It was the last day on our trip to Australia and my wife and I found ourselves on an excursion to learn about a day in the life of an aborigine. At the northern end of the island in March it was summer. The temperature was a scorching 99 degrees Fahrenheit along with a soggy 99 percent humidity. We were dropped off and told to take off our shoes and socks because we’d be wading through the mangroves. I hoisted my ten thousand pounds of camera equipment onto my shoulder and we were off! 

It wasn’t long before I was regretting the decision to bring the camera equipment. Even the water we were wading through felt like it was 99 degrees. We finally arrived at a beach and there was a cluster of spears stuck in the sand. Our guide told us to grab a spear and prepare for lessons in catching our lunch!

He placed a coconut at a distance and demonstrated proper spear throwing technique. Then it was our turn. One by one, we failed. Our guide on the other hand, successfully speared the coconut three times. Things weren’t looking good for lunch.  Finally, one of our group speared a large crab! Lunch was looking up. We also found some mollusks and other edibles which our guide used to cook up a meager feast for our dining pleasure. Because of our poor hunting and spearing skills, there wasn’t much. We were saved by the foresight of our tour director who arranged for a hamburger stop on the way back to the hotel!