Peace, Love, and Drugs - EarthDance 2009

It has been a while since I have blogged because after the Northwest it will forever be hard to find something to top that trip. But the highlight of the weeks since then has been student teaching! I am beginning to know my class and the teachers that I work with so much better! I really enjoy going to class on Wednesdays and being with the students and talking to my teachers about life in Australia. I have been learning so much about Australian curriculum and school processes. I had my mid-semester meeting with my teacher and my supervisor (who is the assistant principal) and they had really great feedback for me. I also asked if there was any way I could do something for Books for Zambia (which by the way you should check out www.booksforzambia.com for the picture of me and my Wayne students). They loved the idea and said that it would be a definite possibility to send a few books. I just have to do a small write-up explaining the cause. I also found out from my teacher that there is a children's literature center in Freo that I am going to go to later this week!!! I was so excited! They have many books and author presentations and artwork! I have two weeks off from teaching because the kids are on break, but when I go back I get to teach a full class lesson (I didn't before because we had a full prac who needed to be teaching all day to finish her course). It is so wonderful!


The big happening since the Northwest trip was Earth Dance (which takes place all over the world by the way, many in the U.S., even one in New york city, i dunno how that happens), which I went to this past weekend. We were told about this music and peace festival through some friends that had heard it was really cool. So on Friday eight of us packed up two cars and a ute (small truck) with all of our camping gear. We drove three and a half hours, with only a few minor detours from getting lost, to a tiny town called Bencubbin. The festival was at the Marshall Rock Nature Reserve. On our way in we were stopped by the police and they looked around the car and looked up license numbers...apparently some people got full car searches for drugs, but not good enough because plenty came in. Then we pulled into the reserve and drove through lots of tents, hippie vans, and people and picked a spot to set up camp. There were people everywhere (I'm not sure how they are allowed to have this many people on a nature reserve..). We set up our tents and walked around. We caught the sunset from the top of a huge rock, there were two on each side of the area that Earth Dance was in. It was a really beautiful place with some VERY interesting people. As night fell we went to the center of the festival which consisted of lots of stalls selling fairy wings, wands, food, t-shirts, hippie clothes, etc. Then there was a dome in the middle and a patch of dust covered by an awning which was one of the "dance floors." On the other side of the stalls there was another dance floor with screens and a fire pit! Among the campers there were areas such as the cinema (projected the strangest movies, the most normal was bedknobs and broomsticks, which is very weird also). Then there was the healing dome (massages, henna), and the playground (face painting, hula hooping, big teepee), and the workshop area (with laugh therapy and yoga sessions). As night fell it turned from a very nice warm day to a freezing cold dark night. We walked around and took in the sights of fairy wings, tutus, furry clothing, headresses, fishermen pants, and all kinds of other get ups. The music was awful and consisted of trance music with teh same beat for hours on end with little change that I am convinced can only be convinced if you are on drugs.

Thus the title of the entry--it felt more like a drug festival than a festival promoting peace.

I spent most of the night standing around the fire that was at the cinema area and trying to figure out what was going on in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which was playing because it was supposed to be a family friendly festival. I do not know who would bring their child there.... The next day was much better, there was some artists that played acoustic guitar, banjo, and bongos which I actually enjoyed and the weather was very nice. We went for a walk up the other rock and went into town to the only place open (the pub) to watch the footie (australian football) grand final. We made some bracelets and hung out at our campsite. The next night brought more cold weather and more watching people on the dance floor with some minimal dancing to warm up.

It was a fun weekend for the camping part, but the festival was not my scene at all. I think that for someone who does not do drugs it is not really catered for my enjoyment. It was a very interesting experience and I got to see a beautifully nature reserve and pee in the bush many times :) I was also with a wonderful group of people and we made our own fun, which was great (mostly by crafting bracelets, eating and chatting)!

This week I am on break and I have lots of work to get done, but I am hoping to make some day trips to Freo and to Kings Park in Perth! Kelsey has an ecology project all week from 9-5 everyday so I am hanging by myself and hoping to do some exploring of the area. Next weekend if the weather is good we are hoping to go to Rottnest Island, which is a gorgeous island with beaches and bike paths (no cars are allowed). We will do a lot of bike riding and go camping there!

Miss you all! There are a few more pictures up on picasa from earth dance and my friend Elyse's birthday! Love you! Peace out

Australia is Gorges NW Part 2

This is the continuation of the story of the Northwest trip!

Day 6: A day of driving from Coral Bay to Karijini National Park (the most amazing place I've ever seen!). We had some car trouble so we had some long pit stops at some exciting and strange road stops. We finally got to our destination after night fall and had to set up our tents with the lights front the buses. We soon discovered the red dust that covers miles and miles of this part of Australia and gets on everything and doesn't come out! We went from beds to no running water and tents, which was actually kind of cool. I felt like I was really camping when I brushed my teeth without water. We had a late dinner and greeted a Dingo (wild Australian dog) to the outskirts of our campsite. They are very friendly because some people stupidly feed them! If they are fed then they may have to be put down because they will never leave the campsites.

Day 7: KARIJINI!!! Today was FULL ON!!! We traveled through the rolling outback to our first destination. We began hike number one and were led down into a gigantic gorge made of beautiful red rock. The hike was pretty challenging and had ladders and large rock drop offs. At times we were climbing along rock faces with huge distances to fall. It was exhilirating! We got to a place called the ampitheater and left our clothes and backpacks on the flat rocks, then we got ready to do the spider walk. The spiderwalk = two rock faces with a crevasse down the middle that you can walk along with one arm and one leg on one rock and the other two on the other rock. you are suspending in the air over a small stream that turns into a large pool at the end. When we finished the spider walk we jumped into the most refreshingly cold water I have ever felt! Our tour guide told us that the water in this gorge was naturally fresh enough to drink and tastes better than a lot of tap water in Australia ( I still didn't try any though..). After returning on the spider walk we climbed back up to the top of the gorge for some lunch! Then it was time for another gorge hike! This time we got to go on the lookout before we hiked down into the gorge. It was amazing that we could hike down into so vast a gorge. The hike was a little less intense, though there were some difficult areas. When we reached the bottom of the gorge we went through a pool and found another larger pool and a waterfall. We made it through the frigied water and sat underneath the waterfall! Then we went to the other side of the gorge. Lucy and I wanted to go but it was really scary! We barely made it, the rocks were slippery and the drop off was big enough to frighten me. But we were brave and we went slowly and carefully and it was so worth it. We made it into a large river with the most beautiful river and the coolest rocks for many meters on each side of us! We swam down the river and climbed onto cliffs and jumped in again! It was so amazing! The water was cold enough that your body went numb after a while. But it was so surreal to swim in that setting, enveloped by these huge rock masses and the color of the teal water against the red rock was stunning! After this day there wasn't much to do but eat, play games, and go to bed! Right before bed we heard our tour guide, Fi screaming and then she walked into the campsite with a pillow covered in red dust....a dingo had stolen her two pillows and she had chased it down and managed to get one back! The other is left in the bush....haha

Day 8: Our last day at Karijini :( We woke up early and set out for a hike. We went down into a gorge that was equally as large, but the hike was much easier. We got to a set of naturally formed rock stairs into a pool wit a waterfall at one end and a large rock face across from them. We swam, sunbathed, and cliff jumped. Then we visited Fern pool, which is just gorgeous! It is surrounded by rock, trees, and foliage and has two waterfalls that you can go underneath and behind! The water was a beautiful temperature, it was a nice chage from the frigid waters we had been in. We could actually swim for a while without going numb! This pool was a sacred Aboriginal area so we had to be very respectful of the land and not be too loud or jump from things. It was an amazing place to see! Then we went back and did some more swimming and sunning....then back to the bus :( We rode to Newman, a mining town of Iron Ore. The town is made entirely to support the mining population, mostly single males. We popped up our tents, had dinner, and then headed to the pub called Red Sands. Here we turned the heads of many miners and had some fun meeting a group of miners from Ireland, three of whom were named Patty. They taught us some Irish drinking songs it was hilarious. Terry, our tour guide kept close watch to make sure that no miners crossed any lines with any of the females on our trip. It was good fun to see them all in their florescent orange mining outfits. We were also told that if we were too noisy at night they might come after us...we didn't try and find out if this was true.

Day 9: Drove ALLL DAY LONG!!! Our place for the night was at the coolest sheep farm I have ever seen in the middle of nowhere! There is iron and bone artwork everywhere and lots of sheep and horses. The family is super nice and there son was telling us about how he hunts for kangaroos and emus everyday and has to be homeschooled because they live so far from anyone. The showers are labeled Rams and Ewes and everything is decorated very sweetly using recycled materials. They hot water heater is a fire box outside that has to be continuously stoked to keep the water warm! We had a wonderful night with great food, spirits, laughs, a huge fire, and lots of stories! I spent a lot of the night with my new friend Lucy, she is from Kentucky and goes to school in Ohio. She is so sweet and we get a long really well:) It was really nice to have some bonding time!

Day 10: Up early, tents came down for the last time. And BACK ON THE BUS! We didn't get very far though before we got a flat tire! But Fi and Terry are monsters and had that tire changed so quick it was amazing! We drove and drove and everyone just wanted to get home and shower and sleep! We bypassed lunch and kept on driving. We got back to campus around 4:30pm. It was so sad to leave Terry and Fi, but we are already planning our reunions!!! Fi is coming back in October for a while and we are going to see Matt Gresham (the artist that we listend to all the time on the trip) together!

Soo..that is the shortest version of the trip that I can muster!! This is Me and Fi!!! There was so much packed in, but this are the main events and hopefully they give yo uan idea of just how amazing this trip was!!!! Everyone should try to get out and see WA, especially Karijini!!! Love you all miss you! More later!

The beginning of the greatest adventure of my life! NW Part 1

So here is the much anticipated blog about my ten day break going on the Northwest trip...this is installment one so I don't overwhelm you too much all at once. Regardless, it is going to be a novel...so I will try my best to make it as short as possible:)

Day one we are up and ready to leave at 7:45am. There are 33 students sleepy-eyed and weighed down with packs, pillows, and snacks. The buses are running late per usual and no one really knows what to expect for the next ten days. We are introduced to our tour guides, Terry and Fi (fiona). Then a man in a stuffy business suit from Murdoch tells us the rules and all the things that can kill us in the outback and sends us on our way. We jump on a bus and we are on our way! And our way consists of kilometers of driving! This is all we do the first day besides making pit stops for bathroom breaks, snacks, and stretches. Our bus was driven by Fi and had nineteen people on it. We wasted away the hours doozing, reading, talking, and singing.

Now I am gonna stop this play-by-play to tell you about Fi. She is the coolest woman I have ever met. She is 32, beautiful, independent, hiking boot and jeans clad, smart, hilarious, and she has a laugh that makes everyone else laugh whether they knew what was funny or not. Terry our other tour guide I want to be my surrogate uncle. He is a sweet man, who is so intelligent about the world around us, he cooks amazingly, he always has the answers, and is always looking out for everyone!

Back to the play-by-play :) We stopped for lunch at a cute seaside stop in Geraldton with a little playground and sweet beach. We stopped for the first night at a sheep farm in Lynton. It has many, many acres of land and tractors and old buildings. It also has an extremely large hill that rises up behind the buildings. This is what we climbed up our first night, it was quite a little climb especially with the wind trying to blow us off the face of the earth! The view from on top was breath taking you could see the ocean in the distant and all the farm houses and land that went on for miles and then there was the lone road that led into the property. Our sleeping quarters for the night=the old sheep barn. We made dinner and played card games and then everyone laid mats onto the floor, got out their sleeping bags and it was one big slumber party!! The only trouble, was the obstacle course to get through when you had to pee in the middle of the night and since the bathrooms were so far away the side of the barn had to do, but it was the perfect viewing of the entire night sky!

Day two: Up at 6, leave by seven (Terry's motto) and back on the bus! We made a few stops on our way to Kalbarri National Park. On our way we saw our first of many Kangaroos in the wild, as well as Emus and wild sheep and goats. The park was incredible! We had our first little hike that overlooked the huge Murchison river that flows in and around the area! There were some incredible views across to the other side of the gorge and the rock formations are amazing. After lunch we headed to Monkey Mia and Shark Bay. We stayed in a campground at Hamelin Pool where the stromatolites are located!! For those of you who aren't familiar with what these are, they are bacteria that live on special rock forms and need water to live, they are some of the oldest living things on the planet and they helped create life as we know it because they produced the oxygen that plants, animals, and humans needed to evolve and survive!!! ..That said they aren't the most interesting things to look out, unless you appreciate them for what they are! There is a beautiful boardwalk that you go out on to look at them and a nice beach and the ocean in front of them! The campground we stayed at was owned by the funniest hick man I have ever seen complete with a long scraggly beard, plaid shirt, big boots, few teeth, and a great Australian accent. He told us stories about how he had been bitten by a snake a month before and had only an hour to live and they took him to the hospital but couldn't find anyone who knew how to give him the right injection. They finally got it into him and he lived to tell the tale: when the snake bit him his reaction had been to immediately break the snakes neck and when he got back from the hospital he stuck the snake in a jar and brought it to the pub with him that night! ...only in Australia :) We had the best bon fire and all tried to stay warm (the nights were chilly till we got up north).

Day 3: We went to Shark bay today where there is a gorgeous beach, boats, and most importantly..DOLPHINS (indo-pacific bottle-nose)!! Yes, the dolphins swim right up to the beach, feet away from us standing in the water. They swim around and now all the people who work there. There are very particular dolphins that they feed three times a morning, that their families have been coming for years. They do live and survive in the wild because how much, what, and when they are fed is precisely controlled. They are beautiful and gentle, it was so neat! We got to see six dolphins ( one was pregnant)! Then we played the most entertaining game of beach volleyball with too many people and soo many laughs! Then we drove to a lookout of Shark Bay and saw the world's largest population of sea grass! The most gorgeous view of endless ocean, a big island, and the most beautiful color of water! Then we visited shell beach ..and yes it is just how it sounds..a beach made up entirely of little pure white shells!! The tide was low and we got to walk out and make mounds of shells to stand on so it looked like we were Jesus walking on water! I of course searched for shells, they were all so beautiful..but not the most comfortable beach to walk on without shoes on :) We spent the night in Hamelin Pool again and had another wonderful bonfire. We also saw a Kangaroo extremely up close that was just chilling out when all of a sudden he jumped towards us, we all screamed like silly Americans, but he was just looking for more food:)

Day 4: A day of driving to get to Coral Bay. We stayed a little ways out of Coral Bay at a gigantic farm. Beds and rooms here!!! Yes! I had a room with Kelsey! There were horses just roaming and feeding inches from our building and then because we had made such good time we got to see the most amazing beach I have EVER been to!!! The family that owns the farm also happens to own 50 km of private beach off of the Ningaloo reef. I know..its no big deal..... This beach was perfect...pure white sand, the Indian Ocean, warm ocean water, waves, and an untouched beach with the most beautiful shells left behind. I spent the evening swimming in the waves and enjoying my happy place! I found some gigantic shells, a sea urchin shell (that I later sat on and broke..so sad), a gorgeous orange and pink crab shell, a starfish, and many other amazing shells! Most people know how much a love collecting shells..so it was my own little paradise! This was easily one of the most breathtaking places I have ever seen! The night consisted of bonfires, yummy dinner, a salt water shower, and a bed..though not the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in..but I wasn't complaining after a lot of ground to sleep on!

Day 5: Up before dawn in time to see the most gorgeous sunrise and off for a day at Coral Bay, home of the "not as renowned but better conserved and untouched" Ningaloo Reef! Today was unforgettable we started the day by going on a glass bottom boat! Everyone sat around on the boat and looked down through the glass to see the most amazing reef life. There are over 200 different kinds of coral and millions of sea species! We saw numerous different kinds of fish in all sizes, shapes, and colors, as well as star fish, huge clams, sea cucumbers, and huge sea turtles!!! Then we got to go snorkaling off the boat!!!!!!!!! I have never been snorkeling in open ocean before and it was an out-of-body experience! I felt so calm and at one with the water. I followed a huge rainbow fish for a while and trailed schools of gorgeous fish...only taking a huge gulp of sea water into my snorkel a few times because it was so windy :) At the end of our snorkel Kelsey and I were some of the last people in the water (the rest couldn't handle the cold) and they began to throw fish food from the back of the boat. This meant that I was completely surrounded by my own kind! It was mostly a school of "Spangled Emperors", big silver fish that are atleast two feet long, try having those all over your body, it was so cool and when I looked down into the water there was more fish around then I have ever seen of all different colors and sizes! Wow! After this the day was spent at the beach soaking in some warmth and sun (but amazingly no sunburns the whole trip due to MASS amounts of sunscreen!)! It was great! Then we attended happy hour at the pub right off of the beach from 5:30-6:30 pm. Our group went through 21 pitchers and it made for a fantastic ride home that was full of music, horrible singing, and a pee stop that meant twenty people piled out of the bus to the side of the road and peed in the bush in one large group! Now that is some group bonding!

I am going to leave you with that lovely picture for now!!! I am tired of typing and if you have even made it down here I'm sure you need a break from reading this! So here is installment one of two! There is so much more fun to come...now you can begin to see why this was such amazing trip that I could never begin to explain all of !!!!! Miss you all so much! All the pictures are up on picassa (this is just a speckle of the good pictures) and fb..the link to them is on the right of the screen! <3 xoxoxo