I broke these up into two posts because I'm very long-winded anyway and had a lot to say and didn't want everyone getting bored.
hi. here's an update. last Saturday (the 7th) we embarked on our 6 day field trip to Mutawintji National Park and the town of Broken Hill, both located north of here in western New South Wales.
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| notice the lack of roads leading to Mutawintji. this becomes important later in the story. |
since Mutawintji is obviously in the middle of the Outback, the only contact you have with the outside world while there is via a really intense-looking satellite phone, and if you need medical attention you have to rely on something called the flying doctors service. that sounds almost more frightening than whatever illness or injury might befall someone, and thankfully we didn't have to call
them using our satellite phone. so let me back up. our original plan was to travel to Broken Hill for 2 days and nights and then continue onward to Mutawintji for the remainder of the field trip, but when our trip coordinator heard about the potential for rain during the latter half of our trip, he opted to swap these two segments, so on the 7th, off to Mutawintji we went.
we arrived at sunset, only allowing time to snap a few photos before the sun went completely down. once the sun disappears at Mutawintji, though, is when the real beauty begins. we were so far away from civilization that we had an unimpeded view of the night sky. stunning does not even describe the view. the Milky Way was clearly visible as a bright smear of stars overheard, and within this pattern we could discern the shape of an emu, as Aboriginals throughout the area have been observing for thousands of years. the Aboriginal people do not use stars in the "connect-the-dots" method we are used to in the West for viewing constellations. instead, they find the shapes of figures, including the emu, in the dark spaces between the stars. my star pictures didn't turn out well enough to show up on this blog but I'll find a copy of someone else's and post it soon.
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| sunset |
while star-gazing, we also got to work making our dinner. using fresh curry ground on site by one of my fellow students, we (well,
they--I was looking at stars) made a beef curry stew using a traditional Indian preparation, and a complementary vegetable stew in a Thai style. served with rice and a dollop of Greek yogurt to offset the spice, it was one of the best meals I have had while here.
early the next morning I was one of 4 who actually woke up early to join one of our instructors to take photographs
at dawn. if you know me and are reading this, you know it's completely uncharacteristic of me to do this. however, 1) you're only in the Outback once and, more likely, 2) since 6 am here means 3pm at home, that's my body's typical wake up time. later in the morning, we had the rare opportunity to visit the restricted area of the park, known as the historic site of Mutawintji. again, backing up. in the mid 20th century, Mutawintji National Park was a recreational park under the control of the government of Australia, allowing people to visit and camp at will throughout the park. the problem with this set up, however, was Mutawintji's place among Aboriginal people as a sacred place honoring their creation story, and the site of many important spiritual rituals and festivals. there are restricted areas throughout what is now the historic site that are either male or female only that were being completely (although probably unwittingly) disrespected by park visitors. eventually, the Aboriginals had had enough, and physically blocked the entrance to the park until the state agreed to turn control over to them. now, the park welcomes visitors to enjoy its scenery, but access into the historic site is restricted only to those (such as ourselves) who are led in by an Aboriginal guide.
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| dawn-ish. one of my later shots. |
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| fun fact: I ate these. |
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| prehistoric Aboriginal cave art |
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| our guide for the tour. we never knew him by any other name but Smacka, and he said he got that nickname when he was a teenager because of how hard he hit while playing rugby. |
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| more art. see the emu? |
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| the bone of some unfortunate creature. |
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| prehistoric tools |
after we returned to camp from the historic site, we then set off toward the opposite side of the park to explore a deep and rocky gorge. throughout the outback, the earth is pretty dry, with only a few springs appearing now and then. but when it rains, it pours, and dry creek beds are suddenly filled with a torrent of rushing water. one of these creek beds connects to this deep gorge, and in the very back of the gorge it is deep enough that water remains almost permanently. because of this dampness, climbing around on the rocks, through which there is no clear path, was a little hazardous, but the views were totally worth it.
exhausted, we came back to camp around dusk and enjoyed socializing by the fire until I was approached by one of our Aboriginal guides, my best friend Peter, to
cut up raw kangaroo for dinner. well obviously I said yes. it was gross and weird, but if I got over the fact that it was kangaroo it wasn't too bad. when I was washing the knives and boards (PS: can I just say that I have not eaten out of a dish since I've been here that wasn't washed by hand? it's a miracle I haven't been hospitalized), I felt one of the knives barely poke one of my fingers, and although it was painless, I looked down and blood was all over my hand. cool. now I'm going to get horrific communicable diseases from unwashed dishes AND have my finger amputated. anyway our heroic bus driver (as you will see later) bandaged my finger up and it has healed without incident.
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| War Eagle to that. |
once the kangaroo was cooking over hot coals, we all took turns making Johnny cakes, which are flat breads made of just flour and water and actually taste pretty good; I had like 6. eventually dinner was ready and I got to try kangaroo for the first time. it's a lean red meat, so it was vaguely similar to a cheap steak but with a drier texture. much improved when I put ketchup on it. classy, right?
to be continued...
