Just kidding… 50%. For those of you who do not know what “wolf creek” is… it is two things: a destination in the outback-the kimberleys, and is also a greatly made movie. I have yet to do the latter.  Perhaps after I come back to the states? That wouldn’t be any bit exciting.

OUTBACK. Before I flew out to the great land that is mostly forgotten by the rest of the world, heaps on heaps of people would say, “have fun in the outback!” “you’re going to the outback!” and etc. which is all of the above incorrect. I reside in Melbourne, which is so far off from being the outback, it’s hysterical. Melbourne is trendy, oh so trendy. Hipping out to the hipsters. The outback is indigenous, sunny, and country, (no not twangy country [thank goodness] ). There are no words to describe how much I adore the Kimberleys. I would literally move there in a heartbeat.

I arrived in Broome, Western Australia, approximately 10pm and my inner blonde set in. I had presumed that once I got to the airport, the shuttle of my hostel would pick me up … sadly I had no continuing thought that I should have booked the shuttle prior to landing… oops. Luckily there were two taxi companies standing guard by the airport exit. I explained my situation and embarrassingly told them that I had no money because of my unfortunate assumption. The guy with Broome Taxis looked at me with despair and told me to plop myself onto the van out front. I got a free ride to the hostel! Thank ya sir. The hostel I stayed at- Beaches of Broome, was the cheapest, and nicest hostel I stayed at throughout my hostel-staying journey. When I arrived, I was so tired I went up to my room and went straight to sleep. But before I bellyflopped onto my mattress, er before I even got near the bed vicinity, as I walked into the room, I ran into a roommate-Tom. The look on my face probably insulted him and may have dug a gorge in his ego. Again, I assumed I signed up for an all girls room but clearly I was mistaken. Actually, when I walked to the entryway of the room, I had to take a step back to make sure I was going into the right room. I was fine that he was also sleeping in the same room as me, seeing that I just came from a hostel where I was the only girl in the room. (Back in Perth, I stayed in a 15 person mixed room, and the room where my bed resided was slept by just males.) Needless to say, I got out of my comfort zone in a jiffy. Anyways, Tom is an English fellow and made fun of me due to my crazy assumptions. Places in Western Australia… not so geographically close. I told him of my plans and how I do not like doing tours and wanted to just wander around the outback. Immediately after I told him that, he bursted out in a cackle. Note: you do not”wander” in the Kimberleys. That is the number one way in getting killed. womp womp.

side note: you know what happens when you assume… you make an ass out of you and me… well just me.

So I unwillingly signed up for a tour the next morning. I slept away that night and woke up early the next morning.

I walked myself down to the reception desk and registered for a tour. I have to say, my timing is impeccable. Why? The two weeks that I went over to W.A. everything was out of season. I wanted to play with penguins back in Perth, but it was nesting season. In Broome, I wanted to go swim with whale sharks, but again, not in season. Then Thursday morning (whilst booking a tour) I wanted to go on a hike through parts of the outback, but they only went on limited days and thursday was the one of them… Why didn’t I wake up at 5am? Ah humbug. So I settled for a hike through the gorges of the outback. Great settlement. As I was finishing up my booking, the guy next to me perked up and asked if I was American. After confirmation, he told me that we should hang out and then introduced me to the girls who slept in the same dorm as him. Courtney and Casey were the gal’s names and we became great great friends. Steve is a bogan, friends. I have successfully met my first and real bogan! So awesome. Bogan, is actually not a good term to be called for an Australian. Bogan is a self-deprecating term for those who are recognised to have an unsophisticated background and who do not have the best table manners, so to speak. Steve was the exact mold of one but he was one of the nicest, craziest guy I have met throughout this two week break. In fact, I reckon I met the best people in Broome on this trip.

Meet Steve. Upon meeting me, he told the lassies, “guyss!! This is Abby. She looks Asian but she sounds like a Yankee!” yes that may have a hint of racism behind it, but who cares. I don’t.

First morning: Courtney, Casey, and I decided to head on over to the beach (in the hostel’s backyard!) and go for a short little run on the beach. We started about a km away from the nudist beach and ran all the way to Gantheume Point. It was a breezy and beautiful run. Running alongside a clear turquoise coloured ocean is amazing. The sand was golden soft and the breeze blew at the right strength and speed. I felt like I was Pamela Anderson on Baywatch, minus the bouncing boobs. I strapped those ladies down. By the time Courtney and I reached Gantheume point, I thought I was literally going to pass out and be swept away into the deep vast ocean. Luckily that didn’t happen. (Casey headed back to our spot shortly into our run.) Courtney and I decided to head on back after some picture taking at the point. Once we returned, we laid out for a little and I then thought of the brilliant idea of being a tourist and arrived at the conclusion to take a picture (or several) with the lifeguards on duty. I mean, who doesn’t? So I got up and asked the two gentlemen sitting in the hut. One of them, curly headed man, asked me what I would pay to get a picture with him. A bit egotistical you may say, sure, but he followed up the question by saying he just finished up a photoshoot for sunglasses. No joke, he seriously did. His mate confirmed it. I didn’t really understand why he was chosen to model sunnies, because it wasn’t like he had a diamond cut jaw bone, or a george clooney shaped face… ah to each their own. They agreed to a picture with me anyways…

What do you guys think? Lad on the left, good enough to be a sunnies model? Meh.

taking in all the touristy-ness I can handle. The iconic australian beach flag. Swim between these coloured flags hey.

That night, we headed out to Roey’s because supposedly it was going to be a huge hit… and was it.

Oh goodness me, a wet t-shirt contest. A PCB experience? Not quite, but pretty darn close. Looks like an American spring break did seep into the aussie break. 

The next day was my long and awaited day… going to the OUTBACK at last. I got up super early and was ready to roll. I was lucky enough to sit in the very front of the truck. I got the whole view going into the bush and out. A bumpy ride? That is the understatement of the year. I felt like my stomach was going to fall out. Good think I never had to use the toilets or else I am pretty sure I would’ve literally peed myself. I guess it’s a good thing for the others and not so myself. On this day tour, I can confidently pronounce that I have met, and finally have found my role model in the way of living life, and as a future parent. The tour guide- Maria is the one. She is one hardcore lady. We even communicated in Swahili for a bit of the ride! So glorious. She has travelled the world and has lived in Africa for two years, also being a tour guide of some sort. She told a story how one night, she and another fellow set up a contraption to sling rocks at lions that attempted to come into the campsite, and after the rocks bulls-eyed the lion(s), the sting would last long enough for them to “get the hell out of there.” She was even inducted into the prestige of becoming a Masai Warrior. She is a lady Masai Warrior. BADASS. She told stories on how the Masai’s taught her how to see in the dark and how lions are frightened of them. There is a common ground between Masai’s and Lions. Lions can smell the difference in ordinary people and Masai Warriors. Nifty. On the outside, she is strong, courageous, and determined. But on the inside, she has the kindest of hearts. She even told stories of her son and how she raised him to be the man he is today, (he is getting married!). I asked her if she was excited to have grandchildren and she responded accordingly, “YES. I can’t wait to strap them onto me and climb mountains and hike through jungles.” I can go on and on about Maria. My inspiration, my role model. Done deal.

Tunnel Creek

Walking through Tunnel Creek was breathtaking. So beautiful. Took a quick little swim at the very end too.

Third day was definitely adventure filled. The gang, (Courtney, Casey, Steve, Tom, Sarah) and a few others decided to go cliff jumping! I was like a fluffy kid binging on chocolate cake. Initially, high tide was scheduled around noon, but it got pushed further and further back and before we knew it, we were heading out to Gantheume point around 3:30. Yea, high tide was not so high anymore, but that didn’t stop us. Steve and I arrived first and decided to go scope out some cliffs and see if there were any potential ones we could jump off of. Climbing those rocks whilst looking at the water made me want to jump, badly. When everyone finally arrived, the guys deemed that there were no safe jumps around. Courtney and I had believed different. We found a cliff and began stripping down to our swimmers. The guys followed our lead and cliff jumping commenced. My first jump ever and boy was my adrenaline pumping. That free-fall feeling is indescribable. As I ran to the ledge, my right leg swung out in front of me while my little toes helped push the rest of my body off the cliff. As I jumped, my arms flailed around and my legs twitched spastically. I screamed to my lungs full potential and I hit the water. What an experience. I’m pretty sure once submerged in the water, I looked like a confused octopus. I climbed out successfully and did a few more jumps. On my last jump though, Courtney and I pounced the water together. The current was a lot stronger than before but we did it anyways. Climbing out sure was a doozy. Unfortunately for me, the guys decided to document the whole scenario. Courtney and I swam to the rocks and began to get a footing in order to climb out. A tide came in and forced me head on into a lovely rock, 45 degrees from where I initially arrived at the rocks. My face slammed so hard into the rock, I was in shock. Before I could wrap my head around (no pun intended) what had happened, another tide came in and the next thing I know, I am wedged in between two large rocks. Courtney then was telling me to stand up because we had to get out of there… but my swimmers were coming loose and I had to fix myself. I seriously thought my ladies were dancing about, but Courtney assured me that they weren’t. We finally crawled out and the first thing Courtney says is, “dude, you’re bleeding all over the place!” I indeed was bleeding. My ear, arm, shoulder, hip, legs… everything was scratched up good. The left side of my face ended up bruising pretty badly too. Worthy scars are developing. It was a blast none-the-less and we went again the next day.

breathtaking

Taking that leap of faith.

my shoulder was sore for a good week.

Stories of that day kept being brought up in conversations and whenever Courtney described us getting shattered, I had to grasp onto my stomach I was laughing so hard. Wasn’t funny at the time, but looking back on it, it was pretty humorous.

Good times good times. After I was banged up, I had a camel back ride I had to get to. Tom, another bogan friend, drove me over so I wouldn’t be too terribly late. The camel ride was quite the experience. I even had a camel all to myself. Her name was Jemma and she happened to be the only girl, and the tiniest camel in the group. The ride was beautiful. It took place on the nudist beach during sunset. On the whole hour of the ride, I only spotted one nude couple. It was expected. Now, the way a camel gets up is thrilling. They get up on their back legs first and then the front. The motion seemed like riding a mechanical bull of some sort, but I wouldn’t know since I’ve never ridden a mechanical bull. Put that one on the bucket list. As the camel rides went on, the guys who were apart of the team would walk next to the camel and would give you a personal photoshoot. The guy who heavily took my photos was german. You bet your bottom dollars I spoke some german with him. In fact, I told him my renowned phrase: “Ich essen den ganzen tag, jeden tag.” He chuckled a bit and we went on to speaking about german grammer and how people imitate german accents. I then added on saying, “germans and the chinese are the same. People always imitate our accents horribly.”

Beautiful sunsetJemma! kissessss.

Broome was hands down the best part of my trip and I know I will be back again. I am off in search for the movie Wolf Creek (sorry Courtney) and will see how much scarring that will leave me. As I departed the beach resort look-a-like airport, I left my most prized possession of Nalgenes. My heavily, road-tripped, stickered nalgene water bottle was forgotten on a little park bench, in the waiting terminal. I didn’t realize this until an hour into the flight. Obviously I was a bit too late. I was upset for a good two days, but quickly brightened up and bought a new nalgene. This one now is almost filled with aussie stickers. The outback truly treated me well, and I can officially say I have been to the outback in Australia. I mean, you haven’t been to australia until you’ve gone to the outback. It’s like saying you’ve been to America, but didn’t go to Disney World or something iconic like it. Granted, there are heaps of Americans who haven’t been to Mickey Mouse’s homeland, but we don’t let foreigners know that. Which I conclude with one of the mottos I live by: you have to have travelled your own country first, in order to appreciate other lands.

“I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.” – Roman Payne.