Gemma and Lindsey Continue Through the Red Centre

Real Life Classroom participants Gemma and Lindsey continue their trip through The Red Centre. See Days 1-2 here.

Day 3

This morning for breakfast we had muesli cereal, which is what we will be having for most of our breakfast foods. We then we went to Kmart, buying some more of the supplies we needed!

We drove to Jessie Gap, Ross River and Ross River Resort and finally, Emily Gap. I took many photos of the flora, fauna, landscapes and tourist sites, and we looked at some of the native Aboriginal art about the three caterpillars and the emu. Today I have learnt many new things about the Aboriginal culture and the native flora and fauna surroundings.

Now we are headed back to the BIG4 MacDonnell Range Holiday Park to go swimming and to record ourselves going down the waterslide. Who knows what else we may be doing tonight, but before I forget, last night after I wrote my journal I was playing gang up tiggy in the playground when I ran into a pole and it hit my cheek. I have a slightly swollen left cheek today, however it is feeling much better than last night.

We travelled over 100 kilometres today in our motorhome! Tomorrow we will be travelling to Gem Tree and I can’t wait for what tomorrow brings.

Day 4

This morning we played in the playground in front of our motorhome with other kids from the holiday park. Afterwards we headed back ready to drive off for the day. We started by driving to the old gaol and the National Pioneer Womens Hall of Fame where we met the receptionist Jude, who told us about the history and important people in the process of improving the gaols state.

There were two mannequins in the gaol and it was really funny seeing Mummy jump back in surprise, although we were told about them before entering. Mummy was very interested and I liked hearing and watching the documentary about saving the gaol.

Next we went to the Alice Springs Botanic Garden, where we had rolls for lunch and walked around the gardens looking at the bird attracting garden, metal scrap sculptures and hill walk, before heading off towards Gemtree. The trip was entertaining with Gemma and I singing random and made up songs, as well as us taking pictures of the changing landscapes.

During the trip we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped to take pictures and a video, it was quite interesting.

Tonight we are going to the Campoven Kitchen where we will be having a roast dinner with a family history show, it sounds delicious. Today we travelled 143 kilometres in total from BIG4 MacDonnell Range Holiday Park in Alice Springs to Gemtree and I can’t wait for gem fossicking tomorrow, I know that Gemma is really excited!

Day 5

Last night at Kate’s campoven kitchen dinner (Gem Tree) we had roast beef with roasted pumpkin and Rango potato, broccoli and cauliflower with cheesy sauce and gravy. It was DELICIOUS!

We also watched a short film about the Gemtree family history. Today we woke up and got to work straight away to prepare for our gem fossicking expedition.

We dug, picked and sifted through dirt to find garnets which showed as ruby red in the sunlight, it was extremely fun. We found tiny ones smaller than our pinky nails and a bigger one that could become a 4 millimetre round, as well as a few which could become 3 millimetre rounds. We also collected a few pieces of quartz and other pieces of stone, however, there was a lot of mica to be found.

When we returned after collecting firewood, we played a couple of rounds of UNO and then went to buy an ice cream.  I ate a Frosty Fruit and it tasted like a mixture of fruits combining into a tropical flavour.  We came back and played 2 rounds of Cranium Cards and I was on a team with Gemma, the final result was a tie at 18 each.

Now I am sitting here writing my daily journal, about to go outside and play on the trees. Tonight we are going to have some food and tomorrow we head off towards Wycliffe Well.

–Lindsey

Follow Gemma and Lindsey along their journey here.