To The Wilderness!

So today we are leaving the cars, pollution and asphalt in favor of dirt roads, dust and sweat. We are going to the Australian wilderness! I hope we see kangaroos, dingos, various types of snakes, and maybe even spiders! Well, from a safe distance hopefully. We are going on a safari- like tour of north western New South Wales. Our tour guide is an aboriginal and I'm sure he can tell us a lot of things about surviving and hunting in the wilderness.

The Indigenous Australians have been living in Australia for about 50.000 years, even though some estimates date back to 125.000 years. There are about 517.200 self- declared aboriginals in Australia, which makes them make up about 2,5% of the total population. To be declared an aboriginal you must have a certain percentage of aboriginal "blood" (meaning that even if your grand-grand aunt was an aboriginal, it doesn't make you one). You must think of yourself as one and also be accepted as an aboriginal by the community you live in.

A bit off topic, but the food here is amazing! Much of it is simple because of the hunter-gatherer diet of the aboriginals, but there's also a lot of South-European, Asian and British inspired food. A lot of variety, as you can see. I could even buy kangaroo meat in the local store! It felt kind of weird eating a kangaroo, so I decided not to buy it.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Kangaroo_meat_supermarket.JPG/220px-Kangaroo_meat_supermarket.JPG

http://www.theora.com/images/aboriginal.jpg