Submitted by Amanda Taylor on the 2017 winter session program in Australia sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition…
At 9:00 am, we departed our host institution and loaded onto a tour bus, ready for our day’s adventure. We were informed that we would be driving three hours to the Grampians National Park. On our itinerary it stated we would be staying two nights in the mountains, and we would be hiking and abseiling during the day.
When we arrived in the Grampians, we stayed at a dorm facility called Norval. Norval was a long light brown building that had a living room, kitchen and about 20 bedrooms. The public bathroom, that everyone used as soon as we got off the bus, had four massive spiders on the ground. I had to prepare myself prior to coming on this program that there would be lots of big and scary insects. The saying in Australia is “everything can kill you”. After facing my fears and using the bathroom with the spiders, we were given our room assignments. To my surprise, we were bunking with five other suite-mates. At the host institution, we had been sleeping in single rooms so it was nice to come to Norval and have roommates. After we unpacked, we split into two groups of twenty since our study abroad program has forty people. The two options were hiking and abseiling, I chose abseiling.
As we approached the trail, I stared at my surroundings and was taken aback by the pure beauty of the mountains. The air was so fresh, the birds were singing around me, it all felt so surreal. We had to walk on a trail that seemed very unsteady with rocks moving and smooth surfaces at an incline. This hike was tiring to say the least! Once we hiked about a half mile in, we stopped at a steep cliff and they asked for the first group of volunteers. I immediately raised my hand, for I am not usually afraid of heights when I am strapped into something. We walked up the cliff some more and finally made it to the top where the instructors were standing. The wind felt stronger and the drop looked longer. I started to get a pit in my stomach and second guessed everything in life! I was in the third group of two, that got harnessed and was ready to go abseiling. As I leaned back in my heels, I knew I was safe and secure. I started to walk down the mountain gaining confidence with each step. I started doing jumps and taking more of a risk. When I reached the ground, everyone cheered and I was really proud of myself for taking that risk.
The Grampians are unlike anything I have seen in the United States. The mountains are made of rock and have trees and nature protruding out of the cracks. The natives said that the mountain is the children’s play ground and they climb almost everyday. To me it sounded and looked very dangerous, but for the indigenous people this was their everyday life.