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No trip to Australia is complete without an understanding of the Aboriginal Culture

Aboriginal (or Aborigine) means Indigenous to Australia. They were the sole inhabiters of Australia before it was occupied by the British and other Europeans

There were over 300,000 Aboriginals in Australia before the settlers arrived. With them, they brought Old World Diseases which simply wiped out thousands of Aboriginals. As well as this, they were not given any rights to the land which pushed them out.

Nowadays, Aborigines account for just 3% of the Australian population and many suffer from alcohol and poor health problems. But there are pockets within Australia where you can still see their old values and traditions which are very interesting indeed. There are certain places, such as Ayers Rock, that are very sacred to the Aboriginal community. These are key places to learn more about Aboriginal culture and beliefs.[I:http://phila-airport-parking.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2009/10/JenniferSchellington0.jpg]

Music and art are two key elements of the Aboriginal culture. The didgeridoo is one of the most well known instruments but is in fact only really used by those from the East of Australia. The clapping sticks are in fact more well known.

Rock Art is the oldest of the Aboriginal Arts and can be found in places such as Ayers Rock and Kakadu National Parks as these are sacred Aboriginal lands. It is the dot paintings that are particularly popular with tourists and these are generally easy to find throughout Australia.

Where To Experience Aboriginal Australia

There are lots of places you can go to learn about the Aboriginal Culture. There is not room in this article to explore them all. Arnhem Land which is near Darwin in the top end of Australia is in my opinion the best place to go. Numbers are restricted to this sacred area so you can guarantee a less touristy approach. You really do get to appreciate the real culture and see real Aboriginals dot painting and making crafts. You can easily incorporate a day trip here as part of your trip to Darwin or Kakadu National Park and I highly recommend it. Remember that this area has defined seasons so only come here between May and October.[I:http://phila-airport-parking.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2009/10/JenniferSchellington1.jpg]

If Darwin is not on your to do list then consider an Aboriginal experience in one of the more visited areas such as Sydney. Two of the best experiences are The Blue Mountains Walkabout Tour or The Rocks Half Day Dreaming Tour. The second is taken by an Aboriginal Elder called Margaret Campbell and the tour is authentic and very interesting.

As the Aboriginals would say, lets go Walkabout. Discover Aboriginal Australia and see Australia in a whole new light.

Sitting on the edge of the Australian continental shelf near Perth in western Australia, Rottnest Island is just 11 km (6 mi) long and 4.5 km (2.7 mi) at its widest point. An iconic holiday destination for Perth residents, with 70 per cent of visitors coming for a day out, the entire island is run as a nature reserve and the surrounding waters as a marine park.

Known to local Aboriginal people as Wadjemup, the island is believed to be a place of spirits and is of significance to the Aboriginal communities. Artefacts have been found at a number of sites on Rottnest Island which are at least 6,500 years old, and possibly older, so there were indigenous people living here before sea levels rose and the island was separated from the mainland.

The first Europeans to discover the island were Dutch navigators who were searching for a shorter route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia in the 17th century. At that time the island was uninhabited. Samuel Volkerson was the first European to actually land on the island in 1658. William de Vlamingh visited in 1696 and named the island Rottnest after the abundance of Quokkas (small marsupials) he saw, mistaking them for rats.

Other Europeans soon followed, believing the island had potential for salt harvesting, farming and fishing. From 1839 for almost a century the island housed a penal colony for Aboriginal men and boys. When the colony closed, the leisure potential of the island was realized and tourism took off.

The island is best explored by bicycle as private cars are not allowed. The 24-km (15-mi) route around the coast runs through some of the most beautiful scenery, passing small, sandy beaches in secluded coves. The island has a total of 63 beaches and 20 bays, some of the finest in the world, and the turquoise water makes swimming here a must.

There are lovely reefs here, with twenty species of colourful corals and 364 species of fish, which can be explored by snorkelling, diving or a trip in a glass-bottomed boat. There are also a number of shipwrecks close to the shore, making diving here a popular pastime. Look out for humpback whales, green and loggerhead turtles, rays and bottlenose dolphins.