I found nature... and it smiled back.

I am thoroughly enjoying my weekend!  It started on Friday (no classes Fridays).  I had a leisurely morning and then maneuvered through public transport with two of my friends to La Trobe University (NW of Deakin).  It took about an hour and a half to get there, but we had fun talking and catching up.  Marisa (my friend from Portland) has a friend from home studying for the semester at La Trobe.  The two of them, plus myself and our friend, Christina (from Wisconsin) are going to Cairns for five days at the end of the month.  Marisa’s friend from La Trobe got all the information from her STA agent on campus and so we decided to all journey there to book our trip together.  Even though it took most of the day, it was fun meeting Kaitlyn and just hanging out.  We all came back to Deakin and gathered a bigger group of other exchange students and went for Mexican food.  I’d been craving it for a while (it’s not a well recognized cuisine option here) and decided that Friday night was the night to goJ.  I split nachos with Christina and it was great!  We had funJ.  Today (Saturday) I woke up early and headed out to Healesville Sanctuary.  I’d heard about this zoo from a few different people and was told it was a “must do” while I was here.  It WAS a must do!  First, I would go there again, just to travel through Yarra Valley.  It was beautiful and green and SO perfect.  I was listening to Needtobreathe all day as I sat on multiple buses and trains and my favorite song “More Time” was exactly how I felt…  I wanted more time there.  When I got to the sanctuary I walked around for an hour or so and explored the “exhibits”.  It’s different than a normal zoo… you can walk in most of the enclosures and see the animals up close.  It was AWESOME!  I was so close to a kangaroo I could touch it.  I also saw koalas, dingoes, platypuses and wallabies.  They were so cool!  Also, the sanctuary was just that – a sanctuary.  It was super peaceful and luscious and beautiful.  I appreciated the surroundings as much as the animals.  After I left the sanctuary, I rode the bus, train, and then another bus to Mount Dandenong.  This turned into another 2-hour trip, which felt like 20 minutes because I was enjoying the scenery so much.  We went past fields with sheep and cows (felt like home) and the hillsides were all covered with huge deciduous trees.  It was beautiful.  I wish there was a way to describe it, but I know I’ll never find the words.  Also, besides the fact that the scenery was inherently beautiful, it was the clearest, blue-sky day and the sun made everything shine.  I made it to Mount Dandenong and the Sky High Observatory.  It’s an area at the top of the peak with a bistro, a couple of gardens, a base point for forest walks and an area for fancy receptions.  I walked through the gardens (one was called the Secret Garden – one of my favorite classicsJ), looked out over the city and the bay in the distance, and walked through the forest for a while.  It was so nice.  After that, I boarded the bus, train 1, train 2, and another bus and made my home for the day.  My soul had been craving nature for SO long now.  I hadn’t realized how much until I spent the day there.  It was perfect.  Once I got home, I made dinner, went on a short run in the sunset and then began a fun evening with my roommate Camille.  I bought Robin Hood the other day and so we watched that and made peanut butter and M&M cookies for the rest of the nightJ.  It’s so fun baking with her because she is SO excited about whatever we create – it’s all new for her.  Her enthusiasm makes it even more enjoyable for me, which is so cool.  Overall, today was incredible!  On a separate note, I’ve officially been in Australia for a month!  It’s crazy how fast the time goes.  I’m still loving life and looking forward to all the adventures that the next 3.5 months will holdJ.