Kangaroo…Delish!

We have a guided tour of the Royal Botanical Gardens this AM.  We discover plants the aborigines used for tea and healing.  The Oak Garden is a large expanse of grass and red oak trees planted by the English settlers since they didn’t like the Australian ones.  They wanted a place to gather and entertain  “like home”.  

I love the tulips and flowers blooming!  As we walk the “tan line”…a 1 1/2 mile beige dirt track in the park frequented by joggers, strollers, and dog walkers…to catch our tram, you see an iconic picture of the park with the skyscrapers downtown.

Our guide told us her story and family history.  Her aunt was tracing the family genealogy and discovered her grandmother was a full blooded aborigine.  Our guide’s father never told his children this about their culture.  When he and his siblings were been raised, it was dangerous to identify as aboriginal.  His mother had always told her children to claim their heritage and darker skin was from French New Guinea!

Years ago, just as Americans did to the Native Americans, aborigines were sent to missions far from home.  The English were determined to either breed the aboriginal blood out of them or exterminate them.

For years, Australia was declared as a non-occupied land when the white settlers arrived even though it was occupied by a million aborigines for over 60,000 years.  They had hundreds of communities each with their own language.  Only in recent years have the aborigines been acknowledged as the original people of the land and are now also Australian citizens making up about 3% of the population.

In aboriginal culture, babies were born into a soft tanned opossum skin which stayed with them throughout life.  When children reached adulthood, they would receive another opossum skin with their totem or spirit animal burned into the skin.  These are soft luxurious thick furs not at all like our scrawny, rat-tail opposums in America.

We are shown weapons such as heavy boomerangs which were thrown and used to wound large animal like kangaroos and they would then kill it with a club.  Wooden bowls of plants and herbs were used for various ceremonies.  Woven elongated baskets were used to capture eels.

We asked what percentage of a person’s heritage was necessary to be considered aboriginal.  Evidently any ancestor is enough, and each person relates to their particular heritage.  We were told, “It’s like pouring cream in coffee; it’s still coffee.”

We tour around Melbourne, a planned city and often rated one of the best cities in the world to live in.  The architect who designed the city believed in the doctrine of “miasma”; unhealthy smells cause disease and sickness.  He wanted space for streets where “even an ox cart could turn around” resulting eventually in large boulevards for trams, automobiles, wide sidewalks, and even medians.  

We pass a statue of a navigator named Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate the Australian island and map it, with a lovely bird roosting on his head!  We also see the “civic birds” or building cranes, and The Star, the non-operational tourist ferris wheel which bent during a heat wave. 

The Flinders Station is a local landmark with beautiful architecture, a large domed copper roof, a clock tower, and multiple clocks along the roofline.  It is common to say, “Meet me under the clocks”.  Several years ago in the interest of “progress”, the analog clocks were scheduled to be changed to digital.  People protested, “We love our analog!”, and the original clocks remained.

The town was initially conceived by a prominent rancher in Hobart named Batman…Yes, real name!… who wanted additional space and a port for running sheep.  Australia is frequently said to be built on the “backs of sheep”.  It was proposed to be called “Batman Town”.  An underground sewer system wasn’t built until the 1850’s so the city was often called “Smellbourne”!

Narrow laneways cut between streets becoming a popular place for restaurants and shops.  A couple are known as “graffiti row” and anyone can legal tag…or “throw up”..a sign or painting including me!

We visit Victorian indoor malls which are still enclosed with a beautiful display of tile, ironworks,  and figurines striking a clock on the hour and half hour all containing a plethora of dazzling stores and local shops.  We learn that pig iron was used as ballast on English ships since prisoners don’t weigh as much as transported goods on the return voyage, and this iron was made into decorative ballastrades…thus, the name…for homes and buildings.  The original ironwork increases the property’s value by a huge amount.

We also learn about the 1850 Australian gold rush where 4 billion/year of gold was produced in 18 major mines.  Small amounts of gold are still being mined, but the majority of minerals are in Western Australia now around Perth.  The transport of prisoners was stopped after the gold rush started since so many English people committed crimes for a free trip to “down under” with a plan to escape and enter the gold rush!

Lunch is a choice of roasted spiced duck or pumpkin pizza, pumpkin risotto, roasted pumpkin salad, or Thai chicken salad.  I said they use lots of pumpkin which they also call any gourds so this is probably butternut squash.  I take home extra pizza for lunch tomorrow.

As we walk our lunch off, we pass tobacco shops which have become American candy stores filled with very pricey treats!  Cigarettes are $50/pack here…$2 each for 25 cigarettes.  The cost of tobacco decreased demand, and the stores changed to candy ones.  A large bag of Cheetos is $11!  Nerds, Dip & Lick, and other candy is $5.00.

It is illegal to advertise on the sidewalks along the street, but it is legal to park a bike.  This “cheeky” nail salon figured out a legal way to inexpensively advertise their business!  CBD has a very different meaning here…Central Business District!

Tonight is a highly anticipated dinner!  We have a choice of kangaroo, barramundi - a local fish, chicken parmigiana, or risotto…not pumpkin!   I order the medium-rare kangaroo, a very lean protein.  Cooked further, it become tough and chewy, but mine is tender, flavorful, and not as gamey as I thought it would be.   Kangaroo is only hunted in the wild, not farmed.  Delish, and I would order it again.

We are given a list of Australian phrases and sayings.  I only know one…”arvo” means afternoon.  We are suppose to strike up conversations with locals and see how many they can identify.  I guess I’ll be riding the tram tomorrow talking to strangers and checking out local shop keepers to help.

Wish me luck!