Desert landscape

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Today we explored the area around Alice Springs, in the Outback of Australia.

We started with as visit to the Desert Park, a preserve featuring many vistas and animals that make up the area. This country reminds me of southern Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, and northern Mexico. While this is desert country, the area has received much rainfall and is very green, compared to the dry, brown that is typical of this time of year. In fact, our visits were interrupted by a significant storm that cut our outdoor activities short, but brought much relief from the heat. The Desert Park had a very interesting bird show highlighting many of the special birds from around the country side. I have published several pictures from my visit today.

Later, we visited School of the Air, a remote elementary education system implemented for young children who are living very remotely and cannot attend regular school. Via internet connection, the education system serves children from 4 ½ and covers 521,000 sq. miles, an area double the size of Texas. In most cases, the children are located so remotely they could not attend school without this service. The system also serves the indigenous Aborigine children who would have no other opportunity to attend school. I was very impressed with the creative approach taken in Australia to solve this geographic problem.

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Comments

[JILL KOLBERG]

BEAUTIFUL
THANKS JACK