camping trip

On Sunday morning, (February 22nd), our homestay families dropped us off in Cairns after our two-week stays. We were asked by our advisor to be ready at 9:30 AM, even though we would be spending our camping trip on “Murri time.” Well, our advisor showed up at about 11 o’clock. No worries.

We headed out into the “bush” in three 4WD vehicles. Tony drove one of them with Meryl, the lovely woman who provides us with food on all of our excursions. Russell Butler and Ian Owens, the two Aboriginal men we camped with, drove the other two. Russell drove the vehicle I was in. He is a jolly, laughing man with a big belly and curly white hair. Think of an Aboriginal Santa Claus or a beautiful black Buddha wearing shorts and a T-shirt, flip-flops, and a cowboy hat. We sang one of Russell’s favorite songs on the drive: “G’day g’day! And how ya goin? What do you know, strike a light. G’day G’day! And how ya going? Ya say g’day g’day g’day and you’ll be right!” Ian’s grandson, Graham, also came with us on the trip. He is 18 and “half-caste” with an Aboriginal mother and a white father.

The “bush” ended up being the Lion’s Den Hotel. Well, the campsite behind the hotel. So we did have a bathroom for the first three days of the trip. When we got there, we set up camp: one giant tarp became a tent where we gathered during the day to do homework and have meals. We set up the kitchen there, too (two tables, a grill, and a 3-burner stove with tubs for washing, tea kettles, pots, pans, platters, and three Eskes). We set up our sleeping tents around this community center, two people to a tent. My roomie for the week was Julia.

We spent most of our time at the campsite. Everyone always took part in cooking our meals. I especially had to watch out that the veggies were cooked on the grill before any meat was! I’ve never been in the situation where food had to be cooked for so many people, and it was a bit challenging as a vegetarian. But it was fun preparing meals with everyone, then washing mess kits and pots with river water.

We got together each night at Russell’s feet. Sometimes he played the guitar (my personal favorite was “Me and Bobby McGee”). He told us Dreamtime stories and talked about current Aboriginal issues. He was infinitely happy to share his culture with us, and we listened to his words in the dark, cool breeze flapping the tent and “cuppas” in our hands.

On the first night, I received my Aboriginal name. I was one of the first to receive one, so I guess Russell had me pinned. I am Guyibara, or the curlew. The curlew is a skinny-legged bird with large eyes. Russell named me Guyibara because I am wide-eyed and observant. I’m a loner, watchful, and walk at an unhurried pace. The curlew makes a sound at night that sounds like someone crying. Russell asked me if I cry a lot. Well, I didn’t answer that question. (Laugh if you know what I’m talking about.)

Russell told us the story of why the curlew cries. There was a family of curlews: a mother, father, and two babies. The mother and father went to the stream one day to gather some water. The owl, watching from above, saw that they had left, and told his pet dingo that he could go eat the baby curlews because he was hungry. The dingo did as the owl suggested, and when the curlew parents came back to find their babies gone, they cried and cried all night. The next day, the father curlew took revenge and killed the dingo. He went up to the owl’s cave, but the owl was too afraid to leave his cave without his pet dingo. The father curlew threatened him, and said that if he ever came out in the light of day, he would kill him. To this day, the owl doesn’t come out during the day. If you see an owl in daylight, it signifies a death in your family.

We spent our second day camping lying in the sun on the rocks by the creek. I also led half our group in a yoga session in the morning! We were on Murri time, so the time was ours. The creek was croc free, but we did see a goanna climbing a tree at our campsite. We also made string out of the bark from a fig tree, and made bracelets and necklaces with beads that Russell brought. We threw spears (aiming for a cereal box) and used the leaves from the soap tree on our bug bites.

On the third day, it was a bit rainy, so instead of hanging around camp under the tent all day, we went to Cooktown. Captain James Cook landed there on June 17, 1770, and spent six weeks there repairing his ship, which had crashed into the Great Barrier Reef. We just spent a few hours there, walking around, then drove up to the look-out peak, which had a beautiful view of the forest-covered mountains and the blue blue ocean.

When we got back to the campsite, Russell took us on a short rainforest walk to show us some plants and their uses. It was Megan’s birthday, so after dinner we headed to the Lion’s Den Pub for some drinks and some delicious banana-chocolate birthday cake. We played darts and pool with Russ and Ian. When else do you drink with your professors? Not bad.

After three nights at the first campsite, we went to Dinden National Park. This campsite was a bit more rugged – no bathrooms this time (although there was an outhouse.) Not washing my face for the next four days did some damage to my skin, but no worries. This campsite was on another beautiful creek, with cold water, but the most comfortable rocks you could ever lay on in your life. We spent a lot of time in the sun at this campsite – I had no idea how tan I was getting until I saw a mirror when we got back to Cairns!

At the Dinden campsite, we painted boomerangs! I painted one of mine with curlew footprints and traditional Aboriginal dot art. They should provide some nice wall decorations for my room next year. =) We were painting the boomerangs on some large boulders on the edge of our campsite, and about five feet from where we were sitting, Graham spotted a death adder (very poisonous snake)! We stood around watching it for a while (they will only bite if they feel threatened, so basically only if you step on it), then Tony and Russell moved it away with a stick.

One of the mornings at Dinden, Megan, Angie, Geneveve and I took a walk. We walked about a half an hour down the road until we reached a circuit trail that wound around the creek and led to the biggest waterfall I think I’ve seen. We were SO high above everything, the sky was brilliant blue, the gum trees were bright green, the granite rocks were immense, and the water of the waterfall was the clearest water in the world. It was beautiful, and it felt so good to see the waterfall after we had earned it by hiking there. (We actually drove to it the second day, which wasn’t as awesome, although still beautiful.) Also, on our walk, we passed a chain of 76 furry white caterpillars! They were just marching along, nose to butt, follow the leader. It was pretty cool.

Overall, the camping trip was like a vacation. We didn’t have a schedule, so there wasn’t pressure to do much academic work. It was great to talk to Russ and Ian and learn about their culture. They were some of the friendliest people I know. We’re back in Cairns now, and the next 5 days are packed with lectures and assignment and ISP preparation before we depart for our rainforest trip. We’ve been here a month already! It’s hard to believe.