Into Arnhemland.....

16 July 2011

We hit the road and ventured into Arnhemland. The journey took us to the town of Jabiru in Kakadu National Park turning off at the Border Store, crossing the Alligator River and officially entering Permit territory. A gravel track led us to believe that this was easy going. " We can handle this..4WD track pfft ..this is easy." Until we reached the Davidson's Arnhemland Safari turn off..

We spent the next 3 hours navigating sand, corrugated gravel, some water and alot of uncertainty about where we were heading. We finally arrived at a large clearing, (to discover this was the airstrip). And five later could see a dwelling of amongst the bush. We'd arrived!

   Davidson's Arnhemland Safari Camp is situated in Mt.Borradaile, on the north west corner of Arnhemland, adjacent to Kakadu National Park. It's pricey but worth it. It lies in a 700km radius of sub-tropical savannah. Crocs, barramundi, rock art, swimming in water holes, birdlife. You name it, it's here! After we settled into our corrugated iron cabins Kate (one of our guides) took Allanah and I to view a Taipan snake they had just killed earlier today. Made me a bit nervous and exposed to all our wonderful deadly Australian animals.

The next couple of days were filled with amazing sights. Our first trip was to the Major Art site. A site that is situated amongst sandstone caves with Aboriginal Rock Art dating back 2500 years. Claire (another guide) showed tools and little trinkets (a cigarette box form the 1800's) collected by the local people and placed in cavities amongst the caves.

It is also a burial ground so we viewed some burial sites dating hundreds of years old. We could not photograph this due to Aboriginal custom. When a person dies they are not allowed to mention them by name ever again. Anyone in the family that shares the same name must change their own name for a period of time before they can revert back to their original name.

The afternoon was spent going for a swim in a waterhole 10 minutes drive to the camp. I opted out of that one.. Just a bit too cold for me, John, Thomas and Allanah had a great time cooling off before we set out on our journey to see the famous "Rainow Serpent". Aboriginal culture has many stories about this creature and considering Lucas had spent quite a bit of time at school on this subject it was a definite 'not to miss'.

A bit about Bush Tucker

15 July 2011

We had the wonderful opportunity of going for a walk with a traditional owner of the land Neddie who has lived in the area since a young child. On the short walk around the property we got to taste some yummy sour rosella flowers, ants (not me), and learnt about the paper bark tree.  We learnt about eucalyptus plants that were used as bush medicine, and what termite mounds are filled with, their poo apparently!! A mixture of termite poo and water is great for diarrheoa..

The scenary surrounding us is magical.. We've seen countless wallabies hopping by, bush pigs and a dingo or two.  The evenings are filled with amazing sounds, dingo's howling, birds screeching, cockatoo's fighting. And of course those mosquitoes buzzing.

Tomorrow we set off to the most remote area we'll be visiting, Mt. Borradaile in Arnhemland.

 

 

The Jumping Crocs..and who's scared of a snake!!

13 July 2011

We set out for our drive into the Mary River Wetlands well prepared. Insect repellant, sunscreen, hats, and lots of discussions about all the crocodiles around. The region we are visiting apparently has the highest concentration of salt water crocodiles in the world.  The kids really enjoyed the "Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise" on the Adelaide River. A some what staged cruise.

We are all shuffled onto a double decker boat while someone dangles a piece of meat from the top deck. Any crocodile in the area comes swimming along that is close by to jump into the air and grab the blood soaked meat. The crocs are literally feet away as the jump out of the water. The commentary during this process is quite over the top but the kids did get a kick out of it!!

The kids also got to have a play or handle a Water Python. Lucas was quite the snake handler and was given the task of carrying the python back to it's quarters. Allanah couldn't quite come to grips with having the python around her neck but did opt to give the python a pat and be second in charge. 

We finally made it into the Wildman Wilderness Lodge late afternoon after a very eventful day. A bit of glamping for the next two nights. A chance to see some wonderful Australian wildlife we hope..

Family stories - The Crocodile Hunter

12 July 2011

After collecting supplies from the local Woollies supermarket (Bribery for the long walks ahead) we took a short detour to visit Jeff and Dianne (John's first cousin living in Darwin). It was great to have Dianne fill the kids with stories of her Aboriginal heritage. All three were hanging on her every word as she described her job of having to feed the crocodiles everyday when she was a child..

Dianne's dad used to be what they called a Crocodile Hunter. He would catch the crocs, take them home and fatten them up. Di's job was to feed them every day and make sure they had clean water. After about two months they would kill them, clean out their insides, fill them with sand and sell them. (I presume to tourists) So I suppose he was a crocodile taxidermist!!

After stories like that the kids were very keen to set off and view a few crocs of their own. Alive!!

The Top End Australia - Finally setting off

11 July 2011

We've finally had a chance to visit a bit of our own country. The kids were amazed to discover that even though we speak the same language, with the same accent, and live in the same country our existence day to day can be so vast different on the other end of Australia.

We left Melbourne with the temperature barely hitting 5 Celcius and we arriver into Darwin hours later with the temperature hovering at a wonderful 30celcius at 09:00pm. Maybe not everyone's ideal but I was very pleased indeed. The jumpers and jeans came off in exchange for t-shirts and shorts yeah!!!