Kakadu

Canada Day in the Australian Outback. A little bizarre, yes, but we found a way to celebrate anyway! The nights in the desert were starting to warm up, and so were the days. We were only an eight hour drive from our destination in Kakadu National Park, but there were some interesting sights on the way. We stopped at a highly recommended spot near Daly Waters, called Bitter Springs, which was much nicer than the name suggests. It is a thermal spring, or hot spring, at a pretty constant temperature of around 96 degrees farenheit, and a beautiful turquoise hue. Crystal clear, we took our snorkel gear in just in case we were to spot a turtle or freshwater croc, but no such action. We hung around for a while, then went on our way to find a camp site. We stopped at a truck stop that was well off the highway, and had ourselves a great fire while the stars came out. We had to imagine our own fireworks, but it was still beautiful.

The next morning we headed through the town of Katherine to stock up on some supplies. Kakadu is a very remote and still quite wild area of the Northern Territory, and even though we were going to be staying in Jabiru, the only town inside Kakadu National Park, the supplies there had to be flown in or trucked from a great distance and were therefore very expensive. We entered the park, purchased our two week pass, and headed to a camping area called Gungurul. As we took a walk, we were very excited to see our first "Warning: Crocodiles. No Swimming." sign, but the creek bed was pretty dry at this time of year and there was no imminent threat. The camping area filled up quickly, and we were thankful to have gotten there early. Little known to us, it was school holidays in the Northern Territory, and we quickly discovered that this meant Kakadu would be very crowded. Luckily for us, we had a place to stay with our friends we met in Margaret River, so we were just camping for the night.

The way up to Jabiru was still quite a distance, so we took our time to see what we wanted to on the way, hoping we didn't have to back-track too much later on. We stopped at Yellow Water, a vast marshland, in hopes of seeing some crocs, but at midday all we got were heaps of mozzies. Then a visit to the Warradjan Cultural Centre proved very educational and entertaining. We learned a bit about the Bininj people who are the traditional owners of the land Kakadu inhabits; about the Rainbow Serpent that formed the landscape according to Bininj tradition; about the six seasons of Kakadu, and the seven regions we had to explore. After having a bit of education, we finally made our way into Jabiru to find Brett and Zsuzsa, our hosts while we were staying in the park. We were very fortunate in being invited to stay with these two; Zsuzsa is a Dutch/Hungarian gal who has travelled Australia for the last six years, and is also a skilled vegetarian chef; And Brett is a local to the area and a former Kakadu Ranger, so knows the local mob and the park pretty well! For our first night they took us for a drive to a very famous art site called Ubirr. Brett did some fishing off the Crossing into Arnhem Land while the rest of us explored the rock art "galleries" and listened to a Ranger Talk. We learned about a bit of the local diet, which was illustrated on the rock walls and in the cave overhangs in great detail! Barramundi was one of the local faves, as well as long-necked turtle, magpie goose, file snake and goanna. After the talk, we climbed up to the cliffs to watch the sunset and take in the views of the floodplains below - a landscape unique to Kakadu, and we had never seen anything like it.

The next day no one had to work, so we all had a bit of a sleep-in and relaxed for the morning. In the arvo, Brett offered to be our personal guide and took us a bit further off the beaten path to Nourlangie in Stone Country. We were intrigued by the amazing rock faces that lined the landscape, sprouting up out of the floodplains so suddenly. He pointed out some of the places that Crocodile Dundee had been filmed, but I knew we were with the real Mick Dundee right now! Brett led us in a tour to some of the art sites in the area, some of the significant rock formations, and told us the stories that accompanied the sites according to the Bininj people. He took us to Anbangbang billabong, so we could see for ourselves what a magpie goose looked like, and we also spotted some wallabies, whistling ducks and a pelican. We made quite a climb for our sunset view of the Stone Country, and savoured the silence and peace of the place. It was one of the few times when there was no one around but our little group. It was those times when we could really tune in to the spirit of Kakadu, and appreciate the land and its history just by feeling and being in its presence.

July the fifth was in fact my birthday, and I could not imagine a more perfect place to spend it. We took a picnic lunch on the road, and all piled into Brett's 4WD. We stopped at Mary River Roadhouse to pick up a treat, some (very expensive) Strongbow Cider, and then made our way up to the first swimming spot that Brett and Zsuzsa wanted to show us. There was certainly no way that our little car could have made it up there, the boulders that made up parts of the road were half the size of our tires. There were just a few other people there, and it was obvious that there were not a great many vehicles that could have gotten that far. After a short walk down toward the sound of the water, we found the waterfall. It was beautiful, clear water, plunging into a deep and fair-sized pool. The sun was filtering through the trees in the middle of the pool, but most was in the shade thankfully, as it was already heating up. Jason and I eagerly donned our snorkelling gear and jumped in. There were tons of fish, most of which we had never seen the like of before, but that we recognized from our education at the Cultural Centre. We practised our freediving and chilled out under the waterfall. We thought this was great, but Zsuzsa was convinced that we would like the next place even better, so we didn't linger too long.

Brett took us to another area known as Ferni Gully, and the road was even sketchier than the last. It could hardly have been called a road at all, most of it was overgrown with the grasses that sprung up nearby. When we reached the so-called parking area, when took our lunches and our ciders with us and walked the short track to the pools. It was amazing. There was no one else around for miles, no crocodiles in the water. Just crystal clear, turquoise pools with cascading water falls and the rest of nature. There was even a little pool inbetween a couple falls that served as a jacuzzi for Zsuzsa and myself! We enjoyed our crisp ciders in the warm sun and the cool waters. Paradise.

The only thing I really wanted for my birthday, was to see a croc in the wild. We had been looking in the rivers and on the banks as we drove over every bridge, but no luck, until we were on our way home. Brett slowed down over a large bridge, and sure enough there was a long dark shape moving along the water's surface. We parked and exited the car, camera in hand. A real live crocodile! Just cruising, looking for some fish. Then as we continued back toward Jabiru, we payed a visit to Yellow Water, where we had nothing but mosquitoes a couple days earlier. The sun was nearly setting, and the crocs were coming out! There were two really good sized blokes just off of the boat ramp, and we were able to get a really good look at them. We were fortunate to see many, many crocodiles in Kakadu. We watched them hunting at the Crossing for the next few days at high tide, and then we got really close to them on the Guluyambi Cruise. Big and small, they were everywhere.

The thing that sets Kakadu apart from so many other national parks in Australia is the richness of culture, and the willingness of the local Aboriginals to share that culture with visitors. The Ranger Talks were amazing, there were many at different locations throughout the park, some being 'walk and talks', and others more of a discussion focussing on a specific artwork or subject, like Family and Kinship. The complexity of the family systems that the Aboriginal peoples use is way over my head. I only began to grasp the basic concepts that keep blood lines clean, and the idea of family being everyone in your clan, and having multiple "mothers" and "fathers". It was so interesting and unique to this culture. Another we really appreciated learning were the artistic traditions from the area. Of course, Jason was keen on playing some didgeridoo and maybe learning more about the building process. He didn't quite get the Walkabout experience, but there were some great blokes form Arnhem Land who were keen to play. These guys taught a workshop about the local painting style, and I jumped on board! They talked about the significance of what they paint, how they paint it, and the colours they use. I even got to do some painting with them and ask all the questions I could think of! They were super open, and very talented. I can say it takes a very steady hand and a lot of time and patience and practice to get those super fine cross-hatched lines, using only a river reed as a paint brush. These guys were pro. I did get to practice more throughout our trip, and I can definitely say I've improved since then. There were also some women from Arnhem Land that came and taught a workshop on how to make the amazing pandanus baskets and bowls. It was a three hour workshop, and let's just say most of didn't get passed the initial splitting of the grass fibers... Truly amazing work.

We spent nearly two weeks in Kakadu, but there was just so much to take in. Before we left we were super lucky to be invited onto the Guluyambi Cruise by Brett and Zsuzsa's neighbour, Robert. He was also a really well known artist in the local tradition, but during the day he worked on the cruise giving guided boat tours. He took us, and twenty other people, on this gorgeous cruise to get up close to the crocodiles and really see them in their environment. He talked about the local plants and all their many uses, his people's hunting traditions, favourite places to find bush tucker, and he took us across the river into Arnhem Land for a spear-throwing demonstration. He had carved the spear and the woomera (spear thrower) himself. On the way back, we talked a bit more about Country, and the history of the landscape, and how the locals use cool fires to burn Country in the cool dry season to avoid really hot fires in the hot and dry. The Aboriginal techniques for land management are so simple and effective, and only now are "experts" acknowledging how intelligent their solutions really are. We got quite the education in Kakadu, and it certainly opened our eyes up to another world. It is one of the places we would definitely come back to if there were a second trip to Australia in the future...

Our next leg of the trip takes us to Darwin, to the famous Mindil Beach Markets, and then to Litchfield National Park for a very different experience. All our croc and Kakadu photos are in our gallery on Flickr. Til next time!