Breathe

So I've finally made it to the big year of being 24. I do not "feel" older - but I do feel as though life is a lot different at this age than what I imagined it to be as a little girl. I certainly never thought I would be living out of a tent on the west coast of Australia planning my biggest adventure to date in New Zealand. I still haven't completely clued in that that is what I am doing. It all just seems like a dream.

That being said, my birthday was everything I wanted and more. I find it amazing what we could come up with considering everyone I know here I have only known for 2 months and we all have ridiculous schedules for work - especially on Saturday's. Even still, a bunch of us managed to get the day off and we got all dressed up for the Broome Races. Now, by "dressed up," I do not mean that we got decked out head to toe in some latest fashion that we picked up from an expensive store. Not at all. We were happy with blow-drying our hair and putting on a bit of mascara. Even still, with minimal effort I have to say we cleaned up good... but it was also a reminder of why we don't do that on a regular basis. Hours after starting to "get ready" we were finally able to leave - only to head straight to Target to find some non-flip-flop shoes for the races. I have never seen so many ugly shoes in my life. After 40 minutes roaming the 3 small aisles in the department store, we settled on a pair of shoes each. I even managed to convince Target to give me an extra 30% off my already discounted shoes ($10) because the strap had fallen off. My thrifty shopping skills has improved.

Enough trouble as buying new shoes was, I was only too happy to have no one comment on the last remains of my last toe-nail polish session from 2 months ago.

By 2pm we made it to the races and settled in to the atmosphere of big hats, high heels and an announcer talking so fast it sounded like another language. We got some champagne and Brazilian wraps. We placed bets on the races and cheered like mad only to find out we really knew nothing about which horses to bet on. A $10 well spent. By sunset we headed out and made our way to Gantheame Point to settle on the beach with some tunes blasting from the car speakers, play some poi, doing a couple cartwheels and take an insane amount of photos. Definitely time well spent. Finishing off the night, we ended up at Diver's to cheer on a game of soccer between Japan and the Netherlands (Netherlands won - 1-0) and eat some grub. What more could a girl ask for?

Birthday aside, the rest of this week to date has been filled with work shifts of which I have found myself shamelessly tasting food that people have left over - whether from their uneaten dinner plates at Zanders or from the top of the rubish bins while cleaning rooms at Seashells Resort. Backpacking does that to you. Standards lowered, the excitement over different food is through the roof - even if others have touched it. Even if others have decided they'd bin it rather than eat it. Yup. I live quite the sophisticated life.

That being said, on a more professional note - Alex and I recently received word from Swazi that they would like us to send in the list of required clothing items so they can determine how much they could provide for us for our trek. So we did. We wrote the list and sent it in, hoping that because there is only 2 of us trekking Te Araroa Trail that Swazi would be able to provide it all... but we also prepared ourselves for the thought that Swazi would say "no" on some items as all together, the price tags created quite a hefty total value of clothing.

Yesterday Swazi wrote back.

They are able to provide our ENTIRE list of requested items. All they wanted to know was our sizes and colors that we wanted. Alex and I then excitedly went online to search through Swazi's site again to figure out which colors we wanted for each item of clothing. It was like Christmas - only better. We know what our presents are.

It's fascinating to me - this whole process of sponsorship. As this is Alex and mine first official experience in attempting to gain sponsorship for something of this magnitude, we are learning as we go. I find it amazing that companies such as Swazi, who are primarily known for having functional male-targeted wear and gear related to hunting, farming and outdoor recreation could be so fantasically amazing for us two female adventurers and then companies that are more wellknown in the industry of outdoor adventure pursuits are the ones that are incredibly negative when asked to support us in our journey. That being said, there are still months to go before Alex and I officially set off on our journey so it should be interesting to see where things take us.

On that note, if you or someone you know is interested in supporting us on our journey, please check out the "Get Involved" link on my website here and/or contact me via email. Thanks again to everyone who has pictched in so far - we are well on our way to reaching our goal of raising $5000 AUD for Indigo Foundation.... every cent counts!