On January the 19th we took a 2 hour bus ride from Sydney to the blue mountains. Our first stop in the Blue Mountains was an aboriginal dance exhibition. The performers were Waradah dancers and came from several different tribes. The beginning of the demonstration consisted of loud shouting and yelling. The Waradah dancers were calling out to their ancestors, so the ancestors would know they were still worshipping. The next phase of the show consisted of an explanation of the various languages and traditions of each tribe. The aboriginal body paint is referred to as their law. Each tribe has its own specific law, and the individual dancers took some time to explain their own. The body paint was a make up of different colored dots and stripes. In the next dance, the performers acted out various animal motions like emu, echidna, and kangaroos. It was interesting to see the slight similarities between the Waradah performance and the one our group performed a couple of days before. The final take away of the exhibition was the story of the musical instrument, the didjeridu. As the story goes, an aboriginal man heard a strange sound coming from hollow and termite infested log. He picked up the log to recreate the sound of the wind blowing through it. At first, the man failed to play any worthwhile sound. After secretly practicing in the bush to avoid ridicule, he was able to imitate the wind, as well as other noises. Overall the aboriginal dance exhibition of informative and gave another perspective on the native Australian people.
After the aboriginal dance exhibition we took a series of sky lifts, trains, and trams so we could take in the sights while walking through a rain forest. One of the trains we rode was similar to a roller coaster and was the steepest incline for any train in the world. The entire class rode this train up, down, and then up again. Unfortunately the sky was filled with fog so we couldn’t enjoy the sights as much as we had planned. The sky lift rides were interesting due to the fact that we couldn’t see where we were going. Even though the storm and the fog prevented us from seeing the famous “three sisters” at the blue mountains the class still had an enjoyable day where we spent a little more time in the gift shops rather than the rain forest or the edge of the mountain. The weather was certainly unfavorable today but when looking back on the trip we can’t complain because we have been extremely lucky weather wise other than today.
Our return to Sydney was more exciting than our initial departure this morning because we rode a river taxi back to the city instead of taking the bus back to the hotel. As the catamaran pulled into the harbor students separated into different groups to get food, shop, or see some more sights.
