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After a slow morning, well actually all our mornings are slow, we headed back to Cooinda as we had booked on a tour called Animal Tracks which started at 1pm. It turns out this was a great decision as it is the best thing we have done so far. We went in a small 4wd to experience a hands on aboriginal bush tucker experience. An aboriginal lady named Patsy joined us and showed us how the aboriginal people forage for food-not just in times gone past but some still live off the land in that way. When Patsy got in the car she was carrying 2 geese by the neck (gulp) they were thrown in the boot and off we went. First stop was a billabong where we searched for mussels amongst the muddy water. Pippy was the first in the group to find one. The rest of the afternoon we made numerous stops in search of more tucker. We found bush carrots, and "walking food" which is a palm you can suck on. We also found a green ants nest and we all ate green ants - even the kids. We drove to the edge of a floodplain and with Patsy's help we plucked the goose then gutted it and chopped it up before we cooked it in the hot coals and acacia leaves in the bush oven. Next we made damper and again cooked in the coals - no pots or pans used. As the sun set Patsy taught us how to make string from the leaves of a palm. All the kids tried the goose and Geoff even ate the goose liver and heart (eewww). On the trip home Patsy told stories about her childhood and we learnt about the Aboriginal kinship way of naming people. We arrived back at 8.30 thoroughly exhausted but very satisfied after a fantastic experience. Benjie says "I like eating sugar bottom ants the best". Po says "I learnt you can get food out of palm trees and that everyone has a skin name (part of the aboriginal kinship) and I learnt that you can make string out of palm leaves". Pippy says that "I learnt that there is so many different types of bush food. I didn't know aboriginal people were so clever at finding food and so brave that they go into crocodile rivers. I also learnt that in the kinship system you have a huge family which must be really nice". Geoff and I also learnt a lot but most of all we are glad the kids had this experience as they learnt things Geoff or I could never hope to teach them.
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