LC Australia Program 2011: Port Elliot and Brisbane

By John Sweeney

Hello to all family and friends! I am pleased to say that everyone in our group is still alive and well! There is no need to worry about cyclones or floods, for we have been extremely lucky with the natural forces of weather.

Today is our first day in Brisbane! As you may have noticed from previous posts, we have been moving around like crazy during the past week or so, never staying in one place for more than two nights. Now, we are in Brisbane with our new home stay families that we will live with for a month. Needless to say, we will all experience a full range of emotions from excitement to extreme nervousness in these first few days with our new (temporary) families.

Before I say more about meeting our host families in Brisbane, I would like to tell you about our day in Port Elliot, South Australia. As you may know from Rebecca’s previous post, the small and quite coastal town of Port Elliot is a huge change of pace from our hectic schedule since our independent travel/research week. The main street stretches no more than fifty yards, and is home to a few restaurants, hotels, and galleries. I know for a fact that my father would see this town and immediately start making plans to quit his job and move there.

I digress. After an afternoon of swimming on the beach directly across from our hostel and an evening of exploring the rocky coast just down the street, we were all looking forward to an extra hour of sleep and the day ahead of us. We had been told that we would be taking a boat tour of the Coorong River and the Murray Mouth. As we woke up the next day and got ready to go, we were all in good spirits, looking forward to our nice and leisurely – I mean informative and educational – day out on the river.

We got on to the boat and met our captain, Matt, and first mate, Brandon, who would be taking care of us and providing us with information about the river and mouth system we were about to see. Most of us clambered past all the convenient seating in the cabin towards the stern of the boat, where there was access to the roof seating up top. It wasn’t the sunniest day we’ve had here, but we still enjoyed feeling the cool, river air whip past our heads.

As you may know, Australia has just left a drought of about eight or nine years. Hence the main focus of information on our tour was about how different the area is compared to what it was during the drought. The captain Matt told us that the water level is almost two meters higher than in the last few years. That is just over six feet! The river system near its mouth has 5 barrages that regulate flow through the Murray Mouth and into the Southern Ocean. For those who are unclear, a barrage is a series of concrete gates across a river that can be opened or closed depending on how much water is deemed necessary to pass.

As we continued from our starting point towards the Murray Mouth and passed through a lock in one of the barrages, we learned that Europeans have used this area since the 1850’s for cargo transportation and trade. We also learned that the small peninsulas between the river system and the ocean are the home to the Ngarrindjeri tribe. David Unaipon, who you may remember from Drew’s post, was a member of the Ngarrindjeri. Unfortunately for the Ngarrindjeri people though, the first aboriginal mission created by the British was located on Lake Alexandrina at Point Mcleay just up the river.

One thing we noticed immediately is the large amount of birds on and around the river. Matt spent a good deal of time pointing out to us all the different species of birds that use the area for feeding and as breeding grounds. Although all the river birds looked to be the same to me, Matt could distinguish between all of them with ease. We saw various kinds of ducks, pipers, and pelicans, many of which are returning to the Murray Mouth area for the first time in years because of the drought. Matt told us that 1/3 of all migratory birds in the world come to use the Murray Darling river system, with some birds coming all the way from Alaska!

After we passed through the lock in the first barrage, we stopped on the Sir Richard Peninsula. Brandon took us on a sandy boardwalk and explained to us all the berries and plants that are edible and let us try them. I found them sour, but I know a few of us couldn’t stop picking them. The indigenous people that lived there weren’t nomads because they had all they needed to live on these peninsulas. When we got to the ocean side, a few of us went for a swim, while the rest of us walked along the beach looking at all the seashells that have washed up onto the beach. When we got back to the boat, we found that Matt had been cooking some fresh-caught cockles, shellfish similar to mussels, for a snack before continuing our tour.

Back on the water again, Matt continued to tell us how the Murray Mouth area has changed since the drought. He showed us pictures of the area from during the drought, and we could see how dried up the rivers were. The government had to bring in dredging machinery to facilitate tidal flow between the ocean and the river, which kept the area from silting over and losing its ability to support any life. Even with the dredging, sometimes the river wouldn’t even reach the ocean at all!

We continued on the river and passed the Murray Mouth, where Matt told us that the early maps of Australia missed the small opening into the ocean. Our next stop was on Younghusband Peninsula, which is sacred land to the Ngarrindjeri people. The tour company has special permission to take their tours onto this land, as long as they follow certain guidelines. After the Aboriginal immersion camp, we understood the need to respect aboriginal land. There on the peninsula, we saw very old accumulations of seashells in the sand dunes on the peninsula that were left by the Ngarrindjeri. On our way back to the boat, we had a very good time running, jumping, and rolling down the sand dunes.

While we were on the peninsula, Matt showed us how the Ngarrindjeri people would get fresh water out of the sand. In a low area of the dunes created by wind patterns, Matt dug about a foot down into the sand, and fresh water filtered into the hole. He pulled out a glass and filled it up for us to try the water, and despite it being somewhat cloudy, it was the best tasting water we’ve had in a while.

We returned to the boat to head back up the river to return to our hostel. After the tour, Andy gave us the rest of the day to enjoy our stay in the beautiful Port Elliot before flying to Brisbane the next day. Our flight was uneventful, and after landing and getting our bags, we went directly to the GED office to wait for our host families to come pick us up.

One by one, the home-stay hosts trickled into the office and left with their new American students. I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but I can say that I am very happy to be staying with the Deerys. Rich and Kathryn are the parents, and Thomas (14), Isaac (12), and Bianca (9) are their children. They are a lovely family, and I am looking forward to getting to know them in the next four weeks! That’s it for now…

Cheers,

John