Coorong dreaming

I've just returned from a wonderful camping trip to Ngarrindjeri sea country - the Coorong in South Australia, which I last visited in 2005. Words cannot describe the beauty of the place, or the profound sense of timelessness and spirituality gained from walking across vast middens - the gleaming white remains of 6,000 years of aboriginal communities meeting and eating and just living their culture, in country.






So much has changed, and the Coorong really seems to be dying. A dramatic shift in values, attitudes and actions is urgently needed to save the ecosystem and the ancient culture of the region.


Shells and bones on the 6000-year-old middens

Digging for cockles (pipis) and trying not to be caught by the massive waves!


I camped with a great group of people - the stories told within the group and by Ngarrindjeri elder Tom Trevorrow and local educator Steve Heyes provided wonderful food for thought. We saw lots of pelicans, swans, ducks, terns, stints, and gulls, as well as kangaroos, emus, snakes, stumpy-tailed lizards, crabs, and a Port Jackson shark egg.




I love pellies!



Beautiful tiger snake

Ancient aboriginal fish traps, made from circles of stone. The fish would be herded into the traps and then speared or netted.




Salt-encrusted remains of ancient vegetation, no wood remaining - this is an eerily beautiful landscape


Can you spot my fabulous four-pronged marshmallow-toasting stick?