Sept 3, Monday
{Bonne fête ma PGS Yvette !}
Today is my planned expedition to Kakadu National Park. At 6:00 my alarm clock wakes me and I just
have time for a quick shower, jump into my clothes and leave for the bus
terminal across the street from my hotel for the pick-up. And of course, the buses don’t arrive for
another half hour. Although I had booked
with a company called Pinnacle Tours, I’m told that the tours have been merged
with AAT Kings Tours. The young lady I’m
sitting beside on the bus (a physiotherapist from Melbourne) had booked her
tour with APT and hers had been switched to this one as well; the two companies
having merged in August. Looks like AAT
King is taking over in this part of Australia.
In any case, the bus (coach as they are called here) is very comfortable
and I’m sitting in the front seat. {Our favorite Yvette, since you are
travelling with me, in spirit again, for your birthday today.}
It is a long drive today, about 300 km to the deepest
part of Kakadu National Park that we will reach today. Kakadu is the largest national park in
Australia; it covers 20,000 sq kms and was traditionally occupied by two
aboriginal groups: the Bininj & Mungguy.
I will put in a disclaimer
now, for some of the information I am passing on to you, based on
conflicting information I have heard during my time in the Darwin area.
“Reader beware!” Could be
true, could be a distortion of the truth, or simply lost in translation.
Peter, our driver and tour guide for the day is a
fountain of information; I love this type of guide {and I know you do too
Yvette! This should prove to be a great
day for us.}
Sunrise and mist along the Stuart Highway
South Alligator River (misnomer by an American who was exploring this area)
We are driving through some “savannah woodlands, which cover 80% of Kakadu, consisting mostly of eucalypts and tall grasses (resurrection grass). (pandanusSingle tree trunk with clump of palm like leaves) but also contains paperback trees (Melaleuca species )and gum trees (eucalyptus species).”
“Eucalyptus salmonophloia or the Salmon Gum is an evergreen tree native to Western Australia. It can grow to a height of 30 metres (98 ft). ”I’ve actually mistaken these for ironwood trees a few times in my pictures.Some gum trees change colours 6 times during the year, and it is used as a calendar tree by the aboriginal peoples:time to fish, time to hunt, time for rain, time to pick a certain fruit, etc.The kapok trees are also a signal; when the kapoks explode and let their fluff out, it is the time when crocs lay their eggs.If you are brave enough, you can steal some croc eggs to add to your dinner. Yeah right !
There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia.
The eucalyptus trees with the black bases and white tops that I saw on the way to Litchfield are also found in the Kakadu area. Peter tells me that this is a natural occurrence and not because of fire. The dark bark is in fact fire resistant and do not ignite when the seasonal brush burns occur before the rainy season.
Arnhem Land Plateau: 300 km long and up to 100 km wide is areas, there are 30 to 300 meter high sandstone escarpments on it that were used by aboriginals as shelters during the rainy season and contain rock drawings. Erosion during the rainy season is continues to impact on this area. This area contains two main tourist attractions. There are more than 5,000 rock paintings/drawings in the park, but most are in remote locations and closed to the public. “In Dreaming painting, use special paint, ochre, blood. Come back with that feeling. Ceremony painting is not for everyone to see. Top business you can’t see it. Go through your body and give you knowledge. Dreaming. You might dream. Good one.” (Bundj clan).
Ubirr, in the Jabiru Region, is a sandstone escarpment in the northeast section of the park. I had to chose between this one and selected Nourlangie simply because it would be an easier climb. I’m giving my knees, ankles and lungs a break today. I was told that the rock art at both sites would be fairly similar.
Nourlangie, or Burrunggui as it is known to the Gun-djeihmi. (Burrunggui is the name for the higher parts of Nourlangie; the lower areas are known as Anbangbang): This was our first tourist stop of the day. Archeologists have uncovered over 20,000 years of aboriginal occupation in this area. The Bininj used the plants in this area for food, tools, weapons, shelter, decoration, musical instruments and medicine. The diversity of plants and grasses were also used as a calendar signaling the change of seasons. We walk a 1.5 km circular walk around the site (part boardwalk, part stone) taking us past ancient Aboriginal shelters.
We’ve only gone a short way when we see a Wallaroo! Combination of Wallaby and Kangaroo. A rare sighting we are told since it is about 10 am by now and the heat is high already.
Marsupials:
Kangaroo: Largest of the marsupials; reddish brown coloured or grey, (the reds are larger)(the greys prefer to live among the trees); they appear on the Australian coat-of-arms; INTERESTING: A group of kangaroos is called a “mob” ; They can reach speeds over 35 miles (56 kilometers) an hour and bound 25 feet (8 meters) in a single leap. Average life span in the wild is up to 23 years. Size: Head and body, 3.25 to 5.25 ft (1 to 1.6 m); tail, 35.5 to 43.5 in (90 to 110 cm) Weight:200 lbs (90 kg) Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man
Wallaby: Members of the kangaroo clan. Wallabies are typically small to medium-sized mammals, but the largest can reach 6 feet (1.8 meters) from head to tail. They have powerful hind legs they use to bound along at high speeds and jump great distances.
Wallaroo: Marsupial, size between the kangaroo and the wallaby. The Black Wallaroo (Macropus bernardus) occupies an area of steep, rocky ground in Arnhem Land. At around 60 to 70 cm in length (excluding tail) it is the smallest wallaroo and the most heavily built. Males weigh 19 to 22 kg, females about 13 kg. Because it is very wary and is found only in a small area of remote and very rugged country, it is remarkably little known”. Amazing that we got to see one.
Black Wallaroo: “At around 60 to 70 cm in length (excluding tail) it is the smallest wallaroo and the most heavily built. Males weigh 19 to 22 kg, females about 13 kg. Because it is very wary and is found only in a small area of remote and very rugged country, it is remarkably little known.”
Thankfully there are explanations for the drawings
Anbangbang Gallery Nanguluwurr Gallery Gun-warddehwardde Lookout
Rock paintings, or drawings, were used by “aboriginal people to record events in their lives, to illustrate stories and for fun and enjoyment. Some paintings have religious power and can influence the success of the hunt.”
Some of them are huge
The trail around the site varied greatly from a rock to an elevated board walkway
We made our way around the other side of Nourlangie to view more rock paintings
Rock art is extremely important to the Aboriginal owners of Kakadu.It is also an important historic and scientific record of human occupation of the region.This area has been used for thousands of years to draw/paint pictures of their “dreamtime”.Some are recent additions dating to the 1960s.
This is a shot looking almost straight up
And we make our way back down the rock
and continue on the path back to our bus
From here, we drive about half an hour to the Cooinda Lodge were we are having an early buffet lunch. Great salads and cold cuts, fruit salad and banana bread. After lunch we drive only a short distance to Yellow Water region (Ngurrungurrudjba), a huge wetlands area were we will be going on a cruise along Jim Jim Creek and the South Alligator River. (Why Alligator you ask? So did we. An American was here during the years the territory was being mapped, and when he saw the crocodiles, he wrongly assumed they were alligators. But the name stuck!)
and the levels of water on the river are high. I would not try walking on what looks like grass on the bank since I'm sure part of it is muskeg. We are 70 km from the ocean and yet the river at this point is still affected by 6 to 7 meter tides and up to 9 meters during the wet season during November to March.That’s a lot of water.
This dead grasss hanging from the branches shows the high water mark on this tree during the rainy season
We see many many types of birds during our cruise. This one is a cormorant, drying its feathers in the sun.
This one has a crocodile hiding in it. Can you find it?
I was not able to identify this wading bird on the internet, but it was quite beautiful and maybe only 18 inches high
Birds we saw along the way:Ibis, Egret, blue heron, Jabiru (One of the most famous Australian birds, Ephippiorhynchus asiaticusis the largest Australian wetland bird. It is the only species of Australian storks and it is also called black-necked stork. It is 1.4m tall, mainly thanks to its long legs, and has a wing-span longer than two metres. It has got a heavy, 30cm-long black bill, a black-and-white body, and its head and neck are greeny-blue.) Black Cormorant & Australian Pied Cormorant (they have waterproof feathers), Darter (looks a little like the cormorant but has a longer snake like neck)“Darters are a water bird that is closely related to Cormorants. Their feathers are not waterproof and since they are underwater hunters you will usually see them sitting out of the water on a log or rock with their wings spread right out drying themselves. Their feathers are permeable to water to allow for decreased buoyancy so they can sink to catch their prey. They have an oil gland at the base of their tail which they use while preening and squeezing the water from their feathers. With its body submerged and only its head and neck above the surface, the Darter resembles a snake rising from the water; hence one of its popular names the Snake-bird. They have very long and sharp beaks, which they use with their long neck to spear their prey.” {Remember these from my Chobe photos?} spoonbills, pelicans, magpie geese, whistling ducks (brown), Jesus birds(Jacana), brolga (sorry too far away to get a good picture of this tall bird = grey crane with red collar at the base of its head),white bellied sea eagles and kytes and others I could not identify.
A colourful and huge jabaru, a kind of stork
and an unidentified duck (though I did try to find it on the internet) who mates for life. If the aboriginals kill one, they usually try to find the mate and kill it as well, since we are told it would die of sadness anyway within weeks.
And we see lots of crocs
In and out of the water
YIKES ! ”My, what big teeth you have”
Reuben are captain and guide during the cruise is quite arrogant in his comments, but he does impart a lot of knowledge of this, the ancestral home of his family (his father is Aboriginal and his mother is“Australian”.(His words, not mine!) He is irreverent in his comments about Aussies (the majority of the occupants on the boat are Australian tourists!)
Lotus
A pair of eagles in the tree
and a capture one of them in flight
Freshwater also attracts animals: wallaroos, wallabies, dingoes, goannas, who come to drink some fresh water… and often end up being eaten by crocodiles. Oh and crocodiles eat each other as well. They are cannibals! They will actually eat about anything that moves; there were crocodile teeth marks all over the aluminum boats we were riding on.
After the cruise we are taken to the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre (Sorry, no photos allowed inside) where a beautiful exhibit is displayed giving us insight to their history and daily lives, their arts and crafts (painting on bark and on canvas, weaving with grasses and other plant fibers to make baskets, mats and jewelry), hunting & fishing tools, etc. I learn that many of the paintings/drawings are done by using grass as a paint brush; sometimes just a very narrow strand to make fine lines on the drawings. Unfortunately, there were no aboriginal elders onsite to provide us with their own information; a great disappointment for me.
It was another very long back to Darwin but my seat mate and I yakked most of the way back.
Beautiful sunset during the bus ride back to Darwin
Peter had told us about barramundi (the local fish) and I was determined to eat some before leaving Darwin. On my short walk from the bus to the hotel, I checked the menus to the outdoor restaurants along Mitchell Street and lo-and-behold, I found one that sold “beer battered barramundi” (try saying that three times fast) so I stopped off for a very late dinner. Not bad; I’ve definitely eaten better fish.
Another very long day, but a good one!
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