Travel: Day 6 - Long drives and history lessons

One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to one's heart. 

In January 2011 (and 2015), I taught Tropical Ecology  and, for one of the class activities, I took a group of students on a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico . (Click here to read about the trip to Puerto Rico). 

In January 2013, I taught Ecology of Australia and, naturally, it entailed a field trip to Australia! (Click here to read about the trip to Australia).

In January 2016, I taught Tanzania: Culture, Climate, and Connections and took students to Africa.

In 2018, a group of Midland University students embarked on a learning adventure to Australia for a course titled: Ecology, Environment, and Culture of Australia. This is what they gained on their learning adventure.

Click here for Travel: Day 1-3 - Lack of motion sickness

Click here for Travel: Day 4 - The Dandenong Range

Click here for Travel: Day 5 - En route to the Outback

Day 6: Long drives and history lessons

Subject Matter Expert - Michael Taddonio/Erikur Arnason

Today was another day spent driving towards our eventual destination - the Outback. We drove from Renmark to Hawker.

Our first night of sleeping at Renmark was a lot cushier to get us acclimated to what our new sleeping arrangements would be for the next few days. 

(C.S. Manish 2018)

Our first stop of the day was at Morgan, a town in South Australia on the right bank of the Murray River.

(C.S. Manish 2018)

Morgan was established in 1878, an important stop on the (then) railway line from Adelaide and was named at that time after Sir William Morgan, then Chief Secretary, later Premier of South Australia. Peter Hicks, a guide who joined us overnight at Renmark, led us on a tour of the abandoned railyard.

(C.S. Manish 2018)

At one point Morgan was one of the busiest ports on the Murray handling nearly all the goods that were being imported and exported (particularly wool) to and from a vast region upstream from Morgan along the Murray and Darling rivers. At its peak, Morgan was the second busiest port in South Australia (behind only Port Adelaide).

(Logan Paasch 2018)

However, the good times did not last. As road transport improved through the early part of the 20th century, river transport declined and the railway to Morgan finally closed in 1969.

(C.S. Manish 2018)

After lunch, we sat on the grassy bank by the river and unhurriedly chatted about everything under the sun, finally getting a chance to get to know our guides, as well as each other, a little better without the pressure of having to be on the move.

In the afternoon, we stopped in some smaller towns along the way and explored places such as Burra which had a World War II Monument in the middle of the city to commemorate the soldiers that died from the town in the War.

(Fred Wigington 2018)

The Burra mines supplied 89% of South Australia's and 5% of the world's copper for 15 years, and the settlement has been credited (along with the mines at Kapunda) with saving the economy of the struggling new colony of South Australia. The Burra Burra Copper Mine was established in 1848 mining the copper deposit discovered in 1845. Miners and townspeople migrated to Burra primarily from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Germany. The mine first closed in 1877, briefly opened again early in the 20th century and for a last time from 1970 to 1981 (Wikipedia).

(Fred Wigington 2018)

After making a wrong turn out of Burra, we passed Peacocks Chimney, where they melted the above-mentioned Copper.

Eventually, as we left the towns behind we began to notice a distinct change in the landscape. Gum trees don’t have a trunk above ground, and they store water underground in the thick roots and branch out on the surface. The leaves are used to shade the tree by hanging down during the day to prevent the sun from drying out the tree. In the evenings they are able to get good exposure to sunlight to help the tree survive. Mistletoe gets deposited high in the gum tree by mistletoe birds, which is an invasive relationship.

(Jodi Kimborough 2018)

The gum trees gave way to frosted saltbush that surrounded us as we traveled down the highway. As the name suggest, saltbushes are halophytes - plants that are adapted to dry environments with salty soils.

(Logan Paasch 2018)

Even the saltbushes became infrequent as we headed up towards the Flinders Ranges. We crossed the Ranges and entered the real Outback.

(Derrick Kruetzfeldt 2018)

As we went over the ranges, we spotted our first Emu - just traipsing around unaffected by the convoy of intruders from a strange land. The sheep that are raised on the farms are stained red from the dirt and Barry Walker told us of a farmer who had one single alpaca guard 1,000 head of sheep. 

As anecdotes like these were shared by the guides the weather changed and, to the surprise of even the locals, it began to rain on us. 

(Logan Paasch 2018)

We did not know it then, but the rain would influence our trip in a day or two. But, at that moment, all we cared about was reaching the campsite in Hawker, setting up tent, eating dinner and then settling down for a good night's rest. We had reached the Outback.

Day 7 - A tale of two bakeries and a stick of dynamite

Travel: Day 5 - En route to the Outback

One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to one's heart. 

In January 2011 (and 2015), I taught Tropical Ecology  and, for one of the class activities, I took a group of students on a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico . (Click here to read about the trip to Puerto Rico). 

In January 2013, I taught Ecology of Australia and, naturally, it entailed a field trip to Australia! (Click here to read about the trip to Australia).

In January 2016, I taught Tanzania: Culture, Climate, and Connections and took students to Africa.

In 2018, a group of Midland University students embarked on a learning adventure to Australia for a course titled: Ecology, Environment, and Culture of Australia. This is what they gained on their learning adventure.

Click here for Travel: Day 1-3 - Lack of motion sickness

Click here for Travel: Day 4 - The Dandenong Range

Day 5: En route to the Outback 

Subject Matter Expert - Paige Kapperman

The Outback is the vast, remote interior of Australia. The Outback extends from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompasses a number of climatic zones, including tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the "red center" and semi-arid and temperate climates in southerly regions. 

The Australian Outback is  massive - about 2.5 million square miles in area. Compared to the United States, Australia’s seasons are the opposite. So when it is fall in Australia, in the United States it is spring. We experienced the Outback during its dry season. About 70 percent of the Outback is dry and composed of two arid zones, one with cold winters in the center and one with mild winter near the north. For the most part, the majority of the country is very hot. In the deserts, temperatures can get as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit and get as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  

But getting to the Outback from Melbourne is not a short drive. We had to break it up into two parts. On the first day we drove from Melbourne to Renmark, where we stayed overnight, before heading to Hawker (more on that in the next day's report).

On the way we left the state of Victoria and drove into South Australia. Because of the fear of spreading invasive species, the states are very particular about what food gets transported across the border and rightfully so.

(Fred Wigington 2018)

(Eddie Reddick 2018)

Technically we were leaving Victoria but it did not stop us from crossing the road and taking a picture in the other direction on the off-chance that we would not get that picture on the way back (and that was true).

(Eddie Reddick 2018)

We stopped a couple of times to refuel, eat lunch, and stretch our legs. During the stops the guides regaled us with stories about the local history and traditions of these small towns.

(Wigington 2018)

There are only about 60,000 people that live in the 2.5 million square foot Outback. The Outback is mostly a desolate place and most people live mainly in small villages. The small villages are close to connecting highways and dirt roads. When it comes to work and jobs in the Outback, the majority of the people are either cattle or sheep farmers or they are miners. 

(C.S. Manish 2018)

The rest of the day involved getting to know the guides as they drove on paved roads, eventually getting to a campground in Renmark on the banks of the Murray River.

Once we were directed to our campsite, we received out first (and last) training in how to set up and dismantle a tent. Each pair of participants was, thereafter, responsible to setting up and taking down their tents, a process that became a fun part of our routine in the days to come.

(C.S. Manish 2018)

Once the tents were set up, the students wandered around the campground while the guides cooked dinner. While we had (officially) not made our way into the actual Outback, the excitement was palpable and we knew that the next day would give us our first glimpse of what we had traveled halfway across the world to experience.

(C.S. Manish 2018)

Day 6 - It does rain in the Outback!