Week 30: Sept 4th – Sept 10th, 2023 // Grateful
Feeling very fortunate for my time and experiences these last 4.5 months, and feeling very grateful for the people I’ve met, as well as everything I’ve learned in my time here. Was such a great last full week in Alice Springs, spent at places I’ve come to love, with even better people.
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Monday was another day off that didn’t start off with any plans but turned into such a beautiful day. I took my time in the morning, lounging in bed, reading, scrolling on my phone, that found some motivation to start a full clean and re-organizing of the van storage spaces which felt SO good to bring back to order to this small space. The day started getting SUPER hot though, and already felt like 25+ degrees by 10am, and I became fixated on needing a swim – so that became the plan for the rest of the day! Initially I was going to spend the day at Glen Helen since I’d never been yet, but turned up and the road was closed off for construction work… so back-tracked my way to Ormiston (about 1.5hours out of town) and enjoyed a nice swim, lounging in the sun, and reading a new book. I ended up getting so enthralled in the book that I started + finished it that same day! I was originally going to come back that same night, but with how plans for the week were evolving, and having the next day off, I knew this would probably be my last chance to camp out in Peg along the West Macs and I’d probably want to get in one more swim before I leave next week.
I also helped out a new friend with some Larapinta stuff! During our trek, we had met this older guy at Ormiston Gorge (I think in his 70’s?) hiking the full Larapinta Trail on his own. One of our trail friends had given him a hand with sorting through his gear to leave stuff behind in-order to cut weight – now, apparently he had booked with our company for bin pick-up but none of us could find it. Turns out, he was staying at the hostel I’ve been living at, so him and I had a chat, and I discovered what the problem might’ve been. I had told him I would let my coworkers know what we figured out so that my boss could sort out a pick-up and have his stuff mailed back to him (he was flying out the next day). Since I was already heading out there, and I knew if I left it with work it would probably be left/forgotten + he had a lot of important and expensive gear left in there, I decided to take it upon myself to help him out; I was in his exact same position when at Standley Chasm and leaving my camera + tent behind, so I knew how important it was to get that stuff back. In the end, it was all successful! I found his stuff and was able to organize mailing it back to him later in the week.
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Tuesday was another really lovely day. I set up on one of the gazebo platforms to work on my first post of the Larapinta blog series (click here to read) for the morning, then made myself a tasty lunch before heading down to the gorge for another swim and some reading in the sun before heading back to town. Originally I was supposed to have tomorrow off, but Jono called in sick and I got asked to cover for him. With hours dwindling drastically, I was definitely in need of the shift. Rest of the evening was spent cooking, reading, and working more on the blog post.
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Wednesday I was EXHAUSTED. I ended up having this incredibly rude and obnoxious woman on my tour and partially regretted taking the shift… especially after how amazing my last West Macs tour group was, I was so happy feeling like I’d ended it on such a high note, but this woman REALLY put a damper on things. Thankfully everyone else was super lovely, so I did my best to ignore her, AND I got in another swim once we got to Ormiston! So made it worth it. Ran into Miguel after work so had a nice time catching up with him before heading off to help Takk and Jono with (another) move. Spent a bit of time with Gian back at the hostel, and then had a call with Pablo for first time since he moved to Thailand! Chatted for a good bit while I made dinner + packed for my 2-day charter shift I have in Yulara tomorrow. Pretty sure I fell asleep within minutes of my head touching the pillow tonight lol.
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LAST SHIFT!!! Thursday+Friday were SUCH chill work days and probably some of my favourites. Was my first time working with a charter group, and lucked out with a tour leader who had lived out in Yulara before, so he knew lots and did the majority of the commentary for the tour. Everyone was SO sweet and chatty, and goofed around lots. We had such a fun time! By the time I got back to Alice on Friday, I was so so tired – was running late today so I didn’t get back until 8pm. Thankfully Gian suggested cooking dinner for us since it’s his last night, so I was able to just sit back and actually relax once I got home.
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Saturday really started to sink in that this chapter is coming to an end. Gian and I have been the last two at the hostel for a while now, so waking up and realizing that none of my friends are living here anymore, and four of us have already moved on, makes the reality of me being next really hit. I’m incredibly excited, and still have lots to do before I leave, but with how busy + long the last few days were, I had my first movie binge day in a LONG time! Watched three movies and did absolutely nothing of importance the whole day (except finally get the Larapinta Blog post up!).
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Sunday consisted of finally working through part of the long list of errands + things to do that I’ve yet to start. Most of it was done at home, like laundry, cleaning, computer work, etc. But also took advantage of Takk’s new job at a car wash to get Peg cleaned up! I think this is the first time she’s been vacuumed since the reno’s… also got the dehydrator returned, grocery shopped, cooked some dinner, and actually practiced guitar for first time in a few months. Feels like I’m starting to get some clarity with this space feeling less cluttered and things getting checked off.
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The big move is bringing on a bit of anxiety… there’s a huge fire happening right at the (only) intersection that would allow me to get to Cairns, and part of the (only) highway there has been closed off because of it… There’s talk it will reopen soon, but there’s also concerns of one of Tennant Creek being badly affected, and residents are put on alert at the moment. For now I’m just wrapping up last of the “to-do’s” and hoping everything will be okay for when I leave Wednesday.
Wish me luck! x
Stay passionate and curious.
Hunter💛
