Ways to Avoid Writing My Paper- #59 Ride a Camel

From 100 Ways to Avoid Writing My Term Paper

#59 Ride a Camel:

“Remember, the most important part of study abroad is study.”

“Don’t burn all your money on trips when you still need to make it back home again.”

“Don’t let the dingo eat your baby.”

This, among other precautionary pieces of advice, was something I heard frequently both while I was abroad in Australia and well before I’d even landed on the continent. Of course I was going to be responsible. I was going to get good grades and study and I was going to be responsible in my traveling and spending (I also wasn’t going to let myself or any children be eaten by a dingo). But then, this was also the advice of people who’d never had the chance to ride a camel as the sun rose upon the great and mighty Australian Outback, donned with a hero’s cape and majestic hat.

I’d actually been given some money by a friend from church specifically designated for planning a camel ride in the desert while on the other side of the world. It was a huge, huge blessing, and I’m still incredibly thankful for her help in making that part of my trip possible. For a while, I didn’t know whether I would be able to or not. I’d done research, looked up camel treks from Adelaide to Perth, found super expensive flights and couldn’t find anything just right. It was just about May, and my time in Australia was beginning to run out.

Then out of the blue, I get a text from Julia and Lily saying they found a cheap flight to Uluru next week. Next to Sydney Opera House, this is the biggest, most iconic Aussie landmark there is. The problem? For one, it’s next week. There’s not much time to prepare, and I’ve got a few classes I’m gonna have to skip. Two, the flights are only one day apart, meaning that once we touch down, we’ve only got about 24 hours to make the most of Uluru. It’s sudden, it’s packed, but soon enough, it’s a plan. Maybe it’s not what the study abroad office or the parents or the professors would initially recommend, but honestly, I’m sure they’d all do the same exact thing if given the chance.

So here we are, touch down in the middle of the red continent, as far from normal civilization as I could imagine. I’d been a couple hours outside Melbourne before, and I’d been in the bush before. I’d seen kangaroos and koalas and signs warning me of venomous snakes. But this is nothing like that at all. This is raw, pure, Outback. It’s a desert oasis unlike anything I’d ever seen. Everything, the red sand, the blaring heat, the plants and trees, is different. It’s the quintessential Wild West adventure, and I’m loving every second of it. Swatting flies left and right, trekking into the bush with my cowboy’s hat, drinking out of a canteen. The only thing I’m missing is my noble steed.

The first day we spend exploring Uluru on foot. When you first lay your eyes on it, even from a distance, it instantly captures your gaze with its intricate design, color, and scale. You’ve seen the picture on Google images a hundred times, but nothing prepares you for the real thing. It’s much bigger than any picture can properly portray, and the more time you spend staring at it the more magnificent it becomes. It’s more than a big red boulder in the desert; it’s sacred and holy and nothing short of awe inspiring. In order to properly appreciate the giant monolith, one must see it from every angle and at every lighting, and for us, this means walking around the entirety of the base of Uluru. It’s no small task: Uluru is as big as Central Park, not to mention the heat and the flies. We gravely underestimate how long the task will take; up to four hours of marching, taking pictures, stopping for water, and repeat. Nevertheless, every step there is something to see, each crack and crevasse a work of art and each outlying boulder beautifully placed. The sounds of the occasional breeze, buzzing insects, screeching hawks filling your ears, and the soft red sand beneath your bare feet (I had to know what it felt like without shoes, even with the danger of snakes). Afterward, we watch the sunset, and the night sky, and before you know it the day is done, and our time in the Outback dwindling.

The next day starts early; four in the morning early. I get up, get packed, and meet the others ready and waiting for our pickup to the camel ranch. Oddly enough, it’s cold out. Really cold, at least in comparison to daytime. Now, one wouldn’t think to bring a jacket to the Outback, but right now it’s probably the thing I want most. Luckily, the bus comes soon enough, with heat, and we set off down dirt roads to the ranch. They take us in, teach us a little about camels, give us the run through, etc. Before we head out to the camels, they offer us some cloaks to keep us warm, and my initial thought is hell no. The thing’s bright red, I’m gonna use it for a half hour tops before the sun comes back out, and then I’m gonna have to carry it with me the rest of the way. I already teased some of my friends for their out-of-style flynets yesterday. This is just karma coming back at me. But, common sense, or at least a cool breeze, gets to me eventually. And so I walk out, rocking my red cloak best I can, heading out to meet my camel with Joseph.

Now I’ve ridden a horse several times before, and heck, I’m pretty good at it actually. But I can tell you that riding a camel is very much different and a whole nother kind of rodeo. Horses lack the distinctive humps that camels have, while camels will have one or two humps depending on the species. Dromedary camels, coming from Africa and the Middle East, have one hump; Bactrian camels on the other hand come with two, originating from Central Asia. Regardless of what kind of camel you are ridding (like all Aussie camels, ours was a dromedary), they’re much bigger than your average horse. As such, mounting a camel is a bit of a tricky process. To start, the camel must be kneeling on the ground, as opposed to a horse where one is climbing up into a stirrup. Once saddled the camel rises to the ground quickly and suddenly, using its back legs first: failure to observe and prepare for this leaves one with a face full of red dirt. Camels also walk using one side of their legs at a time, going left, then right, then left, much like a ship. As with horses, naturally you want a camel that is well behaved, and even more so since an angry camel has the tendency to spit. When asked about our camel, Luci, we were told that he is “adventurous” and “strongminded.” They didn’t tell us until we were already in the saddle and up and ready to go that ‘Luci’ was short for Lucifer.

The caravan sets off as night fades into dawn. I watch the sun slowly rise over the outback horizon and the thousands of stars fade one by one. There’s no clouds, just open sky and a rising sun, the desert sky turning into the most fantastic shades of yellow, pink, and purple I could have possibly imagined. This magical transformation is a daily miracle for the few lucky enough to live here, for 80,000 years something the Aboriginal Australians have cherished and called sacred. Warmth slowly returns to the desert, and I transform my red cloak into a glorious red cape. Among the distant calls of the morning wildlife, I can hear the Western music deep in my veins: guitars, flutes, and whistles mixed with a faint didgeridoo. I feel like Clint frickin Eastwood slowly riding out from town having saved the day. And yet, there’s something unique about this, something not out of any cowboy movie or anything I could have anticipated.

As we trek the vast Australian bush, we begin to spot the great Uluru in the distance. Even from far away, once your eyes hit Uluru, it instantly entraps you and your being unlike anything else. The light bounces off the barren rock and allows it to turn every shade of red and orange known to man, and each time you gaze upon it it is somehow different than the last. There’s so much to take in: barren trees you’ve never seen before, birds passing by you’ve never heard, the rocking back and forth atop a camel you’ve never felt before (not to mention the pungent smell of the camel you’ve also never experienced). Everything about being here is magical; every second is precious and every step is sacred. Dawn becomes day, and the blue sky divides the world in two: the heavens, and the Earth, though here, that difference is quite arbitrary.

I cannot state enough how absolutely incredible this experience is. Everything, from the camel I ride to the lizards beneath me, from the open sky to the lush Outback, from the red of Uluru to the red of my cape, is completely special. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, something that I’d bet only three or four other people I meet will have ever experienced in my entire lifetime (likely, Joseph, Lily, and Julia, who were actually with me on this adventure). I felt like I was at the top of the world (although technically speaking I suppose it was much closer to the bottom), atop Luci the Camel trekking the great Australian wilderness as if some kind of conquistador. In a way, I had discovered a new world. So much about the Outback is different from the rest of the world, and there’s only so much justice pictures or words will do. While pretty much anyone who isn’t from there will tell you it’s an arid, empty, venomous wildlife infested no-go zone, in reality, there’s something uniquely peaceful and special here. Something sacred, something beautiful, and something I get to hold with me the rest of my life.

Riding a camel through the Outback was easily one of my favorite moments in Australia, and to say that the thing is life changing is an understatement. From a hope, to a sudden and rushed plan, I made this once in a lifetime experience come true. The lesson here isn’t necessarily to ditch class at the first hint of a scrappily put together plan to make your dreams come true. But, don’t be afraid to take a chance every once in a while. Opportunities like this really are once in a lifetime. They may be sudden or unexpected, but when they present themselves, they’re often worth taking. Go where you least expect, venture into the unknown world. It’s sacred and beautiful and worth every risk to partake in something as magical as this.