Day 121 – Elephants, originally uploaded by bexadler.

I’ve been an elephant fanatic since I was a very little girl. I slept with a stuffed elephant and was fascinated by these amazing creatures for many years. I’ve stopped wearing elephant t-shirts and do not own a collection of elly figurines, but I still have big love for them in my heart so when I learned that there was an opportunity to volunteer with rescued elephants in Thailand I knew I’d have to do it some day. Well, that time has finally come, and it was all I’d hoped it would be.

I spent the past week volunteering at the Elephant Nature Foundation‘s sanctuary for rescued elephants in northern Thailand, where I shoveled elephant poo, washed and prepared elephant food, bathed elephants, and learned the basics of elephant vet care. I also learned the stories of these rescued elephants, many of which would break even the meanest of hearts.

There are orphans whose mothers were killed by abusive owners and were saved by the Elephant Nature Foundation from having the same fate as their mothers. There are elephants who were abused in the logging industry, and others who were brought here after having their feet blown off by landmines in Burma. We watched videos documentaries of the systematic abuse elephants endure in this part of the world and were all cringing in our chairs.

For me, it was an eye-opening experience about how the tourism industry directly effects the welfare of these animals here. Many tourist pictures from Thailand will show trekking trips that involve riding the back of an elephant through the rainforest. The unfortunate, and unseen by tourists, side to this is the years of abuse these animals endure to be tamed for tourist consumption. I don’t mean to preach here, but I am grateful for places like the Elephant Nature Foundation that are finding positive ways for tourists to interact with elephants and I hope that their example will encourage other tourist operations to seek more animal friendly ways to allow people to interact with elephants here. Because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to hang out with elephants?

On my 30th birthday I was surrounded by people, but I don’t think I’d ever felt so alone. I was incredibly unhappy about my life and felt like I hadn’t accomplished much in my 30 years. I complained constantly about the fact that I didn’t own a home, was still in school and didn’t even have a boyfriend, much less a family. Turning 30 made me feel like a failure and despite everyone’s reassurances that their 30′s were way better than their 20′s had been, I couldn’t get out of the sour mood that persisted throughout most of the year before I turned 30.

Turning 31 has been quite different and has left me reflecting on the differences between this birthday and the last. Today I am alone, but I don’t feel lonely. I have done so much and seen so much in this past year – I’ve run five half marathons (number six is on Sunday), saved up more money that I ever thought I’d be capable of saving, traveled halfway around the world, finished my master’s degree, climbed mountains, was reminded what it feels like to be loved, and so much more. I’ve also grown a lot as a person this year. I’ve mended friendships and become better at being a friend. I’ve become closer to some of my family. And I’ve learned that I’m capable of so much more than I thought possible. I’m sure you’re all sick of me talking about how happy I am these days so I’ll leave it at that, except to add that I’m looking forward to what the next year may bring.

Today I could have been climbing Mitre Peak (pictured above) with a woman who once climbed Mt. Everest, but instead I was on a flight back up to Auckland so I can catch my flight out of here to Thailand. It was the first great opportunity I’ve had to turn down in the past four months of traveling and I so wish I could have stayed to do the climb. With that and so many other things left unseen here in New Zealand I know I’ll make it back here one day, which is the only thing making it possible for me to leave now.

I have lived so much in the past three months that I’ve spent here and I’m more than a little heartbroken to be leaving. I’m sad to think that this will all have seemed just a dream in a few weeks’ time. Worse still is knowing that I’ll likely fall just as deeply in love with Thailand as I have fallen for New Zealand. Or maybe that’s a blessing because it will help ease the pain of leaving these lovely islands. Either way, I’m on to a new land in a couple of days to play with elephants and climb stone walls along the ocean. I’d love to linger here for the rest of my days but adventure awaits, no?

Day 95 – Copland Track, originally uploaded by bexadler.

I just spent the last month working as a volunteer hut warden up at Welcome Flat Hut in New Zealand’s Copland Valley. it was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had and left me with a vastly enhanced appreciation for wild places.

I spent the month hanging out with two Kiwi guys who were doing maintenance work on the Copland Track, which is the trail leading up to my hut. In the beginning I was afraid of near everything. I didn’t like leaving the trail for any reason, I didn’t feel comfortable crossing the numerous swinging bridges, and I was on the constant lookout for ankle twisters. But toward the end I started to feel like the Copland Vally was my very own forest. My Kiwi friends taught me how to bush bash, how to hop stones and climb boulders, and how to feel at home in the wild. I bathed under waterfalls, slept on boulders naked in the sunshine, drank straight from passing streams, walked through the forest at night with no light but for the moon and the soft light of glow worms all around me, and felt more free and alive than I can ever remember having felt. I hope I can carry this feeling of pure contentedness with me for a very long time and always remember my adventures in the forest.

Note: The skinny dipping and naked sunbathing were done on solo trips, not with the boys. When they were around I was the picture of modesty, wearing my bathing suit or sports bra and undies. One of them was only 22; I didn’t want to scar him for life.

Hammocking, originally uploaded by bexadler.

Hi friends! So sorry I haven’t written in awhile. Things have been pretty crazy around here and I haven’t had much internet access. Life is good though, I’m alive and definitely having an adventure. I’m relaxing for the next day or two before I head off into Fox Glacier National Park to work as a hut warden (sort of like a park ranger) for a month, so it’ll probably still be a few more weeks before I send a good update. You can get some quicky updates on my flickr site though. I’ve been uploading mostly from my iPhone when I can steal wifi, which is why flickr is just about the only place with updates lately. Anyway, hope you’re all fantastic and I’ll write when I’m back to civilization.

xoxo,
Becca

I’ve been staying with a friend of mine in Auckland. It’s made me incredibly lazy because it’s quite a hike into the city. Plus, I have a great book I’ve been reading, so I just sit and enjoy this fabulous view of St. Helier’s Bay all day instead of sightseeing. I think a nice break was needed anyway before I start on the next big travel portion of this journey. I’ll try to get some posts up about Tasmania soon. I’ve got a ton of pictures to go through from that leg of the trip, but will hopefully get through them in the next couple of days before I leave Auckland.

XO,

Bex

Kevyn on the Overland Track

Kevyn enjoyed the possums, wombats, pademelons, and wallabies in Tasmania, as well as the views. The leeches, mud, and rain – not so much.

Sooo…I went to Target today to buy a belt because my pants keep falling down (probs from stretching, not from me losing weight). As soon as I walked in the store though I forgot what it was I went in for and instead ended up with these adorable flats! God only knows where I’ll find room to stuff them into my pack…

In Melbourne I was staying in what looked like a rough neighborhood. Apparently it’s just rundown looking because it’s hipsterville and they like it that way. There were a couple of pluses to where I was staying: 1. I got to take a ton of pictures of awesome street art like the one above. 2. It was only two blocks from the climbing gym where I found my ride to The Grampians (double score!). 3. It was less than a half-mile to a great running spot.

Nobody at the hostel knew of any good running spots, but luckily I had free wifi there (first hostel in Australia with free wifi – one of the only good things I can say about this hostel) so I was able to look at our location on Google maps. As I’ve learned in my last couple weeks of traveling, the most likely spots for long bike/running trails are along waterfronts. Only a few streets up from where I was staying I could see that there was a reserve for the Yarra River called Yarra Bend Park, so I made my way over there early one morning.

Running along this river reminded me so much of my early morning runs in Sacramento – only with parrots and wallabies instead of coyotes and sandhill cranes. It was a fantastic 9-mile run that ended with me getting a little turned around (I have NO sense of direction). There were only a couple of other runners on the trail, but I think that was more indicative of it being a weekday than of runners not frequenting the park. I think this was one of my favorite runs of the trip so far and definitely saved Melbourne in my eyes. I loved that there was a view of the cityscape from the trail and really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the busy city with a beautiful nature area. Plus, there were rainbow-colored parrots. Did I mention the parrots?

P.S. One big bummer about Melbourne was finding out that there was a Marathon the weekend I was heading to Tasmania. I would have loved to do another race in a big city (races sure beat long runs, yes?).

My Arapiles Camp Digs

Hi friends! Sorry I’ve been incommunicado for such a long time. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the outdoors, which means no Interwebs. About two weeks ago I journeyed to Melbourne in the hopes of finding a way to get to The Grampians and Arapiles – two well-known climbing areas in Victoria, Australia.

Not getting a quick enough response via the Interwebs, I went to two local climbing gyms where I posted on the bulletin boards and accosted other climbers to ask whether they were making any trips out west. While accosting people at the climbing gym may be looked down upon, it does work. Within a few hours of arriving I had found an awesome climbing couple who was planning to make a weekend trip to The Grampians and were happy to share the cost of a rental car and gas to get there. I crashed on their couch the following night and after a quick morning run we headed off for a weekend of bouldering with a couple of their friends who were visiting from New Zealand.

Helen bouldering.

I’m terrible at bouldering because I’m seriously afraid of falling without a rope attached to me, but I was perfectly happy doing some V0s (the easiest climbing grade for bouldering) and then watching the others do the tough stuff. Helen, the female half of the couple I drove up with, was incredible and found lots of easy stuff for me to practice on. Helen and Josh left Sunday evening because they had to get back to Melbourne to work the next day. I stayed on at Stapylton Campground with their Kiwi friends, James and Matt, who drove me to Arapiles Tuesday morning and did a three-pitch 5.7 climb with me. While it was an easy climb for all of us, I think we were all just excited to be climbing (I know I was!).

Matt and James at Arapiles

Matt and James went back to the Grampians the next day while I stayed behind in Arapiles and climbed for the next four days with a couple of guys who adopted me into their way-better-than-just-my-tent campsite (pictured above – my tent is the yellow one off to the side of our digs). Despite four days of heavy rain, it was a super successful trip that left me with a lot of awesome climbing friends, who I’ll hopefully see again, and allowed me the opportunity to use my climbing gear and try out a lot of new things (like trad climbing! and multi-pitch routes!). I seriously considered skipping my trip to Tasmania to stay at Arapiles for a couple more weeks, but knew I’d regret it even though I was having an amazing time in Arapiles. Verdict: Must come back and stay for at least one month.

Me, totally stoked after my first day of climbing.

Getting There: When I was in Melbourne nobody could tell me how to get to these two spots via public transit, so here you go…

Arapiles: Catch a Vline train from Southern Cross Station to Ararat. Catch a bus from in front of the Ararat Station to Horsham. From Horsham take a shuttle from out front of the Safeway (or hitchhike – there are plenty of climbers going through who will take pity on you). Getting there is difficult, but getting home is easy because you’ll have made friends at camp and can easily hitch a ride into Horsham from someone (this is what I did).

The Grampians: Take a Vline train from Southern Cross Station to Hall’s Gap. Hike in or hitch a ride to the campground. Make friends! Most bouldering areas are accessible via a trail that leads out of Stapylton Campground.

Other info: Camping in The Grampians is $14.60 per night and a permit needs to be bought at the info center in Hall’s Gap ahead of time. Arapiles camping is only $2 per night and can be paid via a little drop box at the camp site. Showers can be had at Horsham’s Aquatic Center for $3.60 (well worth it on a cold/rainy day) and up to two hours of  free wifi is available at Horsham’s Public Library, otherwise pay $2.60 to use their computers.