July 6, 2010

Today we stopped at Lake Eacham on our travels to the outback. We learned that this lake was created by a volcano. We also stopped in at Ravenshoe for morning tea along the way too. The outback is just how you would picture it, no roads, huge ant farms which could be up to 6 ft. high, cattle everywhere, and kangaroos. The kangaroos and cattle would just be in the middle of the dirt path and wouldn’t move until we got right up close to them. There was redish color soil, and leafless trees all over. We stopped at the Chilagoe Post Office Hotel which was in the middle of nowhere for lunch. This was the first building we had seen in 4 hours, and it was one of the only restaurants for miles! We than traveled a few more hours to a town called Forsayth. This town had a total population of 46 people, and 31 of us pulled up to spend the night. We booked out all of their accommodations and half of us still had to stay in tents. They made us dinner, which was lamb and vegetables with cheesecake and they built us a big campfire where M.J played the guitar. The town was kind of creepy because there were absolutely no lights except for in the cabins and it gets pitch black in the outback. It was nice to be able to see the stars so clearly and just enjoy the heart of the outback though. While we were driving to Forsayth our bus had to swerve to dodge 4 cattle, which were in the middle of the road! I think it scared Trevor (our bus driver) a little. You also aren’t allowed to drink the water in the outback so we brushed our teeth with bottled water! We were literally in the middle of nowhere!