Comments from the outback!

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G'day mates:

Wed. Nov. 21

Well - we have been having a great time. Met our group on Mon- 26 in all including us. For those of you who know how I love baby beef at Yitz's it was fun to see Yitz and his wife on our tour from Toronto - small world eh? (that's Canadian for you Americans). Got to explore Melbourne in more detail - had a cruise on the Yarra river which runs through the city, gorgeous architecture, beautiful parks and botanical gardens. The weather is perfect but tons of little flies which get in your mouth and nose - so we all got mosquito nets as a gift from our tour directer, just wait til you see our group photos with nets on - I'm sure we'll make the cover of People magazine then.

Went to the outback by plane on Wed. morning and got to hear all about the aborigine people, who have been on the island for 40,000 years and still live much the same as they did in the past, in small communities, all sharing whatever grub they catch in "the bush", using herbs as medicines, doing artwork and selling it to us tourists. Went for a long walk in a unique desert park, where we saw kangaroos, lots of creepy crawly things, and unique indigenous vegetation. Last night we had an Aussie barbie (BBQ) in the outback, and watched a local guide make a "spotted dog" dessert and then "bake" it on coals which we all ate with butter and syrup, what could be bad. The stars were plentiful, and the weather was perfect.

Thurs. Nov. 22

Our hot-air balloon ride over the outback which was scheduled for this morning (we got up at 3:30 a.m.) was cancelled cuz it was just a bit too windy. Going to retry the hot air balloon ride again on Sun. morning. outside of Cairnes.
Flew to Uluru (Ayer's rock) Thurs. afternoon. Breathtaking mammoth rock, about 6 miles in circumference, and about 1100 ft. at its highest point, made of sandstone, and is a very holy and spiritual place to the Aboriginal people. It is the largest monolith in the world, and is literally in the middle of nowhere. It is approximately 60 millions years old, and part of it is on its side, and apparently it took 30 millions years for it to roll over. The Aboriginals now took it back as their own land since 1985 and have leased it for 99 years to the Parks people of Australia so we can tour the area, but have to respect the Aboriginal's wishes for no pictures in certain holy places. We got to hear and see a lot of their history, and saw some early artwork in the caves where they used to meet and teach the younger generations their ways. Somehow it makes us feel very young when you see people whose families have lived here for 30,000 years! (and we think a house in Toronto is old when it have been up over 30 years!)

We all collected in an area a short distance from the rock, around sunset, and our director provided champagne and food and we watched the rock change colours into magnificent hues of red, brown and purple as the sun set. I am sorry we can't upload our pictures from where we are right now - computer too slow - hope to send them in a few days when we get to Sydney. It was really spectacular.

Today we flew to the state of Queensland, to a gorgeous spa called Silky Oaks. It is located in the tropics and lush rainforest area. It is quite an education to see how each area is so different, from the cosmopolitan Melbourne, to the outbacks of the North Territory, and now the green and gorgeous vegetation of Queensland. So gorgeous, with mountains and the weather is still perfect (pooh pooh pooh). Tomorrow we head out for the Great Barrier Reef, and we will be wearing our gorgeous latex wetsuits so no prickly beasts bite us. Stay tuned! Hope all is well with all of you up there. Thank you for your comments - we love hearing from you.

Lots of love


Ruthie & David

Hope the U.S. people had a great Bird-Day! We just saw a Bush Turkey tonight - so some escaped being the centre piece of the Thanksgiving table over here!

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Comments

[Arlyne Walsh]

David
Sorry I missed wishing you, a very Happy Thanksgiving, which you certainly have enjoyed??? This one won't be forgotten, I'm sure!!! ((((Hugs))))Arlyne