Valley of the Fireflies - Part 2

Day two rolled around after a long night, I couldn't fall asleep in the tent cause it was so hot, so I ended up sleeping outside under the stars. It's so weird to think there's no bears here that'll eat you in the night, just snakes and spiders, but somehow those seem less terrifying.

I woke up to the snapping of twigs and crackling of fire, Pete had wasted no time. When Jess got up she explained how when she woke up she thought since I wasn't in the tent that I had fallen down the cliff in the middle of the night and died. So she was happy to see that I was alive.

We made brekkie: bacon, eggs, and toast buttered with avo! You're probably wondering how we managed to get eggs all the way down the canyon, being jostled about the whole way. Well, to be honest, a couple broke... but only 2/24! While we cleaned up, Chris read Lord of the Rings aloud - LOTR was definitely the theme of our trip; the topic of many conversations, the theme song and the card game we played (Smeagol).

We headed to the waterfall by mid morning, it was a gorgeous day, perfect for more adventuring - this time without our backpacks :) At one point we were following the leader, and after scoping things out we came to a place that looked pretty suss. I went to slide down a rock, to jump on to another, but I

lost my balance and grabbed a tree branch, but it snapped... leaving me to fall about 10 feet onto a bed of rocks. Thankfully I fell on the fleshy part of my lower back, just a couple inches to the left and I could have broken my back. BUT I DIDN'T! :) YAY! Everyone was freakin' out cause they couldn't see where I had fallen. I swear, I'm not normally so accident prone, but I just had a few freak incidents that would lead you to assume otherwise. They were really good about it, willing to sacrifice seeing the waterfall to accompany me back to the camp, but I didn't want to ruin the excursion or miss out on seeing

the waterfall, so we carried on, despite the throbbing pain in my back. It was SO worth it. We arrived at Carrington Falls by mid day and wasted no time getting in the water, it was heaps refreshing since we were all so sweaty. We went right under the waterfall, then just relaxed in the water - Pete said we should lay on our backs with our ears under the water and just look up, listen, take it all in. Peace. Serenity. Beauty. My goodness, was I ever happy I didn't miss that! It was the climax of the trip!

Blob time

The arvo was filled with lotsa blobbing; snacking, Smeagol, reading more LOTR, and story time (our worst injury stories, or near death experiences).

Day 3 started fairly early, had breakfast and cleaned up by 9am. Putting our backpacks back on wasn't so fun, but they were lighter than on the way down since we'd eaten most of the food. We smashed it out, stopped for a couple muesli bar breaks along the way. Chris was our navigator, if we started up the canyon at the correct spot, it would take far less time, and luckily he found that spot fairly easily. On the way up, we would hike for a few minutes and stop 'cause it was so exhausting going straight up. I had a serious lack of energy since I wasn't feeling great, but when we finally got to the top and walking on flat ground, just walking normally felt like I was running! So effortless. After what seemed like an eternity, we stumbled into the parking lot area... I was caught so off guard. Pure happiness. JOY. We made it! There were tons of people in the picnic area, a girl came over and asked what hike we just did. We told her we had done a 3-day hike, obviously that wasn't the kind of hike they were looking for. As Pete was talking with them we noticed a massive red stain on the back of his once-white shirt (we figured it was from a leech). He turned to join us again and the girl noticed the blood mark, we could see her whole group staring and pointing at us like we were some crazy people that just emerged from the jungle... I guess they weren't too far off, haha. We rewarded ourselves with a delightful spread of leftovers for lunch. Though of course Chris had to ruin it by exclaiming "the turkey mince looks like curdled milk!".

Gloria Jean's was a must, so we stopped in for a drink, Iced Chai's never tasted so good! While driving home, Pete was like "Hey guys, doesn't that person at the crosswalk look JUST like Silken!?" -there are two people at the crosswalk, a girl with a top-knot and an overweight man in a white shirt. *pause for effect* then he continued "...the one in the white shirt!!!! BAHAHAHAHA!" Everyone just lost it. I was slightly insulted, but it was hilarious.

But WOW. What. A. Weekend.

I have never laughed so much. I think I now have a six pack.

Despite the near death experiences and feeling sick most of the time, those are three days I will never forget... I have the scars to remind me. I constantly feel so blessed by the people God has placed in my life, the adventures He has allowed me to experience, and the beauty of His creation. I am so spoiled.