Hello world! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to report on my weekend. After the vlog last week, it was very hard to get motivated for the return to text-format, but return I have (albeit rather embarrassingly late)!
The reason I did not vlog my trip to Stradbroke Island last week is because it was with my Anthropology class, and we were meeting up with some Aboriginal tribal leaders, and they have that whole tricky cameras-will-take-my-soul idea going on, and I didn't want to offend anyone with my amateur film-making. For the same reason, this blog entry will be devoid of pictures. Man, things are just getting duller and duller on Snark & Blather, aren't they? Oops.
The trip was fantastic, though--a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. Our main guide was a man called Shane, and he was both wickedly funny and deeply passionate about the island, where the Moreton family has been living for generations. He brought along several members of his family, including an adorable little boy named Alfie who kept interrupting Shane's speaking with whatever exciting tide pool creature he'd stumbled across and simply had to show us. We started at a creek, where we had to survey the area for evidence of aboriginal sites, like campgrounds or shell middens. There wasn't much, but it didn't matter--as Shane explained, the space functioned more as a supermarket of sorts, where all the necessary things for living could be gathered and trade communication with other tribes could be carried out.
We breaked for lunch, and my friend Greg guiltily admitted that he hadn't brought any more to eat than a couple apples. This is the same friend who forgot his lunch during the Byron Bay trip who I gave my apple to, so I had suspected that it might happen again and brought a PB&J sandwich for him. He was delighted, and declared me "the best person ever." He now owes me a drink.
Our other stop was at Brown Lake in the middle of the island. Basically, Straddie is a pile of sand over the top of a huge water table, and Brown Lake is at the summit. It's called Brown Lake because, like with the lake I swam in at Byron Bay, it's surrounded by ti trees and the oils soaking into the water have colored it. Because this site is primarily a women's site, Shane left us here in the care of his sister and mother, along with several other women from the family and an even younger boy named Archie, who clearly thought that we ought to be paying more attention to him than to the women. The women explained how the lake served as a beginning place for all of the members of the family, where they were introduced to the spirit-beings for the first time, and that the health of the lake was indicative of the health of the tribe's women. Once again, though there was very little physical evidence at the site, we were told that the significance of the site lies in its function: Brown Lake is one of the most sacred places for the Aboriginal family that lives on the island because it is where their lives begin and end.
As we left, Shane gave us some parting advice regarding Australian sharks: "Be careful," he said. "Our sharks have a sense of humor. They love to pull your leg, and they don't always give it back."
That evening (this was Saturday, by the way), my friend Krista had her 21st birthday party at a Mexican restaurant over in Taringa on the other side of the river. Only about 8 people showed up, but they were all cool (most of them I hadn't met before) and we hung out there for about three hours. The food was way more than I could eat, though, and since Australia doesn't believe in doggy bags, I ended up eating way too much. Everybody did. But that didn't prevent us from trekking downtown via train and getting gelatti in the CBD, which we happily ate sitting just outside of a rather hilariously sketchy-looking strip club.
Sunday I went to see Despicable Me with Aran and Scarlett, and it was pretty good, though clearly intended for a much younger audience than us. We were also blown away by the 3D classes. They appeared to have color-changing lenses, because when we first pulled them out the right one was dark and the left one wasn't, and they later switched, and then evened out when the movie started. My first thought was light sensitivity, but after some experimenting we determined that wasn't it. So yes, cheap 3D glasses stumped 2 undergrads and 1 post-grad student. We're cool.
Apologies again for the lack of vlog on this one. I really do like that format better. I promise there will be some vlogging again soon, because I am leaving for Heron Island on Friday night, where I have been promised night snorkeling, and I am super excited. When next you hear from me, I will be 21 years old, and over halfway through my time in Australia. How crazy is that? Hope all is well on the home front!
Love,
Morgan
P.S. I wandered past a shop the other day called "KGB locksmith" with a hammer & sickle for its logo. Bad taste, or sheer genius? You decide.
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