Amazonians

Before we arrived in Sydney we found out that a former colleague of ours will be in Sydney at the same time. Thus we got in touch with Soraya to see if we could meet. Not only did Soraya set up a meeting with us, she even got in touch with 2 other Ex-Amazonians who live in Sydney – Bjoern and Agnes. Thus in Sydney’s city center in a Bavarian restaurant we all met and we had a wonderful evening! Unfortunately too short!

Soraya who is Australian and therefore visited her family in Sydney left the town the next day (btw. it was a pity that her husband Cristiano could not join another Ex-Amazonian). However, we had the opportunity to see Agnes and Bjoern once again on Saturday. Thus we got to see the Northern Beaches where they live and work. The view from their office to the beach is spectacular. They can go for a surf in their lunch break, as the beach is 100 meters away. Btw. they plan to camp thus as we could get rid of some of our camping equipment which was very convenient.

Aborigines

Everyone knows that Australia’s first people were the aborigines. However, who knows how and when they arrived in Australia? The answer: No one! There were no monkeys in Australia so they could not come from them. It was found out that the aborigines came to Australia 35.000 years ago and that it is the oldest still existing culture on earth.

However, how did they come to this island? Was it by accident that their boats stranded there? Unlikely. To found a whole nation you need at least 25 people men and women according to scientists? In those times this amount of people would not fit on one boat and after all what was the sense to go fishing with so many people on board? What other reason is there? 35000 years ago no nation had the skill to navigate on open sea. So there is no answer for the question how did the aborigines end up in Australia? Unfortunately, their culture is degreasing less. With the arrival of the Europeans aborigines were moved to the North. They were treated as animals and people shot them for fun. Of course those things have changed, however aborigines still fight against same issues like in the past e.g. unemployment rate and alcohol. Good thing is that there are several initiatives to help them to strengthen their culture. We keep the fingers cross!