Kakadu 26th - 30th August

An uneventful drive to Kakadu. On arriving in the park; just north of the Mary River roadhouse we stopped at the ranger station to gain some insight into where we might camp. Friends from Katherine coincidentally were doing the same thing when we got there. They had a 4WD and were able to get deep into the park to camp. On the ranger's advice concerning current road conditions we decided to skip Gunlom and headed for Cooinda and the caravan park. We were able to camp well away from the caravans and others, under the trees. Yet again there was another pool which we quickly took advantage of after setting up camp. It was a sleepless night for some of us as the mozzies had attacked, especially Jasper.
We were up early on day two to drive to Ubirr, about an hour away. We embarked upon a long bush walk stopping to listen to a ranger talk to a small group about indigenous life in traditional Kakadu and the meaning of one's "skin family". He also interpreted some of the meanings and stories in the rock art. We then continued on to a fantastic lookout, high on the rocks overlooking the Kakadu wetlands and the Arnhem Land escarpment. Jasper and Archie were troopers getting up so high.
Before heading back to camp we joined a handful of others for a session learning to weave with pandanus leaves. We were taught by a ranger accompanied by Patsy and Norma, two aboriginal women from Arnhem Land. We tried to emulate their stripping of the pandanus leaves and construct a simple woven bangle. We failed in every step and now have the greatest respect for the skills they had. Jasper and Archie enjoyed helping the ranger boil the natural dyes on the campfire.
Day three was full of anticipation and relief that Imogen got through the night with fifty mozzie bites below her knees (repellent doesn't work on the Kakadu monster mozzies). The anticipation was due to the afternoon's upcoming adventure with an Aboriginal guide, Patsy Cooper, who is renowned in the area for her incredible skills and knowledge of local customs and bush tucker. She has a special talent for sharing her knowledge with whitefellas. At one o'clock we were driven in a four wheel drive deep into the Kakadu National Park to restricted areas. Over the next three hours of driving we stopped occasionally to search for turtles hibernating in the mud, eat wild plums, eat handfuls of green ants straight from the nest, search in dry mud for native water chestnuts, try a traditional headache remedy using bark strips, collect turkey bush to burn as a natural insect repellent, collect leaves to flavour our magpie geese. We also collected firewood for the night cook-up.
We stopped on a sandy point by the waters of the wetland in the late afternoon. Here we were surrounded by amazing birdlife. Wild magpie geese (thousands of them) coated the water around us. Kites, ducks, egrets, jabirus and ibis, were all plentiful. We helped Patsy pluck the magpie geese. She prepared the ground oven with stones, leaves and bark. The geese were cooked underground. We had a dinner of the magpie geese, some wild buffalo, potatoes, water chestnuts and damper. We arrived back at our campsite at 9 o'clock, tired and dirty.
On day four we joined another ranger led activity. The ranger was joined by Eric and Amos from Arnhem Land. They showed us their style of painting and we tried our best. Boyd ended up with no product, Jasper made splodges, Archie finger painted, whilst Lisa and Imogen created some very respectful artworks. We then drove to Nourlangie Rock. Archie fell asleep on the way so Lisa, Jasper and Imogen went on an hours bushwalk to see some amazing rock art, beautiful views and several aboriginal landmarks. That afternoon we went on a boat trip on the Yellow Water billabong where we were spoilt with wildlife, especially birds. We also managed to see many saltwater crocodiles closeup. We saw an incredible sunset over the wetlands before the boat headed back to dry land.
On day five we packed up and headed for Darwin.

Green ants - should I put them in?

Here I go.

Gulp.

I got 'em down ... just.

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