Time to get back to my Australian adventure…

Our first mammoth travelling day began with a false start. We’d intended to drive the short distance to Mission Beach and spend some time snorkeling and enjoying the nearby Dunk Island. But we arrived in the pouring rain to find a storm brewing and no boats going from anywhere along the coast for the next few days. We decided not to hang around and headed onto to Townsville where Katy was flying out in a couple of days.

The Lonely Planet describes Townsville as: ” A laid back city that mixes it’s casual cafe-latte culture with a healthy dose of the tropics.” We found this to mean ‘there isn’t a lot to do!’ The city was nice and relaxed – as expected but other than looking around the shops and sunbathing there wasn’t a great deal of entertainment to be had.

We pitched the tent, cooked dinner and sat outside having a couple of beers when we were joined by a crazy Aussie playing the didgeridoo. He chatted for a bit before showing off his dij playing abilities then passing it around for us to all embarrasses ourselves blowing it like a fog horn. It is incredibly difficult to get the right mix of blowing through relaxed lips (like you’re making a horse noise) to actually get the correct sound to come out of the didgeridoo. After a few beers we didn’t stand a lot of chance but much hilarity ensued all the same!

The following day was spent relaxing, sunbathing and catching up on diaries (I may not have all of my travels written on here but I do have them in my diary to be added at a later date). That evening we sat around the tent and had a delicious BBQ for Katy’s last night bidding her farewell before we went to bed.

The next morning five had become four and Katy was on a plane back to the colder climes of England. We spent the morning wondering around a craft market in town. There were some really nice things around but as most of them were heavy or breakable it was easy not to spend. In the middle of town a man was on stage signing some hits of yesteryear. In the middle of the dance floor area a crazy looking old woman was waving large feathers in the air performing a sort of dance routine – she was fascinating to watch. On the other side of the dance floor a group of Aboriginals were drinking and stumbling around trying to dance. This was the first time I’d seen the behaviour that has given some of the Aboriginals a bad name in parts of Australia. An older Aboriginal woman approached the crazy feather lady unnerving her, she picked up her stuff and walked quickly away. Then spotting some police went and spoke to them before returning to her spot on the dance floor. Getting more excited by the music more of the Aboriginals joined the dance floor and the crazy feather lady was approached again; this time she’d had enough, picked up her bags and quickly left – that was the end of our entertainment and we moved on.

Whilst in Townsville I saw a few examples of Aboriginals stumbling around drunk and fighting in the streets – even first thing in the morning – often they aren’t dressed very well and look unwashed. I’ve been reading a book called the Lizard Eaters an amazing book about the Aboriginals living in the outback. They are incredibly skilled at their way of life. They would walk hundreds of miles to find water and never washed because there simply wasn’t enough water to justify using it in such a way. The men would walk 50 miles or more in a day on a hunting expedition and sometimes come home with nothing to feed their family. They slept on the desert floor sometimes in the freezing cold next to fires they had to light by rubbing sticks together. They were incredibly good at identifying human tracks in the sand and if the person was known to them they could often name them by their footprints alone. They lived in such a way that everything we see as ordinary was alien to them. They’d never seen a vehicle of any kind, had no concept of how doors worked and would cower under bushes when aeroplanes flew over head because they had no idea what they could be. Even a lighter was magical to them – how could a small object produce such a life giving source as fire. Aborigines were living like caveman had done as late as the 70s without even knowing what existed outside their world; but many have now been moved into mainstream Australian society. Is it any wonder that a people who were living off the land just one generation ago have such problems integrating into a society they previously knew nothing about. I don’t know much about how the Australian government has gone about integrating the Aboriginals (something I need to read up on) but it seems to me that sticking them in reserves on the edge of society has only served to alienate them.

Whilst in New Zealand we spent a lot of time looking at Maori culture. The Maoris seem to have integrated very well with all kids being taught the Maori language and culture in school. How come Australia, being so close to New Zealand, hasn’t managed to achieve this same sense of cultural harmony with it’s ingenious people?

Anyway…. Our last day in Townsville was spent avoiding the result of the Rugby World Cup final between England and South Africa. But when logging onto a computer I accidentally saw the result. We were going to the pub to watch the reply so I didn’t tell the others anything more than I knew the score. However the pub was rubbish as they were also showing football so didn’t have the sound on the Rugby, it’s not much fun watching when you already know you lost – Nevermind at least we were there a few weeks earlier to see England knock out the Aussies!

* Posted by j150vsc on 21/12/2007.