I thought I could describe our planned trip to Australia and New
Zealand very simply. We are going "down under." Then I thought, what
makes it so? Who decided that north was "up" and south was
"down?" After all, we are just spinning in space.
Through the history of cartography, or map making, it turns out
that "up" and "down" decisions have been made by the map
maker. Usually the map maker put their city or country in the middle of the map
and the rest of the worlds places, once they were discovered, filled in around
the edges.
Additionally, since most of the early
cartographers were Greek, Roman or European those areas tended to be
"up" and everything else was over or down. It appears that, because
Australia wasn't viewed as important by the "northerners" until late in the
18th Century, they picked up the label "down under" and it stuck. Since
no one seems to mind the moniker I will just accept it.
We are going down under for a few weeks of
travel. It should be interesting, with just 16 people and a guide in our group
we should be able to move around and cover some ground. It should be fun.
I suspect our poor grand kids are in for
kangaroo Christmas with lots of kitschy souvenirs under the tree. Perhaps someday
they will appreciate them!
For now we are off to Melbourne and on to Tasmania, where the trek
will begin.
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