Australian Adventure


My family and I have traveled to many distant countries in my young life. We have had many exciting adventures. But the one that stands out the most happened just a few months ago in Australia.

My dad likes to plan out of the ordinary things to do on trips. He doesn’t like the usual tourist attractions. On our trip to Australia, we couldn’t just hang around the beach or hotel.
My dad had planned a day in the rainforest with a guide. His name was Pete, and he looked like he had just stepped out of an African safari. We were with our family friends, The Bloxberg family.
Pete picked us up early one morning in a Range Rover that looked like it had been through some tough trips. We climbed in his truck and took off. My dad and family friend drove behind us. We drove for hours and then got to a river with a car ferry. We drove onto the ferry. Pete told us that the river was infested with crocodiles and that somebody had recently been eaten by one of the crocs. We were a little nervous. We made it across and he parked.
We were at the edge of the rainforest. Pete started picking what looked like flowers from the trees. He put them in his mouth and ate them. So we ate them too! They tasted like pears, but looked like mini apples.
As we walked deeper into the forest, we noticed that we were the only people around. He said that only he knew about this spot. We just kept following him deeper and deeper into the rainforest. Who was this guy? And why are we following him?

My friend, Allie screamed that there were green ants crawling on her shoe. Pete just smiled and picked one up and threw it in his mouth. We all stared at him in awe. He laughed and said it tasted like sour apple candy. My brother, Sam thought it was so cool, he picked one up and ate it too. Pete told us to each get an ant. No way was I going to eat an ant! He said that we should all lick the ants butts! He explained that one ant’s butt holds three days of vitamin C. Sam licked the butt and said, 'yum, I want to do it again!' Pete encouraged us all to do it. Sam didn’t pass out or die, so I tried it. It was gooood! Everyone started picking up ants and licking them. We all liked it. Sam was busy picking up as many as he could and licking and eating them.
After everyone had a taste of the green ants, Pete walked us even deeper into the rainforest. He showed us how you can make many things out of plants and trees in the rainforest. Pete taught us how to make things like toothbrushes out of the stems of flowers, and floss out passenger moss. He said he could also cure a cold by using certain plants. Since I had a bit of a cold myself, I asked if he could cure my stuffy, runny nose. He said he could, and what he did was mush a bunch of green ants on his finger. He told me to smell the scent the ants left and it would cure me. I did what he said, and within a few minutes, my nose began to clear up! It felt good to breathe again.

More hours passed, and Pete wasn’t done with our tour yet. He pointed out the rainforest’s amazing creatures. We saw a huge spider with a perfect web that terrified me. I quickly ran away from that. As I ran away, I stopped when I saw what was in front of me. A rushing river! I could not believe when Pete said we were going to cross it. We all slowly made our way across. The water was freezing cold.
By the time we got back to the truck, we were all dripping wet, and our shoes were covered in slimy, brown, mud. We all piled into the car and we were off. Within a few minutes, Pete stopped. We all confusedly stepped out of the truck to see why we had stopped. My jaw dropped to see a big truck stuck in a river! Pete and my dad ran over to help the panicked driver get his car out. After twenty minutes, the truck drove across and it was now our turn to cross. Pete pressed the gas pedal and we zoomed across the rocky water. We did it!
Pete stopped in front of another river. Pete told us that across the river, waiting for us was a watering hole, where we would swim and have lunch. To reach the site, we had to forge a choppy river, so we all carried a cooler of food and made our way across.
When we got to the campground, my brother, our friends and I all jumped into the water. There were vines hanging in the water from the trees and we swung around in circles on them.
Soon, the parents called us in to eat. The food was so good that all of us cleaned all our plates. When we were done and cleaned up the place, we all walked back to the truck, and said goodbye to the rainforest.

My rainforest adventure was extremely fun and I will never forget it!


Hannah (11 years)