Royal National Park - Part two

After lunch, we headed deeper into the park. The rain was pretty full-on by that time, but we stopped at some overlooks anyway.

It was hard to see, the rain was gusting so much

Andy really wanted to tell us about some of the plantlife in the area, but it was so windy, it was pretty much impossible to see or hear outside. He solved this dilemma by driving the tour van into the bush and having the girl sitting in the passenger seat grab some of the plants he wanted to tell us about.

This overlook was really beautiful, and we tried our best to get a picture together. Sadly, we never had our eyes open at the same time.

Close enough

Andy pointed out a monument to Lawrence Hargrove at this overlook. To which the only Australian fellow on our tour replied "Who is Lawrence Hargrove when he's at home?"

Turns out Lawrence was a leader in aviation research when he was at home

Throwing things and playing the didgeridoo

Our last stop of the day was a park where we all got to try our hands at boomerang throwing, spear throwing, and didgeridoo playing. Andy gave us a demonstration first, and he was quite good at it. He also said a couple gems that stuck with me because they tickled me so much:

When talking about the hygiene of passing the didgeridoo around so we could all try it:
"Give it a wipe and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Most of the spit goes down in there anyway."

When covering the history of the didgeridoo:
"Only the males played it, so if we were in company with Aboriginies, you girls couldn't play it. But to make the long sounds, you need to use circular breathing, which requires you to do two things at one time. So actually it's much more suited to you ladies in that regard."

Toby got pretty good at the didgeridoo! I tried to take a video but all it recorded was wind sound.

I was NOT good at the didgeridoo, despite being a lady and generally able to do two things at one time. I was also not good at boomerang throwing or spear throwing. But I gave it my best shot!

Toby was no good at the boomerang either, but he was especially good with the spears.

He also climbed up in a tree with a spear to fetch down a boomerang that had gotten stuck. Needless to say, this was one of the highlights of the day for him!

It was about this time that I reached my cold threshold, so I was pretty happy that we headed back to Sydney after the throwing activities.

When we got home, it was time to dry out!

Signs of an adventurous day!

It was a super fun, informative day, and I feel like I have a deeper appreciation for the history and culture of the area. Thank you Holly & Scotty!