Cape York School trip 2011

In 2011 (the year before I got sick), I went on a school trip to the Cape York Peninsular which is at the very top of Australia. This focus of this school trip was to exeperience the indigenous culture within Australia, as most of the people living at Cape York are Aborigines. While white people (Anglo-Saxon Australians) have only lived in Australia for less then 250 years, Indigenous people have been living in Australia for 40000-60000 years.

In the early days of white settlement, the Aborigines and white people did not get along very well and the aborigines were treated very poorly. This has always seemed unfair to me, considering they were here in Australia first but I think that it is now time for all Australians to come together and stop resenting one another. I dont think it matters what colour you are or what country you originated from, at the end of the day we are all Australians and need to learn to get along and respect one another.

After flying from Tasmania to Cairns we drove in a troopie up to Cape York.

 Covered in mud after mud Crab hunting. Mud Crabs are almost a delicacy in Australia but since were were with Aboriginal people, we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to go.

Ella, Marda and I. Marda is the aboriginal girl who travelled with us fir oue entire trip

Playing with some aboriginal children when we visitedvtheir school. 

My friend Ella and I on a hike we took with an aboriginal man. He told us all about how the aboriginal people lived completemy off of the land.

Swimming with friends: we had to be careful when choosing where to swim as they gave fresh and salt water crocidiles in Cape York.

The 6 students who went on the school trip to Cape york with Marda

In the troopie after Akul hunting. Akul shells are shellfish that aboriginal people search for in the muddy mangroves. We made a campgire to cook the akul shells we found and then ate them.

We had a fantastic time in Cape york and I learnt so much about Aboriginal culture. When we got home, we decided to raise money so that we could bring some of the children we met up in Cape york, down to Tasmania, so that they could experience our culture too.

Gillena, an aboriginal girl who stayed with me for the 10 days they were staying in Tasmania

Overall this was a truly amazing experience that I will never forget.