outback

We got back from the outback trip yesterday! It was so cool. We left on tuesday morning & arrived in a tiny town around lunchtime. As we drove, the scenery changed from tropical rainforest to dry savannah. We drove by some kangaroos, a ton of eucalypt trees, etc. It was a bumpy road in our 3 vans. We got to the first place- the town of Chillagoe- and we went to the campsite. It was really hot & dry-- much hotter than the centre in the rainforest. There was a tiny above-ground pool there, & most of us jumped in to cool off after setting up tents. Different birds, plants, etc. were there, and that was fun to see. We had some field lectures wandering around the area. It used to be a huge mining area, and now used for tourism. The next day we went into some huge underground caves. so much fun. exploring underground- so many secret passageways. In the first cave we went through some tunnels to get to the opening, so it got completely dark w/out flashlights. We saw some bats & even sat still in the darkness for a few minutes. It was completely silent. No birds, no cars, no heaters whirring... silence. It wasn't as hot as the outside & was so peaceful. The second cave had openings at the top, so you could see it all a lot better w/out flashlights, and that was nice too. Huge opening on the inside. It was so crazy to think that we were inside a mountain. After the caves (& lunch & swimming in the river) we drove to the next site in the outback we were staying. The site of one tribe led by Uncle Tom. We arrived there after a bumpy road, and met all the people there. It's the Aussie schools' break right now, so a bunch of boys were there- ranging from elementary school through high school. Maybe 10 of them? We set up camp, made dinner (bbq! excellent.), they set up 2 fires & then did dances. The didgeridoo was played & the rest of them did dances. Most of them were animal dances. The didgeridoo player did a bit for us that was kind of a little skit- a guy walking down the road, cars passing, hearing animals... & he did the sounds so well using the didgeridoo! very fun. Then they opened the mic up to anyone, so one prof's wife played her flute for a bit, a couple people sang, we had a couple do gymnastic flips... it was really fun. Then we sat around the fires for a long time. I really do love staring into fires. We played ghost & some funny word games after chatting for a while. Sleep outside under the stars- no tent for me that night. so nice. The next morning we had bfast, packed up, & heard from Uncle Tom about how he got this land back from the government for the tribe, certain cultural practices, etc. We were told about the boomerangs, knocking sticks (what's the term... some percussion thing), & we could buy them. Then they taught us how to throw boomerangs & hunting spears. It was funny... I was pretty bad. It would take practice. Uncle Tom then took us for a tour around the property & it was so hot. very hot. Lunch, drive back to the centre (after a stop in a town- Mareeba), shower/unpack/etc. Now a bunch of academic stuff is due soon. Bird quiz tomorrow, paper due tuesday, presentation due monday, etc. Hopefully it won't be too bad, though. Sunday we're planning on doing a day hike! I'm excited. I should probably get back to studying the birds for the quiz tomorrow... fun times.