Okay. I'm having major issues with this software, and the fact that it won't let me post pictures and put captions near them! Ahh! They're tiny on this page, but if you want to see them at 100%, click on them and they'll open up big.
Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but I'll make up for it with a massive long update now, covering last weekend first.
Saturday:
Rock Concert! Care Factor Zero is a band made up of staff from here at Monty, including our principal (lead guitar and backup vocals), science department head (bagpipes and percussion), 7th grade coordinator (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), science and music teacher (lead female vocals, flute, saxophone, other random instruments as needed) and my "Australia Dad", Ian, the media teacher (keyboard and backup vocals). It was a great time, and everyone in the place was dancing and clapping and having a ball. I even got up and danced! It was awesome. In addition to being the journalist/photographer for the band, I also got to help with the complicated setup and tear-down process, so I felt like quite a groupie by the end. :)
Pictures:
1- The band's name/logo on the bass drum
2- A great old man that was jigging, swing dancing, and generally rockin' out hard core.
3- Ian on the keyboard
4- Cam on the bagpipes and Mel during a brief singing rest
Sunday:
Hanging Rock!!! This was probably the coolest geology I've ever seen up close and personal. Hanging Rock was a very slow-erupting volcano long ago. So slow, in fact, that the topmost lava cooled before it could flow over, creating a "plug", and stopping the volcanic flow. The giant bubble had a few different types of magma, mostly silica. It cooled and became rock, and some of the softer forms of rock were slowly eroded away, leaving giant pillars, caves, cracks, and towers still standing of the stronger rocks. These are perched resting against other rocks, which is where the name "Hanging Rock" came from.
1) This is a plant called "Lamb's Ear," and the leaves are honestly softer than any fabric that I've ever touched. It's amazing. It feels as soft as... well... a lamb's ear. Or the fur on a rabbit. They grow everywhere, and we picked a few leaves to dry our hands on after washing them.
2) One of the wild geckos that roam about in the rocky areas of AU. This one was "just a bub" as they say here, meaning that it was rather young, and really tiny. He was terrified, and we put him back in the grass right after this photo.
3) Here's one of many awesome trees we saw growing miraculously out of the rock. Wherever dust can catch in a crack, these trees take root and grow to beautiful heights.
4) I thought this looked like two cupped hands, and the formation you see in the background, straight through the gap, is called "Camel's Back", and is a well-known landmark.
5) More of the amazing towers and cliffs. Between the place I stood and the rocks beyond, there was about a 30 foot gap and a 50 foot drop. Spooky!
6) A very artsy picture of one of the bleached trees coming up from the rocks.
7) Another tree, coming through the rock. This one is actually breaking the rock apart as it grows. All throughout Hanging Rock, I was seeing tunnels about the diameter of my arm, and holes that perforated the rocks where no water or wind could have eroded them. I finally figured out that it was the trees that were "chewing" through the rocks like this.
8) The family, looking through an amazing gap at the beautiful farm country beyond
9) Annette, looking at one of the "hanging rocks" that give the place it's name.
10) I was about to sneeze, but here's a picture of us on top of the very summit.
11) Here's us in a really cool cavern that would've fit about 10 people.
12) Brandon and Ashley in a really cool rock. It was shaped like an upside-down bowl, resting lopsided on another rock. We were able to crawl under the bowl, and inside, and poke our heads out of the hole.
13) The boys in another cool little cavern.
14) All of us in a cave. It was hard to get to, but probably the coolest hideout I've ever been in. It made me want to unpack my bookshelf and move their for a vacation home!
15) Ashley's favorite spot in the entire park
16)Annette, coming through a crack in the rock about 100 yards high, as we came back down.
There was another picture of me, looking dreadful, sleeping after a day of being a mountain goat, but since it's my blog, I can choose to save myself that embarrassment. :)
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