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Australia Adventure

In The Shadow of Uluru and Aboriginal Culture

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

On day 5 of our adventure we were fortunate enough to be treated to two things. First we were set to learn about aboriginal culture from an expert. Second, we were to get our first site of Uluru (Ayers Rock). This was to be a welcomed change of scenery, or so we thought, since our previous location the Ooraminna Bush Camp was rained out. At the bush camp we missed out on one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip and that was to get a lesson on the Southern Hemisphere night sky. While we were at the Bush Camp we were treated very warmly by Bill and Jan.

The Ooraminna camp was in a very remote area about 1 hour out of Alice Springs. While there we learned about the cattle farming industry and how herders lived. We also spent the night outside in our custom built swags (padding, sheets, sleeping bag, and pillow). Jennifer Jensen and I already had planned on doing some geocaching with the students while on this trip and we felt this was the best place for us to not go geocaching, but rather create a cache. So we set one up with a Discovery Education travel bug and the best part was explaining the whole concept of geocaching to Bill and Jan.And our final offer of appreciation for their wonderful hospitality was me giving my Discovery Educator Network hat to Bill so he could add it to his hat collection on the wall in the dining area.




Our drive to Uluru took almost 6 hours and took us across the desert landscape of Central Australia. The most fascinating thing of the landscape were the trees and that famous red dirt. I can certainly appreciate anybody who has been here and says that dirt gets on your shoes and does not come off. At this point since I have so thoroughly enjoyed this trip I am not so sure I want it to come off my shoes. I created a digital story about our day that is below:

10 comments:

Susan said...

I enjoyed the digital story, the making of the glue was interesting and the song was perfect.
Did they explain how they made the paint used in the dot drawings?
I will be anxious to see where the travel bug goes to next.
It was nice of you to leave your hat.
Mrs. Jensen's mom

Donna Tobin said...

Looks like you've enjoyed EVERY moment and the people too! Your smile says it all Ken.

Duggan's Mom said...

Mr. Shelton,
I love this video! I can't wait to show it to my 4th grade social studies class tomorrow. Lesson plan done. :) I am also liking your twitters, it keeps me informed in between classes.

Joni said...

Mr. Shelton, I absolutely loved that video! The music was beautiful too! From Alec's Mom Joni

Mister Sill said...

Great video, Mr. Shelton! I agree it is the perfect song.

I am interested in seeing the results of the dot paintings. I'm thinking it must be the Australian version of the French painter, Seurat.

Also, did you get a chance to see the stars at night or was it too cloudy?

Love following your adventures from Central California.

Mister Sill

Anonymous said...

It seems fun with the bannanas. What is a dicovery bug?


David Borodaty
per 6

Mr. Shelton said...

David it is a travel bug. You use them when you are geocaching. It is like a marker that you can follow where it goes on the internet as it is moved from cache to cache

Anonymous said...

Wow Mr. Shelton!! It seems like you had a lot of fun on your trip. I couldn't view the digital story, but it sounds like a very fun and enjoyable experiance! What else did you do when you were at Australia? How was the weather there? What was the red dirt really famous for? Also, who was Bill and Jan? Well see you when you come back and have a safe trip back.

amairani Jimenez said...

Amairani Jimenez
Well Mr.Shelton to me it seems like you are enjoying your trip every seconde that you are there. Sorry about Ooraminna bush Camp was rained out. hope fully that does not happed again. Was the weather always as nice as you described it?
What was the lesson On the Southern hemispere night sky and why did yuo want to learn about it. Did you get bored at all while you and the rest of the students where going from place to place. Was sleeping out side as fun or as scary as tou imagened it. well hopefully you enjoyed it all.

Anonymous said...

What exactly is geocaching?





Daesha Horn
Per 3

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