I'm in Albany right now at the Albany Backpackers. I've spent the past 3 days on the road, and at the end of this trip I would have travelled 4200km around the south of Western Australia. Before this journey began, I was really apprehensive about how exhausted being on the move would make me, and this has definitely proved to be quite tiring. But I don't regret a moment of it: I've climbed Frenchman's Peak and Castle Rock (taking 1.5 and 1 hour respectively on slippery, steep rocks) and was rewarded with what could only be the most moving reminders of God's almighty presence. I've seen the blue waters of Esperance, which I've dreamed of visiting since my first week here. I've stood on the rocks of the Natural Bridge feeling awestruck at how something so beautiful can also be so dangerous at the same time. I'm coming home in a month. How it saddens me to think of the day I have to leave this place which is so full of natural beauty that my breath constantly catches in my throat. For all the moments to come that are filled with tiredness and nostalgia, my greatest wish is that in spite of it all I will remember to cherish it, because I will never do this again.

posted by beautiful at 4:25 am