Happy belated Easter! Hope the bunny visited everyone. For my break, we went up north for five days and camped in the bush with an aborigine tour company. It was quite an experience, none of us had watches on so we got up when the sun rose (usually around 5:45ish) and went to bed with the moon.
Our night was spent at the University of Notre Dame in Broome because we got in late and our campsite was 5 hours away. That night we went down to a little beach known as Cable Beach which holds the title of third largest tide changes in the world (a difference of about 10 meters). We got there just after low tide – at low low tide you can walk down and see dinosaur prints in the sandstone.
The next day started early with getting everything and everybody ready to go up north. We waited for our convoy of 5 vehicles to arrive and then we were off. I was in Maria’s car which had two little dogs – score! We stopped by another beach before leaving country to meet with a tour guide that showed us the beach and told us the creation story of aborigines (that was the beach where they came from).
After the tour, we made one final stop where we could get an ice-cream before starting off North. The journey was long but pretty exciting. About three hours of it was on a dirt road, a very red, bumpy road. One the way up we stopped at Beagle Bay which was where some children from the Stolen Generations (Australia had a policy where they took half-caste children away from communities and put them in these camps where they were “Westernized”) were taken to. We saw the church they had there which was decorated in pearl shells. It was pretty cool, save for the fact it was originally used to assimilate aboriginal children.
The week was a very busy one. Our facilitators kept us very busy. First we had to set up tents and after a mishap with the tent I was in, I ended up in a single (the tent broke and they only had a double and single left – I wasn’t causing trouble, I promise).
The days included going mudcrabbing in the morning on the tidal flats, having chats with locals in the afternoon, building boomerangs and spears, and doing some recapping at night. The days were quite full and hard to keep track what we did each day.
It’s hard to really describe the trip adequately so instead I give you the spark note edition:
-Saw a gum shark. It came right up to the coast we were at (none of us were in the water)
-Had Easter Mass on the shoreline looking out into the ocean. Pretty cool.
-Learned a lot about the aboriginal culture and how it relates today. A highlight of the trip
-Saw footprints in the sandstone that were ~7,000 years old. They were the case-breaker when the aborigines were fighting with the gov’t over land rights (it was their proof that they lived there before the white settlement came).
-Learned how to make a boomerang and spear. Really hard work! And I don’t think the boomerang we made will ever experience the rush of air beneath its wings. Boomerangs up in the Kimberly’s were used in ceremonies and war. In other parts they were used in hunting kangaroos (the bush is too thick up north to hunt with them).
-When to Rumble Bay where we mudcrabbed and learned a technique of fishing using rock walls and roots. The aborigines made walls of rocks to form small pools when the tides went down so that they could collect fish. The roots were grinded in a powder and mixed in mud and put in the water which caused the big fish to jump out of the pool. Literally. We saw a fish come to the surface and jump out of the water where it was simply picked up. Ridiculous.
-We ended our trip with a trip to the store for ice-cream and went to a beach resort to see sunset. One of the best sunsets I have ever really seen. There’s something very special up here with the land. I can’t even describe the red rock, but it’s gorgeous. And the skies are the bluest I have ever seen a sky before. Amazing country.
-We also had a boomerang competition, I didn’t win...
It was quite an experience to have. There are a lot of similarities with the Native Americans and the Aborigines and there are a lot of differences. It’s nice to have a bit of a reference point but at the same time; you really don’t know what’s going on until you talk to the people. A very cool way to spend Easter.
Hope all is well in the states. I have two months left of school here and I’ll be home in three months. Pretty weird to think how long I’ve been here, it’s going by pretty quick.
Take Care,
Our night was spent at the University of Notre Dame in Broome because we got in late and our campsite was 5 hours away. That night we went down to a little beach known as Cable Beach which holds the title of third largest tide changes in the world (a difference of about 10 meters). We got there just after low tide – at low low tide you can walk down and see dinosaur prints in the sandstone.
The next day started early with getting everything and everybody ready to go up north. We waited for our convoy of 5 vehicles to arrive and then we were off. I was in Maria’s car which had two little dogs – score! We stopped by another beach before leaving country to meet with a tour guide that showed us the beach and told us the creation story of aborigines (that was the beach where they came from).
After the tour, we made one final stop where we could get an ice-cream before starting off North. The journey was long but pretty exciting. About three hours of it was on a dirt road, a very red, bumpy road. One the way up we stopped at Beagle Bay which was where some children from the Stolen Generations (Australia had a policy where they took half-caste children away from communities and put them in these camps where they were “Westernized”) were taken to. We saw the church they had there which was decorated in pearl shells. It was pretty cool, save for the fact it was originally used to assimilate aboriginal children.
The week was a very busy one. Our facilitators kept us very busy. First we had to set up tents and after a mishap with the tent I was in, I ended up in a single (the tent broke and they only had a double and single left – I wasn’t causing trouble, I promise).
The days included going mudcrabbing in the morning on the tidal flats, having chats with locals in the afternoon, building boomerangs and spears, and doing some recapping at night. The days were quite full and hard to keep track what we did each day.
It’s hard to really describe the trip adequately so instead I give you the spark note edition:
-Saw a gum shark. It came right up to the coast we were at (none of us were in the water)
-Had Easter Mass on the shoreline looking out into the ocean. Pretty cool.
-Learned a lot about the aboriginal culture and how it relates today. A highlight of the trip
-Saw footprints in the sandstone that were ~7,000 years old. They were the case-breaker when the aborigines were fighting with the gov’t over land rights (it was their proof that they lived there before the white settlement came).
-Learned how to make a boomerang and spear. Really hard work! And I don’t think the boomerang we made will ever experience the rush of air beneath its wings. Boomerangs up in the Kimberly’s were used in ceremonies and war. In other parts they were used in hunting kangaroos (the bush is too thick up north to hunt with them).
-When to Rumble Bay where we mudcrabbed and learned a technique of fishing using rock walls and roots. The aborigines made walls of rocks to form small pools when the tides went down so that they could collect fish. The roots were grinded in a powder and mixed in mud and put in the water which caused the big fish to jump out of the pool. Literally. We saw a fish come to the surface and jump out of the water where it was simply picked up. Ridiculous.
-We ended our trip with a trip to the store for ice-cream and went to a beach resort to see sunset. One of the best sunsets I have ever really seen. There’s something very special up here with the land. I can’t even describe the red rock, but it’s gorgeous. And the skies are the bluest I have ever seen a sky before. Amazing country.
-We also had a boomerang competition, I didn’t win...
It was quite an experience to have. There are a lot of similarities with the Native Americans and the Aborigines and there are a lot of differences. It’s nice to have a bit of a reference point but at the same time; you really don’t know what’s going on until you talk to the people. A very cool way to spend Easter.
Hope all is well in the states. I have two months left of school here and I’ll be home in three months. Pretty weird to think how long I’ve been here, it’s going by pretty quick.
Take Care,
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