FROM DESERT TO DREAMING

WALKABOUT FINE ART TOURS

More than 40,000 years ago the first human settlers began to arrive in Australia. Nomadic hunter gatherers, these forefathers of today's indigenous aboriginal people developed their survival skills and rich culture in a country with a harsh climate and uncertain rainfall.

British settlers who arrived a mere 230 years ago described the aboriginal nomadic ways as going walkabout.

We at Walkabout Fine Art are inviting art lovers to go walkabout with us on our visits to Australia. We would like to share with our love of the outback and introduce the fabulous artists who live and paint there.

Join us on one of our buying trips when we visit art centers in remote aboriginal communities, many of which require permits to enter. Spend two weeks exploring these restricted, aboriginal only areas of the outback and visit some of Australia's natural wonders along the way. These include Ayers Rock (Uluru), the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu), the Kimberly region and Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Walkabout Art Tours will kick off in Sydney with a day enjoying Sydney's attractions and a visit to the outstanding collection of aboriginal art at the NSW State Art Gallery. Then fly to Alice Springs in Australia's Red Center and using The Alice as a base, spend a few days flying to the surrounding desert art communities. We will also visit the magical Ayers Rock (Uluru) with its rock paintings and other cultural features.

Next we will take you to the Kimberly region in Western Australia and stay at a working cattle station with ancient rock paintings scattered throughout. Then on to the Bungle Bungles, Kununurra, the major center for ochre paintings, and Arhnem Land to see traditional aboriginal art. Perhaps you may see Crocodile Dundee too.

From Arhnem Land we fly to North Queensland to visit art communities there and spend a day of R & R on the Great Barrier Reef before returning to Sydney.

It may not always be comfortable in the outback, but it will always be safe and unique. Accommodation will be the best available and the tours will show real artists at work in their own environment and provide an opportunity to acquire aboriginal art at the best possible prices.