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Published: April 3rd 2008
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Packing the troopies
Here is Cam one of our guides packing our massive amounts of bags on top of the troopie. We started bright and early. A little earlier than I would have liked several of the girls in our shared 8 person room decided to get up before 6 when we didn’t even need to be ready until 7:30. I had some clementines and a museli yogurt bar that Lindsay shared with me for breakfast. I also had my first hot cross bun, ever, shared to me by Cam (one of our leaders). After breakfast we took all of our gear out in front of the hostel. We made a pile to go on top of the troopies and a pile of day packs to keep with us. We also brought out all of our food and cooking supplies for the next ten days lining them up to go into the trailer in the order we would need them. Then Cam, Lyndon a, and Mazz went to get our troopies.
Troopies are four wheel drive SUV vehicles with roof racks and two bench seats in the back that fold down facing each other along the sides.
We waited and waited and waited until finally Mazz and Cam came back with a troopie each and we began the loading process. Big
Flat Tire
Here is the blown out flat tire of our food trailer. Good ole Thrifty! bags were wedged on top and strapped down. Sleeping mats were wedged under the seats inside. Lyndon was waiting for them to fix the trailer we would put all of our food in because the lights on it weren’t working. Once we loaded as much as we could onto the two troopies Lyndon came and we loaded his. We had another slight problem when a water jog leaked in the front of the trailer and the side door was locked so we couldn’t get into it. So we waited for Thrifty to bring us the key.
Finally we were off and headed to the Alice Springs Desert Park. We wandered around there and watched a show of birds of prey. It was very cool and the highlight I think was a buzzard who used rocks to crack open an emu egg. Also the surprise ending was getting to see some Dingo pups. After the show we walked through some exhibits and saw more kangaroos!! Then we went to another show about aboriginal culture. It was very interesting. I learned that here in the NT (Northern Territory) the boomerangs don’t return. They are larger and used to take out the
game instead of a decoy like the returning ones. We also learned about some bush tucker (food) that the women would gather to eat. The coolest thing that he showed us was a diagram of how they are to marry in his tribe. It depends on skin (not color but an assigned category thing) to keep the gene pool healthy.
After the desert park we hit the road again but smelled burning rubber, saw smoke, and POP! The tire on the food trailer (that was being pulled behind Lyndon’s troopie) blew. So our caravan stopped. They changed the tire quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen. The tire didn’t look like a real blowout because it had a clean slice down the middle of the tire. They decided to be safe and take the trailer back to the Thrifty at Alice Springs. So everyone loaded into the two troopies except Cam and we brought our food for lunch. We were squished with 3 in the front seat, but everyone was safe.
We did make it intact to Standley Chasm to have a lunch of ham and cheese (YAY again!) I even tried beets (and liked them) on my second
MMMM Dinner!!!
Here is our bush dinner getting ready to be cooked. and third sandwiches. Then we took a short walk to see the Chasm. Along the way we saw ferns that are prehistoric, as in they were around with the dinos.
Cam met us back at the troopies with all the food in his troopie. Evidently the trailer had a bolt cutting the tire and he almost burst the spare on the way back. Because it was Good Friday they were unable to get another one today. So everyone was stuck in two troopies for a 1:45 hour drive to our nighttime camping/activities. But I hung back and lucked out getting to ride with Lyndon in the roomy front seat of the food troopie. We talked about his job and his degree (outdoor education) and it was nice to see the view ahead from the lead troopie.
Then we arrived at Wallace Rockhole. An aboriginal community where we are camping tonight. Ken the guy who welcomed use, cooked a kangaroo and four rabbits for our dinner. We also roasted potatoes and corn in the coals of the fire. I enjoyed watching him cook and prepare it. I also really enjoyed eating the kangaroo. It was tasty.
After dinner we
Roo Ribs
Mmm Delicious! They say other than the tail it's the best meat. washed up and had a talk about tomorrow. I’m excited for the upcoming events.
Lyndon’s question for all of us to go around the circle and say our answer to was to finish this sentence. “I hope to……”
I said “I hope to start a fire with my bare hands, as in not with usual instruments matches, etc.”
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