I managed to squeeze in one final roadtrip with a few friends before I had to leave Australia. Okay, actually, I changed my flight so that I could go on this trip and stay down under for a few extra days.
We spent three days learning to drive on the wrong side of the road and soaking in as much Australia-ness as we could. We camped our first night in
Wyperfeld National Park, which was surprisingly deserted except for one sketchy old man. We made a sick fire and cooked a delicious meal of pesto pasta over the flames, and then topped it all off with some freshly roasted marshmallows.
We found a wild pack of emus near our campsite in the morning. It was awesome, until they started pursuing us with deep, throaty growls.
The next day, we headed out to
Mungo National Park, the real outback. We took our little periwinkle blue rental car off-roading on the unsealed red dirt of the outback. Big no-no according to Budget Rental Cars, but we're rebels, hey?
Over 80 km of this bumpy ride.
Lesser known than Uluru and Kakadu, Mungo still has some awesome history. It used to be a huge lake that has since dried out, and it's also the discovery site of the oldest cremated human, an Aboriginal scientists named Mungo Woman. Several Aboriginal tribes still live in the area and maintain it as a sacred ground.
Unfortunately, the Great Wall, one of the main attractions, was closed off because of recent erosion (supposedly caused by flooding, even though there was zero water to be seen), but we were still able to admire its beauty from afar.
Lake Mungo has seen better days.
Another night of campfires, cooking, and marshmallows (there are no graham crackers in Australia, therefore no smores). The weather was warm, a welcome change from Melbourne's winter days, so we slept under the stars.. until it got really cold and retreated to our tent.
With heaps of wood, a giant pack of fire starters, and an even bigger pack of matches, the theme for the trip was, "What else can we burn?"
A great last trip to conclude an awesome semester abroad.
