They showed us how they made fire - this proved a little more difficult than usual because of the wet weather, but they took turns at the rubbing sticks and eventually the smoke became fire. They also did so dancing which tells story - the central performer here was the rainbow - which was quite hypnotic.
after a talk on the foods and medicine they used we went out to the field to try our hand at the boomerang throwing. And lets just say we would not have killed an enemy, or a kangaroo with our throws. some of the young kids were suprisingly good. Obviously it was a knack, not brute force and ignorance.
We then went to a very informative video. There are over 500 tribes in Australia and all speak different dialects and/or languages, and unlike the white inhabitants they are spread all over the country, not just on the coastal areas. We had a browse in the gift shop before a multimedia production combining people with video visual effects about the dreamtime - the beginning - as all of the tribes throughout the land have very similar legends regarding this.
We then went out to catch the bus into town.
And now we see the flip side of the aborigine story. The poor behaviour of the children with their families, and we drop them all off at a big liquor outlet.
And now we see the flip side of the aborigine story. The poor behaviour of the children with their families, and we drop them all off at a big liquor outlet.
We have a rental car to pick up. And the bus winds through the suburbs, caught in rush hour traffic. We ring the rental car and tell them of our progress. Cut and paste that sentence again. Duncan is so worried that we will miss out.
Eventually we make it and to our great relief we pile into the squashed tomato. We are squashed and it is red. However Duncan masters the gears quicker than the indicators, so we are continually having the windscreen wipers turned on.
Tonight we go to the Lime Tree, a wonderful restaurant were we end the poshest of tapas - washed down with decent kiwi wine!!