Yesterday, after taking a bus to downtown Sydney and a short walk, we enjoyed the last of our sightseeing outings in Sydney, the Australian Maritime Museum, following which we returned to Maduza Greek Meze for a light lunch, having had a morning coffee there earlier.

On our train ride home we stopped in at Chatswood for a few bits and bobs, then, once back on Paw Paw, commenced the planning and preparation for the last of the activities required prior to our departure from Sydney, which included a "big shop" today to get all our provisioning that restocked the "ship's stores".

It was a very long day yesterday after waking up at 0330 to speak to Keenan, who was assisting us with some of our original documents which were in our safety deposit box in Arizona, but are required for our revised visa applications. Of course, nothing is ever simple and we learnt that AZ law prevents anyone getting copies of original documents certified or notarised, which left us with no other option, but to get the originals Fedex'd to us in order to have them copied and certified here. It never ceases to amaze us how the simplest things turn into a cluster. Like expecting a telephone to be present in a conference room to allow us to call and assist our legal representative during the closing of escrow on our properties or being able to do a wire transfer in order to obtain the proceeds from the sale of our properties, which we then discovered is fraught with fraud and, therefore, had to use a different process. The examples are endless and only serve the purpose of creating unnecessary irritations.

Fortunately, our experience at the museum was far more rewarding and enlightening. While we learnt a number of interesting historical facts, we also received a much better insight into the Aboriginal culture, particularly of the clans or tribes who inhabit the northeastern tropical monsoon region of the Northern Territory called Arnhem Land, so named in 1803 by Matthew Flinders, after the Dutch ship, Arnhem, which carried explorers around the coast in 1623, but is referred to as Gapu-Monuk Saltwater Country by the indigenous people.

The Jolnu, one such clan, have the oldest culture on earth going back more than 60,000 years and they maintain their land and sea "estates" under a complex kinship system which governs all aspects of Yolnu life, including responsibilities for ceremony and marriage.

Aboriginal Sacred Art and Designs in traditional bark paintings, as well as in songs, rituals and storytelling are used to pass kinship relations and hereditary estates from one generation to another.

"Yolnu Matha" translated "People Language" is the main language spoken and is the general term for more than 100 languages and dialects spoken by the clans of East Arnhem Land. The language is written using special characters to symbolise certain sounds.

Arnhem Land comprises a number of areas, of which Lutumba, Yathikpa and Bayapula are a few, each with their own significance in the Aboriginal culture.

Lutumba is a restricted area, but is a powerful place for the Djapu clan, with flooding rivers and huge tides. The waters are protected by the spirit and energy of "Mana", the ancestral Shark. It is the traditional place for funeral ceremonies to ensure the souls of the dead return to their ancestral past.

Yathikpa is the first place where the Yolnu received fire. It is also the place of the ancestral Crocodile, Banu, located on the sacred site called Garranali, where Banu started the first fire and burnt the country next to the sea. He then took the fire down the coast and entered the saltwater with it.

Bayapula is where the Gumati clan have several homeland areas, including the coastal outstation on Caledon Bay, called Biranybirany. The bay has an abundance of stingrays, dugongs and turtles.

We also learnt that the first Englishman to set foot in Australia, a century before English settlement and years before Captain James Cook, was the colourful buccaneer, privateer, navigator and map-maker, William Dampier, who reached New Holland (Australia) in 1688. Among the many artefacts, we also got to see the waterproof camera housing and box that was used to film the live shark footage in the movie, Jaws.

Visiting the museum was something Roy wanted to do and was definitely a worthwhile outing.