Atypical Aboriginal--Day 9

A relatively short 3 hour morning flight, we arrived in Cairns.  Located in Northern Australia, Cairns is supposed to be tropical.  According to locals, 95% of the time it is tropical and beautiful, but we managed to visit during the 5% of the time that was cold and rainy!  We headed for an aboriginal culture park called Tjapukai.

We got to watch a presentation on their theory of the origin of human life and some of their beliefs, followed by a demonstration of their dances.

Then we each got to take a turn throwing a boomerang and spear...with varying degrees of success.  We finished up our time there learning about their other weapons and listening to a didgeridoo demonstration.

As we waited outside after our tour had concluded, we saw the kid that had been showing us around leave who had, in fact, told us he did not own a pair of shoes...only when he walked out, he was wearing sneakers, baggy shorts, and a backwards baseball cap.  Needless to say, that pretty much ruined the fun and removed any confidence I had had in what he told us.

The only thing remaining on our agenda for the day was a group dinner, so we had some time to check out our hotel and some of the stores by the Esplanade (a famous street in Cairns).  Then we all met back up for dinner at "Tha Fish."  Ali and I shared a seafood platter that seemed like it had one of everything on it...prawns, bugs, yabbies, crab, scallops, oysters, fish, calamari, and more!  It was one of the funnest meals I've ever eaten, but afterwards I was definitely in need of a nice long nap.

Before

After