Picnics in Australia

Upper left: Murray and Bruce, our hosts, building a fire. Right: Emus approach the cooks, hoping for a handout.
Lower left: The picnic. Note emu, waiting in the center of the photo. 

Another picnic, this time without emus. Hosts: David and Edie.

Thinking about Australian food, I've been fondly remembering two picnics at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve near Canberra with our various hosts on our two visits there. Most memorable were the emus that approached us hopefully as our hosts roasted our hot dogs. I wasn't quick or careful enough, and an emu did in fact steal mine -- fortunately there were many more of them.

We did quite a bit of sightseeing on both occasions. The reserve includes two historic sites that I mentioned yesterday: the Birrigai Rock Shelter (oldest known Aboriginal site in the ACT region which contains evidence of occupation dating back to the last ice-age 21,000 years ago) and the Bogong Rocks (a Bogong moth resting site with evidence that the moth was an important seasonal food source for Aboriginal people). I remember visiting a cave with early cave paintings, and we saw quite a bit of wildlife.