Camping Trip

One of the elective classes i signed up for to take here is called Introduction to Australian Society. It was requested of RMIT by an American university a few years ago in order to give international students a look into Australian history and current society, that wasn't a focus of any other class. This makes sense because by this point, most Australians know everything that this class teaches. But for students from outside of Australia, it is a great opportunity to learn about it, and get credit for it! The class only meets 7 out of the 12 weeks of the semester, for just one, two-hour class.
This past weekend, before the class even met in the classroom, with the professor, we went on a weekend-long field trip. We met Friday morning, loaded onto a coach bus, and headed west. There were 36 of the 37 international students that are in the class, the professor (Kent), two other women who are former coordinators of the course (Helen and Judy), and the bus driver (Peter).
Friday:
We stopped in a small town called Ararat for lunch. We then headed on to a winery where we did a wine tasting of about ten different kinds of wine, as well as an underground cellar tour. We then headed to a national park called Brambuck, where I saw my first wild kangaroo, listened to a guide inform us about the area, watched two films, explored their center, and did a tasting of kangaroo, emu, and crocodile. I had tasted kangaroo before, which I hate to admit I really like, and the emu and croc were okay...probably not worth buying and making myself.
We then drove to and arrived at the retreat that we were staying at for the weekend. It is a camping area, owned by a very sweet couple, who made us feel like their family. We slept in cabins and ate our meals in a dining hall, where they did all the cooking themselves. We were very well fed all weekend.
We were suppose to have a local elder come and speak to us for the evening, but he could not make it, so we went on a little night hike after dinner instead. After that, once the adults went to bed, about 10 of us decided to rebel and go back into the woods and build a fire in the fire pit, that we were told not to do.  It took awhile to get it going, but was successful after some effort. We just sat around and chatted for awhile until we put it out and headed to bed eventually.

Saturday:
We got up early, had breakfast, and took the bus to Hamilton, a small town nearby. We had a map of various places to guide us around there, such as churches, a botanical garden, different shops, etc. We all met back up to do a tour of the art gallery in the town.
We then returned to the camp for lunch. After lunch, one of the women, Judy, gave a lecture about the history of the Western District, Victoria, where we were for the weekend. The main point of the history was that many people from all over the world came and settled there when there was a gold rush.
After the lecture, we went on a hike up one of the nearby mountains. It only took about half an hour to get to the top, and the view was really pretty. As throughout the weekend while traveling on the bus and at the camp, there was lots of open land and mountains--a big change from the city which was really cool.
At night we had a big barbeque, which a local choir joined us for, then sang for us afterwards which was actually a lot of fun. After they performed, every group of, or individual students got up separately to perform their country's national anthem. The U.S. and Germany had the biggest showing, of about 7-10 people, and then there were others from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Holland, South Korea, Vietnam, Italy, and Finland. It was very interesting getting to listen to all of the different languages and songs.
We were allowed to get alcohol in town earlier in the day, so almost everyone was drinking during dinner and the concert, and continued afterwards.
The director of the camp offered to take some of us out in the back of his pick-up truck to a clearing in the woods to look at the stars. About ten of us went on the first run, before he had to take 2 more truck-fulls after we returned talking about how cool it was. I think it was honestly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. There were probably quadruple the number of stars I've ever seen in the sky before, and they were so bright. You could actually see the milky way, which looked like a cloudy streak all the way across the sky. Dennis, the director, pointed out this little cloudy patch which he told us was another galaxy that was slowly being sucked into ours. He gave us the opportunity to find out way back through the dark woods, which 3 other kids and I did. It was the first time I'd seen the night sky in the southern hemisphere, and being outside of the smog, lights, and everything else of the city, it was amazing, and probably my favorite moment of the trip.

Sunday:
We got up early for breakfast again, then packed our bags and lunches at the retreat. We then headed on the road and had about an hour and a half drive until we arrived at a sheep farm. The family showed us the 25 acres they owned, how they (and the dogs) brought in the sheep, and how to shave the wool off of the sheep. It was pretty interesting, but not really something I would want to see again or make a living off of for sure.
We drove a little more, stopped for lunch in a park, then headed to Sovereign Hill theme park which is made to resemble the area at the time of the gold rush. There we panned for gold, went on a mine tour, saw a gold melting/pouring, and wandered around to other various activities.
The we headed back home to the city after a very busy, exciting, and tiring weekend.
It was really nice to get out of the bustle of the city, and see the open land, mountains, and wildlife. It was cool learning about the history of the area and interacting with local Australians that had a different way of life and that weren't students and professors from right inside the city. I met a bunch of cool students and our professor is the most jolly, fun teacher I've ever had. I'm really looking forward to this class for the rest of the semester.