![\"Desert](\"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/031outback05.jpg\")
The roots of a desert bloodwood search for water in the dry earth of Central Australia.<\/p><\/div>\n
Doug\u2019s is like no supermarket I\u2019ve ever been in. There\u2019s no kaleidoscope of shiny tins vying for attention, no goods positioned at head height to catch the eye, and no mindless elevator music to hold shoppers captive in a timeless plastic and neon world.<\/p>\n
In the outback, the famished must rummage for food. They must dig deep. The hunter must follow the example of the hunted; they must toil diligently and constantly for every mouthful. But those who persevere will never go hungry.<\/p>\n
The witchetty grub is perhaps the most iconic of bush foods. Up to 12cm long and 3cm wide, it lives in the roots of the Witchetty Bush and, as students from the nearby Larapinta Primary School put it on their bush tucker website, it can be tricky wriggling critter to track down.<\/p>\n
![\"Witchetty](\"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/031outback03.jpg\")
A witchetty bush, the roots of which provide a source of food for scrumptious witchetty grubs.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cYou find a tree with little cracks in the ground around it,\u201d writes Jamey. \u201cYou dig the roots out with a crowbar or a kudra (digging stick). Then you break the roots in half and see if there are any witchetty grubs inside. You can eat them without cooking or cooked. They taste like eggs. Eating witchetty grubs makes you get energy because it makes your blood strong and move faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honey ants are like lollies to an outback kid. They live in underground nests under the mulga trees, just under where the water drips off the leaves, usually on the shady side. \u201cYou collect honey ants by digging a big hole with a shovel, billy cans and sticks,\u201d writes Lindberg. \u201cTo eat a honey ant, you pick it up by the head and put the abdomen in your mouth and bite it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/031outback02.jpg\")
Thousands of native bees cluster around a hive. Bush honey has a tangier flavour than most commercial honies.<\/p><\/div>\n
Aboriginals have been making damper for thousands of years from nature\u2019s millet, Uncle Doug tells us. \u201cI was under the false impression when I was young that us fellas had the hardest job because we had to go and hunt and gather, but the ladies did about 80 percent of it with harvesting the seeds. They would work as a team, with the collecting bowls between their knees, passing them back to the lady behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our seven-year-old son sniffs loudly. Uncle Doug grabs a generous handful of native lemongrass: \u201cHere, get a big handful, crush it up, let it soak in a dish of water for half an hour or so, then drink or gargle it. Although it doesn\u2019t taste that flash.\u201d The plant, which grows along the riverbank, helps clear the nose.<\/p>\n
![\"Mulga](\"https:\/\/s1.at.atcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/031outback04.jpg\")
Mulga apples hang unripened on their spiky stems at the Alice Springs Desert Park.<\/p><\/div>\n
A few steps on, Uncle Doug grabs a handful from another shrub. The medicinal apple bush is ground up and mixed with animal fat and rubbed on the chest. \u201cOr you can use it as a pillow.\u201d When inhaled, the vapours clear the nose.<\/p>\n
Doug walks on, picking bits and pieces from plants and explaining each one as he goes: \u201cSee this here? This is striped mint bush (medicine), emu bush (you make a body rub out of it). This is rock fuchsia, it\u2019s used as a skin wash to rid the body of parasites like scabies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirsty? At first glance, the desert is devoid of moisture, the red dirt scorched so dry by the sun it\u2019s flung high into the air by the low moaning breeze. But look closer: wherever there\u2019s spiny sedge, which sends down long roots to underground water, or Spinifex, which uses any moisture to grow on rocky outcrops, there\u2019s bound to be water below.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have to dig a metre, which is hard work in 40-degree heat,\u201d says Doug. \u201cBut there\u2019s an easier way \u2013 just follow the animal tracks and see where they\u2019ve dug and scratched their way to water.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if you do find an inviting waterhole in the Australian desert, don\u2019t strip off and jump in \u2013 you might pollute the entire water source for the summer. \u201cPeople got speared for it, misuse of water,\u2019\u2019 Uncle Doug says. That\u2019s one way to enforce water restrictions.<\/p>\n
Alice Springs Desert Park Details<\/h2>\n
Larapinta Drive, Alice Springs. Adults $32, kids $16. Features local flora and fauna, Nature Play Area and caf\u00e9, Changing Heart Big Screen Movie, daily guided activities, Nature Theatre presentation at 10am and 3.30pm daily. www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au<\/a>, (08) 8951 8788.<\/p>\n