Things I miss about hiking

We just spent 16 days on the Larapinta trail. It's hard work being back in an office after that, let me tell you! Here's some of the things I'm missing:

*Being able to condense my whole life into a pack and take it with me wherever I go (I think I was a snail in my past life)

*Having every meal pre-prepared and packaged, AND being able to eat whatever I like without worrying about calories

*The World’s Greatest Scroggin: almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, a bit of pre-packaged trail mix, dried peaches, apricot delight, red licorice, chocolate-covered acai berries, and licorice bullets. YUM!

*Pooing into a hole

*The walking

*The scenery of the West Macdonell Ranges – just spectacular!

*The life-and-death situations (ok, so I do ride a bike on the roads in Canberra, but it’s just not the same!)

*Bird-spotting – especially one we haven’t seen before! Then we look it up in our bird book, and circle it. Such a nerdy sense of achievement!

*Developing thighs of steel

*Going to sleep at 8pm and then waking up naturally in time to watch the sun rise. So different from the forced awakening I have to endure here!