After breakfast, we had a lesson with a “real” Aboriginal guy to teach us about their culture. We learned:
- How to split pandana leaves in order to use them to weave baskets. No one was successful in actually splitting the leaf.
- How the Aboriginals use a fish trap to catch fish. This is a woven, cylindrical type basket with an inverted bowl with a hole set in one side. The Aboriginals damn a river, place the fish trap in the middle, and find that the next morning, their trap is full of fish.
- How to cook a leg of buffalo or a crocodile tail in a hole in the ground. The meat is placed on burning hot rocks in a hole, covered with hot rocks, covered with paper bark, covered with dirt, left alone for several hours. It is like a natural pressure cooker.
- How to play/blow a didjeridu. I failed miserably.
- How to throw a spear. This I was slightly better at.
Our midday excursion was to the Maguk site at Kakadu, also known as the plunge pools. These were AWESOME. Huge water holes and water hallways carved out of red rock, with perfect temperature, perfectly clear water passing through. A few small waterfalls as well. No crocodiles. Everyone went swimming and the German boys took some jumping photos and I did some rudimentary synchronized swimming moves and the sun cooperated brilliantly. We had to leave too soon.
We had a picnic lunch that started with the German boys pushing a 4WD bus several feet so that its exhaust pipe would not shoot into our freshly cut tomatoes. Steve wrote, “I wish my partner were this dirty” on its filthy back windows. The food tasted so good after our swim and everyone spoke English.
We stopped at a 9-foot high termite mound to take pictures. Termite mounds are made of “spit and shit.” We drove alongside a billabong to see some wild Brumbie horses and flocks of birds feeding. As we were exiting the park, a fat water buffalo ran across the road in front of our car.
A successful trip! My clothes are beyond filthy, I am somewhat tan, and I get to eat McDonalds 50 cent softserve tonight!
Australian things of the past few days: Crocodiles, wallabies, a kangaroo, a Taipan, assorted birds whose names I don't really care about, a dead cane toad, Brumbies, a water buffalo, and sleeping in a swag! Swags are like little personal tents that you slip your sleeping bag into and they can zip over your head to form a waterproof and bug proof enclosure. They have a sleeping pad attached inside. Swags would be great to take on a backpacking trip if they weren't super heavy because of all the waterproof and army-grade canvas.
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