on a hike today I met a boring koala

This morning, Kate P picked me up from the Johnson's home. She asked me where I wanted to go, and I shrugged. (As if I know where stuff is.) She said, "Alright then, I'll take you to one of my favorite places ever."

We took a beautiful scenic half hour drive through some of the most gorgeous hills I've seen since California. Deep gorges covered by tall bushy gum trees, a winding road flanked by tall rock faces on one side, and some beautiful overlooks combined to make me a very happy person...and that was just the drive up! We drove through a small town (I forget the name of it) that is a decently-sized Italian community--apparently they all live together in one town--and pulled off the road to a small-looking park named Morialta (Kate pronounced it "more-ee-aht-uh"). She showed me the map of the place, and it was definitely not small!

Even though Adelaide is a city of about 1.5 million people, the government has mandated where the city limits are and they protect the wilderness that juts up next to it. Basically, you have the ocean and a small strip of beach/wetlands. Then a long, narrow plain where the city and surrounding suburbs are. Then a long line of interconnecting hills that are carefully preserved as wilderness treasures. Then the back country, which is borderline outback. It makes for some really clear and definite lines where city ends and country starts.

Morialta, although it's less than a kilometer from a decently-sized suburb of Adelaide, is a completely wild strip of land that is carefully kept up so that it's a local treasure that is easily accessible to everyone. Kate goes up there all the time. She said it's where she met God for the first time, and after walking around it with her today, I can definitely see how she calls it God's house. It's very peaceful and serene, and definitely not what I think about when I think of Australian landscapes.

The first thing I noticed is that Morialta has alot of wildlife, particularly birds. I saw galahs (a bright pink and grey parrot that is apparently really loud and annoying) as well as several other brightly colored parrots; there are singing frogs along the banks of the creek; and I got cross one animal off my bucket list.

YES, I SAW A WILD KOALA. Two, actually.

It was interesting, we were walking along and all of a sudden Kate looks up and goes, "Oh, there's a koala," and keeps walking. I, of course, being the crazy American I am, stop to take pictures and I start gushing, "Awww he's so cute, wow he has claws, he looks so soft and cuddly!" So there. I've seen the two animals in the wild that I set out to see: kangaroos, and koalas. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

We walked along wide gravel trails for a bit to get to the waterfalls. There are three waterfalls in Morialta, imaginatively named after the order in which you encounter them: First Falls, Second Falls, and Third Falls. The walk up to First Falls wasn't that difficult, and it actually had alot of water rushing down it, so it was a pretty magnificent sight. It was maybe 35 feet high, and if you know me you know that I love waterfalls.

The walk up to the Second Falls very quickly became a clike (halfway between a hike and a climb--and no, that's not an Aussie term, that's Ashley slang). It was super-steep and really difficult. Halfway up there was a bench with a scenic overlook that was blocked perfectly by a huge dead tree. Kate says there must be some spiritual significance to that tree, but God hasn't told her what it is yet. I dunno what she means by that, I just saw a dead tree. ;)

However, the hike up to the Second Falls also showed a different landscape. The really tall gum trees became fewer and farther between, and the path got rockier. When we finally got to the Second Falls, it was pretty amazing how far we'd come in such a short time.

On the way, Kate and I had some really good conversation about her life, her past, and the situation with the churches in Adelaide with which she has been involved. Apparently, most of the churches in the area are dealing with some serious problems, not the least of which is the problem of being outmoded. She feels that alot of churches are stuck in outdated, old ways of doing ministry that don't work anymore, but they're not sure how to bridge the gap between their old-fashioned faith and the new way of adapting to (without conforming to) the newer generations. Their other big problem is not having energetic leaders who are solid in their faith--apparently there's no shortage of people who are self-proclaimed "pastors" but are actually not that strong in their faith and are susceptible to being assimilated into society or borderline false teaching.

The hike to the Third Falls was much easier, although muddier. The landscape changed again, but this time to grassy, blackberry-vine-covered rocks. Although the trail was more narrow, it was in a wider creekbed and wasn't nearly as steep. The Third Falls were the smallest of the three, but I think I liked them best. It is a path not often traveled because people assume the trails continue to get harder the higher up you go, so it's more secluded and less crowded.

We took the other side of the valley on the way back, and we got some breathtaking scenic overviews and passed by a red cave in the side of the hill. When we passed by our koala friend on our way out, he hadn't moved an inch. An hour and a half later, and he was still sound asleep in a tree about 20 feet off the ground. Lazy bum.

Kate and I went out for lunch and then she took me on an hour and a half long drive through parts of Adelaide. We drove by the beach, through some small towns that have recently been assimilated into Adelaide's suburbs, and past some of the industrial areas in Port Adelaide. She told me all about the way Adelaide is designed and how it works, and we drove the scenic backroads route to the Johnsons. We had a merry old time, and I think next time we're going to hike the harder, steeper trails around Morialty...or maybe we'll just go to the nicer south end of the beach.

When I got back to the house, I was nearly tackled by the kids. We had a good time reading books and doing puzzles until dinner time. Ella, another one of the 20-something girls in the area, came by for dinner, and she, Michelle, Evan, and I had a rousing conversation about American politics vs. Australian politics and how the Church needs to be more community-focused. I told them about the Paul-Barnabas-Timothy model of discipleship, and they all really enjoyed hearing how that has been put into practice at Trinity (my home church). The entire time, the CD of Louisiana music that I gave the Johnsons was playing in the other room, and it was a little taste of home for me. :)