Outback Life

Where to even begin! I moved from Sydney to Yulara nearly three months ago-time really does fly!!! Yulara is a huge tourist spot due to Uluru and Kata Tjuta being here. It is literally in the middle of the desert and completely isolated. The nearest town is hours away, so it's quite a different experience, especially compared to Sydney! This place is seriously so unique..red sand everywhere and the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I think my favorite part is the sky at nighttime though..I've never seen so many stars in my life or the milky way so clearly! In the past 24 hours I've seen two shooting stars!

Let's see, highlights of Yulara life so far:
-Went to a Camel Cup where camels raced each other derby style.
-Went on a helicopter ride and rode shotgun over Kata Tjuta and Uluru as the sun was setting...so amazing!
-Had a coworker from Sydney come and visit with his family and got to serve him at the restaurant and had a traditional cooked Philippine meal at their apartment.
-Went to Sounds of Silence, which is this incredible dinner out in the middle of the desert.
- Went to Desert Awakenings, which is breakfast style out in the desert for sunrise.
-Did a sunrise tour and base walk around Uluru
-Rented a car and learned how to drive on the left side of the road! The entire time driving I had to remind myself STAY LEFT. Probably my favorite thing out of everything. Had the car for 24 hours and was so hard returning it!
-Went and explored Kata Tjuta with friends. We went a bit late and ended up finishing after sunset, which made hiking in the dark quite interesting!
-Did a Sounds of Silence NT Tourism photo shoot in the desert where we were directed to do this and look this way and everything. So cool! Free food and drinks too!
-Managed to learn to live without a wardrobe--all my clothes are surviving in five milk crates
-Catch a ride to work on a motorbike often! So fun!
-This shouldn't be a highlight but my fourth phone in Australia broke. I went three weeks with absolutely no phone, which while it was unfortunate for contacting people back home, it was actually such a nice break being disconnected. The only way I could get ahold of someone was if I happened to be at my apartment (share-share) and was lucky enough to get wifi connection to log on to facebook messenger. It was so refreshing being disconnected..I can't say that enough! Makes you actually live in the moment and not aimlessly browse facebook or intstagram feed. I also needed a detox from my snapchat addiction...lolz. Also if you have messaged me in the past few weeks and I didn't answer, sorry that's why no phone! I did end up caving and getting a new sim card though, and now I do have a phone so feel free to contact me again! Same number as before-just not an iphone so my social media is a bit limited. +61 468 960 635 for my non Australian friends, and 0468 960 635 for my Australian friends
-Managed to file my own taxes for my time so far in Australia and received quite a nice tax return! Maybe on the road to becoming an adult!
-Pavlova has became my favorite dessert in the entire world. Up next would be financiers and then creme brule would take third.
-I did a half marathon!! Anyone who knows me knows that it's like pulling teeth for me to go to the gym, so this was a huge accomplishment for me! My friend and I signed up spontatneously the night beforehand and I'm so happy we did it! While we weren't the fastest, and managed to stop at every water station for candy, we still finished! It was seriously the coolest thing doing a race like that in the middle of the desert through red sand..amazing!

So more about life in general here and plans after. I work as a food and beverage attendent at Ayers Rock Resort. There are 5 different hotel/accomodations in the resort. The town of Yulara is the resort. There isn't anything else. One post office, bank, grocery store, and a few souvenir shops. We do have two bars-one for guests and residents (what we call staff), and one for staff only called the Res. I work at the five star hotel, Sails in the Desert, at the restaurant Ilkari. It's way more intense and fast paced of a workplace than I've worked before, but I love it. The staff is great, which makes such a huge difference. There isn't much to spend money on here in Yulara besides going out to eat and going out for a drink, so it's quite easy to save money.

My only goal in mind right now is to save up money so I can travel after this. Most backpackers from other countries are allowed to extend their working holiday visa to two years-as long as they complete farm work for three months. Unfortunately being from the US, we don't have that option and we can only work in Australia for one year. To be honest, this devastates me because I love this country so much and want to stay and work here as long as possible. That being said, I am coming home when my visa expires in November. I will be home for two months to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, and then will be flying back to Australia on a tourism visa in January. I'm going to spend a few months traveling all around Australia and then from there most likely will go to SouthEast Asia...but who knows! One thing traveling has taught me is that you really can't plan too much ahead and need to just go with the flow. Australians know what's up with the laid back lifestyle..makes spontaneity that much easier!

I can't believe it's already August. That means only two and a half more months here. My six months in Sydney were absolutely incredible, and my time here in the desert has been just as amazing. I've met wonderful people from all over the world in both places and I honestly feel so lucky. I knew graduating from Dayton would be the hardest thing in the world, especially saying goodbye to my best friends and all the amazing people there and the easy going lifestyle. I was terrified of post-grad life and dealing in the 'real world' and finding a career and all of that. I could not be happier with my decision of the one way ticket to Australia. It's a different way to do things, but I'm having the time of my life. All this being said, I cannot wait to come back in a few months to visit and catch up with all my friends and family! I have missed you all SO much and I'm so excited for all of our reunions! In the meantime feel free to mail me being that I bought a box at the post office and I've only received a couple of cards..from my mom (thanks mom!).
Leah Francis
C/O Post Office, X247
Yulara, 0872, NT
Australia

To be honest, I'm pretty horrible at updating this blog so this may be the last update until I leave! Connection isn't the best so pictures will have to be uploaded at another time!