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Published: September 10th 2009
Day 135 - Welcome to Country
Here’s a very special Happy Birthday wish to a young man back home in Bristol! Can you guess who it is? That’s right, Ben Gosling! Happy Birthday Ben, we hope you have a great day! We woke bright and early this morning after another very hot, sticky night even though it rained throughout most of it! We had the luxury of power so the cold fan blew away but it wasn’t until about 3am again that the temperature dropped to somewhere near comfortable!
As the clock struck all the fives, 5:55, the alarm went off as we needed to be out at the bus stop to get to the early morning Yellow Water cruise. These world famous wetlands have a reputation that suggests they are not to be missed!
There are already plenty of people at the bus stop when we arrive and shortly after we are shipped, 20 at a time, to Yellow Water where our carriages await! There are a few boats and we are very lucky to get two seats either side right at the back, Darryl has the camcorder and I’ve got the camera - perfect viewing!
We spot our first Estuarine Crocodile at the back of the boat and then a Sea Eagle swoops down to the water, grabs a big fish but as he flies to the boardwalk ledge he drops it and lands looking back at it with a forlorn look on his face! We haven’t even left the jetty yet and it’s already pretty exciting and the view over the water is awesome! The mist hanging over the water gives everything a really eerie look, or is that just the crocodile!
We set off with Michael as our captain and Howard the trainee guide. The commentary that Michael gave was terrific throughout the cruise, he stopped to point out the huge variety of birdlife we came across and talked about the varying seasons and the challenges they bring to everything living near and on the water. It’s fascinating and the 2 hours drift effortlessly by. We couldn’t possibly remember all the wildlife we saw but it ranged through the following; Sea Eagle(s), Jacada(s), Jabiru(s), Rufus Night Heron (Adult & Juvenile), Whistling Duck(s), Magpie Geese, Crocodile(s), Egret(s), Little Kingfisher, Azure Kingfisher, Australian Darter, Spoonbill(s), Pheasant Coucal, Pied Coromant and the list went on
and on! It was awesome, totally awesome and definitely one of the highlights from the whole trip so far.
When you book onto the early morning cruise you must partake in the resorts bistro breakfast, it’s a shame (said with tongue in cheek) but that’s the rules and we wouldn’t want to break the rules so we lined up with everyone else for bacon, eggs and all the frills! Glorious! We’d also got ourselves a late checkout too so there was no need to rush from the pitch which made for a terrific start to the day!
With full tummies we packed up the caravan and headed off to the next destination, the managed camping area Merl (Camps 5 ref 172, NT). Our first stop is the excellent Bowali visitor centre which not only gives us more of an insight into our fabulous surroundings but enables us to get some information about obtaining a permit for a short hop into Arnhem land tomorrow. The lady was very helpful and gave us information on how to get a permit to visit the Cobourg Peninsula as well as what we required to visit Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli). We’re advised that we
should obtain the actual permit from the Northern Lands Council office in Jabiru. She also gave us the tide times for tomorrow as we will be crossing the tidal East Alligator river. Excellent, next stop will be Jabiru!
We filled up with fuel at the Mobile station when we reached Jabiru, $1.48 per litre so the prices are starting to come down a bit as we near Darwin. Next up we found the crocodile shaped Holiday Inn! We had toyed with the idea of staying here and to be honest the lure of air conditioning was appealing but we just took a couple of memory snap shots instead and then went off to find the land council. The lady in here was really helpful and I completed the two required permits (one per person) at a cost of $13.20 each in no time at all. I had a good chat to her about the permits required for journeys to Cobourg and although the Darwin office issues the permits it would be no trouble to fax the details through to them and have the permit faxed back to her office. I’ve detailed all the requirements for the permits which can
be found on the
Permits to visit Arnhem Land blog if anyone needs to organise one for their trip in the future.
With our permits in hand we were free to find the campsite. Back out of Jabiru we go and onto the road which leads to the East Alligator River and the area of Ubirr.
We were impressed when we arrived at the Merl campground, there will be a fee of $10 per person and there’s no power but the amenities are clean, with showers, and the pitches are roomy with picnic benches and fire pits. Darryl skilfully parks the caravan so the fridge is in the shade (in the hot weather it needs all the cool air we can find!) and then we relax for a little while settling into our new surroundings! We both went for a shower mid afternoon just to cool down and Darryl found a couple of new friends on the ceiling! Spiders, with long legs and big eyes!
We have places to go, things to see so at about 3pm when the sun is blazing slightly less we headed off to Ubirr. Pronounced Oo-beerr, there are several aboriginal rock art sites here which we
immediately explore. They are fascinating and we find art in places that are not only difficult to see but difficult to access which begs the question, how were they painted here in the first place? There are several answers, some involve trees that no longer exist but the more appropriate and those that the traditional owners talk of are that some were created by spirits who lifted up the rock to paint and would then replace it. Of course there is artwork here which was created by aborigines thousands of years ago which is beautiful and we’re amazed that it’s been preserved so well. The colours are still vibrant and the stories behind the figures are intriguing. They were painted using the x-ray style synonymous with the local area within Kakadu. There are some Ranger talks later in the day so we nip back to the Border Store for, you guessed it, an ice cream! We while away some time with a local chap, originally from Melbourne but now lives in Darwin, who is doing some building work within a church. We have a great chat and listen with interest about how his daughter is working as a teacher in
Gove with is northern Arnhem Land.
With our ice creams finished and John on his way home we head back to Ubirr and join Brianna the ranger as she talks at the Rainbow Serpent section. The talk is mainly about the kinship system within the aboriginal community and it has an underlying message of caring for each other, much like the Rainbow Serpent creation story where a child was left to cry wanting sweet lily root but after much searching the mother could only find sour lily root which made the child cry more. Still hearing the cries of the uncomforted child in the morning, the Rainbow Serpent rushed into camp and swept everyone up eating most of them including the child. Crying children should be comforted and the kinship system demonstrates an extended family with many Mother, Father, Sister and Brother relationships and responsibilities throughout. You would never be in a situation where you didn’t have others looking out for you and when old enough you will be looking out for others. We chat to Brianna after the talk is finished and she kindly allows us to take a photograph of the kinship system to help us get
the message across and to understand it further ourselves!
Hooked on Brianna’s enthusiasm and passion, we also went along to her next talk at the Main Gallery where the different art work was discussed and we all got to see ochre close up. She’s an excellent speaker and knows her subject very well. She has one last talk to do today which is up at the lookout just before sunset. We had every intention of listening to the talk there too but the minute we got up on the lookout the view took over and we just lost ourselves in it as the sun went down! What a superb view across the Nadab floodplain, wow! It’s just a little bit humbling, it really is awesome.
Once the sun has gone the rangers come up on the rocky outcrop to make sure we all get down safely so they can lock the gates and get off home for the night!
There’s a queue to get into the Merl camp site, the rangers are collecting the fees at the gate and they also tell us about a slide show tonight. Excellent, we’ve been hankering to watch a slide show!
First things first though, we need to eat! Darryl lights the fire to cook up some good old Kangaroo - beautiful, it goes down very well indeed!
The slide show, with ranger Annie, was excellent. It took us through the cycle of seasons in Kakadu and over half of the photographs used in the show Annie took herself, they were very impressive. Her commentary was very interesting and informative, another ranger who really knew her subject very well indeed and spoke with an obvious passion. You can’t help to be enthused when you meet people like this.
We went to bed pretty whacked out and hoped for a good nights sleep despite the warm air! We rigged up the cooling fan so that it would run from the jump start kit via the convertor! It definitely helped!!
Sweet dreams of country everyone
Dar and Sar
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kangaroojack
The Ts
Pictures
Great pictures guys!! I am amazed that you had rain, boy was it hot and sticky when we were there, but then it was winter and we are now into the 10th day of spring, so I don't envy you. We did the sunset cruise, but next time I will do the sunrise one, the scenery looks great with the mist rising. I am so glad you finally got a slide show, I was laughing out loud at your persistence at Banka Banka, but you wouldn't be told would you.... tee hee!! Lots of Love Kangaroo Jack x