Monday, September 16, 2024
The flight from Singapore to Darwin took 4 1/2 hours and was uneventful except for a nearby child who cried nearly the whole flight. We arrived about 2:30 pm and went directly to our hotel on the waterfront in downtown Darwin. The room was thankfully cool, but not an inviting place to hang out. The outdoors was very hot and sticky, but offered a walk on the waterfront and restaurants to check out, so out in the sticky heat we went. It wasn’t long before we just wanted to eat and go to bed, so we settled on a place called Pink Chopsticks and filled up on sizzling shrimp, pork belly and rice noodles. Back in the room, we cooled off and crashed.
Tuesday , September 17, 2024
It feels like we have finally arrived at the point of beginning now that we are in Australia. After a simple breakfast, we were met by our guide Sab Lord. He is more than a guide, he is also the owner of Lords Kakadu & Arnhem Land Safaris, the company Martina booked for us, and a very interesting fellow. We embarked on an all day drive through flat land full of paperbark, eucalyptus and Sand palm tree forests, aka the bush, that receives controlled burns on a regular basis.
Fortunately, the monotony of the drive is interrupted by the conversation with Sab. He is 64 and getting ready to retire from the business next year, but shares many of his experiences of living in the bush and his knowledge of the aboriginal people. They are 3.5% of the 26M national population. Today’s aboriginals are heavily subsidized by the government, making them very dependent on Government hand outs.
After 2 hours we arrived at Injalak Hill, an iconic indigenous rock art site, that protrudes above the landscape. Sab introduced us to a local aboriginal guide named Dallas, who led us up the boulder strewn hill to see the art. It was a bit rough going in the heat, but, with Mark’s help, I managed. Dallas spoke very little but was clearly proud of his ancestors’ work. He seemed content with his quiet life and uninterested in changing. I couldn’t help comparing him to our Native Americans, many of whom are independent, industrious and participating in American society.
Anyway, the art we saw was exquisite. The subjects were mostly fish, birds and animals with a few stick figure people and lots of painted hands. The art was made with pulverized red and yellow colored sandstone, charcoal and blood. Sab said the art on this hill dates from 90 to 3000 years. Some of it was beautifully drawn and artfully colored.
Near the top of the hill we stopped for lunch in a rock cove. Sab put out a delicious sandwich spread and we each made our own. I learned that Sab stands for Sebastian. Just as we finished lunch, we spotted a black Walaroo, somewhat rare,which is slightly larger than a Kangaroo and captured a decent photo of it.
Mark helped me hike back down the hill to the car. We drove another 2 hours through the bush, a flat landscape composed mostly of paperbark, eucalyptus and small palm trees on a dirt track to Davidson’s Safari Camp.
We were assigned our own cabin and found it pleasantly comfortable, except there was no AC. Fortunately, there was a large ceiling fan that kept us almost cool. Once settled in we checked out the lodge, met the few other guests, as the season was almost over, had dinner with Sab and went to bed early. I did learn that I can’t down load photos or publish posts as there is no WI-FI or internet in the bush, but I can keep writing.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Up and ready to roll by 8:30, Sab drove us in an old safari Land Cruiser to the edge of a large marsh about 30 minutes away. From there, we walked another 30 minutes to a site called The Major Art Gallery.
The rock walls themselves were complex and numerous and the site was like a maze with large boulders we had to weave ourselves through to get to the art walls. The paintings were awesome and numerous. Sab took a long time telling us about each one as he sorted them out from the mass of work.
There were many layers going back thousands of years. It was clear that the site was used as a dwelling place as well as a burial site and art gallery. The scene was very fascinating and we stayed there a couple of hours trying to absorb it all.
On the way back through the marsh, we saw a few wild pigs and a water Buffalo in the tall grass. The drive back to camp through the bush was uneventful. At lunch Sab talked about the size of the land owned by an aboriginal man named Charlie, who is 90 years old now and will leave the 376,000 acres he owns to his nephew. All the art sites we are seeing lie within his property and he is very possessive about keeping everything in tact.
In the afternoon, we were back in the Land Rover heading in another direction to a Billabong (body of water), where we got into a flat-bottom, aluminum, pontoon boat and motored slowly between water lilies and crocodiles looking at Ibis, Jakibu, and a rare bird called a rile. Unfortunately, I cut off its nose. The site was called Mt Borradaile by the aborigines, pronounced Bordilo by white people, and had many lovely works of art.
It is called contact art, because it has been painted since the beginning of colonial times. This is some of the earliest contact art we have seen.
Back on the boat we had sundowners as we drifted along and talked about the lovely evening. Sab is a delightfully pleasant and informed guide and we are enjoying his company.
Back at camp we had a quiet dinner for 2 and were in bed before 9pm.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Ready to roll at 8:30, we joined Sab at the Land Rover and headed for another billabong.
Shortly we stopped at a beach head, from which we could walk to the “Left hand Gallery”, named that for the “Left hand Billabong” it is near. It was an easy walk to the art gallery, which was also a burial site and an aboriginal dwelling site. The art was as beautiful as other sites we have seen, however the burial site and dwelling area were much larger.
Although the art gallery was not quite as imposing. It seemed that centuries of weathering have deteriorated the art and it is completely gone in some places.
After lunch and a long, cooling swim in the pool, we joined Sab for a fishing excursion in the nearest billabong. Sab had us outfitted for catching barramundi. The three of us cast out hundreds of times and got only one nibble at the end of the day, but nothing that stayed on the line. While fishing we enjoyed looking at many water lillies and a few large crocks lounging on the shoreline. As the sun went down, we enjoyed a beer, still hoping for a catch. It was almost dark when we gave up on fishing and motored to the beach head.
We enjoyed one last dinner and conversation with Sab before calling it a day and heading for bed. We are almost on Australia time now.
Fridays, September 20, 2024
One final breakfast with Sab. Being an ex dive master, he lectured me about scuba diving and hopes I will only snorkel. I told him I would consider my options seriously. I appreciated his concern for my wellbeing. Then he departed and Mark and I hung out until time for our flight back to Darwin.
Adventures with Julia 