Day Ten: Pool, a Friend and the Stars

It was wonderful to sleep until my body woke on its own. Inga and I had tea near the pool before she continued on her adventure. I so admire the young people I meet. Their passion for travel and learning about other cultures is admirable. I truly believe if everyone would travel to a different country and meet people unlike themselves we would become a more tolerable world. 

I wish I could tell her mum she is fine. More than fine. 

I took the free shuttle into town, grabbed breakfast, returned to my lodge and plopped my butt near the pool for the afternoon. I’ve had some kind of. cold/allergy/reaction-to-temps-above-0° thing going on and the simple day was nice. 

I made the mistake of trying to walk to the pool without flip flops. I burned my feet. Literally. They still hurt. I was in the sun for ten minutes and turned red so I moved to the i-am-a-white-person chair and had this view when I looked up. Gorgeous. 

I showered and went to Bev’s hotel where we caught up over drinks. Bev and I met at Squam (knitting camp) nearly six years ago and I can hardly believe we ended up in the Australian Outback at the same time. Despite the fact I look drunk I was sober. 

I ended my last night in the outback looking at the stars, and oh my it was amazing! The Astro Tour guide was so knowledgeable and the night couldn’t have been more perfect. The moon was not out making the stars very prominent. If you zoom in on the photo below you will faintly see some stars, but you’ll just have to trust me when I say the sky was lit up!

I must not have listened much in school because I didn’t realize all the constellations were upside down and reversed in the Southern Hemisphere from what I see in the northern. Blew my freaking mind, and reminded me how truly far I am from home.