Day 204

19 August 2013

This morning we had planned to check out Cairns city as our white water rafting tour went through there a little so we thought we'd go back today to check it out.

Cairns is like shoppers paradise I think, just shops everywhere and different ones, sort of similar to the Gold Coast with all it's tax free shops etc. I'm sure most people reading this are from Qld and have been to Cairns so I won't go into much detail here!

We hit some balls at the golf range just out of town...you could tell we haven't hit golf balls for a while! Shocking!

We then headed towards the sky rail which we thought we might do; however Joel has already been on it and it is upwards of $70 each so not your cheap sky rail! Just before you come to the sky rail there is an aboriginal cultural centre which we weren't really sure what it was about but decided to go in for a look. There is a gallery with art and gifts and a restaurant that you can visit if you don't want to actually go into the centre. So we checked this out first and decided to go and ask what the rest of it was about.

The centre has all different activities/shows throughout the day that lead from one to the next. So we just arrived in time to see the didgereedoo show which goes through how to play, how they make them and then the guy plays a couple of numbers with backing tracks. It was awesome! The second song he played there was like a doof doof bass in the background and he played along with it, sooo cool! I took a video of it so if anyone's interested I can show them when we get back.

Next was a history show which shows how the aboriginal people believe the world came about. It was interesting...and it was also a light show which was really good and kept everyone entertained. They speak in their native language and you have headphones that translate it to whatever language you need.

Next to a bush tucker and weapons tour where a young aboriginal guy talked about what weapons they used to hunt and to punish and bush tucker you can eat and use for medicinal purposes. Then to a dance show where they danced in their native costumes and then got some of the crowd to go up and dance too. They then lit a fire by rubbing the sticks together....Joel was picked to have a crack at it and eventually got the fire going (he was pretty skeptical but it worked)!

He then had to blow on the grass where it was smoking and whola...fire!

Next our personal favourite...boomerang and spear throwing! First spear throwing and they show you the technique and then you can have a go. I of course was shocking at it as you can tell from my technique here!

Boomerang throwing lesson was really good, we enjoyed this heaps! I have never actually seen one thrown and come back but I saw it with my own eyes, it actually happens! Haha I of course couldn't do this but I did throw it a couple of times where it slightly started coming back. Joel was really good at it, the guy showing us how to do it actually thought he might be able to get it back and catch it but didn't quite happen! If you catch it they let you keep the boomerang! No such luck so I bought one instead so we can hone our boomerang skills....now I just need to find a very large paddock to throw it in!

There was also rock painting, weaving, didgereedoo lessons, face painting and heaps more. It was such a well thought out and organized centre and I would recommend it to anyone really. (Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park)

Rest of the afternoon was spent with a few beers at the Cairns Harbour.

Carly & Joel

 

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