Mad River Field trip: Day 3

More canoeing, sleeping and reading.

Ok, that is day 3 in a nutshell... nothing else to read here...

...

FINE, if you really want to know what happened then just ask. 

Gees...

Day 3 started at 7:45. I tried to wake the other guys up for breakfast, turned on the lights, the fan, opened the door to the balcony, everything. But breakfast wasn't even ready at 8 so I just let it be. 

Breakfast started at near 8:30. It consisted of cornflakes with some milk, a masala omelette and toast. It all tasted very good and I had my full. 

After breakfast I went back to the room to get ready for canoeing. Getting ready consisted mainly of putting on a large amount of sunscreen, insect repellent and filling my drink bottle. From the last 2 days I had used a fair bit of sunscreen, and was running low on my first bottle. Good thing I brought 2 more with me (always prepared).

The canoes were full that day so I started the journey on the motor boat. It was very hot on the tin roof of the boat so after a while I went below deck.

After about an hour of relaxing in the boat as others paddled, I decided to jump in a boat to help them out. Mr Irfan and Mr Sarkar had already gone into other boats to help so I was deemed the best one left to help out. A lot of the people had no idea how to control the boat, even though we had done it the day before. 

Eventually the guy I was helping got tired and got back onto the motor boat. Vishnu and Johan joined me in an attempt to catch the group which was far ahead. 

After about 2 minutes of paddling we found the group all together waiting for us under some shade. 

So we overtook them and steamed to the front. Once there we had a great time. We swapped around our seating positions and tried to get the other guys steering correct. 

On the trip I was one of the few with experience canoeing, and steering correctly. It was because of previous Carey school camps that I had been on. I really appreciate that Carey gave me all these different skills and experiences that help at unexpected times. 

At about 11:30 we stopped. We came to the bank and met up with the boat. There, we had a break. Lots of people went swimming and jumped off the boat. In the heat it was a great idea. I instead took photos of their falls. 

After the break I got back in a canoe, this time with Pete and Vishnu. Going back was also some good canoeing, though we had some minor steering issues. 

When we were going through the middle of the river it began quite choppy and rough. Occasionally water would come over the sides of the canoe. There were no boats around, but it made it a lot more difficult to canoe through. 

Eventually we tied onto the motor boat and it pulled us all the way back to the hotel.

After getting all the canoes out of the water we went back to our roofs for a shower. All the balconies of the hotel rooms we had were full of wet cloths drying.  

We had lunch, and then back to our rooms till 5 to write reflections on the past 3 days. 

At 5 there was afternoon tea. 

After afternoon tea I tried my luck at fishing. The fishing rod I had consisted on a plastic bottle with line wrapped around it, with a sinker and hook on the end. It was made by Mr Sarkar for us. Others used short sticks with line, sinker and hook wrapped around the end of it. 

The bait we had was chipati dough, from the hotel kitchen. 

You had to throw it out into the water and pull it back really fast when something nibbled. 

A master fisherman casting his line

Whilst fishing I saw another snake swimming through the water. It came very close to us and I managed to get a photo of it. 

We found a dead rat nearby, so it was most likely attracted to it. It was a massive rat though, the snake would have a lot of difficulty swallowing it. 

After fishing I went back to room and read a bit more LOTR, it was getting pretty intense so it's hard to put down. 

We needed 2 more sheets in our room so I went to try get them. I met a nice guy, around the age of 14 or 15. We talked a bit, he asked what country I was from. I said Australia. He went "Oh.." and starting racking of recent cricketers like "Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, David Hussey..." It made me laugh. 

He must have had some relation to the hotel because he talked to one of the workers and said that he'd get the sheets for me after dinner. I thanked him and went back to sit and watch the river. 5 minutes later he comes up and gives me the sheets. I accepted them gratefully with a small chuckle. I went up to my room and made all the beds for the guys. Now everyone had their own sheets and blankets. 

Just before dinner I went around the hotel to see what people were doing. I found this:

The people on the field trip were all great.

Also I took some photo's of the sunset. So I present the sunset from day 3.

There's a little star up in the sky. Can you find it?

Then we had dinner, quite an un-eventful meal (as usual if you ever visit the Wild household).

The after dinner movie tonight was "A Cabin In The Woods", a very strange film that I found displeasing for it's lack of story and attempts to scar you. Anyway, it was ok for a horror film.

Afterwards I went back to the room and got ready for bed. The other guys left to watch another movie in a different room, but I stayed and slept. I was in bed at 12:30.

Teleporting over to day 4.... beep

Day 4: http://bit.ly/1bzewnp

If you just want to talk to me, you can contact me at:

comanduash@gmail.com

Mad River Field trip: Day 2

Let the fun begin

Sun dawned in paradise as I rose at 8 in in the morning. The rest of the guys were still asleep so I quietly got ready then armed with my camera, faced the outside world. 

It was amazing to see the place revealed in daylight, since I had no idea what it was like the previous night. I took many photo's of the plants and the river Nicky. 

 

I went back to the room, and tried to find a place to read. There wasn't a balcony chair, and I couldn't read inside so I stole one from our neighbours by jumping onto a ledge and taking one of their chairs. I read Lord of the Rings in peace for half an hour. 

At 9 it was breakfast time. They served rice noodles with milk and sugar and some toast. It didn't taste bad, just different. I hadn't had many different breakfasts since I've arrived here, so it was good to have some change. 

We started canoeing at 11:15, and I got in one with Vishnu and Johan. 

We paddled into the canal next to the hotel and started exploring down it. 

No one told us we weren't mean to pass the first bridge. We passed it after about 5 minutes and kept going for another 40.

We passed through villages, waving to those who stood and watched us on the banks. 

We saw 3 snakes swimming in the water and passed under a very low bridge where we had to lie inside the canoe to go under. 

We got a video of our passage under that bridge, but the videos have problems opening on my computer. The best one didn't record, but there are these 2:

We arrived back at the hotel at 12:30, just before they were going to send the large motor boat after us. If we hadn't turned back, and the motor boat reached the bridge, I wonder how the would have got to us. 

After canoeing, everyone went swimming. They jumped of the dock and floated on life jackets. It was a great time with the humidity rising. 

Lunch was served at 2.

Afterwards was some lazy time.

I went outside and saw that some people were sitting in the roof of the motor boat talking, so I joined them. 

A bit later in the day I was outside seeing what other people were doing in my boredom. I found Ms Jessica and Mr Sarkar on the dock fishing. I sat with them a bit and talked as the sun began to descend towards the water.

From 4-5:30 we went on a bit of a journey a long the river. We talked and relaxed for the most part, but I always tried to have my camera on me. I got some nice photos.

There was one photo that I missed twice. The first time I saw it for a moment but it passed. Then coming back I kept looking at the bank, trying to see where it was. Whilst searching, some of the guys next to me were playing slaps. A part of the game is that if the other player flinches 3 times, they get a free slap (being hit by the other). I was watching one give the other a free slap, and when I turned back, I saw for a moment that same sight which I had seen the first time. Here's how I recorded it in my journal *clears throat*

"It was a sheltered tunnel of leaves that hung over a secret passage of the river. A canoe rested on its left bank. Light escapes through gaps in the leaves, illuminating a sight of true beauty." 

And so, the Indian Explorer missed a sight to behold (I slapped myself afterwards in annoyance)

It is my largest regret from the entire field trip.

The sunset didn't disappoint though, and compensated more than fairly in the amount of good photos.

Another '2 Feet Forward" photo for Linda and David

I think this could be mistaken
for a photo my dad took years ago...

After we had gone back to our rooms and rested, at 8:20 it was dinner. We ate chicken, chipati and chips.

Afterwards some of us went to watch Manchester United vs Manchester City on the TV in Mr Irfans room. 

I left at half time, and went to watch Conjuring (horror movie, same one I watched with dorm couple of weeks ago) with the guys in my room and 2 other girls on the field trip. We went to an empty cottage and started watching a film. The power went out and we had to go to another room. Since I'd already seen it, I warned them when a scary bit was coming up. It wasn't nearly as interesting the second time. 

After the movie was over, we eventually got back to our rooms. I read a little and listened to some music. 

I was in bed by 2 in the morning. As I was falling asleep I sung along to Friends by Michael W Smith, the 2003 version. I never realised that third day was in it as well as Amy Grant (I'm sure that news will stun very few of you, but it surprised me considerably).

Let us continue, to day 3!!...

Day 3: http://bit.ly/1bthCga

If you want to get in contact with me, you can email

me at: comanduash@gmail.com

Mad River Field trip: Day 1

I'm back from my holiday.

I hope those of you on holiday are having a nice time. 

I had a great holiday of my own to Alleppey which was one of the grade 11 field trips that went to different places in south India. Some other grade 11 trips went to Pondicherry and Karnataka. 

Some info before we start the story:

There were 30 students on the trip and 4 chaperones (teachers), the absolute max. The school had hired only 6 canoes with a max of 3 students in each. This left at least half of the group to stay in the large boat that went at the back. In the scorching heat, it became quite boring. 

The chaperones we had were Mr Sarkar, Mr Irfan, and 2 interim teachers named Ms Jessica and Ms Karly. Mr Sarkar keep on trying to persuade me to stay at KIS and finish school here. It's something I've been thinking about a fair bit. The time to decide will come soon, but I'm still pretty sure that I will come home.

In the big buses, there are normally 2 or more drivers. The bus instead has a cockpit of sorts that's up the front where they all sit. They help by being extra eyes for the driver, seeing where the bus is, and mainly if they can fit between those 2 cars that have stopped in front of you for no reason. 

Anyway lets get into the trip:

Day 1

It was about a 10 hour bus trip from Kodai to Alleppey (not including stops). I had a large breakfast which featured porridge, the first time I'd had some since Australia. It was delicious. I had breakfast with Mr Sarkar, no one else had arrived yet. Even when I left the dining hall at 7:30, very few people had arrived. I knew the departure time which was set for 8 was going to change. In highschool, the only thing that you're on time to is class apparently. I sat around and talked to a couple of people until we finally left around 8:45. Before the trip I had declined travel sickness pills. This was because I thought that I don't get travel sickness. My long time safety line of "why not?" skipped my mind for that moment, and I paid the price whilst bumping down the road. 

In about an hour I began to feel queazy and THEN I took some pills. For the next 3 hours or so I sat next to my open window, starring dazzily at the passing scenery. In one way I think it may have been a good thing, it meant I saw more instead of sleeping like everyone else. I didn't feel like taking photo's though. I didn't throw up though :D

There was one spectacular view though which was a highlight. We were still passing through the mountains and we were descending along the side of a valley. The opposite side had around 7 waterfalls that fell down its steep slopes towards the bottom. It was really magnificent. 

The trip had many other great views though. 

When the ground finally flattened out and we reached the plains, I still felt sick. 

We finally came to Thekkady in Kerala and had lunch in the Orchid Restaurant, under the Hotel Sandra Palace. We all got 200 rupee's to spend plus some of our own money. I ordered Sweet and Sour chicken and chicken fried rice (I needed a break from Indian food).

We got back on the road. 

They tried to show some movies using USB's that people had brought with them. It failed. The movies were of the wrong format and the dvd player couldn't read them. 

The difficulty communicating to the driver about instructions for the DVD player didn't help. I was reminded of how I had difficulty understanding what to do with our collection of vinyl records back home. Dad explained it as that I wasn't born with it, so how could I have know. It was the same in this situation. Everyone on the bus had grown up with DVD's, but the drivers hadn't. It made it very difficult for Mr Irfan to tell them not to touch the USB, press play or go down. 

So we were left to just talk and sleep. Some people managed to get 9 hours of sleep on the bus. They were very fortunate. 

We continued to drive, and I managed to get some snatches of sleep. There wasn't much that could be seen outside the bus window when it was getting dark. Looking out the front you could only see car and bike headlights, and hear the sound of horns. 

And so we arrived at the end of the bus trip, but we hadn't arrived at the hotel yet. 

We got out of the bus and found our bags. near the there were 3 boats, each that could hold 10 of us. People put their bags on the boats and tentatively got in. The other boats looked a lot like Gondolas with no roof and the driver standing at the back controlling the boat (they had motors though). Our boat was a bit different and we had to go down some steps to sit under a roof. 

We were all packed in tightly together.

Then, a huntsmen sized white spider crawled out just behind a guy called Nipun's head. The boat went in an uproar, they started screaming and moving away from it. I was sitting next to Nipun at the time, so I backed right away from it. They tried to scare it away and eventually it went to the engine room. 

It was a perfect opportunity to be a hero. I hate the fact that I now keep thinking to myself "why didn't I just pick it up and throw it out?"It seems so easy to do it now that I reflect on it. It doesn't matter though, the fact is I didn't do anything. 

So what felt like a long time on the water we arrived at the hotel, the Green Palace Hotel. 

They welcomed us with fruit juice, and once we had our bags we went to the rooms. People began to take rooms immediately. There were 4 of us guys who ended up without a room.

After much confusion (due to tiredness) everyone ended being in a room, and I with my 3 other roommates ended up with a great room. The other guys in my room were Johan, Vishnu and Moon. They're awesome, am really glad that we were the only ones left without a room. 

Once we got accustomed to our rooms we each had a shower. It didn't have any hot water so I used the bucket instead which did. The water also tasted a bit funny/different/strange/possible harmful. 

Finally we had dinner which was buffet style. 

I was in bed at 12.

A big night of travels, and the only photo I took was of our hotel room. 

 

So that ends day 1. 

Onwards, to day 2!!...

Day 2: http://bit.ly/174EDi6

If you have any question, you can email me 

at: comanduash@gmail.com

What's been "up" for me lately

Happy holidays people.

If you aren't on holidays, I'm sorry. I hope they come swiftly for you.

I'm currently on my long weekend, which is the end of quarter holiday here. All the dorm except 4 guys travelled back home or to family. I got back from my hike on Saturday, and have some time to update you on life here. Yay.

Well to start stuff off, it's the League of Legends World Championships!! GO TSM!

Ok, I have that out of my system now (calms self down).

All the blue pens that I brought with me from Aus have been lost :'(. O well, the school has a stockroom where I can buy heaps of supplies (goes and buys 4 blue pens the next day).

Speaking of Australian supplies, my food stockpile is still going strong. I have more than half the amount of that golden substance left, and have opened the liquorice. To protect the rest of my supplies, I will keep their identities and hiding place confidential. 

If you do want some though, just ask nicely :)

Lately I've been thinking about what it will be like when I arrive back at the airport. If it will be like it is in movies, where everyone will start crying or we all just say hi and head off to McDonalds (almost certain about the Maca's run though). Either way, I'm sure it's going to be a very special moment that I will remember for a long time.

A bit of an update about the stress. I found that I can't see the difference between relaxation, procrastination or time wasting. When I try to take some time off work, I just keep thinking about it. I plan what I need to do, how to do it then start to worry about the deadline. I feel that my time management has been ok, but I really struggle to just not do work.

I heard a quote that said "time you enjoyed wasting, wasn't wasted". it may just be a problem that I'm not enjoying my time wasting. 

Regret is an issue I find I face more of everyday. It can be as simple as missing a photo opportunity, but I get worried that I am missing out. Missing out on the opportunities I have here. Missing out on ways to share this experience with you. 

In my previous update blog, I talked about my priorities and how they had changed. To be honest, I realised that I have been prioritising work too much. The realisation came when I thought I had missed the basketball tryouts because I went back to dorm to do school work (but I hadn't missed teh try-outs. Phew...). Before last week I had tried to get my work in on time and get good grades, but I am now more open minded to other things going on.

There was a dorm dance competition a couple of weeks ago. All the dorms made a dance routine, danced and choreographed by the students. My dorm East House came 3rd place out of the 16 dorms. All of us were awarded 100 rupees every week. 

I didn't take part in the dance, but everyone else in the dorm participated one way or another. 

The dance practises they had were always when I was just going to bed, so I never took part in them.

This is one of those regrets I have. 

I tried out for the school basketball team last week. There were a lot of guys there who were better than me, so I don't expect I'll get in. Let's just say that I was putting the 'try' in 'try-out'.

I'll have a go at cricket when it comes up later this year. 

I heard through the media that there is a new Prime-minister of Australia, who's currently bunking with another MP whilst the lodge gets renovations due to possum infestation (is that really true? if so, lol). 

I saw that there's a petition going around that wants the government to change their national broadband plan. 

If you could pass on any info about what's doing on Down Under, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm sure google news can't show me everything. 

A bit more than a week ago, last weekend, everyone in dorm was watching a ghost movie. I accidentally walked in on them as they were watching. It must have been during a really tense part because they all screamed when I opened the door behind them. I just stood there laughing at them.

I came and watched the rest of it with them. 

There was one very spooky part of the film.
One of the symptoms (is that the right word) of the haunting in the film is that all the clocks in the house stop working at 3:07. Ofcourse, we just happened to be watching that part right when it was 3:07. When one of the guys pointed it out we all went crazy. Waiting and hoping that the clock wouldn't stop.

It sounds very silly when writing it down, but when it was happening, it was terrifying. 

As my time for departure begins to approach, my thought of home have changed a bit from before. I feel that going home is a lot more bitter sweet. I feel a lot more comfortable here, and the sense of family continues to grow. 

There's a hiking analogy here that it's not about distance but displacement. It originally was meant that on school hiking trips, you always end up back at school. It doesn't matter about how fast you do it, or the way. I feel like that applies for my exchange as well. In my journey, I started from Melbourne and it will end there as well. I don't need to try make it go fast, and I may travel a long way. But it doesn't matter how difficult I make it, it matters how I enjoy and make the most of it. When you enjoy a hike more, you see more, talk more, and time passes. There is nothing worse than hiking and feeling like time is going slow.

I just want to mention something about tourists. 

On the way to school, there's a tourist bus stop. I sometimes see tourists with large packs on waiting outside the place for their bus. I always wonder if one of them could be from Australia. I don't ask, there's many other places in the world that they may be from, but I could hope. 

I always wonder what it is like for them. I am fortunate to live here for 6 months. They are traveling, see more of the world than me, but don't get to experience life here. They come to experience Kodai for a while, but I live here. Am I jealous of them, are they jealous of me? I think it's a bit of both. If I had the opportunity to do both (travel AND live), I'd definitely choose it. 

That's about it for the deep and spiritual part of the update (takes a sigh of relief).

On saturday this week, I am leaving for 7 days on a school field trip. 

I'm heading to Kerala, which is a state just west of Tamil Nadu on the west coast of India.

It's called the Mad River field trip. I will be canoeing and doing community service for a week. 

It should be a lot of fun, but definitely a challenge for my little stick-insect arms. 

And last but not least... the weather!

How is it in your part of the world?

I think it's getting colder here, but not really sure.

It's foggy a lot. Right now it is 1 o'clock, and has been densely foggy for an hour and a half. The mornings are wonderful. Bright and clear but the days are greyer. Walking back from lunch, you could only see the headlights of the cars and motor cycles. 

Taken at 1:09:23:65 to be precise

It also rains in the afternoons and evenings.

At night I just like to listen to the bugs, beetles and bus sounds from outside as I fall asleep.

A picture that I think is along the right lines
of what it's like to lie and listen. 

Ok, now for the short study summary (tl;dr):

• It's the LoL World Championship!
• Australian supplies are going well
• Thinking about the airport, if it will be all emotional like it is in movies
• Don't know the difference between relaxation, procrastination and time wasting
• Have regrets about not sharing enough with you
• My dorm got 3rd place in a dance competion I didn't help with
• Tried out for the basketball team
• Heard about the new PM, would like to get your opinions on it.
• Dorm watched a horror movie and we wet ourselves
• Coming home feels a lot more bitter sweet than before
• I see tourists, hope that one of them is an Aussie
• Off on field trip for a week of canoeing and community service
• The weather is progressively getting worse

Wow, that was a lot of stuff to talk about

I hope you all have a great week, whether you are on holidays or not. 

I would greatly appreciate hearing about any news from people back home. 

You can tell me at:

comanduash@gmail.com

Also, here's my flickr account if you want to check out some the picture's

I've been taking: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100009578@N03/

Finally, if you would prefer shorter, more frequent blogs just tell me. 

I just prefer to do everything in one hit, but if you don't have to read everything

then just let me know. Thanks

P.S. Word count of 1606 words. That's more than my psychology essay! 

80 mile hike: day 3

The final day of the trip

We got up at 10 to 6 in order to pack up the tents and have breakfast before 7. 

My tent partner and I would share a bag with our water, food an other hiking essentials for the day. It became surprisingly heavy (and I'm sure I didn't over compensate for "essentials"). The rest of our luggage was to be taken by bus to school. 

We eventually left camp at 7:30, 30 minutes after our planned departure time. It's funny how often things like that happen on camps. 

The first part of the climb was walking through the hills and farms of Poondi village. 

There were many small streams that crossed our path which were all connected as part of an irrigation project. During this part of the journey I wasn't very aware of where I was putting my feet and soon enough they were covered with mud, and made a squelching sound with each step. 

At the top of one of the hills though there was a great view. 

The rest of the hike was quite boring, until we reached the waterfall at 11:45. 

There were a lot of leeches at the waterfall. Some of the 9th graders ended up spraying lemon grass oil on the rocks so we could eat lunch in peace. 

At the bottom of the waterfall I managed to put my shoes and socks in for a swim, by trying to step onto a plant but just went straight into the water. 

Whilst at the water fall we encountered some park officers, who asked us to leave. There has been a lot of problems between the school hiking and the forest department this year, and to avoid a conflict over permission we left. 

An hour of more walking and we arrived at the buses. We all took a photo for the school Yearbook, and started the trip back to Kodai. 

It took us an hour by bus to get to the place where we started, then another hour to get back to school. 

Most of us tried to get to sleep on our bags next to us in the bus.

That was the 80 mile hike. 

To the final batch of photo's!

Thankfully, my camera survived the entire camp and only went down 1 bar of battery.

I am very glad that I was able to go on the hike. It was quite challenging but still

a lot of fun and an opportunity. 

I'll try to get the update post out soon, been a lot to share.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the pics and that I didn't bore you with my re-telling of the story.

Please tell me at: comanduash@gmail.com

Congratulations if you're on holidays now. If not, hope you have a great week!

80 mile hike: Day 2

Now, onto day 2

It was a very relaxed day of recovery, with a B hike thrown in. 

The birds woke us up at 6:30, and breakfast was at 7. 

The hike left at 8.

We managed to get lost a bit due to a change in landscape from logging. Our guide became unsure and we ended up going in a circle for an hour. They were simple mistakes but they ended up having very large impact. Small errors-big outcomes.

We were meant to go from camp to a dam, but we just made it the lake to save time.

We got back to camp at 12:40, just in time for lunch.

On the hike though we did manage to get a distant glimpse of a deer. It ran away before I could get a decent look or photo, but it was nice to see a different animal. 

On the hike my shoes became drenched and covered with mud. When I got back I tried to wash some of the water off, and they weren't dry till the following morning. 

After lunch we played volleyball and went rafting. It was amazing to go out onto the full lake, and paddle it.

We challenged ourselves to moving around the submerged trees near the bank. It became the highlight of the hike, manoeuvring the boat between logs and trees. 

The lake was spectacular. It was overflowing at the dam.

A month ago, the water was about 3 or 4 metres below the top of the dam, and there was a lot of space between the fire circle and the water. The contrast was superb and also heartening, knowing that the villagers would have enough water to last them a while. 

The rest of the day involved talking, drying shoes and reading for some people. It was a great time.

Now into the photo's from day 2

How much closer the water was this time
compared to before

Some of the deforestation going on in the area
that confused our guide. 

Paddling across the lake

I took a very similar photo at camp, you can see
the difference in water level.

Roasted shoes and socks for dinner
that night

That was day 2 of the hike. A lot of R and R being done.

Any questions for me?

You can send then to me at:

comanduash@gmail.com

80 mile hike: Day 1

Well, it appears that I survived!

Am still a little weary, but overall it wasn't as difficult as I had expected (it wasn't actually 80 miles).

The point of the hike was to have some fun, and enjoy being outside during the long weekend. I can safely say that this was accomplished and I had a great time. 

Day 1 was well and truly the most difficult day of the 3. It consisted of a D+ graded, which should have been an E. It was walking with 15kg+ packs from 7:30 till 5. I took 2 packets of breakfasts, 2 lunches and tea for food, as well as 2.8 litres of water. We carried our clothes, sleeping bags, tent and anything else we needed for the 3 days besides food. 

The hike consisted of walking through jungle from a bus drop off point, and going all the way to Camp Poondi, where I was last month for camp if you can remember. 

It was a gruelling challenge, but an amazing experience. 

One of the challenges in the hike was leeches. Whenever we were going through forest or  wet ground there would be leeches that would try to latch onto your shoes and make their way inside. Some of the people had brought with them salt and also lemon grass oil, which is a repellant for leeches due to its strong smell. Throughout the hike I only got bitten once on my calf though, not nearly as bad as some other poor people. 

Whilst hiking along a road there were some large swift blurs that we could see moving through the trees on our right. We stopped quietly to try and get a better look. The leader said that they were giant squirrels. Looking at them on google images; they seem cute and cuddly, but they can definitely move very fast through the trees. 

We also encountered a herd of Bison in the forest. The entire group (40 miler's included) were very tense and edgy when they were around. It was great to see them with babies as they trudged through the jungle. 

For the last hour and half of the hike it was pouring and sprinkling with rain. This slowed us down drastically and made going up the final sets of hills in Poondi very difficult. It also ruined many nice photo opportunities.

Once arriving at Poondi camp though, it was much better. The other group of hikers who were middle schoolers doing their '40 mile hike' were already there with a fire going. There was much standing around and competition for the best drying spots surrounding the fire. Drying wet feet and the pitter-patter of rain on the roof was very memorable. 

Ok, now lets get into some of the photos from day 1. 

Yes, the first picture is off a monkey

From Doctor's Point

It was very nice to see an Australian icon (golden wattle).
Apparently it grows a bit wild there...

This guy had the right idea.
Unfortunately we had to keep walking. 

Poondi village

Well those were the photo's from day 1 of the hike, hope you liked them

I'm on my long weekend break currently, so I have time to write another update and chat.

If you want to contact me, you can email me at:

comanduash@gmail.com

Seeya soon!