Into Arnhem Land
Monday 11th May - Arnhem Land
Julian: Today we had to cross the East Alligator river into Arnhem Land to get to a local village called Gunbalanya to see the art at Injalak. Because the East Alligator river is tidal and a big flow was expected at midday it was important More...
Monday 11th May - Arnhem Land
Julian: Today we had to cross the East Alligator river into Arnhem Land to get to a local village called Gunbalanya to see the art at Injalak. Because the East Alligator river is tidal and a big flow was expected at midday it was important that we got across early so that we could return at 11 am to avoid being stuck in Arnhem Land - this meant an early start. As we crossed the river the road turned into a wide dirt track with low lying wet lands on either side that are flooded in the wet season, but now just had pockets of water in them. It was a pretty drive with flat topped rock outcrops of sedimentary rocks around, eroded into blocks like badly stacked lego or a poorly constructed Jenga pile.
We arrived at Gunbalanya at about 8.15 am and waited for our guide, Wilfeed, to arrive. Wilfred is a quite famous local Aborigine who has travelled the world explaining Aborigine art and customs - and he had the most surprising formal English accent. Whilst waiting we looked at a lot of local art and crafts produced in the region and both Jamilah and Julia bought baskets weaved of the local grasses and dyed with natural dyes.
A short drive led to a larger and higher rock outcrop than we had seen on the way in. We climbed this along a narrow path, that often wound in and out of some tight crevices and cracks, until we got near the top where there was a rock overhang with about 4-5 metres in length covered in ancient red rock art - quite stunning. All sorts of local animals and fish and various other items too - yesterday we saw some art, but this first batch was just so much in a small area and looking as if they were painted in the last few years and not up to 20,000+ years ago.
We continued climbing through head high grass and around more rocks and crevices to some more art which also had some bones tucked in a crevice wrapped in bark paper. This art was very old and supposed to have been created by the Mimi spirits - ancient Aborigine ancestors. Moving further up and on the corner of an area enclosed by two large rocks appearing to lean on each other there was a red drawing of what at first glance looks like an insect with many wings, but is in fact Yingarna, the Creation Mother, holding a number of string bags with babies in the - the area was apparently a ladies area where men were not allowed. Further on was more art and then after surveying the view from the top (all the views in this area are quite beautiful - I have no more superlatives to use) we went down and saw yet more excellent art - just the most amazing amount in such a small area and, as with yesterday, very well preserved.
We chatted to Wilfred about a number of topics, one of which is the skin name system that Aborigines have. This is al quite complex and trying to understand it verbally using his family as an example was not easy and I certainly can;t explain it here. However, what it did appear to be was a remarkably clear way (for them) of avoiding incest or marriages too close in the blood line - one of the very many clever things that the Aborigines obviously deduced without any formal scientific rationale.
After coming down the hill we went back over the river into Kakadu where we stopped at a lake area to watch for birds, before then going to a cultural centre to learn more about the Aborigine culture and have lunch prior to catching a small Cessna for a 20 minute flight North into Arnhem Land and Mount Borrodaile where we stayed in a tented camp for the evening - apparently the rock art here is even better than what we have seen so far. Based on the number of mosquitos around this evening I hope that is the case!
Just after we took off we could see the large Ranger Uranium mine to our left. This is a large open cast mine, but considering it is one of the major sources of Uranium in the world, didn’t appear as large as I expected it to be - but maybe that was just perspective from our angle?
Julia: Today, we got up early as we had to make a crossing over the East Alligator river so we could cross back again in time before the tide made it impossible to cross. We drove into Arnhem Land which is where the Aborigines have their own land and are allowed to live their traditional lives with the help of the government. We met our Aboriginal guide Wilfred who had an english accent, which seemed so strange to us, but he did speak very good english. He took us high up into the rocks, it was quite a strenuous climb in the heat but once at the top gave us the most amazing views. We were shown lots of rock art that, to me, seemed unbelievable as it all looked so new and I find it difficult to comprehend that some of it was done 20 thousand years or more ago. Most of the drawings were of food sources such as fish, snakes, turtles and other animals. Some tell some interesting stories that are passed down from generation to generation.
We visited the visitor centre where we saw many of the local crafts, mostly of woven mats and baskets and didgeridoos, all made with natural materials and made by the local community.
After leaving the village, we headed back to the river crossing which was still low and enabled us to cross back. We had a coffee and then went to the cultural centre to see more Aboriginal history etc and then had lunch before catching our light aircraft out into the wilderness tented camp.
Fortunately, the flight was only 20 minutes, so wasn’t too painful. The tents in the camp are very basic and we have to walk a fair way for the toilets and washroom, which we couldn’t actually use at night because there were just swarms of mossies. It is so hot and humid and mosquito infested here that we are looking forward to returning to normality as we are sweaty and constantly swatting mosquitos that don’t seem to be taking any notice of our sprays!
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