Last weekend I took a trip to Laverton, Western Australia. It's about a 10 hour drive from Perth, so we ended up flying there. The plane was the smallest thing I've ever seen. It was called a "flying cigar"; there was one seat on each side of the plane, and about 10 rows of seats. I had to bend over to walk to the back of the plane where I sat in the only seat available. I felt a little crowded to say the least. :) This is a picture of the plane we took there, after we landed. The airport we landed at was a funny sight to see. The "airport" was a small she no bigger than the kitchen at mom's house! We didn't do much Friday night. Settled into the house we were staying in and went out to the sports club to meet some of the locals. There were six of us who went to volunteer. We headed to bed pretty early because Saturday was going to be a big day. A town about three hours away, Kalgoorie, came to play sports against the Laverton/Lenora team. First the boys played footy (Australian rule football), and we helped referee. Then the girls played soccer. I joined in for a couple minutes. :)
After sports we all headed out with the kids and went to Jiles Breakaway. It was the most amazing view! They say that there used to be some sort of water mass nearby because of the way the rocks were formed. We hiked around and climbed down the side of the rock wall and looked around a few small caves. In this first picture I am standing on one side of the breakaway. The cliffs form a 'U' shape, which resembles a bay. It's a bit of a climb to the bottom. In the middle there is a small rock formation. Maybe what used to be an island? It's in the second photo of Jiles Breakaway. Jiles was about 40K outside of Laverton. 
After Jiles we headed back to town. While the kids were playing basketball we BBQed over 100 sausage dogs. (I ate 3.5 myself!!) After dinner and basketball we helped put on a "blue light disco". Blue lights are events put on by the police. Blue light means that it is an alcohol free event. We stayed there until about 10:30 when we headed home for some well needed sleep.Sunday morning we went to church. The church is Christian based, while the members still try to incorporate important Aboriginal customs and beliefs. The elders of the town were kind enough to invite us on a ride out 'bush'. We drove around for a while, and they pointed out a few interesting things. We stopped to look at a mining town from the 18th century. All that remained was the doorway to the town pub (in the picture). 
We drove around for a while longer, until we found dinner. They shot 3 roos. It was interesting to see what they did after shooting the kangaroos, and the children's reaction in helping (which is a bit too graphic to explain on here). While shooting roo I saw some emu running across the road, a gaona (giant lizard), and many other interesting creatures. We drove some more until finding the perfect place to make a fire and cook the meal. It was very interesting to see how the kangaroo was cooked. 
First, an incision was made in the belly and the organs were removed. Then they sewed up the roo with a stick, which was kept in place by wrapping the intestines around the ends of the stick. Then the roo was placed in the fire and pulled out once the hair was singed. The singed hair was scrapped off. Then they placed the roo in a hole that had been dug and covered it in hot ashes. About an hour later, they pulled it out of the ground and dinner was served. When they were cutting the meat, they caught the blood in a container and the boys passed it around drinking it. They were actually fighting over who could drink first and how much each person should get. It was pretty gross. We also had baked potatoes and damper. Damper is a type of bread made with self-raising flour, regular flour, and water. Everything was cooked by covering it in hot ashes. We left after eating and saw an amazing sunset on the way home.
We drove around for a while longer, until we found dinner. They shot 3 roos. It was interesting to see what they did after shooting the kangaroos, and the children's reaction in helping (which is a bit too graphic to explain on here). While shooting roo I saw some emu running across the road, a gaona (giant lizard), and many other interesting creatures. We drove some more until finding the perfect place to make a fire and cook the meal. It was very interesting to see how the kangaroo was cooked. 
First, an incision was made in the belly and the organs were removed. Then they sewed up the roo with a stick, which was kept in place by wrapping the intestines around the ends of the stick. Then the roo was placed in the fire and pulled out once the hair was singed. The singed hair was scrapped off. Then they placed the roo in a hole that had been dug and covered it in hot ashes. About an hour later, they pulled it out of the ground and dinner was served. When they were cutting the meat, they caught the blood in a container and the boys passed it around drinking it. They were actually fighting over who could drink first and how much each person should get. It was pretty gross. We also had baked potatoes and damper. Damper is a type of bread made with self-raising flour, regular flour, and water. Everything was cooked by covering it in hot ashes. We left after eating and saw an amazing sunset on the way home.After all the excitement everyone was ready to head home and relax. Everyone else had dinner and a bit of wine while I headed over to the town hospital. It was much different than anything I have ever seen, and I am glad to say that I live in a metropolitan with several hospitals within driving distance. There was an "emergency room" at the hospital that consisted of ONE bed, a childrens ward that was one room with a few beds and a few cribs, and another ward for overnight patients that had another six beds. After seeing a warmer for newborns I asked if they delivered babies there. The nurse responded by saying, "Oh no! We make sure to send them to another hospital LONG before their due date!"
We woke up bright and early Monday morning and walked up to the water tower to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful! Then caught a plane back to Perth. It was a bit bigger than the first one!!!
I met some great people over the weekend. There was a girl named Ashleigh that I met (imagine that... I think I just attract people with that name. :) ) She goes to a different University, but lives pretty close. I'm glad to have finally made an Australian friend, and am excited because she wants to show me around. Overall I had a great experience. I brought tons of red dirt back as a souvenir. :) I was put out of my comfort zone, and experienced some amazing things. I'm glad I had the opportunity to go. :)
