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I've finally got internet up in my room! The tech guy LITERALLY walked away two minutes ago. And here I am, posting a new entry in my journal for the sole purpose of your enjoyment, enlightenment, and overall mental well-being. How thoughtful of me!

The wait is over

Andy Tew
2007-05-25 19:53:41

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were soon gazing over the wide expanses of the wildlife park; on one side of the mountain was a south-easterly view. Mostly flat land with grassy patches here and there. The north-westerly view afforded us a better look at the rest of the Grampians range, as well as a lake or two and the setting sun. We sat down on the peak and wrote a letter to ourselves that they'll return at the end of the semester (I guess at the end of the year, for me). It was very chilly up there, especially since we were a little sweaty from the hike, but luckily I had the foresight to bring a pair of pants and jacket in my backpack. I took lots of pictures. People were curious about the fisheye lense, so I demonstrated to them what it did; oohs and ahhs all around, of course. We hiked down the mountain and back to camp, arriving about four hours after we left. After eating another warm and filling supper, we headed over to the multi-purpose room (I call it the "multi-purpose room" because the entire staff insisted on calling it by this name and this name only) for our evening's entertainment- a "Bush dance." A little string band, comprised of two fiddle players, a guitar/banjo player and a singer, got us into a sweat with their folksy Australian music. It was one of those dances where the singer/ringleader shouts out instructions like "swing your partner round and round." Some of the dances involved forming big circles that would swoosh into the middle all at once, or two lines of people that you and your partner would run between. I can say with certainty that everyone had an entertaining and exhausting evening. Nearly all of the Butler kids got involved, which surprised me-we didn't look very "cool," if you know what I mean. College kids aren't known for their willingness to try awkward new body movements in public. At any rate, the band was fantastic. At the end of the evening they serenaded us with Australia's unofficial national anthem ("Waltzing Matilda"). I chatted with the male fiddle ...