Chrystal Waters Adventures

We arrived in Chrystal Waters on January 12^th after an hour and a half drive from the Brisbane airport (which was a very scenic, and beautiful drive). It’s amazing how remote you feel here, but in all reality we are only about 20-30 minutes drive away from town and just an hour and a half from Brisbane… Chrystal Waters are absolutely beautiful; as soon as we pulled in we were greeted by a group of kangaroos and wallabies. I was so excited, as these were our first real encounters with Australian wildlife. As soon as I got off the bus I realized that Off Insect Repellent was going to quickly become my new best friend. We were brought to our bunkhouse by Max who is himself a resident of Chrystal Waters, and absolutely wonderful! Katie, Taylor, and myself headed out on a Kuala hunt right away but had no luck; and still haven’t! :/ But I have not given up yet!!! We settled in and had a wonderful first dinner together and explored the area a bit more. On the 13^th we enjoyed a nice long walk throughout the whole east side of Chrystal Waters… We picked potatoes, walked thru a cow and hoarse pasture, walked along a beautiful creek, and had some good group bonding. Zelynne fell on a morning walk and had to go to the hospital where she got 9 stitches… poor thing!! We enjoyed some yummy spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner and headed out on a night walk. At one point along the walk Max had us turn off all of our flashlights and he lead us thru the forest… Talk about a trust building experience! We were all pretty scared but got thru it and it was crazy how fast our eyes adjusted to the darkness and before no time we could see pretty well. On the 14^th we enjoyed a walk thru the west side of Chrystal Waters and found a bamboo forest, which was AWESOME!!! We followed along the creek again and found some mini horses, lots more roo’s, wallabies, and much more wildlife. I’m loving it here, and slowly overcoming my lifelong fears of insects… I have learned a lot about sustainability and about how Chrystal Waters work together as a community and has created an economy within its boundaries. It is extremely fascinating.