I returned to the Alice to purchase a didgeridoo, an Aboriginal wind instrument created when termites hollowed out a branch. Kinks and curves increase the richness of the sound.

Even though mine was straight it produced a wonderful mellow tone. A rough sprinkling of sand overlay white, red, brown and yellow bands as if a wind had blown up before the paint had dried.

The sound had haunted me for years after I had first heard a recording of the instrument accompanied by click sticks. Click sticks were a modernization of clap sticks, two boomerangs slapped together for rhythm. It would take me about two weeks to learn how to make a basic drone and another two weeks to learn cycle breathing.

 After another two years, I could finally play the instrument for over ten minutes at a time. That's considered pretty darned good, especially when you have to breath out and in at the same time in order to play continuously.