World ? Australasia & Pacific ? Australia

Australia: The Best Native Cultural Experiences

  • Umbarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre (Wallaga Lake, near Narooma, NSW): This center offers boomerang- and spear-throwing instruction, painting with natural ochers, discussions on Aboriginal culture, and guided walking tours of Aboriginal sacred sites.

  • Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park (Cairns, QLD): This multimillion-dollar center showcases the history of the Tjapukai people -- their Dreamtime creation history and their often-harrowing experiences since the white man arrived -- using a film, superb theatrical work, and a dance performance. Its Aboriginal art and crafts gift shop is one of the country's best.

  • Aboriginal Art & Culture Centre (Alice Springs, NT): You'll taste bush food, see a dance, throw boomerangs and spears, and learn about Aboriginal family values in one half-day tour of this Aborigine-owned center in Alice Springs. Be sure to hang around for the 1-hour didgeridoo lesson at the end.

  • Anangu Tours (Ayers Rock, NT): The Anangu are the owners of Ayers Rock or, in their native tongue, Uluru. Join them for walks around the Rock as you learn about the poisonous "snake men" who fought battles here, pick bush food off the trees, throw spears, visit rock paintings, and watch the sun set over the monolith. Their Cultural Centre near the base of the Rock has displays about the Aboriginal Dreamtime.

  • Manyallaluk -- The Dreaming Place (Katherine, NT): This Aboriginal community welcomes visitors and teaches them to paint, weave, throw boomerangs, and perform other tasks of daily life. A low-key day and the chance to chat one-on-one with Aboriginal people in their bush home.

  • Mangarrayi People (Katherine, NT): Mike Keighley of Far Out Adventures (tel. 0427/152 288; www.farout.com.au) takes tours to beautiful Elsey Station (a ranch) near Katherine, where you visit with the children of the local Mangarrayi people. Sample bush tucker, learn a little bush medicine, and swim in a natural "spa-pool" in the Roper River.

  • Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute (Adelaide, SA): This is a great place to experience life through Aboriginal eyes. You might catch one of the dances or other performances, and you'll have plenty of other opportunities to find out more about Aboriginal culture.

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