Tin Tin vs Gin Gin

Today I learnt something from our knowledgeable driver, Grandfather Gordon. He's been giving nuggets of information and history of the places we drive through and he explains them in such precise and concise terms! What a treat! 

Today it is Gin Gin, an almost forgotten railway town that is getting popular again. The aborigines repeat a word when there are many of the same item. In this case, Gin refers to spear-headed sticks and Gin Gin just means many spear-headed sticks! 

We also spotted yellow melon-shaped produce in the fields and Grandfather Gordon traced its origin to the 1850s when the Afghanistan farmers brought camels and bags of seed to Australia. As the camels could not digest the seeds well, they left fertile seeds in the soil everywhere they trotted. Hence the melons sprouted wherever the camels trotted.