Day 49 – 3rd March 2018 – Northcliffe

Today we decided to have a technology day and hang out at the camp, we decided to put out our resume’s to some employment agencies in Broome to see if we can pick up some work while we are there.  We haven’t heard back from Home Valley at this stage, so assume we didn’t get it.

We did go for a walk to explore the property a bit.  The landscape is very beautiful.  We passed a couple of dams on the property and also this amazing Grass Tree.  The Grass Tree was so beautiful that Col broke out into a dance.  Not really, it just looks like it in the photo and made me laugh so I thought I would post it.

I didn’t realise that they grew so big, so I looked it up when we got back and I learned a lot of interesting facts about the Grass Tree which I am going to share with you too.  The real name is Xanthorrhoea, also known as Balga Grass Plants.  The word ‘Balga’ is an Aboriginal word for ‘Black Boy’ and so the plant became known as a Black Boy plant.  Over time the name has become offensive, with other connotations and racism, so the plant is referred to now as a Grass Tree.

What I found particularly interesting is that it is used for Food, Drink and Building Materials by the Aboriginals.  The white flesh of the leaf can be eaten, as well as the roots of the plant and the seeds ground to a powder to make damper.  The flower can be soaked in a trough of water to extract a thick, sweet nectar which can be enjoyed as it is or fermented for 3 to 5 days to produce an alcoholic drink.  The leaves produce a hard waterproof resin which is liquid when warmed but sets hard when cooled and this was used as a super glue to attach blades to spears as well as a waterproofing material for canoes.  They can grow up to 5 metres tall and live for more than 600 years!  Anyway, I found that really interesting and hope that you do too.  This was the web site that I was reading.

Grass Tree – Xanthorrhoea

Again we headed to the communal camp fire in the evening, and met some more lovely people and chatted away.  The social aspect of this camp has been really nice.