The Great Ocean Road, Australia's most spectacular drive. The most famous bits cut through Port Campbell National Park and it's here that you can be inspired at the famous 12 Apostles landmarks (including London Bridge, awesome gorges, limestone caves and towering cliffs, & overall breathtaking scenery.)
(Movie Spot-- Torquay Beach! Featured in 80's hit movie Point Break starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves)
The 12 Apostles we caught at sunset (pictured here) and they're limestone rocks that rise dramatically out of the surface of the Southern Ocean. They're remnants of limestone cliffs that have eroded the past 20 million years, and watching the waves and wind pound into the rocks I'm suddenly appreciating it in a whole new point of view as I realize they won't be here forever.
Next along the way was a fantastic stretch of legs at the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk.
600 meters long, 45 meters high, trek through a cool climate rainforest and feel insignificant against the backdrop of Beech forest, Blackwood and Mountain Ash woods.
Our last stretch took us into the Grampians National Park where we crashed for a couple days of hiking and climbing. Inside the park we camped and I have a sneaking suspicion this is one of those spots where there are more kangaroos than residents! They were everywhere, and they were huge! After watching a couple males boxing during my morning tea I decided a safe distance from now on meant a good 20 or 30 feet from the big ones!
Climbing the Grampians was an absolute adrenaline rush. We climbed Hollow Mountain and had an entire valley to ourselves. I had an army of new friends to climb with me: Frenchie stuck around after our hostel adventures in Melbourne; there were also a couple of Germans, a Serbian comedian and a new English couple from the UK-Jack and Kelly.
This is where I learned the most about aboriginal culture since their occupation of this area dates back nearly 20,000 years! There are preserved remnants of aboriginal rock art and cultural centres littered throughout sponsored and maintained by the local indigenous communities.- The Australian Aboriginals are the oldest continuing living culture in the world. They are thought to have arrived nearly 60,000 years ago.
- Australia is a massive country with vastly different climates--depending on the climate aboriginals varied in clothing and dress, culture and lifestyle.
- At one time there were 100s of different communities scattered across the country with over 250 spoken languages.
- Despite the differences, all aboriginals date their origins back to Dreamtime. It's their belief about how the earth was made, naming ancestors with superpowers who carved the land, made the rivers and lakes, and guarded the natural phenomenon. Sacred places from these stories were identified to perform religious and spiritual ceremonies.
- Weapons for hunting included spears and boomerangs.
- Spiritural songs about their ancestors and Dreamtime are typically played on a didgeridoo .
- With the arrival of early English colonists, the aboriginal culture was too complex for them to understand. They were not a warrior culture (like the Maoris and Polynesians) & their weapons were no match for the muskets and gunpowder. Aboriginals were almost completely decimated through forced removal, disease and discrimination.
- At one time it was legal to kill an aboriginal if he/she was found on your land, and hunting parties were organized to kill off entire clans if they were found.
- In the 1900s laws were imposed to restrict the movements of the aboriginals, and from then on until the 1970's, states were allowed to remove children from their mothers if their fathers were suspected of being 'white.' This is known as the Stolen Generation.
- It wasn't until 1972 that they were granted the right to vote (the right to exist as fellow human beings in their own country) And today, there'a long road ahead for cultural integration. Land ownership is being passed back, apologies are being made by prime ministers (see Kevin Rudd's Apology), and racism is slowly but surely being weeded out of the school systems.
It's been particularly hard for me to get a grasp on the issues surrounding the aboriginal culture in today's Australia. The biggest block is simply because the locals don't want to talk about it. I think the generations of today don't know enough about the aboriginal culture to really speak on their behalf, and certainly the racism and accepted discrimination of their parents' time must have some lingering effects.
Nonetheless, there is finally movement in the right direction for Australians and Aboriginals to unite and coexist in harmony...will we be able to do the same with our own Native American reservations??? If so, we should hope to learn from each other.
For more information about repeating this experience check out Australian Adventure Tours: Melbourne to Adelaide safaris...
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