Camping, part one

This is the first of three entries that I wrote while on our camping trip. Please make sure you read all three.

I am not going to upload any photos at the moment; it'll be easier at the Global Gossip location in Sydney. So watch for those tomorrow.

--charlie


May 18-19
Alice Springs
Sunny, mild, clear

Currently, we are riding on the coach on our way to Uluru. We just left Noel Fullerton's Camel Farm, where we had our morning breakfast and restroom break. We've stopped there several times over the years; it's a very welcome sight on the lonely Stuart Highway. Students can go for a camel ride, or just wander about in the animal sanctuary. There's a pet dingo, and many magpies and galahs hanging about. But I want to write more about our two days in Alice Springs first, so I'll return to our camping trip later.

Our first evening included a concert given by Andrew Langford at his home shop, Sounds of Starlight, on the Todd Mall. A small didgeridoo shop fronts for a larger studio theatre, where Andrew and his two percussionist sidemen give a very nice concert lasting about 90 minutes. The concert includes a light show and a slide show, as well as the opportunity to interact with the musicians either by playing a didgeridoo or a percussion instrument. I was a maraca. Andrew displays a good knowledge of the indigenous people in the area, and freely acknowledges that the didgeridoo is not an instrument played by the language groups near and south of Alice Springs. Nevertheless, his concert reflects the creative artistic spirit that one sees expressed in many ways in Central Australia.

The second day was our tour. It was a little disorganized, as the tour company had one of their coaches break down and could not easily accommodate a group our size otherwise. I had to attend to another matter, and so missed out on the Desert Park, catching up with the group at lunch.

Sometimes, the 'can do' attitude leads to problems. A group of 25 showing up at a small eatery with little warning can create problems, especially if that group is on a schedule. Such was the case for this poor restaurant. They had very nice food, and the setting was a pleasant outdoor patio, but there was one table server and one cook, so we lost a lot of time at lunch. Our stops at the Telegraph Station, the School of the Air, the Royal Flying Doctors, and ANZAC Hill were therefore rushed.

The Telegraph Station is a living history museum adjoining a public park. When we arrived, there were many school children having an outing. One of the students started playing 'catch' with some of the Aboriginal youths who had a rugby ball. They were kicking it as much as throwing it, of course. The children were packing up to go, and we had our schedule to keep, so the catch game was frustratingly short, but it was nice to see even that small a connection made.

Our students arrived at the station in time to have a guided tour of the buildings. The telegraph station was one of several repeaters that linked Adelaide (and therefore early urban Australia) to Darwin. Darwin was linked to Asia via underwater lines, and so Australia was ultimately linked by telegraph back to mother England. Information from the central government could reach the Australian Outback in a matter of hours rather than weeks.

That we were rushed at The School of the Air was probably the biggest disappointment to me, since this stop is the one that resonates with students the most often. Certainly our education majors get a lot out of the brief visit to the nerve center of this unique school system. The School of the Air began as a side function of the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS). The RFDS mission is to provide emergency medical care and transport, requiring radio. A teacher recognized that the radios, when not being used for medical emergencies, could be used as an educational aide for the children on the remote cattle stations or communities. After operating this way for some years, the School of the Air got its own frequencies and funding. It's been providing this service now for over 50 years, and have recently switched from radio to broadband satellite internet. It's a marvelous service, and, for those of us who sometimes get a little jaded with our huge educational industry in the State, drives home the point of just how important it really is to help our children everywhere learn as much as they can.

We do visit the RFDS centre as well. There were two emergency medical transports in progress while we were there, underscoring the importance of the service. The presentation consists of a short video, and Q&A session. They also have a small museum, gift shop, and grill. They are funded mostly from donations, including the ones they receive at centres like this one. I always drop most of my change into the bin when I visit -- I might need them before the day is over!

Our tour was a little taxed by the small bus we had to work with, so a few of us walked to ANZAC Hill to end the day. The view of Alice and the surrounding area is quite nice; the climb is well worth it. We could see what appeared to be controlled burns in the distance, as well as the portion of the MacDonnell range that are called the Caterpillars by the indigenous peoples.

The hill is located just north of the Todd Mall, so after a short walk down and some time at an internet stop (where I put in the previous short entry), I met my colleague and some students for a pleasant evening dinner at Keller's, a restaurant that features Swiss cuisine and Indian cuisine, an odd mix. I had beef vindaloo, a spicy beef stew (like yours, Dad, but a lot spicier) served with rice. A very pleasant way to end the day.

It is now midmorning; we've been on the road for a few hours. We just left our second stop of the day at Mt. Ebeneezer, a roadhouse located nearby the Aboriginal village of Imanpa. I finally took the plunge and bought a few Aboriginal prints made by local artists. One pays less here than in Sydney, and the artists get more since there are fewer middlemen taking their cut. I get it a little more than I did at first, but I have a lot to learn. Of course, the artists use modern media and have a lot more Western-style representation than they would have in the past -- I doubt that Aboriginal artists of a century ago even made prints as we think of them, probably using their skills to decorate their tools and utensils. In any case, not only do I get the prints, but a brief biography of each of the artists and a pamphlets describing the basics of the symbolism generally used in the art.