Munroes in Australia: Tinbinbilla Nature Reserve

Our ranger instructors

Aboriginal spears

We had a marvellous time at Tinbinbilla Nature Reserve. We were taught a bit about the Aboriginal stories about the surrounding lands (that included giant eagles laying eggs on top of mountains and snakes forming the deep valleys) and how they made boomerangs and spears out of the surrounding vegetation. Then we were taught how to properly throw a boomerang. And it is hard! It must have taken a lot of practice for the Aboriginals to be able to hunt and kill the kangaroos and emus. The wind direction is important, the angle of your wrist and arm, the snap of your wrist and the strength of the throw. In addition, there are 7 different shapes of boomerangs depending on what you were using them for. Incredible!

Learning to throw the boomerang - Allison and Lucy

After the boomerang lesson we walked to the nature park playground and had a picnic lunch. The kids played on the equipment (I say kids, but I'm pretty sure that James went to the top of the spider's climbing web too).

Then we hiked along a path back to the car. We saw a lot of kangaroos. There were so many that at first I thought they were just part of the landscape (like funny shaped rocks or fallen trees) until a few of them moved. Most of them were lying down in the sunshine. Very fun afternoon enjoying the natural Australian landscape! Loving it!