socialising; hiking; breaking things
Apr. 5th, 2009 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julietI have had a very busy week!
Wednesday I headed up to the Blue Mountains, for a day's walkabout with Blue Mountains Walkabout, an Aboriginal owned and guided operation. It was, of course, absolutely pissing it down, but they don't cancel for bad weather, so we set off as planned from Faulconbridge. (Three of us plus Evan the guide.)
(A general note: any statements made about Aboriginal culture are my best understanding of what I've read about/been told. I am very open to any corrections if I've gotten things wrong & anyone reading this wants to correct me!)
It was a really, really good day, despite the rain. We followed a songline[0] between Faulconbridge and Springwood, stopping at various cultural/ceremonial sites en route. It wasn't a proper path -- there's no way I would have been able to follow it on my own, for example. Evan has heritage from this area[1], and was able to tell us some of the stories or lore connected with the sites -- though a lot of it's been lost (as per footnote). The first site was one with an engraving of a mother kangaroo and her joey, with a snake: one meaning being a lesson for kids to stay away from snakes; and another being to do with the Rainbow Serpent who made this area.
We waded through many creeks. My boots held up splendidly until the first creek that was deep enough to come over the tops of them, after which it was like walking in two small swimming-pools. Unfortunately the weather meant that we couldn't go swimming in the billabong that is normally the lunch stop -- although the waterfall was absolutely spectacular. Instead we went up to an open cave a little above the waterfall, where Evan lit a fire. With which I accidentally set fire to my socks. oops. (They were not on my feet at the time.)
We also got to use ochre to make pictures on bits of bark. I drew water, and fire, and the four of us (I brought the bark home with me). And Evan made popcorn on the fire (apparently this was a special treat!) and told us some Dreamtime stories[2], and talked about initiation ceremonies (some of the sites we saw were related to initiations -- like the one we climbed up to after lunch).
The afternoon was more hiking (including a fair old scramble to the top of one hilltop!) and creek-wading. We saw a yabbie, and a lyre-bird sheltering from the rain. I was pretty knackered by the time we reached the last site: it has some white ochre hand-outlines, and a black charcoal kangaroo with a spear in it. Evan stood on the edge of the rock, overlooking the valley, and played us a bullroarer, which was a fantastic way to finish things. Then it was another 15 min hike back to the station -- coming back up the side of the mountain, you suddenly pop out at the back of Springwood, with houses and gardens and so on. Incredibly discombobulating after spending the previous 7 hrs surrounded by trees.
I'd very strongly recommend it to anyone who's in the area -- very much worth it. Although I was shattered by the time I got home!
I have also been doing much socialising: met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cryx for coffee on Thursday, in a nice fair-trade place in Glebe which had vegan chocolate cupcakes! And the company was excellent :) Friday night I went over to geekboyoz's, for pizza & several episodes of True Blood (which is gory, slightly ridiculous, & has a ludicrous amount of sex in, but which is v entertaining). And I am v fond of just hanging out with nice people. Then yesterday I met up with electricant for a couple of beers at the Red Oak, which is a beer cafe/microbrewery. Good beer & good conversation = a splendid thing!
Things that I have broken this week:
- my socks (see above).
- the Tab key on the eeeeeepc, after it booted up with weird keys-not-working, & I took some keycaps off to have a look, and then broke the Tab key getting it back on. (And halfway broke the 2, as well.) Next time I booted it: no problems. GO FIGURE.
- the extension cable on the USB modem (at least, that is my current conclusion for why it drops out intermittently if I'm using the extension cable when on the sofa).
- my plans for returning home, in that the freighter to SF is now delayed, so I won't make the QM2, & am thus getting a freighter from Philadelphia to Tilbury instead. And will miss Glastonbury, &uon's sister's wedding. Boo. Still: could be worse. Thumbs crossed nothing else changes!
I have also discovered that I appear to have developed some kind of surfing-dependency. Hadn't been in all week (due to bluebottles at first, & then torrential downpour), and have been off/on grumpy all week. Went down this morning & spent two hrs pissing around on a board (I am getting better!), came out feeling outrageously cheerful, and got lots of work done in the afternoon. Fvck knows what I'm going to do when I get back to London; either visit Brighton[3] a *lot*, or find something else equally cheering.
Surfing is aces partly because I really don't think about anything else *but* the waves & what I/my board is doing for the entire time I'm in the water. And the waves just keep coming! It's like meditation, but with additional going 'zoom'! And then falling off and getting half a ton of water & sand up your nose, but there we go. (I have surfing calluses on my hands now. I am v proud.)
[0] Songs have many functions in Aboriginal culture: lore/laws, social information, stories, navigation... a songline is a route between various sacred/ceremonial/etc sites.
[1] The Aboriginal group that used to live here were the Darug, but the last full-blooded Darug person died in the 19th c -- the population was very heavily hit by a smallpox epidemic immediately after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The only Darug remaining are people who have Darug ancestry -- they're trying to recapture/rebuild what they can of their cultural knowledge, but a lot of it is lost forever now. Evan said that he spends a lot of his spare time looking for Aboriginal sites in the Blue Mountains.
[2] Dreamtime is not a very good translation of the concept -- I get the impression that it doesn't translate well at all into English. I've heard it before translated as lore/laws/cultural understanding (by the Anangu people up by Uluru). Evan described it more as a way of being/experiencing; as being in touch with country/land and with what's going on around you. The link between lore/understanding and country is very, very strong in Aboriginal culture.
[3] I gather Brighton has a surfing beach?
Wednesday I headed up to the Blue Mountains, for a day's walkabout with Blue Mountains Walkabout, an Aboriginal owned and guided operation. It was, of course, absolutely pissing it down, but they don't cancel for bad weather, so we set off as planned from Faulconbridge. (Three of us plus Evan the guide.)
(A general note: any statements made about Aboriginal culture are my best understanding of what I've read about/been told. I am very open to any corrections if I've gotten things wrong & anyone reading this wants to correct me!)
It was a really, really good day, despite the rain. We followed a songline[0] between Faulconbridge and Springwood, stopping at various cultural/ceremonial sites en route. It wasn't a proper path -- there's no way I would have been able to follow it on my own, for example. Evan has heritage from this area[1], and was able to tell us some of the stories or lore connected with the sites -- though a lot of it's been lost (as per footnote). The first site was one with an engraving of a mother kangaroo and her joey, with a snake: one meaning being a lesson for kids to stay away from snakes; and another being to do with the Rainbow Serpent who made this area.
We waded through many creeks. My boots held up splendidly until the first creek that was deep enough to come over the tops of them, after which it was like walking in two small swimming-pools. Unfortunately the weather meant that we couldn't go swimming in the billabong that is normally the lunch stop -- although the waterfall was absolutely spectacular. Instead we went up to an open cave a little above the waterfall, where Evan lit a fire. With which I accidentally set fire to my socks. oops. (They were not on my feet at the time.)
We also got to use ochre to make pictures on bits of bark. I drew water, and fire, and the four of us (I brought the bark home with me). And Evan made popcorn on the fire (apparently this was a special treat!) and told us some Dreamtime stories[2], and talked about initiation ceremonies (some of the sites we saw were related to initiations -- like the one we climbed up to after lunch).
The afternoon was more hiking (including a fair old scramble to the top of one hilltop!) and creek-wading. We saw a yabbie, and a lyre-bird sheltering from the rain. I was pretty knackered by the time we reached the last site: it has some white ochre hand-outlines, and a black charcoal kangaroo with a spear in it. Evan stood on the edge of the rock, overlooking the valley, and played us a bullroarer, which was a fantastic way to finish things. Then it was another 15 min hike back to the station -- coming back up the side of the mountain, you suddenly pop out at the back of Springwood, with houses and gardens and so on. Incredibly discombobulating after spending the previous 7 hrs surrounded by trees.
I'd very strongly recommend it to anyone who's in the area -- very much worth it. Although I was shattered by the time I got home!
I have also been doing much socialising: met
cryx for coffee on Thursday, in a nice fair-trade place in Glebe which had vegan chocolate cupcakes! And the company was excellent :) Friday night I went over to geekboyoz's, for pizza & several episodes of True Blood (which is gory, slightly ridiculous, & has a ludicrous amount of sex in, but which is v entertaining). And I am v fond of just hanging out with nice people. Then yesterday I met up with electricant for a couple of beers at the Red Oak, which is a beer cafe/microbrewery. Good beer & good conversation = a splendid thing! Things that I have broken this week:
- my socks (see above).
- the Tab key on the eeeeeepc, after it booted up with weird keys-not-working, & I took some keycaps off to have a look, and then broke the Tab key getting it back on. (And halfway broke the 2, as well.) Next time I booted it: no problems. GO FIGURE.
- the extension cable on the USB modem (at least, that is my current conclusion for why it drops out intermittently if I'm using the extension cable when on the sofa).
- my plans for returning home, in that the freighter to SF is now delayed, so I won't make the QM2, & am thus getting a freighter from Philadelphia to Tilbury instead. And will miss Glastonbury, &
uon's sister's wedding. Boo. Still: could be worse. Thumbs crossed nothing else changes!I have also discovered that I appear to have developed some kind of surfing-dependency. Hadn't been in all week (due to bluebottles at first, & then torrential downpour), and have been off/on grumpy all week. Went down this morning & spent two hrs pissing around on a board (I am getting better!), came out feeling outrageously cheerful, and got lots of work done in the afternoon. Fvck knows what I'm going to do when I get back to London; either visit Brighton[3] a *lot*, or find something else equally cheering.
Surfing is aces partly because I really don't think about anything else *but* the waves & what I/my board is doing for the entire time I'm in the water. And the waves just keep coming! It's like meditation, but with additional going 'zoom'! And then falling off and getting half a ton of water & sand up your nose, but there we go. (I have surfing calluses on my hands now. I am v proud.)
[0] Songs have many functions in Aboriginal culture: lore/laws, social information, stories, navigation... a songline is a route between various sacred/ceremonial/etc sites.
[1] The Aboriginal group that used to live here were the Darug, but the last full-blooded Darug person died in the 19th c -- the population was very heavily hit by a smallpox epidemic immediately after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The only Darug remaining are people who have Darug ancestry -- they're trying to recapture/rebuild what they can of their cultural knowledge, but a lot of it is lost forever now. Evan said that he spends a lot of his spare time looking for Aboriginal sites in the Blue Mountains.
[2] Dreamtime is not a very good translation of the concept -- I get the impression that it doesn't translate well at all into English. I've heard it before translated as lore/laws/cultural understanding (by the Anangu people up by Uluru). Evan described it more as a way of being/experiencing; as being in touch with country/land and with what's going on around you. The link between lore/understanding and country is very, very strong in Aboriginal culture.
[3] I gather Brighton has a surfing beach?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-05 09:16 am (UTC)Going to Brighton a lot? Traaaaagedy!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-05 12:55 pm (UTC)I am looking forward to the boat!
Surfing
Date: 2009-04-05 12:08 pm (UTC)For those who are interested I have promised, or perhaps that should be threatened to visit Bondi whilst Juliet is indulging her new found surfing addiction and capture photographic evidence.
Watch this space :-)
Re: Surfing
Date: 2009-04-05 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-06 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 12:36 am (UTC)Have just checked the SAS webpage, & apparently the problem is that there's a raw sewage outlet along the coast near there, at Telscombe Cliffs. So, yeah, I imagine that if the wind/current is wrong, it might wash back in again. Plenty of people *do* use the water there, though - it's just a little risky :-/ Having said that, the last update on that page looks to be around 3 years ago, & the legal stuff has changed since then, so the situation might have improved. I will check it out further!