blokey bloke

o man... the last week and a half has been so incredibly long and amazing :) friday through monday i was in the middle of the outback and i've been pretty busy since we got back, so that's why i haven't written anything. it was seriously so freakin wonderful! most definitely my favorite thing i've done in australia, and i was bummed that we had to come back to civilization when we did. let me just preface by saying that i remember back on the first day i got here during orientation when we were looking at a calendar of the semester. i was so excited about the outback trip, but i was bummed because it was so far away. and now we've already gone! i can't believe how fast time has gone... basically that trip was the halfway point of the semester. crazy!
anyways... let me just tell you about it. prepare for a loooonnnggg post :)
so, technically we didn't actually go to the real outback. we were more on the edge of the bush, because the real outback is literally nothing but red dirt. we took an 8 hour bus ride out just past this town called condobolin to a 35,000 acre farm. it was awesome because the guys who own the farm, kevin and murray, are michelle (my host mom)'s brothers! (actually, i think just murray is and kevin is her brother-in-law, but i'm not positive. either way, they're related.) so neil and michelle came out with us and cooked for the group all weekend. it was sweet because we totally got the hookups for having them as host parents. that comes later though... so we left friday morning with the intention of stopping at a few places like the blue mountains and stuff, but it was super rainy and foggy, so we couldn't see anything. *sidenote: we did end up eating lunch at a mall right in front of the colorado store (that's right... there's a brand called colorado). probably about 15 people pointed it out to me, as though i couldn't see it right there. haha...* anyways, we got to the farm around 5:30 pm and just hung out around the fire and had some dinner. then when it got dark the whole group all sat around the fire and started sharing our life stories. i'm a big dork who loves that kind of stuff, so it was great. then they took some groups out to go roo spotting, which basically involves driving a big van around with a spotlight trying to find kangaroos in the fields. we saw quite a few, and some of the people with me got out and tried to chase them, but they are fast little buggers! plus apparently they're vicious if they feel threatened... so then on friday night we got to sleep outside under the stars, which was awesome because i haven't really seen a lot of stars the whole time i've been here! you could see the milky way out there :) i got to use murray's really warm sleeping bag, so it was great. saturday morning we took the utes out and drove around the property (not all of it. it's 35,000 acres, which kevin told me is about 20 x 25 km). i got to be in the front of the first ute that kevin was driving, which was great because he spotted some emus and just took of through this field and starting chasing them while everyone in the back was screaming and had no idea why we were driving so fast! it was pretty awesome... emus are funny. then we got to this hill and the asc directors gave us some paper to write letters to ourselves, which was actually really cool. being on top of the hill and seeing the hugeness of the outback was really quite humbling. after that, we went and saw the old homestead on the farm and the rock quarry, then we went back to the camp for lunch and my group presentation on australian land and environment. i think it went pretty well (hopefully!). then we just hung out some more and had dinner and had processing groups, then we went roo spotting again when it got dark. then we slept outside again, except this time elle and i got to share murray's swag, which is basically this padded thing with a tarp and a net over it. it was so warm and cozy. michelle laughed when we said we didn't use it the night before, even though we could have. but we thought you had to set it up and we didn't know how. turns out you just lay it on the ground... but it was great because i felt like the swagman in waltzing matilda, and i had the song in my head all night! sunday was even more laid back. we woke up and had a discussion about this book we read called can you drink the cup? it's pretty good... not the best ever. after that we had more free time, and kevin and murray and some other guys helping them on the farm rounded up the sheep and separated them to be sheared the next day. it was actually really fun to watch. sheep seriously are the dumbest animals! then we had lunch followed by some worship around the fire, which was awesome because we sang how he loves! most people hadn't heard it before, but i was very very excited about it. after that we walked back to the old homestead and took some pictures, then came back for dinner which was johnny cakes! they're these little bread things that you put on the fire and they puff up. they were so good! and filling! i had one and was so full! then we had more free time. then some guys who had come in to shear the sheep came and told us a little bit about their jobs and the wool business. i think that i could be a sheep shearer. it's freakin sweet. after that we had some more stories, which were still great, then we all just hung out. i slept inside on sunday because it looked like rain, and i was hoping that it would (australia is in a drought right now... i'll tell more about that in a sec).
monday morning was the best ever! we got to go watch the sheep shearers at work and see how they all work together. seriously... the sheep are so funny. they just sit there because their wool weighs too much for them to move! i got to try it myself, which was so fun. they are so soft! it was merino wool, which is really soft and expensive. seriously, i probably could have sat there all day and watched them. it was great. we also got to watch a flyblown sheep, which was really gross and sad (no, they did not kill it), but i'm not gonna write about it on here. i'll tell whoever wants to know when i get home. after that we got on the bus for the 8 hour ride home! the best part was that i didn't shower the whole time we were there (only like 4 people did), and there were no mirrors! i think i could live like that all the time. it was great. the bus smelled so awful... haha.
so... kevin was telling me about the drought and about how hard it is. basically, if it doesn't rain within the next few weeks, they won't have any crops this year. they will probably have to sell the farm if that happens. so keep them in your prayers! but i asked kevin if all of the hard stuff was worth it, and he said it was. he didn't seem like he regretted living in the outback. he was definitely very australian in that he basically has the attitude that whatever happens happens. you can only do so much yourself, but the rest you just have to trust will happen. i think that's so cool. i really really hope it rains though, because those guys deserve it!
i was so bummed to leave when we did. but another perk of having michelle and neil for host parents: they said if timing works out, we can go out to the farm again! i would love that... especially to be able to do the things we weren't allowed to do because of liability stuff. i really hope that works out, because that would be wonderful!
basically it was the best weekend ever. it was so great to relax and not worry about homework or life and just get to know people and be around a fire. but now i'm back in reality... but it's okay because i found my new favorite part of sydney yesterday, and i'm stoked to go hang out there lots! woohoo!