Part 4
Alice Springs, International cuisine night, and Adelaide...
On our way back to the city after a 5:45am hike out of Ornistor Gorge, we stopped at the Alice Springs Desert Park. There were examples of different desert environments, lots of animals (including more than a few endangered and vulnerable species), and a nocturnal room where we could see the critters who might be up and moving around our tarps at night in the bush. A lot of us also watch a birds of prey show.
We saw a bunch of these in the wild, too.
I also went with Sarah and Gad to a demonstration by an Aboriginal man on the medicines that the bush offers. Most of our group showed up, and I'm glad other people were able to share the experience, because he went through a huge number of plants and what can be done with them. Then, and this was unscheduled, he summarized the whole Tjukurpa, the Law. I tried to remember as much as I could, but it was so involved... He told us how Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and King's Canyon were formed, as well as several other mythical geological formations. He talked about the Seven Sisters and the man who chased them and seduced them with his powers, of the boys who followed the sisters... and then, of the Mala, who interrupted another tribe's Inma (ceremony) on Uluru by sending a monster, all because their own invitation had been turned down. It was incredible, he drew the stories in the red dirt and I wished I'd had a tape recorder, but I know that I wouldn't have felt right recording such magic if I'd had one anyway.
After leaving the Desert Park, we had the afternoon to ourselves in Alice Springs. Some people went to museums and such, but I just took a nap and then walked around the city with a few people before doing some grocery shopping. I made fajitas for Sarah, Paulina, and myself, and we drank some wine while we ate. Then Noah and Hai-Yang showed up and we started playing cards. Then other people came back from a didjeridoo concert, and they started playing cards (and drinking wine) with us as well. We soon tired of the hostel and went out to conquer Alice Springs. Up until that night, I honestly hadn't understood the city's appeal. Yeah, they've got stores, and they're in the middle of nowhere. Amazing. But yaknow, it is pretty spectacular. We found a dance club. In the middle of the fucking outback. We danced our asses of, in fact, for a few hours, with plenty of other people. This wasn't a well-lit mostly-local pub like in Coober Pedy. It was really fun.
We drove the entire following day, and bush camped that night. We had an international cuisine dinner, with everyone splitting off into their own ethnic groups to cook something for everyone to taste.
Noah, Sarah, and I made two monstrous Philly cheesesteaks, which were delicious considering the tiny methylated spirit-powered stove ("Trangia") we cooked the filling on.
So much good food. Desserts, too. It would have been nice to have done the whole thing in a hostel with stoves, running water and a proper dishwashing station, but it was fun (and tasty) nonetheless.
We woke up to another long stretch of driving, though we arrived in Adelaide relatively early. Oh, Adelaide, where to start? We didn't have time to do much more than a quick tour of the city before dinner.
Mom, Dad, you should probably just stop reading here. ^_~
As it was our last night together and we'd all grown quite close at this point, we decided to all go out to a restaurant together. The 25 of us (Andy and Maiken included) went to a Chinese restaurant that was BYO. The food was inexpensive and great, and each table shared all its courses. And our table, at least, shared wine. Let's just say that we started out with 9 bottles of wine for 8 of us drinking (and only five of us seriously drinking), and still had to hop across the street for another few (okay, four) bottles.
Hey, we were celebrating! It was Julien's birthday!
After dinner, things got a bit hazy. But, I know that we all had a great time. At least, Jens, Thomas, me, Lili, and Julien appear to be having a good time here...
Jorg, me, and Mi are pretty happy...
Sarah, Noah, me, Paulina, and Elyana...
Okay, so in Adelaide, Andy saw Hai-Yang playing cards with us (drinking orange juice) and he told Hai-Yang to take care that we don't corrupt him. Whoops!
And this might be one of my favorite discovered photos ever, because I certainly do not remember doing this. And apparently there's a videotape somewhere, too? I don't know. Johannes is obsessed with bush dancing and was clearly teaching me and Julien how to be a kangaroos.
So that was our last night together, and we returned to Melbourne around 6pm the next day. The places we went and the things we saw were great, but the people really made the trip what it was. I never thought we'd all get along so well, and Andy even said that not only were we the most diverse group he'd ever had, but we'd also bonded the most. There was a reunion party on Saturday, but I couldn't go because I was in Sydney (I know, I know, I'll get those pics up as soon as I can). I think Noah and I might try to host a beirut night in UniLodge, because that's another American tradition that not everyone's been introduced to. It's nice just running into people on campus, though, and knowing that I have 20-something more friends here than I did a few weeks ago. I'm sure I won't see all of them again before I leave, but I will genuinely miss everyone when I go back to the States. I won't miss the flies, though!
On our way back to the city after a 5:45am hike out of Ornistor Gorge, we stopped at the Alice Springs Desert Park. There were examples of different desert environments, lots of animals (including more than a few endangered and vulnerable species), and a nocturnal room where we could see the critters who might be up and moving around our tarps at night in the bush. A lot of us also watch a birds of prey show.
We saw a bunch of these in the wild, too.
I also went with Sarah and Gad to a demonstration by an Aboriginal man on the medicines that the bush offers. Most of our group showed up, and I'm glad other people were able to share the experience, because he went through a huge number of plants and what can be done with them. Then, and this was unscheduled, he summarized the whole Tjukurpa, the Law. I tried to remember as much as I could, but it was so involved... He told us how Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and King's Canyon were formed, as well as several other mythical geological formations. He talked about the Seven Sisters and the man who chased them and seduced them with his powers, of the boys who followed the sisters... and then, of the Mala, who interrupted another tribe's Inma (ceremony) on Uluru by sending a monster, all because their own invitation had been turned down. It was incredible, he drew the stories in the red dirt and I wished I'd had a tape recorder, but I know that I wouldn't have felt right recording such magic if I'd had one anyway.
After leaving the Desert Park, we had the afternoon to ourselves in Alice Springs. Some people went to museums and such, but I just took a nap and then walked around the city with a few people before doing some grocery shopping. I made fajitas for Sarah, Paulina, and myself, and we drank some wine while we ate. Then Noah and Hai-Yang showed up and we started playing cards. Then other people came back from a didjeridoo concert, and they started playing cards (and drinking wine) with us as well. We soon tired of the hostel and went out to conquer Alice Springs. Up until that night, I honestly hadn't understood the city's appeal. Yeah, they've got stores, and they're in the middle of nowhere. Amazing. But yaknow, it is pretty spectacular. We found a dance club. In the middle of the fucking outback. We danced our asses of, in fact, for a few hours, with plenty of other people. This wasn't a well-lit mostly-local pub like in Coober Pedy. It was really fun.
We drove the entire following day, and bush camped that night. We had an international cuisine dinner, with everyone splitting off into their own ethnic groups to cook something for everyone to taste.
Noah, Sarah, and I made two monstrous Philly cheesesteaks, which were delicious considering the tiny methylated spirit-powered stove ("Trangia") we cooked the filling on.
So much good food. Desserts, too. It would have been nice to have done the whole thing in a hostel with stoves, running water and a proper dishwashing station, but it was fun (and tasty) nonetheless.
We woke up to another long stretch of driving, though we arrived in Adelaide relatively early. Oh, Adelaide, where to start? We didn't have time to do much more than a quick tour of the city before dinner.
Mom, Dad, you should probably just stop reading here. ^_~
As it was our last night together and we'd all grown quite close at this point, we decided to all go out to a restaurant together. The 25 of us (Andy and Maiken included) went to a Chinese restaurant that was BYO. The food was inexpensive and great, and each table shared all its courses. And our table, at least, shared wine. Let's just say that we started out with 9 bottles of wine for 8 of us drinking (and only five of us seriously drinking), and still had to hop across the street for another few (okay, four) bottles.
Hey, we were celebrating! It was Julien's birthday!
After dinner, things got a bit hazy. But, I know that we all had a great time. At least, Jens, Thomas, me, Lili, and Julien appear to be having a good time here...
Jorg, me, and Mi are pretty happy...
Sarah, Noah, me, Paulina, and Elyana...
Okay, so in Adelaide, Andy saw Hai-Yang playing cards with us (drinking orange juice) and he told Hai-Yang to take care that we don't corrupt him. Whoops!
And this might be one of my favorite discovered photos ever, because I certainly do not remember doing this. And apparently there's a videotape somewhere, too? I don't know. Johannes is obsessed with bush dancing and was clearly teaching me and Julien how to be a kangaroos.
So that was our last night together, and we returned to Melbourne around 6pm the next day. The places we went and the things we saw were great, but the people really made the trip what it was. I never thought we'd all get along so well, and Andy even said that not only were we the most diverse group he'd ever had, but we'd also bonded the most. There was a reunion party on Saturday, but I couldn't go because I was in Sydney (I know, I know, I'll get those pics up as soon as I can). I think Noah and I might try to host a beirut night in UniLodge, because that's another American tradition that not everyone's been introduced to. It's nice just running into people on campus, though, and knowing that I have 20-something more friends here than I did a few weeks ago. I'm sure I won't see all of them again before I leave, but I will genuinely miss everyone when I go back to the States. I won't miss the flies, though!