After the Australia Zoo, I left Noosa and headed inland to a place called Namoi Hills, in the teensy weensy town called Dingo, about 100km west of Rockhampton. It was highly recommended to me by Kilimanjaro Karen, who was there a few years back and said it was a "must do," so there I went. Namoi Hills is a working cattle station on 40,000 acres in the middle of NO-WHERE where you can stay. The owners, Steve and Sally, are happy to show you around their farm and give you a few lessons on whip cracking, boomerang throwing and cattle farming. In addition to that, there is a local couple who will take you out to teach you about didgeridoos (pronounced didge-er-ee-DOO) and show you how to make one! I was hopeless at the whip cracking and boomerang throwing, and I am allergic to cattle, but the didgeridoo making was right up my alley!

A didgeridoo is the oldest known wind instrument, and was made by the Aboriginals in the Northern Territory, out of Yellow Box Eucalyptus trees that have been hollowed out by termites. It takes the termites about 4-5 years to hollow out the tree to a point where it is suitable to be made into a didgeridoo.

The day started with the "didge" experts, Brian and Jules, who picked me up from Namoi Hills and drove about an hour and a half even further out into no where to find these eucalyptus trees. We walked around for about an hour until we found a suitable tree for me. I asked about how cutting down all these trees affects the environment and Jules told me that we were actually on a cattle station that was going to be cleared off all of its trees anyway. The trees prevent the grass from growing because they use what little water is available, and land without grass is unsuitable for cattle to graze. So the station owners plan to bull doze the land anyway, and until that time, they have gotten permission to get didgeridoo trees off of them. Dingo is surrounded by cattle stations that are between 40,000 and 120,000 acres, so it is just a matter of time and money before the owners clear all the land of trees so the grass will grow and the cattle can graze. Besides, koalas don't like that type of eucalyptus tree anyway. Ok, as long as we are not cutting down koala homes.

After we found my tree, Brian cut it down (he didn't trust me with the ax, hmmph!) and showed me how to remove the bark and sap. I sanded it down so that the surface was smooth and then Jules and I talked about what I wanted to paint on it. They had a lot of stencils and different tools to help with decorating, which was great, because I'm not exactly Picasso. Traditionally, didgeridoos were painted in three sections, and only in four colors, because those were the materials that were found in nature:

Black - charcoal from fire
Red - red oxide from Australias red earth
Yellow - yellow ochre stone
White - clay

The top of the didgeridoo is normally painted in straight lines of dots to represent air being blown in, the bottom in wavy lines of dots (the Aborigines were crazy about dots) to represent music coming out of the end, and the center commonly had a "totem" animal. Each tribe had a totem animal that was sacred, and that they would not eat.

I stuck with the traditional colors, but wanted a little more of a challenge than just painting dots on the top and bottom. I painted the top with the shape of Australia on one side and the Aboriginal Flag on the other. The bottom I decorated with leaping kangaroos and dancing men. And of course in the center I painted a snake, as a tribute to the pythons in Noosa that nearly gave me a heart attack. I also added a little frog with my initials, because I like frogs. Here is the final product of my 10 hours of work! It was a great day all around, including the few minutes I took during lunch to feed the Rainbow Lorikeets!