with my mind and body.  It’s been really good, and such and great reminder for me to step back and look at my life objectively when things are feeling off; using the tools that I’ve learned when I need to make some changes; prioritizing my health and how to do that (through food, movement, and healthy content consumption); and putting time into both my alone time and social time.  

Slow down, step back, and listen.

Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter💛