December 1966 School Magazine

December, 1966

Brisbane Girls 1 Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

December, 1966

The next section of our journey took us south through the Gibber country of South Australia . Perhaps the most exciting part was looking for opals at Coober Pedy! About 8 o'clock one night, after having crossed Australia from north to south, we were greeted by the bright twinkling lights of ·Port Augusta. At this stage, we were all perhaps a little quieter and more thoughtful than usual, realizing that we had once again returned to civiliza- tion. After this followed a most interesting, if less unusual, trip through Mildura, Wagga Wagga, Hay, an overnight stop in Can- berra ( including a day tour of the city) a quick dash through Sydney, and an almost non-stop trip to the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales . The concluding paragraph of our journal, concerning our ar- rival early Saturday, 3rd September , reads .... "After our last sing song, we settled down to sleep for an hour or so and woke up at Coolangatta - in good old Queens- land again, and said goodbye to Lesley. In what seemed like only a few minutes time, we crossed Victoria Bridge and drove 11oisily into the .Roma Street terminal at 1.45 a.m. Our happy greetings with our parents left us little time to be sad that our wonderful adventure was over." - "THE CENTRALIANS"

Chalet, where groups were allotted to huts . The latter was only after we had worn off s.ume of the tremendous excitement - and our hands - in banging on the hut doors . '- To end this so-vital day, came the news that we would be catered for our meals, which that night entailed sitting before a table to a dish of roast beef, followed by general fun, noise and games in the dining hall! We were roused out of bed early next morning and rushed up to a little hill to await sunrise. The early rise was worth it, however, for as we watched, the Rock changed from dark brown to a glorious red, and back to its usual brown. We went back to the Chalet then, to a welcome, prepared breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon - something quite novel to us! ~ little after 10 a.m. we left the Chalet excitedly for the Rock itself. With mixed feelings we loo~ed upwards! We then plunged into the first part of the climb - by far the hardest. Right from the word "go", Barbie Bell was in the lead and followed by Lorraine Dunstan, soon disappeared from ev~ryon~ else's sight! The rest of us got up the steep part only by restino- every few chain lengths. Barbie reached the cairn in just uncle; half an hour, with Lorraine second, and Barbara Harris third and then everyone arrived after three-quarters of an hour. w: had a well-earned hour-long rest on top with plenty of time to enjoy the marvellous view, take photos, do our war cry round the cairn sign the visitors' book, leave B.G.G.S . in stones, and look for th~ legendary Coke Machine! After a fairly easy trip down in which it was hard to resist the temptation to run , we foudd a most welcome cold drink waiting for us . Ray then took us for a tour around the base of the Rock during which we saw caves with many early, interesting aborioinal paintings inside them, the Kangaroo Tail, the strange brain~like forma~ion, and freshwater springs . Tired and hungry, we climbed back mto the coach and headed straight out to the Olgas where we had lunch. After a rest, we set off at 4 p.m. for a good, hour-long walk during which we saw some wonderful shades of pink, red and orange formed by the sunlight striking the rock. We had a glorious view looking down into a valley and then climbed down and returned a little off mark! We returned to the Rock then, and had ample time to photograph it at its best at sunset. At this stage it was purple from the distance, and more red up close . We went back to the Chalet for tea, showered, packed the coach, and tried very hard, but unsuccessfully to get to bed early! We were dragged out of bed only a few hours later at 2.45 a.m., were given a cup of tea and cornflakes, and set out on our way at 4 a.m.!" 58

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FREEDOM - M. P., VIE, LILLEY HOUSE 59