Tenterfield Trip

Well shit, I have been slacking haven't I. Well this is going to be a quick little update because I have bigger and better things to talk about.

    On the 5th of March we took a field trip inland to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. We went to Tenterfield and Inverll and learned about a little history of Australia. To begin the trip we went to he largest granite monolith in the southern hemisphere....which implies a bigger one in the northern, guess Australia just wanted some claim to fame. So we climbed to the top of that and it was a spectacular view. Provided a 360 degree panorama of the area and got some great shots from there. We had perfect weather for the hike up as well and it really only took about 45 minutes. On the way to Bald Rock we stopped at the "best horseman of NSW's" hideout (he was a thief and bandit) and that was really awesome to see and a bit of history. We also saw tank traps they placed during WWII just in case the Japs invaded. These tank traps were just posts of wood in the ground, not sure what this would have done....oh well.

    After we stopped at a local winery. It was cool to see my first winery and learn the process. They let us try all of their wine and I must say, that was a fun ride home with everyone tipsy. The wine they made was pretty good and I really did taste differences in the wine between each one. Since this is a wine that will never be found outside a couple cities and NEVER in a store, I bought a bottle for my mom. Super stoked about that.

   For the next day we went to Inverell and stopped at Billabong Blue Sapphire to go fossicking for sapphires!! It was freaking sweet they had this little setup that they let people come and do this (for free too I believe). I found some really good sapphires and other precious stones. After that we headed to the pioneer village in Inverell and learned about some more history.

    That night the Ball State put on a talent show for whoever wanted to see (ended up being other Ball Staters, our professor and coach driver). It was absolutely hysterical. We had an improv group and they did some great performances. From prom, to cpr, to modelling as a tiger and dress shopping. It was a great time. Bri burped her ABC's, Maddie did a real Irish dance and Lee sang the Oscar Meier Weiner song but in-between each syllable she added...something, I wish I could remember. it was hysterical and everyone enjoyed every minute of it. The next day we just had a tour of Tenterfield and learned about the federation of Australia and some more history. Was the best field trip we had taken so far.

Now onto more important things like SYDNEY AND SPRING BREAK!!...scroll up for all of that!!