This past weekend I went on a 3 day backpacking trip at Wilson's Promontory- a national park land about 3 hours southeast of Melbourne. It was awesome! The trip was with my Education in Natural Landscapes class. On Wednesday we were given a briefing on what to pack for the trip. Our class of 24 split into groups of 6 and were handed our gear and a map. The next day I went shopping for food- I made a lovely mixture of Gorp which included cheerios, gummy worms, fruit, nuts, and m&m's. It was delicious. On Friday we met on campus at 7:30am and loaded up the bus. We took a morning tea break in a little town where I bought some more clothes for the trip. I even saw a tack shop and popped in to check it out. It was pretty similar to the one's we have back home. I bought a jar of Australian saddle soap. Then we drove on to Wilson's prom. Once we drove through the main entrance we spotted some kangaroos and I had a chance to see my first wild emus! They were quite large. Then we drove up the mountain and set out on our trip. Each of the 4 groups took a different route. Ours was spectacular. Our first day we hiked through Telegraph Saddle (a saddle is an area between two mountain peaks). The spot had been ravaged by wildfire in 2005 and it was surprising to see how much regrowth had already occurred. We spent the night at a campfire by a beautiful beach. We had a chance to watch the stars- there were hundreds. The next day we hiked some more. We climbed up a mountain and stopped at more beautiful beaches. A wallaby visited us while we were having lunch at Refuge Cove. We spent the night at Sealer's Cove by another beach. I even had a swim. The water was a bit chilly but the scenery was amazing and it was quite refreshing. That night I had a surprise while we were cooking our dinner. I reached back to get some pepperoni from my bag and felt something furry. I turned around and saw two possums stealing my food! The spilt some of my Gorp (which a bird had opened up my pack to get earlier in the day while we were hiking up a mountain) and took my bread. Luckily I had had my earlier possum experiences and wasn't afraid. I chased them away and salvaged the rest of my food. The next morning we hiked through a spectacular rainforest. We drank from a stream that had the best water I have ever tasted! I saw a few birds and a magical mist hung over the mountain. We met up with the other groups in the car park. While we were waiting I decided to finish off the rest of my Gorp. All of a sudden a parrot lands on my shoulder and tries to sneak a bite. This snack was quite popular. I let him have a raisin and was joined by two of his friends. It was quite neat. It was a great couple of days.