Reds... There are specific days of the year that we look back on and say "A year ago today I was...." or "Every year on this day I'm doing..." This year, I spent the 4th of July bundled up in 4 layers, under a starry night sky, and drinking wine out of a coffee mug. The red from the fire, ringed with little stones Alta found upon our arrival to the camp site, reflected off the red dust collected on my shoes. As I enjoyed the fire's warmth on my skin and the wine's warming effect on my insides, I reflected on all the Fourth of July's I've experienced around the world. Some of the most memorable were back in Chiemsee, Germany where I worked at a hotel that could have come straight out of the movie Dirty Dancing. Fourth of July was always the epic night of enjoyment at Chiemsee complete with dancing on the dance floor situated in what once was Hitler's bedroom, and fireworks over the lake. This year, instead of a dance floor and a slew of young-in-their-20s Yanks, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits (all employees at the hotel) grinding away on the dance floor, I was alone with my family in the Australian Outback with the dry claylike red dirt under our feet and the fireworks of the Milky Way overhead. Our holiday trip to the Outback started in Dubbo, New South Wales where we visited the Dubbo Zoo. As drizzle came down out of the grey Alaska-type sky, we donned our rain coats and set out to see the animals. The Dubbo Zoo is a six kilometer loop through eucalyptus forest where you walk, drive, or ride a bike from exhibit to exhibit. Alta and I chose to walk, while Tom and Olin drove, meeting up with us at agreed upon exhibits. The Dubbo Zoo has many of the same savannah animals that other zoos have, but their enclosures are situated in such a way that you feel like there are no fences. For example, monkeys are marooned on islands surrounded by moats with only water between you and them. After a cold night in Dubbo we set out west to the more remote parts of the state. The land flattened out, the trees became more scrubby, and the frequency of other cars on the road became replaced by the frequency of roadkill on the side of the road. In the 6 hours it took us to drive to the Dry Tank Campground we passed through sleepy towns with houses and yards that carried the signs of repeated years of scorching heat and sun. The towns also had perplexingly wide streets. After leaving these towns we resumed our drive through flat, dry, and ever reddening bush land. It is there that Olin, our expert wild animal spotter cried out "Emu!" "Where?" We all replied while spinning our heads to try to locate the bird. "Right there! Come-on, right there! Agh you are missing it! Oh! Oh! Look! A whole lot of them, like 50!" Tom, Alta, and I missed them all. Needless to say we had to have a family agreement after that that if we saw an animal we had to say who's window it was out of. And we had plenty of opportunities to practice it too. We saw hundreds of emu and kangaroo over the next few days of driving. Hopping kangaroo, dead kangaroo, grazing kangaroo, solitary kangaroo, and kangaroo in large mobs. There were emu on the road too (both dead and alive). Baby emu, flocks of emu, and solitary emu walking along fence lines. Hour after hour of driving, spotting animals and listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio book (the only way to endure a long road trip with kids) the land got redder and redder until at last we pulled into Dry Tank Campground. Dry Tank Campground is the type of campground where you can just throw your tent up anywhere. On the first night there were two other families camped there too, but we only were aware of them through the flicker of their fires through the trees and the the gentle carry of their voices. We spent a couple days around the Dry Tank area. We took two different hikes. One to the edge of a cliff that overlooked a valley and the other to a place where we got to look at prehistoric Aboriginal art. At both places we were the only ones there. It was amazing to be at the art drawings and to have the time to imagine the people long ago standing and painting what they saw of the world around them - what is still visible all around us - on the cave ceilings and walls. I spent more time with the art than the kids and Tom, who explored the rocky outcroppings and ledges where they found the remains of some of the many feral goats that roam the Outback. Something my mom always said about kids is that they roll play the the things they experience in their lives as a way of processing. Mom said that my sister Louise's and my roll play changed when we moved to Germany. I've noticed the same thing with Olin and Alta and their experiences in Australia. After driving through Outback mining towns, Olin and Alta decided they were going to make a "mine" with the red dirt. After visiting the Aboriginal art site, their evening campfire activity involved creating charcoal art on the kindling. Following our nights in Dry Tank we headed north and then east through towns like Brewarrina, Gwabegar, and Pilliga to an artesian bore bath where we camped at an unspectacular roadside campground but got to swim in warm artesian waters (30C). It was nice to be toasty and clean after those few cold nights in Dry Tank. Our last night of our camping road trip was in the beautiful town of Coonabarabran. The town is situated near an extinct volcano and is also the location of the Siding Spring Observatory which is the largest observatory in Australia. It has a 3.9 meter telescope and about 18 other different types and sizes of telescopes. It was fun to see Alta and Tom geek out a bit about all the telescope and space tech, while I specifically enjoyed the things I learned about Aboriginal star gazing and astronomy. Something I thought was particularly interesting is that early aboriginal people found shapes in the dark spaces between stars, rather than using the stars themselves as constellations. Our campsite was situated with a picturesque background of the extinct volcano and we had a whole lot of kangaroos visit us at dusk. ...Whites and Blues After a day relaxing, washing clothes, and cleaning out the car, we headed off on our next trip: A week at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Instead of driving all the way to Queensland, which would have taken us about 21 hours, we decided to fly. We arrived at the Whitsunday Airport to a tropic sun, and a temperature of about 31 C. Ahhh! It was the warmth of summer.... in the winter. We promptly headed to town where we rented wet suits, fins, and snorkel gear and then drove an hour to our little cabin in Bowen. This part of our holiday really felt like we were on vacation. Warm beds, running water, summer evenings on the little cabin patio with a glass of white wine, the condensation dripping down the sides, and palm trees gently rustling in sunset skies. Life is good. The kids and I got into the habit every morning of waking up at about 6:00am to walk down to the beach in order to go beach combing and to watch the sunrise. Needless to say, we came home at the end of the trip with two kid backpacks full of some pretty neat shells and coral. On our first full day in Bowen, we drove to Horseshoe Bay. On the beach by 8:30am, we were joined by a group of people doing yoga in the morning sunshine. Our first attempt at snorkeling for coral was a success. We found some on both sides of the bay. The beach itself was my favorite part, as it was littered with the skeletal remains of all the dead coral from the Reef. When you walked on it, which you needed to do with shoes on, it sounded like glass clinking together. After lunch back at the cabin we then tried snorkeling at Gray's Bay. We had fun wondering if Gray's Bay was named after the same explorer that Gray's River is named after in Washington. That's the river my parent's farm is on. Snorkeling in Gray's Bay wasn't as successful. The water was shallow and murky, and though Tom and the kids said they saw coral, it was all covered in grimy slime. I beach combed and enjoyed quiet time on while they explored. After getting out of the water, the kids and Tom decided that the snorkeling was better at Horseshoe Bay and that we should go back so that they could to try to go farther out. Immediately my anxiety flared. I don't want my two kids way out in the wavy ocean floating around looking for coral! I decided to follow them along the rocks and take pictures, and to trust that Tom was going to keep them safe - and he did! The kids said they saw all kinds of really neat coral and felt really proud that they were out in the ocean with their dad. Day two in Queensland took us out of Bowen looking for another beach that would offer new snorkeling experiences. We drove for about an hour and found ourselves at Dingo Bay and Hydeaway Bay. Talk about postcard beautiful! The water was an amazing turquoise blue and the sand was a brilliant white. To make it even better, we were nearly the only people on the beach! We explored Dingo Bay but decided not to snorkel there. Instead, we went to Hydeaway where Tom and the kids donned their snorkel gear again and paddled out to the depths. Thankfully the seas were calmer than they were when they were back at Horseshoe Bay. They saw all kinds of coral as they explored and I spent time walking on the beach and exploring on land. On our last day in Queensland, Tom organized for us to go on an adventure tour out to the Great Barrier Reef! We don't usually do tours when we travel, but if we wanted to see the Reef, it was the only way, as we didn't have a boat. We went with the #1 ranked company at Whitsundays, Ocean Rafting - which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone wanting a good time. For $500 AU for a family of four, we had a full day of fun. We were provided wet suits and snorkel gear, tunes during the ride out, lunch, two different snorkel experiences (one for coral, one for fish), and a bush hike at Whitsundays Island National Park - the whitest beach I've ever seen in my life. We all snorkeled. I stuck with Alta during the first session where we looked at coral, and out of the whole boat of people we were the last out of the water. I could have stayed there all day. It was absolutely amazing. The second session with the fish was also cool, and I think it was Alta's favorite as she, again, was the last out of the water. Olin also enjoyed himself and paddled around with Tom covering a lot of ground as they both chose to snorkel with fins and no floaty noodles. Alta and I took our time and had no fins and used noodles to keep us buoyant so that we could focus on just looking at everything. It is hard to describe everything that we saw. There was so much different coral. Some looked like brains, others like antlers or tree branches. My favorite was the soft coral that waved with the surf. Alta seemed to really like the giant clams that looked like they had different colored lipstick from deep purple to a reddish color. Olin's favorite was the really big coral. The fish were also amazing. We saw all different kinds. Tom did a lot of dive snorkeling and saw more than the rest of us. Of our entire time here in Australia, this Queensland trip was our "epic wish list" trip. Tom really wanted to show Olin and Alta the Great Barrier Reef before it was gone, and the whole experience was more than we could have asked for. It was perfect. From the reds of the Outback, the whites of the coral on the beaches and sand, to the brilliant blue of the ocean we have had one very colorful holiday adventure. I'll admit, I'm not quite as ready to head back for 3rd Term of school as I was for 2nd, but I think it is because our holiday was so fulfilling. I don't want it to be over.
If you've made it to the end of this blog post, thank you! I know it is long, but I hope you have enjoyed it. I'll end with a final picture of our kids and the big mango outside of Bowen. We don't usually take pictures like these, but - as no one was there, and we were stopping anyway for birthday ice cream, we thought we'd snap a shot!
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
December 2017
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