We foresaw the alignment of all these events in 2011, and went about in the Australian Outback to search for shelters, just in case !! But it is a case of either the Stone or the Crocs.
So we reached Katherine in the north of the Northern Territories, after walking about in the Katherine Gorge, and a refreshing swim under the waterfalls at Edith Falls, we took our car into the 4x4 off road territories of Kakadu National Park.
The World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park is the largest National Park in Australia, about 1/3 the size of Tasmania, 1/2 the size of Switzerland....and it is infested with salt water crocodiles. To them, we are just another salivating lunch, make no mistake about that. 10 years ago, it was possible to swimming in some places, but this year, there are almost no place to dip you toes in. They regularly claim one tourist every couple of years, I think, last time, it was a Canadian.
With a 4x4, we are able to get into some of the remote waterfalls and wetlands on our own, however, some of the deeper water crossings are quite eerie to cross, as we never know what is lurking around, if the car stalled. However, warnings are very visible at each crossing. The crossing over to Arhem Land, of which Kakadu is a part of, is certainly not the thing to do at high tide time. Crocs are seen cruising around the the crossing, waiting for their lunch, they are happy to swap fishes for something bigger.
Kakadu is the dreamland of our first people, the aborigines. As modern as some of them are, they still while the days away under the trees by the roadside, with kids playing their latest electronic toys and browsing the Internet on their latest laptops. With warm weather and abundance of foods for easy picking, there was little incentive for them to urbanise, in fact, when the question was posed to them what they thought of city living, without hesitation, they answer, what is so good about the competitions in the city.....and they are right. Boomerangs has not been part of the culture here, as there wasn't much need for it.
It is Kakadu and Arnhem Land that we have seen some of the best aboriginal rock and cave arts, which are marks of their ancient way of lives, and some depicts animals which are now extinct. Some of these drawings dates back 20-30 thousand years. The first arrival of white man in boats were recorded in some of the caves.
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You are invited to view David's photo album: 2011 4x4 Outback trip ( Darwin )
Message from David:
Kakadu National Park is the largest National Park in Australia,
featuring many waterfalls and aboriginal rock arts. Some of these
places are unreachable in the wet season, and some are flooded out
throughout the southern summer months.
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10 years ago, I was led into Arnhamland in a very small group, and we saw some extra-ordinary cave arts, plus old tin cans, solid uniform buttons and bullet shells left over by the Yanks when they were in Darwin preparing for the anti-Japanese campaigns. The Stuart Hwy played an important role in that campaign, acting as the main conduit for military materials reaching Darwin from South Australia. Along both sides of the Highway from Katherine northwards, we can still see remnants of many mini airfields, which were used to fast track training of military pilots. Throughout our travelings in Northern Australia, we have seen quite a few 2nd WW air crash sites, where the pilot navigate themselves into a crash due to either inexperience, or tireness caused by insufficient manpower. Such was history made.
During 2nd WW, the Highway was also doubled as a military runway, today, some sections of it are still used by the Royal Australian Fly Doctors as a runway.
Some of the best sights of Kakdau are her massive waterfalls and wetlands. Unfortunately, even in the dry season, a 4x4 is needed to access these places, and in the wet season, when the waterfalls are most powerful, only a helicopter will do. But we are in the dry season, unfortunately or fortunately. We took our 4x4 to some of the most pristine campsites in the World. The strict rules are, take nothing but only pictures, leave nothing but only footprints. There are NO rubbish bins in ALL National Parks in Australia.
Right in the middle of the National Park, is the large and controversial Ranger Uranium mine. In 2001, we were able to enter its gate and overlook the open cuts and the Yellow Cake stacks, however, it is now closed to the public, probably an aftermath of 911, who knows. The aborigines elders used to consider that mountain the home of the devils, as after people go in there, they come out sick. When later explorers came, on hearing the devilish spells, they went in and start digging, that's when Uranium were starting to be unearthed.
After three days, we ended up in Darwin, ostensibly, our original destination, the question is, which way to go home, eastwards towards the Gulf of Carpentaria (which I had never been), or westwards, into Western Australia, the beautiful Kimberley, Pilbaras, Perth etc ? Which way home? By now, we have been away for a month, all except 1 night were spent tent camping.
First of all, I need to get the car's front end niggling problem sorted out...if we were to go west.
P.S. Just to say how small Australia can be, at the camping ground, we ran into our friend the librarian from our local library, who was chaperoning a group from his daughter's school for a choir competition in Darwin.......
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