Saturday, May 15, 2010

Teaching in the Outback


I am so lucky that, as a quilting tutor, I travel to the most incredible places to teach.
This week I am in the far west of Australia at Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction and above is the sunset over the ocean as I flew up to Carnarvon

This is the Gascoyne River - yes it really is a river. At the moment the water is all underground but still supports many plantations which surround the area. All sorts of tropical fruit and vegetables are grown here and I have eaten some magnificent bananas and grapes while here.


Here are the flood markings and the old bridge which wasn't high enough to cope with the floods when they do happen.

Carnarvon was the site for this satellite disk which was used in the moon landing but is now just a landmark


I was a bit nervous when asked to come out to Gascoyne Junction which is two hours inland from Carnarvon which is another two hour flight north from Perth to teach a group of station wives. For my overseas visitors - a station is more than a farm. When we added up the sizes of the 6 stations we counted over 3 million acres! They run cattle and sheep up here and to look at - the landscape is harsh and flat and DRY! There has not been much rain here for a long time.

We stayed/worked/ate at the local hall which has recently been renovated to include a modern kitchen and bathrooms so although we slept in the hall we were certainly comfortable.


More tomorrow

7 comments:

KA said...

OMG Lisa how amazing and what a fantastic opportunity. YOu would probably have never visited that part of our country. I look forward to reading more about this trip. It sounds amazing.

Frieda Anderson said...

This is the part of Australia I wish I had been able to see, I should have gone with you:)

Unknown said...

Amazing mum! xx

Maria said...

How wonderful that you are up at Gascoyne teaching the ladies in the remote areas.
Welcome to the West Lisa. My DH would say you are visiting God's counrty.

Terence said...

With the greatest respect - who told you that the big dish was used in the moon landing? It wasn't even operational at the time. It was used later on as a data link from the NASA Tracking Station further south to Houston. It didn't track any manned missions.

Terry
Keeping the Memory Alive
http://crotrak.com
mailto:info@crotrak.com

Lisa Walton said...

Thanks for setting me straight. Serves me right for not paying enough attention.

Margaret Cooter said...

How very different that landscape is from London UK - London Quilters will be interested to see what you get up to when you aren't giving your talk in the basement of an Indian restaurant because the hall is locked!