It's a kernel. You are SO corny.

Well that was cold. Ever been so cold in your bed that you didn’t want to move to get more covers? Welcome to my last night.

Nighttime wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I suspected it might have been, considering I’m in the middle of a national park in a flimsy structured tent, alone, with no lock on my tent-screen-door. Around six or so in the morning, possibly earlier, I heard a whole pack of dingoes going nuts in the vicinity. My first alarm failed me miserably but I managed to wake up in just enough time to see the sunrise with several of the students. It was a little “ehhh” at first but then it just turned stunning. Cockatoos were going wild around us and flying towards the sunrise. Absolutely beautiful.

Stunning...

 Afterwards we had a bit of time before lecture to get ourselves together. I headed to breakfast early with all intentions of finishing up some essay grading; said attempt proved totally unsuccessful. I promise the modules will be graded… eventually. However, on the way there, on the side of the road was a fresh wallaby carcass, leg missing and head slightly mangled. Quite a lovely visual description of the scene but at least I’m sparing some gory details and opting not to post the pictures. While waiting on breakfast we were accompanied by a local kookaburra (close relatives of the kingfishers) who posed for picture after picture.

Lapping up attention no doubt...

A handsome little guy

A cockatoo creeping around behind Simon

Collin and Steve cooked us up a wonderful breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, cereal, milo (yum), tea, coffee… heaven. After a lavish, filling meal we were met again by Simon to talk about Aboriginal technology (rather, skills and knowledge). He demonstrated a boomerang and talked about various survival methods. During his little chat he also pointed out the cycads which looks like enormous ferns except these Jurassic-park look-alikes can kill. They bear a beautiful orange fruit that is laced with cyanide. Aboriginals back in the day would detoxify them by rubbing them against rocks so they could use them as a valuable food source.

At the closing of the lecture, the group split into two to allow a little bit of competition. Three tasks were assigned to each group: gather and haul water using natural “findings”, slice rope with only rocks, and carve a boomerang. The following activities were far from tame and absolutely hilarious to watch. There was a finger slicing involved in the rope cutting but no worries! I arrived promptly bearing first aid and hydrogen peroxide (which actually doesn’t do much- I prefer rubbing alcohol). The second challenge was the water hauling where I played the role of judge to determine which of the containers were the most decorative. One was woven, and quite pretty while the other was a tree half that had been beautified (similar to a cornucopia). It was tough, but I went with the weaving. Of course I picked the one that didn’t hold water quite as well. The final task was the boomerang toss which was a lot of trial and error- pretty comical! However there was a winner decided and tim-tams were the mighty prize.

Making the boomerangs

Rebecca, a student, and I took some time during the lunch hour to go out for a run. Minor issue: there was a massive creek crossing where we tried to throw stones to make our way across. Luckily Simon rolled up just as we were headed halfway across the stream, perched precariously on our “Aboriginal” stream crossing. He took pity and then drove us to safety. The run was beautiful though and crossing the creek going home was much more pleasant once we took off the socks and shoes to wade through the icy water.

A rushed lunch preceded a hike led by Simon in the nearby gorge. I hung back towards the rear with Collin and had a wonderful time cringing while the students toppled over the rocks, scrambling to keep up with Simon, “Crocodile Dundee”. The rocks were massive but quite varied- sandstone, quartz and basalt (it was formed by volcanic activity). I stopped every few steps for a photo op of the waterfalls, mossy rocks, and beautiful rainbow-colored stones.

We had a few incidents along the way, but that’s rather expected considering we were trekking full force through a creek bed and hopping from boulder to boulder. Finally, when the hike was all over, we headed back to the campsite to gather our headlamps and some layers and went back out for a nature spotting.

We saw quite a few large greater gliders perched in the trees. These little “beasties” are nocturnal and, like koalas, feed on eucalyptus which provides them with very little nutrition. Quite like a sloth in the way they act, I must add. They don’t move much and when they did it was simply to elude the giant spotlights we were projecting on them. Honestly, if someone pointed that thing at me I would be leaping out of the way no matter how tuckered out I was. We tried to find the yellow-bellied variety, smaller but similar, but these guys were smart and kept their distance. On the way back to the bus we did run into an echidna which absolutely became obsessed with Katherine’s shoes. Poor little guy was fully harassed by Simon before we let him go and retreated back to the bus. Waiting for Colin to ready the shuttle, Simon pointed out a dark constellation that the aborigines discovered, an Emu. It’s stunning how many stars are visible here… and quite incredible to behold.

We were greeted back at the site by a full dinner of vegetables, corn, fish, meat, pumpkin (got seconds!) and the usual warm drinks. It was so welcomed especially since today was so tiring. After settling down once a few students had vacated, I resumed grading. A few resorted to bribery and brought me tim-tams (the offers were hard to choose from… pity those particular papers were graded already…) which I set aside and waited for the milo… then the TIM TAM SLAM. Nothing compares. Absolutely nothing. It is by far the best thing I have ever experienced in my life. It will be a new regular for sure.

Misplacing my headlamp like a goober, Collin helped me out and let me share the torch (flashlight) he brought. Of course, after the long walk back then I found my headlamp. I’m so responsible.