The staff attending the trip were Felipe Casasayas, Sasha Cyganowski, Rod Foster, Fun Lai, Louise Manitzky, Jessica Mullin, Janusz Sysak and Vandana Wadhwa.
Staff and students were split amongst two buses, both travelling at the same time. Days on the bus were long as it took us 3 days to cover the 2321 km between Melbourne and Uluru, but very enjoyable as we watched the landscape open up as red dirt replaced green grass, beautiful wildflowers bloomed, spectacular salt lakes appeared, and emus, kangaroos, wedge-tailed eagles drew our attention away from lollies and iPads.
Once in the centre bus journeys became shorter, and days were filled with fantastic activities. Highlights include:
- Hiking Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, Ormiston Gorge (including a swim in the waterhole!) and around the base of Uluru.
- Enjoying a sunset party at Uluru, marshmallows and music around the campfire at Kings Creek and trivia night at Coober Pedy.
- Visiting the Lilla aboriginal community, where students were welcomed with a smoking ceremony, had rock art explained to them, ate kangaroo tail and damper and created aboriginal-inspired artwork.
- Astronomy Tour, where our guide pointed out constellations and planets, relating them to aboriginal mythology and students saw Saturn and its rings through a telescope.
- Kangaroo Sanctuary, where Brolga lead the students through his property, describing his work rehabilitating injured and orphaned kangaroos. A definite highlight for the students was holding the joeys Madeleine, Barry and Sebastian.
