Why Study the Humanities?

Yesterday, as I was listening to my lecturer in biomedical ethics, he mentioned an opinion piece to us in The Age written by Peter Singer, a very famous University of Melbourne professor of philosophy and ethics, who also spends time teaching at Princeton as well. As my ethics professor mentioned the name, I vaguely remembered passing a book signing going on at the Arts Centre on campus last semester with a Dr. Peter Singer, so I was interested to read what this man had to say.

His opinion piece describes his discontent with the emphasis that Australian universities have put on teachers to publish more papers, teach more students and apply for more research grants in efforts to demonstrate the value of what they study. He lifts up many of the American universities that place more emphasis on undergraduate education of a liberal arts kind where the teachers don't have as much pressure to publish and can focus on teaching. Words like Singer's always fill me with pride and make me all the more thankful I was able to attend an institution such as Singer describes. For all Centre folk reading, I think you'll enjoy the article.

Back to School

And so my semester break has ended. But I can't say I didn't do anything while in between semesters.

Last night after a two hour flight back from Brisbane, and a taxi cab ride back to my apartment, the excitement to start up another semester began to sink in. Of course, I'm bummed I can't do more traveling like I have been the past few weeks, but who knows, maybe some weekend trips will be in order.

Although, this trip wasn't as long as the last trek across the continent, the sights and sounds were no less fantastic. Brisbane (pronounced Briz-bun) is a great little city, nestled about midway up the east coast of Australia and full of exotic rain forest looking trees everywhere. The highlight of a trip to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and situated about 2 hours north of Brissie, was a drive along 75-mile beach to a place called Indian point. From there, we were at the eastern most tip of Australia and could watch hump-back whales gracefully slide along the coast, followed by a few dolphins, and some seawater turtle sightings. Fraser Island has no roads, only the open beach, yet these open beaches are recognized as roads, with sign posts for speed limits, and patrolmen to enforce the law. A four wheel drive vehicle is a must on the island because once you turn off the beach the pathways are quite bumpy.

From Fraser, we traveled through the little town of Bundaberg (the namesake of a tasty ginger beer I love in Australia), and arrived at Agnes Water and the Town of 1770. Yes, the town's name is a year in history. Here, I (and I never thought I'd say this) rode around on a motorbike throughout the town to catch views of the sun setting over the eastern sea. A local who runs a tourist business called "Scooteroo" actually leads visitors around on motorbikes so they can see the town, ride a motorcycle (a smallish version), and catch the sun setting over the ocean horizon. I'll briefly mention that my first attempt to ride the bike ended tragically with both myself and the bike tangled in a wire fence about 20 yards from where I stared riding. There's no more helpless feeling than not fully having control of a motorbike and realizing that, yes, you in fact will be crashing into a fence for everyone to witness. After a quick bike swap, and a dusting off of my pride, I rode off into the sunset with my masculinity recharging by the moment. I know my dad would hate to hear me say this, but man are they a blast to ride.

The next day at 1770, we took off for a trip to Lady Musgrave Island, which is included in the Great Barrier Reef by just a hair. A few clicks south and we'd have been out of the official Great Barrier Reef. Lady Musgrave is a lagoon about 2 hours east of the town obviously only reachable by boat. The sea was extremely choppy that morning causing major rocking of our boat. Lots of patrons got sick. When you look out to the horizon and the boat railing goes about three feet below it, then shoots about three feet above it for two hours, that's not a pleasant ride. The waves would splash us with sea water consistently with each wake, so I arrived to Lady Musgrave a bit disoriented and quite wet. The coral reef, however, made it all worth it. Snorkeling with the colorful fish and brilliant colors of the coral was unlike anything I've ever experienced. No words can really capture the feeling and the experience so I won't even try, but I hope that I can do it again before I leave this country.

Today, classes started back up. The second time around is so much easier! I know where I am, how to get to where I need to be, and what to expect. Plus, my class schedule (pronounced shed-ual in 'Stralian) is much more even keeled and spaced out than last semester. It's back to work I guess, but I'm so thankful for the time off. The break gave me the opportunity to see parts of Australia other than Melbourne, and get a feel for how big and diverse this country/continent really is.

Journey Through the Red Center of Australia

I've been back from my trip up through the center of Australia for about two weeks now, and I'm still coming down from the excitement and energy that trip gave me. I can honestly say the road trip will go down as one of the best I've ever taken. The scenery was incredible, the people I traveled with were fun and adventurous, and the tour companies we used were top notch. In fifteen days, we traveled nearly 4,000 km (2,500 miles) across the continent starting in Adelaide and ending in Darwin. To talk about all the incredible parts of the trip would take ages and volumes, so I won't even try. I would upload some pictures, but I'm having trouble figuring that out at the moment. Instead, a few interesting tid bits:

I saw more camels in the Outback than kangaroos. Apparently, when they were building the Gahn railway that runs north-south, they used camels and then let them run wild. They've thrived in the desert that is most of Australia and are so numerous they are set to sell camel meat in the Australian supermarkets soon.

A town we stayed at in the middle of South Australia called Coober Pedy began as a settlement of miners who were looking for opal. The town still exists today with most residents living underground or in the sides of huge earthen mounds. This type of living keeps the home a steady temperature in the hot desert, but makes for a very bleak looking town - no grass, red dirt everywhere, and not much else going on. Coober Pedy (pronounced pee-dee) means "white man's burrow" in one of the Aborignal languages of the area.

Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is the largest monolith in the world and was a difficult climb. There's controversy surrounding if we should be climbing it or not. The Aboriginal people of the area would rather people not simply to keep them safe from falling to their deaths. I debated not climbing it, but couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Sleeping outside every night in a swag on the ground, staring at the clearest starry sky you've ever seen is the only way to spend your time traveling the Outback. I saw the Southern Cross and gases of the Milky Way galaxy it was so dark. Sunrise and sunsets out there can not be matched either.

Once you cross the Tropic of Capricorn, termite mounds begin to show up as you exit the desert and enter more forested areas. The more north you travel the taller they get. Just outside of Alice Springs they were no higher than my shins. In Darwin, they towered over me at just about 10 or 12 feet high. The termites themselves are no bigger than a poppy seed.

In the Northern Territory, there are snakes, spiders, termites, cane toads, and most important crocodiles. The fresh water crocs are pretty harmless and more scared of you than you of them. Plus they only get about 3 feet long. The salties on the other hand... they will kill you. They get to be about 10 or 12 feet long, but have been seen as big as 16 feet (5 meters). Signs were up everywhere that said, "Saltwater crocodiles have been known to enter these areas undetected. Swim at your own risk."

Darwin is a great little town with a decidedly 70s look after the whole place was destroyed in the 1970s after a hugh cyclone hit. So the architecture is in the style of the times. Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks just outside of Darwin are full of amazing waterholes, cascades, and rock jumps. Some are only accessible with four-wheel drive vehicles. Lucky for us, we had some.

So, those are just some of the highlights of the places I went and the things I saw. I had an amazing group of travel partners and we had such a blast together. We also really enjoyed meeting the other travelers on the tours we took. In our groups, we met people from England, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and different parts of the U.S. I met a former Swiss guard who'd protected the Pope, a former professional footy player (who I just recently met back up with in Melbourne), and a French amateur didgeridoo player who made the Northern Territory jungles come alive with his excellent playing. Such a variety of people only added to the excellence of the trip.

So why not take another one? Tomorrow, I head off to Brisbane for a week to tour Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, and the southern most parts of the Great Barrier Reef. It's sure to be a great trip to finish off my in between semester holiday.