Tonight’s very brief post comes to you from the outback … the heartland of Aboriginal Australia ,where I’m spending a week ~ strictly work purposes of course.
After landing in Alice Springs and walking off the plane into the midday heat ..I was struck by the number of thoughts racing through my head. Not the least of which were … 1/ thank god I got that pedicure, so I can peel off these boots and be comfortable about my naked feet …. and 2/ OMG I forgot my swimmers …but then would I wear them and risk being half naked and poolside with a bunch of colleagues? (mmm still not sure about that one).
After settling in, we headed out of town to the original Telegraph Station for a traditional welcome in the dry sandy river bed of the Todd River.
After the celebrations and dinner I was curious to read the history attached to the site … Now as you can imagine there was much to learn and facts to absorb …. BUT the thing that got me wondering, was this whole tele-communication deal…. how DID they lay underwater cables from England to Australia in the 1830’s ?? then how did they connect them and run from one end of the country across the vast desert to the other end …. AND THEN how did they ever make sense of messages being tapped out in morse-code along them ??
Give me high speed intrnet any day ….I don’t understand it either but it seems to work !!!
…
Wonder Years 
Alice Springs is one of those remote places that evokes such romantic, adventurous, historical yearnings in me. I’m always a little stunned (read envious) that someone actually sets foot there.
Your curiosity runs like mine – those are exactly the types of “wonderings” I’d be mulling.
Safe travels!
LOL yes Sammy there are quite a few of us ‘setting foot’ here this week. It IS romantic, adventurous and historical as well as beautiful even WITH the red dirt messing up the twinkle toes 😉
I would strongly encourage you to brave the long flight and see first hand. There is a young woman here from New York City she flew all the way for the 3 day conference …now that’s dedication.
No kidding! Hub and I both want to visit New Zealand. I’m sure if we’re coming all that way we should civer a bit of “Oz” as well.
Curious – what kind of conference? Are you retired or in what line of work? How do you adjust for not being sble to talk? No pressure in answering now (or ever), but curiosity never ends with me 🙂
No problem Sammy … I have no secrets LOL.
The conference is the first ever International Indigenous Peoples Conference on Viral Hepatitis, I work full time in viral hep health promotion and am @ Uni part time doing social work, so it’s an area of huge interest to me. Vocally …. yep it is a HUGE challenge, but I can manage a whisper….and I’m a great listener 😉
I have had to adjust everything about my work and social life … but hey, you can’t shut a chatterbox up that easily … I write more/talk less and rely on email and e communication for most things….(many would say that I am just as vocal – but with my fingers hehe)
I just heard a presentation but an Inuit Dr who introduced his speech by showing how his people use eyebrow language …. I laughed and thought ..”there you go that’s my answer” …I’ll move to Greenland !!
Hope you make it here one day…if you get to NZ it’d just a short ‘swim across the ditch’ 😉
How fascinating! And what a great contribution your efforts combined with others at the conference.
Now I’ll be going about my day thinking about whether my eyebrows are talking !! Of course that was quickly noted on my “google this” list that never ends!