For 3 days, we decide to become land people and explore the astralian outback…Kakadu National Park, which is said to be the best in OZ, provides and ideal ground for a better knowledge of the flora, fauna and aboriginal culture of the outback

It has all the different habitats of the région, from swamp to savana, désert to “high grounds” (small rocky mountains), which caters for all sorts of birds and mammals. Moreover it is very close to arnhem land, the big aboriginal reserve and has some very good aboriginal rock art.

In 3 days, we get a very good feeling for the area, with 2 hikes combined with rock art visits and even a “special movie night”.

October being the hottest season in this area, park rangers are advising to hike early in the morning, to avoid the heat of the day, avoid the long hikes and take plenty of water…

So we set off at dawn (9.30am!) for a 4hours walk (6hours the second day)…and we takeplenty of water, which doesn’t prevent us from sweating liters of water!…

But it is worth it…we see millions of birds, ibis, jabirus and the lot. We finally see some crocs (we were starting to think it was some marketing from the Ozzies to the tourists…but no, they’re real and they do look bad enough to knach your leg off!).

We also see wallabies and kangaroos everywhere…and even get to eat os steak of kangaroo…tastes good!

 

We saw all sorts of those marsupials : wallabies, barrk, wallorroo…don’t ask me what the difference is, for me they’re all jumping rabbits !!!

 

The boys (we got a temporary addition of a friend of Vincent who met us in Darwin) in the heat of the morning in the Australian Outback.

 

Sorry I couldn’t geta proper pic of the crocs…but you get the sign…scarry hu ?

 

We also visit a few old aboriginal rock art site, some dating back more than 20 000 years.

I loved those paintings : very simple nonetheless very powerful and moving…we get the feeling of witnessing the lives of the old people, their fishing, their stories…

We even saw, in the most recent paintings, some guns and…a sailing boat.

Example of aboriginal rock art

 

 

The view from the top of a former aboriginal « condominium » : numerous caves and overhanging rock protecting living quarters, all decorated with paintings, going up the slope of a rocky outcrop with a wonderful view over the surronding area.

 

Finally, we went to a outdoor movie by the local youth organisation…

It’s been a superb experience…we met a specialist of indigenous populations, who previously worked with american indians, kanaks (from New-cal!) etc, and is now working to make the neigbouring mine (once again!) more aware of the needs of aboriginals…

It was really interesting chatting with that guy…

And the movie was great two…if you got a chance to see it, it’s called “Ten Canoes” and records the story of some aboriginal villages both in the odl and new times…it was shot in the Arnhem Land reserve, just next door from where we were…and you can see the wonderful settings of the area!

It’s been a very interesting “outing”…I wish we had had more time to discover Australia…this is a beautiful country!…Who knows, another trip….