KAKADU - UBIRR ROCK, NOURLANGIE and YELLOW WATERS

28^th August, 2012

After spending the night in Kakadu National Park at Merl Campground we drive to Ubirr Rock.

Unusual rock formations at Ubirr Rock

The rangers are giving talks at different rock art sites and we stop at the main gallery to listen while they explain the meanings of the paintings.

Ranger giving talk at the main gallery

Aborigines have inhabited this land for a long time and the rock art dates from 20,000 years to 10 years ago.  Turtles are a popular painting

Painting of a long necked turtle

as are Mimi spirits who taught the aboriginals how to paint.

Mimi Spirit

At one end of the main gallery is the painting of a Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).

Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger)

Although now thought to be extinct, the Thylacine once roamed all over Australia.  When Europeans came to Australia the Thylacine was hunted until only a handful remained in the wilds of Tasmania.  Hence the name Tasmanian Tiger.  Perhaps somewhere in the inaccessible gorges of Tasmania the Tiger still survives.  We spotted this cute little short eared rock wallaby trying to hide from us interlopers.

Short eared rock wallaby

All was going well with only four of us trying to get a photo of it but then a busload of tourists spotted us and came to see what we were doing.  The rock wallaby took one look at the hordes descending on it and made a quick exit.  All the tourist bus people saw was the wallaby’s tail as it disappeared over the rocks.  We followed the marked trail along the base of Ubirr Rock and were quite impressed with the handrail that the National Parks had placed at different rock art sites.

Handrail at Ubirr Rock

Using the natural line of the tree branches the handrail had a graceful flow to it.  Very nice!  As we climbed up the rock we passed some paintings that could not have been older than a couple of hundred years.

What must the aborigines have thought when they first saw rifles?

The view of the wetlands was starting to open out as we climbed.

Getting higher on Ubirr Rock

At Nardab Lookout we had a marvellous view over the floodplains.

Where are we Trent? ........  Ubirr Rock

Let us just say that the view is still as good as it was twenty five years ago.  After spending some time at the top taking in the sights we climbed back down and checked out a couple of more rock art sites along the bottom of the rock.

The Rainbow Serpent

Then we hopped back in Mitzi and drove to Cahill’s Crossing

Cahill's Crossing

which is the main access into Arnhem Land.  A four wheel drive and a permit is required to enter aboriginal owned Arnhem Land.  Cahill’s Crossing is a popular fishing spot for barramundi and also a very dangerous one as many croc attacks have taken place here.  We were still amazed to see fishermen up to their knees in water on the causeway and this fisherman standing in the reeds on the bank obviously had a death wish.

Croc bait

Only that morning the rangers had counted eight large ‘salties’ in the water at the crossing.  Risking one’s life to catch a fish is just plain crazy!  On the way to our next campground we stopped in at the visitor centre where Wok took a liking to this python display

Pythons like to have their chin scratched ...

and enjoyed getting a different view of a ‘saltie’.

So that's what you guys look like from underneath!

We stopped for the night at Muirella campground which is located on the remains of an old airstrip that was used as a base camp for a croc hunting resort in the early 1970’s.  Of course water buffaloes and wild pigs were also hunted and fishing would have been on the activity list as well.  That night the camp rangers gave a talk and slide show on the water buffalo which was really interesting.  We learned a lot about the ongoing management of Kakadu as well as its history.  In the morning we checked out the nearby creek

No 'salties' in sight but appearances can be deceiving ....

before making our way to Nourlangie.  

Nourlangie

This red sandstone piece of the Arnhem Land escarpment houses Kakadu’s best known collection of rock art.  We make our way up the rock to Anbangbang Shelter which has been used by the aborigines for 20,000 years as a refuge and canvas.



Anbangbang Shelter

In the rock ledges on the floor of the overhang grinding holes can be seen

Grinding holes

and the walls and ceiling are covered with paintings.

Some of the paintings in Anbangbang Shelter

 Around from the shelter are more paintings

Wok checks out the rock art at Nourlangie

with kangaroos being a common sight.

Kangaroo in white and other figures in red ochre

We make our way along the rock face stopping to look at the many paintings.

More rock art at Nourlangie

This painting of dancing figures looked like a lot of fun.

Dancing figures - let's party!

And just in case you thought it was all a bed of roses take a look at Nabulwinjbulwinj.

Nabulwinjbulwinj - not a very nice chap at all!

This is a dangerous spirit who likes to eat females after banging them on the head with a yam.  Nice one!   Sometimes the paintings tell a story like this one but we forgot to write down what it was all about but we still like the painting.

Lots of things going on here  ... Lightning Man at top right (looks like an ant with a bow)

We do remember that the figure on the top right is the Lightning Man and he sometimes appears in quite a few paintings.  We were all rock art’d out and were making our way back to the car park when a rustle in the leaves caught our attention.

'Black' wallaby

We were surprised to see a wallaby munching quietly away and would have walked right past it except that it had moved making a noise.  What was so unusual was its colour – dark brown to almost black.  First time we had seen one this colour but it certainly blended in well with the landscape.  By lunchtime we had moved camp again and were now in Mardugal Campground not far from Yellow Waters where we had booked a two hour sunset cruise.

Cruising on Yellow Waters in Kakadu

There were lots of water lilies in the wetlands

Fields of water lilies

along with heaps of birds.  Ducks, geese, herons, egrets, sea eagles, brolgas, cormorants, darters etc. etc. etc.  We even had a Jabiru fly overhead which was really impressive as they are quite colourful and a very big bird.

A jabiru flies overhead

We have seen this bird a few times now and are always intrigued by its ability to walk on the water.  Hence the name it is more commonly known by ‘The Jesus Bird’.

The Jesus Bird

Of course our photo gallery would not be the same without a gratuitous shot of a crocodile so here is one of the large male ‘salties’ that swam along beside us for quite a distance

Just checking out the lily pond ..

 before heading off into the lily pads.  There were lots of other crocs too but we figure they are all starting to look the same.  Some are just a little bit bigger than others.  As the sun slowly set a couple of fishermen made their way back to the boat ramp. 

Sunset at Yellow Waters

It was a nice way to end our first few days in Kakadu – watching the sun set over the wetlands.