Day 6 - Capricorn Cave and DreamTime

Today was our last leisurely morning of the program.  Breakfast was at 8 a.m. and then we had some free time before we headed to Capricorn Cave.  During this time, some of the students played volleyball with Mr. Colin, some went swimming in frigid water with Miss Kathi and Miss Brenda, while Miss Lori did some emergency  student laundry and bouncing back and forth between all the students activities.

Our delegation has several new clubs - the American/Australian Polar Bear Club for those who were brave enough to swim to the other side of the pool and stay long enough for a photo.  Ethan, one of the Texas delegates has also inspired a hat trend - and we now have Ethan and his Madhatters.  Mr. Colin has formed the Vegemite Lovers Club - and actually has a couple of members (Miss Elisa, our coach driver Jim, and Anthony).  I have to laugh - only 1 non-Aussie is in that group (their picture will be posted hopefully tomorrow.

On the bus, the kids learned the Vegemite song and Miss Elisa told the students that at Capricorn Cave, they had to wear Vegemite on their faces to keep the bats away...and each and every one of them fell for it - except Cameron who said he couldn't do that because he had to stay gluten-free.  Needless to say, they are planning revenge.

At the Capricorn Cave, we planted a tree in their new People to People Garden; Anthony (Miss Lori's delegation), Jeremiah (Miss Kathi and Mr. Colin's delegation), and Jessie T (Miss Brenda's delegation) were given the honor of doing the planting.  We toured the cave and learned about the different species of bats that inhabit the cave between November and April, sometimes having in excess of 300,000 bats in the cave at a time and producing guano that can be 2-3 feet deep.  We learned that the "Cathedral" in the cave has comparable acoustics to the Sydney Opera House and Kame and Kennedy sang to the delegation to prove it.  We then split into groups to further explore the cave.  The "easy" group took a zig-zagging course through the cave and crossed suspension bridges.  The "medium" group, had to crawl through narrow passageways and slid into a mud puddle.  The "hard" group had to crawl up into the belly of a "whale" and come out the "blow hole."  After we were all outside the cave, the students enjoyed swapping the experiences and comparing how dirty they got.

Then it was off to DreamTime Cultural Center where the students learned about the Aboriginal people of Australia.  We watched a boomerang presentation and found out that they really do come back.  Then it was our turn to try and our students impressed us with how well they did.  As they say, "it's all in the wrist."  We were able to watch a live performance of didgeridoo music, dancing, and had the chance to pose with the aboriginal dancers.  They learned about the Torres Straight and the small islands that are scattered between Port York Australia and Papua New Guinea, and also learned about hand stencil art.  The students were quite interested and asked a lot of inquisitive questions.

Back to the hotel and an early night - for an early tomorrow and off to the Whitsundays and our OUCH program.  Sorry to do this again, but pictures will be posted tomorrow for today as the internet keeps shutting down and I keep losing all the work.