Week 24: July 25th – 31st, 2023 // Better late than never…
I’ll be honest, this is a pretty rushed sparknotes version of my week since it’s been a hectic couple weeks getting ready for Larapinta, travelling + exploring a bunch, and working. I am just now catching up on the last two weeks of blogging… SO. If this is your first time here… please read older posts for better, more insightful/thoughtful content lol. And thank you to those who have been following along from the beginning! <3
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Monday was a chill solo day and not too much to comment on really – spent most of the day reading + journaling in the van and getting the previous week’s blog post up. Made a point to spend some time outside at the park too for meals and some reading.
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Tuesday was such a great day! I had my first completely solo, full day tour out at West Macs and it went so smoothly. I was feeling pretty anxious going into it at first, especially for reversing with a trailer on my own, but everything couldn’t have gone any better. The group was a bit quieter but super lovely, had lots of time at the stops, got to go on some of the walks. Felt really good to finally get over that hurdle of doing all the commentary and driving solo.
Rest of the evening was spent having a quick intro meeting with the Sea Shepherd team and meeting everyone for the first time, reading, and getting in for an early night.
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Wednesday was productive but also took SO much effort to check the important things off the list… you know those days where you have a big list to do, but it takes you alllllll day to get yourself to do them, and you end up doing them all in an hour RIGHT before bed? That was today lol. The day started off really good with a 30min read on the treadmill and 20min stretch, then had a call with Dad, then my grandparents, and with my boss about some schedule changes to send me up to Yulara for a few days this weekend (which works out great since I was already planning to… but now I get paid). Was feeling super exhausted and unmotivated by this point so the afternoon was spent napping, having some chats with Troy + Felipe + Gian, and starting into the abyss. I had a lot to get done to prep for Larapinta food and just couldn’t get myself to do it… so we worked on baby steps and got the grocery list together, and got some graphic design work done for Luminous Studios.
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Go-go-go kind of day! Managed to work through a lot of the important stuff in the morning for Larapinta food (BIG grocery shop before going to Yulara tomorrow morning), and had a great gym session. Afternoon had another Simpson’s Gap walking tour shift, and had the SWEETEST woman at the front of the bus. Finished last of grocery shopping after work, then spent the evening having a bbq + fire with Ash, Troy, Gian, Felipe and a friend of Felipe’s.
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Another long day on Friday… started with a counselling session for first time in a few weeks, which felt really nice to follow up on some things from our last appointment. Had a five hour drive to Yulara today, so did a few last minute stops at work + grocery store + helping a friend rescue his car before finally hitting the road! The evening was spent watching a movie with Pablo and making my first breakfast for the Larapinta Trail and try dehydrating for the first time. The breakfast actually smelt amazing (will share recipe in Larapinta post at end of the month) and might become a new regular (especially now that I have WAY too much leftover quinoa lol).
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I ended up sleeping in my van 1. Because I wanted to and 2. The house was taken over by our other coworker’s (Yad’s) family for the night (he’s going on vacation with them, which is why I’m helping in Yulara for the few days); but turns out security doesn’t like people sleeping in cars so got a knock on the van in the morning. Luckily I knew the guy from when he had to crash at the hostel the month before, so he was super chill + understanding about it. Had a late start for work since I’m just working the BBQ part of the tour, so spent the day getting some chores done and scheduling a bunch of IG posts.
Pablo ended up making dinner for Miguel (who’s crashing in Yulara for a couple nights as well with a different tour) and I, and had a great night catching up with them both. Also worked on another Larapinta Meal. The breakfast seemed to work out pretty decent, but ended up needing to use the oven as well since the dehydrator I’m borrowing is not that big (or that powerful…).
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Sunday was SUCH a great day!! Got to explore Kings Canyon (which is where majority of this week’s photos are from tbh) and it was so much cooler than I expected! It’s about a 3-hour drive from Yulara, and there’s a couple different walks you can take. We did the full 8ish km Rim Walk, which takes you around the top of the Canyon, and down to one of the most peaceful, and magical waterholes I’ve experienced in the outback so far. You just immediately feel so at ease in the space, and I genuinely could’ve sat there for a couple hours, easily. It’s a sacred indigenous site, so you weren’t allowed to swim, but you really didn’t need to in order to enjoy the site.
Walk took us about 2.5 hours, then we were back on the road! Got home around 7pm and spent the evening making another meal and hanging out with Miguel for most of it. Was SO tired by the time I got to bed, that I probably fell asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow (hence the delayed post lol).
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If you’ve made it to the end, thank you for skimming that pretty lame, rushed, and VERY late update lol. Week 25 to come shortly!
Stay passionate and curious – and be kind to yourself.
Hunter💛
