Tuesday 24/09
Having slept over at David and Jennie's house last night and been able to catch up with Rae and Keith Shrimpton briefly over a coffee, we packed up and said a final goodbye to David and Jennie to set off again on our journey. Keith rang and we made further plans to meet at the Darwin waterfront to see the oil rig come in.
Down at the waterfront the oil rig was much smaller than anticipated, so after a walk around we sat and enjoyed some iced drinks out of the humid heat. The three girls especially loved talking to their nanny and poppy and hearing about some of the touring that they had done down the Gibb River rd and going Barra fishing at Bullo Station. Poppy even caught two barras and a ray. Good work poppy.
The rest of the day was less eventful. Angela, Bianca and Chantelle did a grocery shop while Nicholas with Chelsea collected the camper before we drove on to Kakadu and in particular Jabaru. Some people tour Kakadu staying at two or three different camp spots and seeing the sights that way. We decided, with the view to reduce packup and setup times, to make a base at Jabaru and drive to the sights from there. Most of the sites are relatively close with the exception of a couple that we will see when we leave.
Wednesday 25/09
Kakadu is hot, not just a little hot but a lot hot. The temperature doesn't just laze it's way to 37, it pretty much gets there by 0830 and stays around there until after sundown.
This morning is a planing day. We had a look around Jabaru which is a town built to support the Ranger uranium mine. At the Kakadu visitor centre we selected the brochures of the sites that we wanted to see and the ranger talks that looked worth listening to.
The heat of the day we spent around the resort pool even having our lunch by the pool.
With a picnic dinner packed we went to Yellow water sunset ranger talk. The ranger mostly talked about crocodiles. Since they have been protected their numbers have risen to pre hunting numbers though it will be another 20-30 years before we will get to see crocodiles to the size that were hunted, up to 6m long! The sunset was spectacular possibly helped by fires burning in the west. It wasn't until sunset that the Yellow Waters resident croc made an appearance. The rangers affectionately call him fluffy, it is definitely a him because he is over 3.5m and fluffy because he once brought a softened pig carcas out of the water and shook the pig until the carcas fell apart and the wild pig hair fell all about the place making the bank look fluffy. Nicholas was the first to spot him in the distance then he swam right up to the pontoon we were standing on not 8m way from us. Definitely the closest encounter with a wild croc so far.
Thursday 26/09
Ubirr in the morning for ranger series starting 09:00 about the local rock art. Looking at the art it is some of the most impressive rock art we have ever seen. One section of art is the complete menu for the area. Ranger Annie, our guide, gave great explanation of the art and what it means. The talks were supposed to be complete by 1030 but Annie kept the interest of all the children in the group until she wrapped it up at about 1140. With what she said a lot more of the aboriginal culture makes sense to Angela and Nicholas.
Annie explained about the 'skin' names and how the 8 male and 8 female skin names interact and in some cases cannot interact. Annie said that this name system is the same for all tribes and clans in Australia and it kept the genes strong. We were going to a line painting demonstration but Annie talked so long that we missed it, reports were not positive from others that did do the painting.
In the afternoon we drove to Nourlangie for 'Jigsaw in time'; 'Law, Land & Family', 'Views of country and culture' ranger discussions.
Jigsaw in time explained how archeologists had excavated a rock shelter site and found artifacts dating back 22000 years. Yet they have been able to talk to aboriginal people today and they know how the stone axe they found was made, what wood was used for the handle and where the stone can be found. That is why the Australian Aboriginal culture is the oldest living culture on the planet. The Australian Aboriginal was using stone tools millennium before any other culture.
The Law, Land and Culture talk covered such things as cultural punishment for breaking law, cultural laws and why the laws are important and how the laws make good sense. Some of the laws related back to skin names and that aborigines couldn't marry people with certain skin names or even be close to people with certain skin names. Even today some aboriginal people are not sure how to relate to someone until they know their skin name and how they relate to other known people.
Views of country and culture told us about various stories and how those stories explain various rock formations. This talk was from a bluff lookout and we were sitting around on the hot rock. The ranger pointed out some of the distant ranges that even today aboriginal people will not travel to or near. Some of the areas are sickness country where people that spend time there become unwell, scientists have found that some of these areas have high radiation, ie Ranger uranium mine. Some areas are inhabited by bad spirits from the dreaming time.
Friday 27/09
This morning we ventured back towards Yellow Waters and the Warradjan cultural centre for a weaving demonstration. A lady was set up there with pandanus fronds to teach tourists how to weave. The weave style is to knot a single pandanus strand around a bunch of pandanus strands to make a bracelet. Traditionally this style was used to make baskets and other useful items. Some knotting strands had been coloured using traditional methods to makes yellow, orange, purple, and brown. Chelsea, Chantelle, Bianca and Nicholas each made a bracelet, and at the end the lady gave Angela two. In the cultural centre gift shop they were selling bracelets for $20 or a basket for $160.
It was too hot in the afternoon to do anything other than swim in the resort pool again.
Saturday we left early to take the 4x4 only road to Twin Falls. From the car park at Twin Falls there is a short walk to a boat shuttle that takes you up the croc river to the next bit of the walk. The river is a no go area for local aboriginal people. They won't swim or fish in the river, though there is a cave in the gorge that is used for male initiation ceremonies. We are told by the boat operator that there is no swimming in the gorge, not just because of crocs but to respect the culture.
The walk up the gorge was up over boulders and quite strenuous. Another family had caught our boat and we followed them up the gorge wearing thongs and carrying containers of water. No match for our sturdy hiking shoes, camel packs and little packs of dried fruit. When we got there twin falls was berely flowing, too late in the dry season. Oh well we will just need to come back one day. Even with all the requests to stay out of the water there were obvious signs of foot prints in the water.
Sunday 29/09
Our first packup for two weeks went surprisingly smoothly and we were on the road around 0900. Today we are heading for Edith falls in Nitmiluk NP near Katherine.
On the way out of Kakadu we stopped at Gunlom. Probably the last notable Kakadu attraction that we had not yet seen. We walked up the rock face to the pools above the falls. Even though all the stories say that crocodiles don't follow rules we swam in the pools above the falls quite safely. Even in the natural infinity pool. After a picnic at the bottom of the falls we continued to Edith Falls.
Refuelled car and passengers at Pine Creek just before Edith falls at a highly rated cafe/bar/restaurant/resort. Not much else at Pine Creek. We were just 80km shy of our destination.
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