Tiffany Gray: Somewhere Down Under the Rainbow

I’m on a spontaneous bus trip with three of my best friends heading to a local treasure, Wilson’s Promontory, also known as Wilson’s Prom. It isn’t widely advertised. Often, it is overshadowed by many of the incredible things to do in Victoria, especially in Melbourne. However, if you look hard enough, you can find a forty-dollar bus pass for a one-day trip complete with your own tour guide, just like my best friend, Sarah, did. Upon proposing this inexpensive adventure to my two other friends and me, she was met with three immediate yeses, and a couple of days later we found ourselves occupying the seats of a small, old bus heading towards a place none of us had ever heard of before, and we could not have been more excited. 

We left the city early in the morning and drove for about three hours until we reached Wilson’s Prom, singing along to “Here Comes the Sun” and “I Can See Clearly Now” (the driver seemed to have a climate-themed playlist to match the dreary day). 

We took a few wrong turns along the way which made the trip a little bit longer, but once we finally arrived, we were instructed that we would be going on a hike to the top of one of the mountains after a quick stop to Squeaky Beach. I uttered a giggle at the name and wondered why it was given such a title. As soon as I stepped foot on the beach I understood. Squeaky Beach was exactly as the name would imply. If you shuffled your feet in just the right manner, the sand would squeak. It was an incredibly satisfying and funny feeling! We explored the beach for an hour, shuffling our feet and laughing as we went along, until it was time to hike.

 It had just rained earlier in the day, making the climb up to the top of the mountain extra difficult. As we hiked, the mud made us slide and nearly fall on our faces. I couldn’t tell which was hurting more, my legs from the physical labor, or my cheeks from laughing so hard. After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the summit. The view we were met with could never be adequately summed up into words. 

Sarah and Me at the Summit

As we explored the area, we continued to find breathtaking views at every turn. There was a section of the summit, where the trees broke, leading to a rocky opening overlooking where the highway ends and is replaced with sand and sea. I climbed to the top of one of the rocks and sat for a while, watching the waves crash and noticing the occasional car make its scenic drive on the neighboring roads. As I sat there, I thought about how lucky I was. Not only to be in one of the most beautiful places in one of the most beautiful countries, but to be surrounded by people who brought it to life. I was in an awe-inspiring place with three of the people I had grown so close with and loved so dearly. We had a tour guide who so obviously adored his job so much and had such a strong desire to share the beauty of this place. 

As I sat there and felt the wind and listened to the waves, I felt at peace. I wondered why every day couldn’t be like this forty-dollar excursion had been. Why I couldn’t always laugh at something as small as grains of sand making unusual noises, or why my cheeks couldn’t always hurt as a source of my humorous struggles. It made me sad to think about ever leaving that rock, until I realized that even after I left the Prom I could always keep the memory with me, my attitude could stay the same. I realized that life has never been solely about the place you’re in, but more importantly the person you are when you’re in it and who you’re with. With the right mindset, and partners, I could make any and every place feel like that rock at Wilson’s Prom did. 

The Rainbow

After some time, I wandered back to the summit entry point and reunited with the rest of the group. As we gazed out over the treetops, we noticed a rainbow that had formed in the sky. Feeling inspired the guide promptly used his backpack speaker to play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which only added to our ambient joy as we prepared for our trip back down the mountain. As the sun was setting, and our feet were sliding, we all sang along to the sounds of an ukulele as it strummed melodies about a wonderful land somewhere way up high. I couldn’t help but feel like this place may have been where that song was talking about. 

Once we reached the ground, we boarded the bus and set out for the journey back to Melbourne. We listened as the tour guide told stories about his pet wombat and all of the adventures they had together, until he put the bus in park three hours later. Once we stopped, he inquired if we had all enjoyed our time at the Prom to which we all vigorously nodded out heads. Pleased with that response, he then informed us of a secret he has been keeping the entire trip. It was his first ever tour to the Wilson’s Prom. All of the wrong turns he had taken in the beginning of the trip were the result of him not being sure of where he was going the entire time. We were all shocked given how flawlessly and incredible we had perceived the day, and in a way slightly relieved to have made it there and back safely. More than anything, though, we felt as though this revelation fit seamlessly into the spontaneous nature of not only the day trip, but the abroad experience as a whole. Our trip to Wilson’s Promontory was the embodiment of what my time abroad had taught me. Over the course of four months, I had learned that my best memories came from moments when I stopped trying to hold onto the order and control in my life and allowed myself to simply accept adventures as they presented themselves. 

Squeaky Beach

Tiffany is a senior psychology major from Greenville, SC. She studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia at Deakin University (Burwood Campus) for the Spring of 2017 semester. Upon graduating from Lander in May of 2018, she will be attending Western Carolina University to pursue her Master's in Communication Sciences and Disorders.