I've been neglecting my blog...sorry

Life here is BUSY (as usual)... I've been receiving messages from many of you telling me to update my blog...so here it is.

The weekend of the 27th, the anthropology class spent a weekend in Tenterfield, a small country town. For each anthro trip we are required to write a "reflection" paper. Since I'm soo far behind on updating my blog (and I'm severely lazy)... I'm just going to post PART of my paper for class. So if it seems overly-detailed and cheesy...it's because it is (and apparently that is a requirement for class...)I will add some things so you can understand what i'm rambling about.. . and delete some things I know you wouldn't care about!

I will be writing all the amazing stories and sites I saw over spring break (which may turn into a book...a lot of incredible things happened!)


The weekend trip to Tenterfield was very educational from the moment we stepped onto the bus until the time we returned home. On the long bus ride, we listened to the soothing music of the very talented John Williams, a legendary singer/songwriter. I really enjoyed his music and found many of his lyrics really interesting and thoughtful. I liked how each of his songs carried a message; resolving personal conflict, helping the environment, or expressing country pride. His music made me really excited about the Australian culture that I have been experiencing and have yet to experience.
The first stop- Thunderbolt's hideout cave. Thunderbolt was a famous thief waaaaay back in the day. Thunderbolt’s cave was very interesting. I was really glad to have received an informational handout when we stepped onto the bus that morning. I was able to read about Thunderbolt which helped me to appreciate the cave and trail more. It is crazy to think that someone would hide out in a cave many years ago. He must have led a fascinating life and it was great to get a glimpse into that part of history.
I was unaware of the amount of hiking to the top of Bald Rock would require but it was well worth it. It was not too terribly long or tough, but it seemed never-ending considering we (the students) had no clue where we were going or when we would reach the final destination. With each climb over a rock and through the trees, the view grew increasingly spectacular, building up anticipation to reach the top. I have never personally witnessed such an incredible view. It honestly took my breath away. At one point, I snuck away and sat alone on the top, just admiring the view and collecting my thoughts. It was a great to reflect on how lucky I am to be here in Australia and to be a part of these incredible adventures.
After the steep hike down Bald Mountain, we retreated to Doctor’s Nose Winery. Although I did not taste any wine, I did enjoy the relaxing time. It was great to unwind from such an eventful day and I looked forward to returning to the hotels. The room I was put in was beautiful and slightly luxurious. With the clean room, comfy bed, and never-ending delicious food, I felt I was vacationing at a quiet little resort in a pleasant historic farm town…and I was right. Tenterfield, population approximately 3,000 people was a refreshing change from the small tourist town of Lennox Head. I went to bed feeling at home and ready for the next day’s adventures.
The next day we went to Billabong Blue, a sapphire fossicking place. It was really neat and fun except for the massive amount of flies that swarmed around everyone’s head and landed in people’s mouth and eyes. I found some pretty nice sapphires, but nothing overly impressive. It was interesting to learn the process of extracting sapphires from a pile of dirt. I was not very good at sifting the dirt in the water and thankfully, the lady who works there helped me out quite a bit.
After tea (we were fed like every 2 hours...it was awesome!) we were off onto another adventure. I had no clue where we were heading as the schedule only informed us we were going to have “lunch with kinfolk.” When we arrived at this community full of barns and trailers, it seemed very quiet. After a few moments of being there, people dressed like Amish came crawling out of their homes to greet us. They ran a business making signs for places all over the world. It wasn’t until the man mentioned something about New York that I noticed he had an American accent. He and the rest of the community were from the states and came (or got sent) to Australia to work and live. The men and women walked about, talking about their business of making signs. It was evident that they take a lot of pride in their work and it was even clearer that they were more interested in us and our lives. One girl who was about 20 years old had been living in Australia for the same amount of time I have and our stories were complete opposite. She was sent, on her own, from Pennsylvania to work and live, without her family and friends. I felt sad for her because she wasn’t going to college, getting an education, meeting new friends, seeing the country or starting a career; she was going to work side-by-side with a “stranger” making signs. Granted that “stranger” probably soon became her family, but it was still a sad situation in my eyes. I didn’t want to ask too many details fearing I would offend her and her community. She, and the others, seemed perfectly content at their job where they money they make is all evenly distributed. I wish we would have been informed and educated about this stop in the trip so I could have been more prepared and aware of this alternative lifestyle. When I arrived, I felt really uncomfortable, although the people were very nice. They gave us cookies and two books to read. One book is about forgiveness and the other is about sex and relationships. A few of us started reading some of them on the bus, sharing some of the very interesting points of view.
We then traveled to an old train station where we could walk around and climb on an old train car. The last stop of the Tenterfield trip was the old pioneer village. It was by far my favorite part of the day. It was neat to have free time to roam around this old abandoned, but perfectly preserved pioneer town. The classroom was so neat. It is amazing to think that one tiny unairconditioned classroom housed many pupils of all ages.

It was great to see the country side of Australia....but it was even better to stay in the city of Melbourne and Sydney for a few days over spring break too...

stay tuned for some spring break stories soon (i promise) :)

cheers!