fear and loathing in Broome
As we meandered our way through Western Australia, we took a taxi from the rather mediocre accommodation provided by 'Ocean Lodge' to Broome airport to fly back home via Darwin.
As we turned a corner on a deserted road, an Aboriginal woman and her daughter crossed the road in front of us. They looked up before crossing and walked quickly across the road towards a school. It would have been courteous for the taxi driver to have slowed down but he maintained his speed and turned to me in the passenger seat:
'Damn - missed 'em. Maybe next time, eh ?'
I simply couldn't believe my ears. I looked at the driver's smiling face and replied:
'Still - they were here first, weren't they ?'
An awkward silence followed. I could feel my wife's eyes drilling into the back of my head and even the children looked a little uncomfortable at the chilly atmosphere.
Cogs slowly turned. The driver paused and then retorted:
'Yeah - they were here first alright but that doesn't mean they should get an allowance to keep four dogs though.'
I'd dearly love to end the story with how I pointedly waited for the racist, ignorant taxi driver to slowly and laboriously count out every last 10 cents of my change for a $12.20 fare.
But I didn't - I gave him $15, grabbed our four heavy bags from the boot and got out of that cab as fast as I possibly could.
the other side of Aboriginal culture
Of course, unfortunately, there is another less attractive side to Aboriginal culture.
When I last visited Australia in 1990, we took a flight to Alice Springs. Back then, Uluru was more commonly known as Ayers Rock and people were freely able to climb the massive sandstone rock. I used to be quite proud of the fact that I had scaled Ayers Rock and written: 'Nice view, bit busy, could use an ice-cream stall' in a tatty visitors book on the summit. Now the rock has subsequently and rightfully been returned to the local Aboriginal communities who view it as a sacred site, I am almost ashamed of the fact.
Twenty years ago, en-route to Alice Springs we saw small groups of Aboriginals congregating in dry creeks, drinking and obviously under the influence of alcohol and we heard that sometimes, they perished when the rains came and the creeks flooded. On this visit, we also saw small clusters of Aboriginals on parkland, sitting, chatting, drinking and occasionally shouting and arguing.
Now this behaviour can be (understandably) intimidating to tourists but to be honest, I walked straight past and the Aboriginals didn't pass me a second glance. They didn't speak to me, they didn't harangue me, they didn't ask me for money. In fact, I've had more hassle off beggars in the South Bank underpass at Waterloo station in London.
It was as if we simply didn't exist and in many ways, I suspect they probably wish we didn't. Not in their country anyway.
Aboriginal culture
In the last week of the great Australian adventure, we took a guided tour from Kununurra to Broome, in a 4x4 truck, visiting Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungles.
The scenery was fantastic, the company was great and our guide was interesting, professional, humorous and knowledgeable.
One day, we also took another boat trip and a bushwalk at Fitzroy Crossing with an Aboriginal guide.
The Aboriginal guide was fascinating. He talked about Aboriginal culture, the importance of Dreamtime, respect for the environment, respect for each other, how Aboriginals lived off the land for 40,000 years, the extended kinship model, the need to take just what you want and not what you need. In fact, there are so many areas we could learn from the Aboriginal culture.
At night, we were able to gaze up into a beautiful, dark, crystal clear sky. I was amazed to be able to clearly see the Milky Way, Venus and identify various constellations in the night sky. Then one of my new found Aussie friends broke the silence with a statement that staggered me and made me pause for thought:
'Of course, the Aborigines don't look at the stars. They look at the spaces between the stars.'
tips for dealing with Australian customs
I passed through many customs, immigration and security checks at various Australian airports in the last three weeks.
Each airport has its own variant on a dire warning that reads:
'Flippant, amusing or sarcastic remarks will not be tolerated. Offenders may be subject to a $500,000 fine and/or 10 years in jail'.
Of course, we didn't tell Norman Junior III that. My - how we all laughed when he followed our advice and proudly (and loudly) announced to the customs official at Brisbane airport.
'I have nothing to declare but my genius.'
dumb, captive animals at Australia zoo
I'm not a big fan of zoos but in Brisbane, we visited Australia Zoo as it had been recommended by a few people. Also, we were keen to see some native Australian wildlife during our stay.
I also assumed that Steve Irwin would ensure that the animals were kept in a natural and humane environment. We all enjoyed the day out. We saw crocodiles snapping at a white bucket, the kids fed pellets to kangeroos and wallabies and we cuddled sleepy koalas. We also saw dingos, echidnas, possums, macaws, snakes, wombats, turtles, tigers and the world famous Australian elephant (shurely shome mistake here - Ed).
However, although all the animals looked healthy with large, open pens and appeared to be deliriously happy, I was left with a slight feeling of unease about my experience at Australia Zoo. The image of Steve Irwin aka 'Crocodile Hunter', who took over management of the zoo from a small wildlife park created by his father, was plastered everywhere. Irwin died in 2006 after being attacked by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef.
Now, obviously, the Irwin family own the zoo and are perfectly entitled to use the image of Steve Irwin as much as they like and I have no doubt that every single picture of Irwin's smiling face together with his catch phrase of 'CRIKEY' has been approved by his widow, Terri and probably existed prior to Irwin's death.
However, I find it a little unsettling that Terri Irwin is also now using her two children, Bindi and Robert (Bobby), whose faces also appear in videos, posters, billboard adverts and promotions liberally scattered around the zoo.