Mistakenly, I thought that last night would be an opportunity to catch up on sleep while camping in the bush. The temperature and Aboriginal neighbors made this an unreality.
Given my tent was set up in a literal desert, expectations were for a warm beginning to the evening, followed by a cool night. The change never came. My one-man tent proved to be a better insulator than expected. It held a majority of the heat of the day through the night. So laying on top of my sleeping bag the night was an exercise in catnaps. At one point I stuck my head out the tent flap to see a broader blanket of stars than afforded in the Northern Hemisphere. This may be an illusion, since the arrangement and available stars were different.
Just as the temperature appeared to be cooling and a deeper sleep was at hand country music came blaring. I was completely disoriented. Where had I awakened, somewhere in the Tennessee? The Aboriginal teens were cranking country music from one of their cars. As the singer twanged on about wanting to go back to Louisiana, it made me wonder “why” of all the music available in the world these particular native Australians would pick U.S. country music. A check of the watch showed 5:45am.
Culturally, from what I had learned, this group of Aboriginals kept traditional tribal organization. By 6:15am all male adults had left camp. The women sat in the dirt around a fire and tended to the children and teens. The male teens were obviously bored and tried to wander away several times. When one of the females finally noticed the excursion, a single female did all the yelling. It didn’t matter whether one of the toddlers needed to come closer to the circle or one of the five-year-old boys was being too aggressive with one of the penned kangaroos, the same woman gave a guttural reprimand. Everything appeared to result in a tonal throaty yelling. The toddlers snapped to attention at the commands but the older the children the less affected they were. The wandering teen boys simply acknowledged the barking by stopping their forward progress and slowly wandering back in the direction of the fire circle.
A notable cultural difference was the earthly comfort the Aboriginal people appeared to demonstrate. Practically everyone was barefooted. When there was occasion to sit, then the posture was bottoms on the ground and legs straight out in a forward position. This may account for the Aboriginal art form of a “U” symbolizing a seated person, as that would be the imprint left behind in the red sandy soil. The children were covered in a red sandy earth glaze and most adults had a good covering from the thighs down.
Genetically, the Aboriginal people are some of the most anciently pure and consistently evolved on earth. It is interesting how their skin has adapted to protect against the sun, producing deep melanin tones and their hair is predominantly straight and bleached by the sun to blonde tips. Bone structure appears to be very fine. It is a wonder that there haven’t been more great runners aside from the 400 Meter gold medalist Cathy Freeman. Looking at the physical structure of the teens, they have the natural build for foot speed. Given the extreme heat of the central desert, I can’t blame anyone for not being inclined to go for a jog.
The flight from Alice Springs back to Sydney was uneventful. It still takes some “getting used” to open air jet boarding. The stroll on the tarmac is still a novelty. The one process that is actually much more helpful is the dual front and back door loading. This allows for a total passenger embarking process of just about ten minutes.
The backpacker’s hostel where I’m staying this time is not exactly in the center of Sydney, near the far span of the Anzac bridge, away from Darling Harbor. This made me a little apprehensive at first but the people were once again the great equalizer. The hostel was having a Friday night barbeque for $5 AU. We met up on the roof deck and enjoyed burgers, sausages, salads, and bread. The culinary highlight was the kangaroo steak pieces.
While waiting for the food to be prepared, I met a group of German travelers. They were very engaging and accepted me right in to their crew. What made things fun was my growing ability to understand and communicate back. Right now, I listen to the German and respond in English. They seemed to enjoy the idea that I was trying. We hung out for the barbeque and most of the evening.
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