Aborigines a' la Tourists.

While we were in Australia, we went to two different Aborigine tourist attractions. We went to the first one while we were up in Cairns, it was called the Tjabukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. When we walked in we saw this;

Then we looked down an saw this;

 And then we went and sat down and saw this; an authentic Aborigine named Wumba who was the resident Didgeridoo player. He was pretty good, and he gave the tourists (our family included) a digeridoo lesson later in the day! The rest of the the dance crew came up and performed a demonstration of traditional Aborigine dances.

Next we went to a pavilion where we learned about traditional Aborigine medicines and foods. They figured out how to strain poisons out of toxic plants in order to make them edible.

Then we got to do the fun stuff.

Spear throwing,

  What this guy is hold is a spear thrower. The Aborigines invented it to throw spears.

Beej, The Older, and Essie all went first, the spears were bendy and had a divot in the end to put your thrower into.

 Mine went pretty high but didn't hit the hay bale kangaroos.

 Then they taught us how to throw boomerangs. The key is to flip it and throw it at 1:00 (if you're right handed). Not like a Frisbee. Apparently a few of the Aborigines weren't using their given names. One little kid threw it straight at one of the performers, 'Wuru' yelled to 'Bana Wu' "JEREMY!! LOOK OUT!!"

Then we went and watched a movie about Aborigine culture and one of their creation stories (there are hundreds of independent nations, most of which have radically different creation stories). The culture of the Aborigines is centered around the Wet and the Dry. Marriage, burial, creation and naming all center around these two opposites (think Yin Yang).

Well, I'll talk to you all later!
The Tall One