Hunter Gathering...

The hunter gatherer traditions are alive and well in Darwin. Andy, Gehan and myself went on a mission last Friday afternoon to collect coconuts from the Nightcliff foreshore. This was done both as a community service and for the healthy implications of drinking coconut juice...

I am actually not sure if this is illegal. I daresay it wouldn't be as nowadays the legal implications of GP being struck on the head and killed by coconuts is seeing a stupendous culling of their palms throughout Australia. I am not sure why Darwin seems to have missed this trend. Maybe it's to maintain that :survival of the fittest mentality here...

It all began really, because Gehan brought home a hole cutter for coconuts from Brazil and as a result wanted to test it out. This was our first attempt so we began in earnest undersupplied in basic tools. All we had was a very long handled cutter. This was fine for reaching coconuts up to 18 feet off the ground; however a drop from this height was not always taken well by coconuts especially in bunches. Attrition was high and Gehan and I bathed in coconut juice trying to drink it from heavily split coconuts.

We ended up heading home with around 18 coconuts deciding that attrition was too high and that we should try again later with jugs and bottle to immediately bottle these damaged vessels.

It was fun watching people watching us collect the coconuts; we even left one for a couple who asked us to. Hope they got it...