23 June 2011 - Kakadu, N.T. Australia

Rainbow Bee eater



Grasses in the wind

 An uneventful drive from Darwin on another lovely morning.  Passed through 'Humpty Doo' (it's correct name - blink & you miss it),  stopped for morning tea,   through lots of wetland areas - marvellously green.  At one time an experiment to grow rice took place in this area but it was not  successful.  Arriving at Jabiru, the main centre for the Kakadu, a visit to the Information & Cultural Centre was a must in order to find out which National Park camp sites were open.  Some are closed due to poor road conditions etc.  Luckily the first one we wanted was OK & about 40kms away.  There are several private caravan parks available too, but they are all quite expensive, (like $50+ per night).  While we were asking about camps another tourist heard us & informed us we needed to get there early before all the rental motorhomes.  As it was only mid-day, we were not concerned but headed there immediately as we wanted our lunch.  Great camp with really large sites which all included a picnic table & seats plus a BBQ fireplace, & all separated from each other by strips of bush so nobody was on top of each other  The other great thing was that they had different areas for those who ran generators - naturally we chose the peaceful area as we don't have one & hate listening to them,  though they are supposed to turn them off by 10pm.   In actual fact we needn't have worried about it being too busy either - there were plenty of empty sites left at the end of the day.  We spent a leisurely afternoon just soaking up the surroundings & peace & quiet.  Late in the afternoon the birds appeared, unfortunately so did the mozzies.  There are at least 17 different varieties here apparently,  so Stu is not happy as he seems to be one of their favourite food items  & was quite badly bitten within the first couple of hours.   Fortunately they find me far too tough - must be the aussie genes in me!  The temperature was 31deg so is increasing a little each day,  but thankfully still not humid.   After a good nights sleep it was off to explore the immediate area before the heat kicked in.   There a little tracks everywhere around the camp so we chose the sandstone walk, through rocks formed as sandy sediments under an ancient lake about 1500 million years ago (before life on earth).  They were islands in a sea at the time of the dinosaurs 140 to 65 million years ago & as the sea eroded the sandstone as far as a shoreline of sea clifffs, it became the Arnhem land escarpment.  There are some interesting plants in this habitat, namely a particular variety of pandanus  which is recognised by it's 'cork-screw' leaf arrangement.  Aboriginal people use the leaves for weaving baskets & mats.  It bears a large, bright orange woody nut which contains a small peanut-like nut, only eaten if one is really starving as the trouble getting them open is hardly worth it.  Another interesting tree is the Sandstone Fig which has hairy leaves & grows on rocks where it's roots seek cool, moist crevices to provide strong support.  There is another fig , the Strangler Fig, which has also adapted to living on porous sandstone.  It finds a host tree which it in time strangles completely, rather like the rata vine in NZ.   The third type is the Sandpaper Fig which  has abrasive leaves, suitable for the aboriginals to use to smooth spears, didgeridoos & other wooden items.   One tree I thought could be quite useful  to  get rid of our NZ  possums is the Strychnine tree.  It has attractive yellow fruit & it & it's bark are poisonous to people & most animals.  On second thought, NOT a good idea at all!  One of the prettiest trees is the kapok tree with a lovely yellow bloom.

This environment is also inhabited by the Black Wallaroo.  Only the males are black, the females being grey with black paws, feet & nose.  It is only found in this rugged stone country of the Arnhem Land plateau.  They mostly eat spinifex grasses, leaves, fruit & yams, along with bush tomatoes which it eats with it's eyes closed to protect them from the plant's spines.  We were indeed lucky to see a female bound out of the bush ahead of us on the way home.  The other animal which flourishes in this area is the short beaked echidna (or spiny anteater) which breaks into termite mounds using their long sticky tongues to gather termites.  Sadly we haven't come across one of these yet, though I did think I saw a dead one on the road as we arrived here.  Of course the most talked about creatures  in the area are the crocs, both saltwater & freshwater.  There are signs everywhere warning one to be careful, NOT to enter the water under any circumstances etc.  Of course some people can't read it appears, especially fishermen.  Someone we met today was telling us he saw two standing in the water fishing???  Also saw someone hook a fish & bring it to the surface only to have it  promptly snapped up by the surprise appearance of a croc.  'Thanks for the meal mate!'   

We visited Cahill's Crossing which is the causeway through the East Alligator River to Arnhem Land -  it is necessary to have a special permit to do so as this is 100% owned by it's traditional owners.  I would love to have gone over to visit this special area, but Stu wasn't too keen on driving through even at low tide as someone got stuck the day before.  Only because they were doing it at high tide instead of low!    A tour was the alternative, but at $245 per person not really an option for us.  Instead we did a very interesting afternoon walk  at Ubirr where you can wander through several  fascinating  Aboriginal rock art sites, eventually climbing to a wonderful rocky plateau which offers superb views of the floodplains, incredibly green & covered in waterlilies & I believe particularly beautiful at sunset.  We should have chosen to do it all later in the day & stayed there for the sunset, which would have been quite magical.  To finish the day a ranger provided the campers with a 1 hour informative talk & slide show on 'The seasons of Kakadu'.  I'm sure most of us are aware of the 'wet' & the 'dry' seasons here, but we also learned of the indigenous peoples calender of six different seasons.  This calender provides them with a guide to the correct time for hunting certain animals & birds etc, & also for collecting different varieties of plants, seeds etc.  All very logical & environmentally sustaining, as is the seasonal burning which  is necessary to assist some plant seeds to germinate.  The burning takes place at the beginning of the dry season so that once the wet begins, the seeds then have the moisture to germinate.  Only small areas are burnt off each year, so that too much of their food gathering or hunting is not  affected.  These really are very clever people with 1000's of years experience behind them.


Rock Art at Ubirr




Aboriginal artist at work

 Another great experience was to take part in an aboriginal art 'class' one morning at the camp.  Arranged by the National Parks Ranger, a very well known aboriginal artist  showed us how they make their brushes from a reed-like grass, & provided us with paints & cardboard to try & emulate their style of art.  It was great fun with children & adults taking part together.  I spent more time being hypnotised by the skill of the artist himself, a man in later years whose grandfather was also a wellknown artist.  I would never have the patience or skill to paint as they do.