As promised, I’ll begin this blog with an account of our fabulous night with the Tjapukai aboriginal people. Now, none of us could have anticipated the delight and awkwardness that would come as a result of our experience at Tjapukai by Night, and I’m sure it was better left a surprise. When we arrived, we snapped photos with the young aboriginal men in loin cloths and body paint before entering to a drinks reception. Then, a representative of the people came out to give us a special talk only granted to our tour group, during which we heard the history and legends of the Tjapukai people as we studied the various tribal murals and paintings covering the walls. Then before we knew it, the lights were out, and the wall burst open with a trail of shadowy figures enshrouded in smoke and singing a tribal song. They circled the room before mounting the stage to sing, dance, and play the didgeridoo (aw yeah, didgeridoo!), getting the crowd involved with song and rhythm. Then we watched them do the dance of fire creation before passing inside to have a fantastic feast. And at the end of the feast, the dancers entered the stage once more to dance, sing, and share their myths with the crowd.

An Amazing Show

Why did I mention delight and awkwardness earlier, you ask? Well, it just so happens that the Tjapukai dancers needed two volunteers to join them on stage, and a girl named Monica and I were the lucky selections! That meant that we had to get up on stage in front of a large crowd (no longer just the tour group) and do as they told us. So, Monica and I ended up having a race to create fire (at which we were both very unskilled, illustrating clearly that I have no chance of survival if I ever get stuck in the wild) and then doing a bit of a victory dance with the men in body paint and loin cloths. Awesome! How were we at dancing? Well, Monica had some sweet Tjapukai moves; but, I’m a bit unique when I dance, and I happened to be wearing a rather 80s-esque white jacket…so I feel I look a bit more like a wannabe Michael Jackson than aboriginal in the video clips. Oh well.  At the end of the dance, the Tjapukai performers gave each of us a handsome hand-made boomerang which they had all signed. How grand that they would still reward us after such unusual performances!

And finally: my sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Land Down Under. I don’t even know where to begin on this one, but I guess I’ll start by saying it was a totally surreal and supremely beautiful hour of my life! I decided to do this activity on the final day of all my travels so that I’d be awake and aware every hour of my last day abroad (I also made sure to stay on the beach later until after sunset). Anyway, I was up at an ungodly hour which will go unmentioned here, and I boarded a bus to ride into the country a bit. After a 45 minute ride, from which I could see the most brilliant constellations in the clear Aussie sky, we arrived in a field just barely illuminated by the flames of hot air balloons preparing for lift off. A heavy mist enshrouded everything around us but for the outlines of the balloons, and I climbed into my basket with great excitement (and a clear lack of agility).

Then up, up, and away we went, the only sound being that of the torch overhead (which allows the balloon to float)! There was an overwhelming peace in those first moments of the ascent as we rose above the mist, bypassed the clouds, and broke freely into the atmosphere where the sun had just begun to show its face. The rainbow of sunrise burst forth from the horizon, and we spied the other 4 colorful balloons escaping the mist below. And before we knew it, the day had arrived as the clouds rolled beneath us with the gold of the sun. We dipped beneath the clouds to float along above the rivers, plains, mango fields, and farms whose livestock had just awakened, and then we rose once more to clear skies and great mountains greeting us in the distance. Somehow those 60 minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and just like with my experience scuba diving, I wasn’t sure the world I’d witnessed was real. It was simply too beautiful.

From that point, we landed with a bump in the dew-painted grass and were asked to help pack up the balloon. As I was a sole female voyager, the crew for the hot air balloon company made a point to single me out frequently, joking that they needed massages to pack the balloon well, having me jump around atop the car-sized mound of fabric (6 feet off the ground) to pack it more tightly into its bag, etc. It was all in good fun, and I had a fantastic time of it! Then it was on to our brunch in the middle of the bush, once more through the mist to a feast of food and endless champagne before heading back to the city. Really, guys – this experience was unbelievable. Talk about a rock star morning. All the earth and sky were mine to witness, and the champagne at brunch never stopped flowing. Yeah, buddy!

And that brings me to the end of yet another fabulous journey as the World Traveler Intern for STA Travel. Sadly enough, it also brings me to the end of the job…unless, of course, STA Travel wants to hire me for this position permanently (wink wink)!