'You're an Aquarius? So you're one of those people who look for someone unique, someone a little different.'
I smile tersely.
I suspect, too, that I like the feeling of falling to that of landing.

If I were a butterfly...

It's been a busy, busy two weeks. I've been spending a lot of time working, and then time de-stressing from work, only for it to start all over again. I want to write, but my mind is mostly blank. The more time spent working, the less time you spend on creative pursuits. Kind of like cavemen needing to hunt, or something like that...

'Scattered showers with isolated thunderstorms. Partly cloudy with northwest winds.'

We set out on a Friday evening after work, intermittent rain and a delayed start causing much frustration. Once we got on the road though the six hour drive went by quickly, no doubt helped along by Polo's wise anecdotes and occasional bad dance music. We arrived in Jindabyne close to 1am and promptly went to bed in preparation for the long day ahead of us; fortunately I was exhausted enough to fall asleep in spite of a certain someone's loud snoring. Meanwhile outside the rain continued to fall lightly...

The next day I was awoken by Polo's ogre-like movements. I looked out the window - the rain had stopped despite Bean's best efforts, and blue sky had started peeking through the thinning grey clouds. We had a quick breakfast and got ready - water bottles were filled, lunches half-packed, jumpers put on, taken off, and put on again. After a quick stop for coffee, we drove up and towards the mountains, the surrounding hills carpeted in green after the recent rain. I found it funny driving past all the ski resorts without the snow, the naked buildings and hills and chairlifts looking so out of place and ridiculous, like disused machinery discarded from a factory long ago.

We parked and stood at the start of the trail, green hills and mountains and meandering alpine rivers outstretched before us. I never thought this country could be so picturesque and pristine. We could have been in Switzerland.

The hike was tough. We walked for hours, and sometimes the uphills would go on forever. The sun kept beating down on my neck (sunburn, ouch!), and often all I wanted to do was lie down in the soft grass or dive into one of the many blue lakes along the way. Eventually we reached the top after six hours, sweaty and exhausted. At the highest point in Australia we had a well-deserved rest, took photos and had a nice, late afternoon gourmet lunch. That night, back in Jindabyne, no one stayed awake much later past midnight before we all passed out in our respective rooms.

I've always wanted to climb Mt Everest as a kid; small hikes such as these make me realise how gargantuan an undertaking like that would be, and how far I am from such dreams. To go down, go up.
We drive home the next day and it's raining again, raindrops splattering endlessly on car windows.