Camille’s Big Adventure

I woke up at 2am to catch an Uber to the airport. I realized the night before that I was staying at the wrong airport and would have to travel 45 minutes out of the city to get to the airport. Luckily I did not miss my flight though. I flew 2 hours to Sydney and 10 hours to Seoul. It was a blissfully uneventful travel day. I chatted with fellow travelers, napped, and got ready for my next adventure.  I arrive around 9pm, made it through customs, picked up a transport card, and grabbed the shuttle to my hotel. By 10:30pm I was comfy in bed and resting. I woke up early the next morning, just before sunrise. My room had a beautiful view of the sunrise and I sat in my large bathtub soaking with coffee watching the sunrise and gathering plans for the day.  I checked out and took the shuttle to the airport and the train into Seoul (about 45 minutes). I stopped at the Hadig University and wandered the streets. Enjoying the peaceful quiet streets. I think if I return to Seoul ...

  It’s hard to believe that 358 days ago I landed in Australia. It’s been an incredible journey. I’ve met and re-acquainted with so many incredible people, seen outstanding natural wonders, and had the opportunity to focus on my personal growth and joy. A week short of my visa expiring I’m continuing onto the next journey. There is a lot unknown ahead of me, but there always is in life.   I would be hard pressed to condense this last year into a short essay. This blog is a testament to that for sure. I’ve driven nearly 40,000km around this beautiful continent, as well as taken many ferries, a long train journey, buses, flights, and walked many kms. I’ve walked holes into the bottom of my shoes but my feet have happily journeyed on.  Since last October I’ve rarely stayed in one place more than 3 nights, and I’ve likely slept more nights in a tent than a bed.  It’s been an incredible journey. It’s far from over, but the next chapter is beginning. I can only hope it ...

  Over the next two days we would return to Melbourne. We stopped along our drive for nice walks in city and national parks. In one we found an adorable echidna curled up along the trail. In another we saw coots, ducks, geese, and black swans. We stopped for a railway and waterfalls and other scenic places. This portion of Australia is quite wet and full of lush tree ferns which are such majestic plants.   Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, I haven’t yet received any news on my laptop, so I will have to return for it on a later date. On my last few days here I’m still uncertain of my future plans. My next stop is Korea, before I continue on to… somewhere… only the future will say. 

  Our next stop on our journey was Tara Bulga National Park.   We slowly made our way north east across the peninsula stopping to walk along the beach a few times. We saw some waterfalls in Toora and walked a long jetty in Welshpool before ending up in our destination.  We stayed 2 nights at a small farm Airbnb which acts as a refuge for farm animals. They had 2 small calves who were hungry and curious and ran right up to us. A 6 day old alpaca. 3 cows, probably 15 alpacas and goats, and 50 chooks. The couple who ran it also had a baby. They said they were downsizing their farm a bit, unsurprisingly as it seemed like a ton of work for a young couple with a new baby and not a lot of experience on farms. They were really nice though and it was a fun place to stay. We got to bottle feed the calves which was fun as well.  As we wandered around the farm we spotted a koala up in the tree high above us.  The next morning we headed into the national park. The road ...

 The next day we had a short drive to Melbourne where I would drop off my computer for repairs. Along the way we ran a few errands, like me taking my dad to the library to print out his mail-in-ballot (I turned mine in over a month ago, but he got his much later). We got it printed and sent in the mail. Civic duties done. We also go some bits and bobs for the car before I leave it for some months, making sure it is ready to go. That evening we stayed outside Melbourne before stopping by my friend Hope’s house in the morning. Hope (a childhood friend who moved here a few years back) has been a huge help during my time here receiving packages for me and allowing me to stay a bit while I travel. We dropped off my computer with her, prepped for pick up and repair (hopefully in a brief time, although much drama came of Lenovos changing dates and time frames). Most importantly, we met her baby, Zoe. She’s an adorable little girl who will surely be an active toddler if her constant kicks ...

 After leaving Port Elliot we headed inland to the Grampians National Parks. It is one of my favorite parks I’ve been to so I was really excited to get to spend a bit more time there. We did a bunch of walks I wasn’t able to visit the first time around.  The Grampians are interesting, they are surrounded by long flat landscape, with barely perceptible rolling hills. Most of the surrounding lands are agricultural with huge grassy pastures for hours in all directions, but then seemingly out of nowhere, there Grampians burst out of the ground. The nearly 1000m granite mountains tower over the surrounding lands. The roads go from long, straight and wide to hairpin turns around cliffs seemingly barely wide enough for 2 cars. Waterfalls spring from the rocks with more water than seems right coming from out of the top of these mountains. The grampians surround a dam-lake with the town of Halle Gap situated below the dam. From the top of the mountains you can overlook the town watchin...

 The next morning we drove south past Adelaide to Port Elliot, a small surf/vacation town about 45 minutes outside of Adelaide. I stayed there last July and really enjoyed it and was happy to stop there again. It’s a quiet town on the beach with beautiful walkways, wineries, and delicious bakeries.  The first evening we walked a bit along the coast before getting some take out and enjoying the evening relaxing in the house. The next morning we signed up for a wildlife boat tour. We sat in the front of a small boat as it whizzed around the bay taking us to see the endangered sea lions sunning on the rocks, viewing the cliffs, and enjoying the sunny day. We weren’t fortunate enough to see any dolphins, but it was still a beautiful day.  After our tour we went to a winery for a nice tasting. They were quite generous with their wine, all made on site, they had probably 20 varieties and allowed you to taste as many as you wanted. We opted for 6 which was a good amount. The wom...

 The next two nights we stayed in Quron, just outside of Port Augusta and the Flinders Ranges. The airbnb was on a small, homestead in the country with some very friendly border collies who walked us around the property. The first day there we went to Quorn, but the large scale power outages shut the town down, and the intermittent storms kept us from doing many hikes. In the end, I think we were both happy to have an afternoon sitting at the airbnb and relaxing after a few long days of driving. We had time to arrange some plans, laptop fixes, flights, and upcoming stays.  The next day we met with a few biologists I’ve been chatting with. A postdoc and a land manager of the local Flinders Ranges. The postdoc Jereon and his partner took us to the botanic gardens and showed us around the area. The gardens were so pretty and it was a beautiful day out and about. We had a quandog ice cream which is a native fruit that sort of tastes like a raspberry apricot. It was so delicious....

 Nullarbor

 Esperance is the last real town before the Nullarbor drive across the great Australian bight. It’s also one of my favorite towns. It’s small. Quaint. Quiet. It’s a tourism town, but is so inaccessible you really have to want to go to see it. Hours from Perth, it’s inconvenient and far. This makes it incredibly beautiful. The town itself is small, semi-modern with a mix of old and new houses. It’s designed for caravan tourists and is a pleasant place to spend a few days. The real gem though is 40 minutes away in Cape Le Grande NP. The beaches in Cape Le Grand are like nothing else. The granite rocks make it the whitest sand in Australia. It’s been measured. The sand is fine and white like snow which makes the clear Antarctic waters incredibly blue. The beaches are nearly empty despite it being warm sunny days, even the biggest beaches. If you are bothered by sharing the expansive capes with half a dozen people you can find a small quiet private cape and spend a whole day there to y...

On my third trip to Albany we did many things I had intended on doing but either ran out of time or got rained out of. We stopped along our drive to do a really cool cave tour where we saw some beautiful underground structures. It was incredible to see tree roots push through thick granite to find water below. The cave tour as stunning and fun. Next we went to Augusta to look out over the ocean before heading east.  We did a tall tree walk in Walpole and it was so cool. We walked on a metal walkway among the tops of 40 meter gum trees. They were beautiful and tall and swayed a bit in the breeze. I didn’t love looking down through the grate at the ground 40 meters below me but it was a really cool stop. We walked and saw lots of red winged fairy wrens and bandicoots along our walk which was fun as well.  After a full day of driving we made it to Albany just before dark and got fish and chips before relaxing for the evening.  The next morning we went to the whaling museum i...

Our next stop is Margaret River, about 4 hours south of Perth. As we drove south towards Marg we stopped to take pictures with the Thomas Dambo Giants of Mandurah. They are these beautiful wooden statues erected in beautiful natural areas around the world. Mom and Dad had found some in WA not long before Dad came and my Aunt Chris found some in Colorado so it became a bit of an adventure to find them. Dad and I found 3. One sat cross legged overlooking the vast ocean; one sat quietly in the forest, and one acted as a fog horn along a break wall. Each one was in a unique location and required a short, but lovely walk to find. It was a fun adventure to find them along the route and made for good excuses to stop along the way. We finally made it to Marg where we stayed a night. We went to a delicious Italian place and had some incredible roasted carrots and wood fire pizza. The next morning we stopped at one of my fav bakeries before continuing south east to Albany!

The next few days Dad and I spent around Perth. It was nice to have a few nights at the same place and feel a bit more relaxed. The first day we wandered around Freo (the suburb we are staying in), just doing a bit of local exploring, and getting him acquainted with the time change. We had lots of good food and made dinner together and enjoyed a relaxed day.   The following morning I arranged a trip to Kings Park, the botanical garden in Perth. Its an incredible garden in the middle of the city full of  native plants and  so many long and beautiful walking  paths. On one of  my  previous adventures  I  met  some  women  who worked for   the  botanic  gardens   and  they arranged a private tour for us. It was really amazing. First   we  toured the public  part  of the garden where we learned  about the design and the plants  and I oood and awed at the beautifu...

 I turned north, heading toward Perth where I would meet up with Dad. I stopped for a few short nice walks along the way, but mostly found sunny quiet places to work. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a disaster of a day for me. As I sat in the backseat of my car I noticed that a piece of plastic on the screen of my laptop of a bit wonky. I thought little of it... until a couple hours later when it suddenly popped. I could not close my laptop and it was now well into the afternoon and I would not make it to a computer repair shop today. I shut my computer down and left it open in the passenger seat of my car, hoping the prognosis would be good. I drove to the nearest computer repair shop (about 3 hours away) and slept in my car in the nearest spot I could find.  First thing in the morning I waited by the door of the computer shop. In this small town of Pemberton (around 600 people) I was the first, but not only person waiting for a repair. The man working the shop was incredibl...

 Denmark is another small town I passed through on my first run of this drive and I found it so charming. The large rocks, clear water, coastal scrub contrasted by towering gum trees is incredible. Quentin and I met up here to spend our last couple days traveling together. We did an incredible hike up Mount Lindsey and wandered the beaches of William Bay. I camped alongside a quite river and spent the evenings listening to the ducks quack over the lethargic flow of the river watching the stars twinkle in the sky. After two days Quentin and I parted ways and I headed to Parry Beach to camp a final day along the coast for this trip. It was stunning and quiet with a few other campers. I chatted with other travelers and listened to peoples journeys while watching the waves. Before leaving town I stopped by a toffee factory where I ate a delicious chili and sour cream burger and had fresh made toffee. The staff there all seemed to genuinely love their work and were just really pleasant ...

As the weather continued to look wet I decided to make my way to the big city, Albany (30k people which is big for here). I had some need for indoor spaces and figured it was time to get some life organization done in my life before Dad got here. On the first sunny morning I headed to Cheynes (pronounced 'Chains') beach where I spent the morning wandering through the National Park. I sat and watched honey eaters feed on brillant red Hakea coccina flowers, hoping to see a tiny honey possum, but I had no luck. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful morning wandering the coastal scrub amongst beautiful flowers. As the clouds rolled in I headed for Albany. The next two days promised strong winds and rain and I decided to splurge for a hotel room where I stayed for two nights working and preparing for potential future endeavors. A year ago I left Florida for my big adventure and it has not failed to be an incredible adventure. I've spent many hours reflecting on my time, which I will s...