Friday 2 August 2013

Nabulwinjbulwin

Rock art of Nabulwinjbulwin, an evil spirit who kills females by hitting them with a yam


The unfortunate thing about blogging is that life can get in the way of sitting down and getting it done. As a result, this blog is embarrassingly late.
I believe that we left off in Hughendon stumbling home from a beer filled night watching rugby. Let’s fast forward through all of the driving and get to the good parts. There is an intersection near a town called Tennant Creek where we stayed the night at a rather ordinary campground. From here, the high way goes north to Darwin or south to Adelaide. In town, the alcohol infused violence that plagues the area was evident by all of the shouting. It reminded me a bit of what it was like to live in Old Strathcona during the Oilers Stanley Cup playoffs. We made sure to stay in our campground at night rather than venture too far. Early the next morning, we took off north to Katherine to visit the famous gorge.
The town of Katherine is a rather typical town of the North Territory with the exception of the tourists. There is luckily a gas station. We were at a half tank when we passed a road house about half way from Tennant Creek to Katherine, and we decided to continue on and fill up in a town called Larimah. The unfortunate thing about that was that the gas station in Larimah had burned down. The tank reached empty 20km out of Katherine, but the fumes were enough to get us there. Lesson learned… Never leave a place with half a tank if you can avoid it.
When we arrived we went straight to an overpriced campsite. Fireworks went off that night for Territory Day. We enjoyed them very much because Territory Day is June 1 – the same date as Canada Day! 

We went to see the Katherine Gorge the next morning. It was much too hot to get out and walk around during the daytime, so carrying Fenton around was best done in the early morning. After a long hot hike through a boulder path with bleeding eucalyptus trees and the odd boab, we finally arrived at the Gorge. There is a very nice park near the gorge where many locals and tourists sit, relax in the shade, and have picnics. We wondered if a crocodile would show up at any time to cash in on someone’s sausages. As we walked through the park, a brown snake dropped from a tree overhead and Greg unknowingly stepped within a foot of it as it slithered away. Brown snakes are one of the most venomous species in the world. We also had the fortune to see large fruit bats and a wallaby on this walk.



Can you spot the wallaby?

That afternoon we continued north to Pine Creek. The campsites there were very dirty and Greg decided to look into the Pine Creek Resort just in case the rooms were affordable. For $110 a night, we stayed in an air conditioned room with a shower. The rooms were very nicely refurbished from old rail yard cars. It was our oasis. Even Fenton was joining in on the high fives!
Pine Creek Resort, our oasis in the desert

He is so like his father

At Pine Creek, one can go east to Kakadu or west to Lichfield. We chose the former. We drove early the next morning into the park, enjoying the small hikes along the way, but most of all, the rock art.
The art on the rock dates back hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years. Most of the art was for the purpose of story telling and education. There were many lessons about mythical beings such as Nabulwinjbulwin, an evil spirit who eats females after hitting them with a yam. The paintings of animals, showing the important parts to eat were essential for teaching survival skills. When walking through these areas, it was easy to imagine how it was ideal for groups to congregate in the shade to enjoy the picture show. In Jabiru we climbed to the top of the same escarpment that Crocodile Dundee stood when he was showing the reporter where the crocodile had nabbed him. The scenery is breathtaking to say the least.
Cutta Cutta caves

Dance party





It was only a short drive to Darwin where we took a rather short tour of the city. It was so hot during the day that it was extremely difficult to walk for a very long time without feeling overwhelmed. And this is winter… It was amazing to see the locals walking around with sweaters and touques on!
Our final journey was a trip south again to take a day tour through Lichfield National Park. This park has far more tourism due to the beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes. The signs indicate clearly that the rangers have made every effort to make sure that there are no salt water crocodiles, but the “freshies” occupy the area. Apparently, fresh water crocodiles don’t bite… often. 


A variety of termite mounds. The flat ones orient themselves North-South to control temperature.

An old tin mine

Speaking of crocodiles, we made our way to Crocadilus Park, a zoo that has a big crocodile habitat. We watched the reptiles feed and even held a baby croc!
Someone dropped the feeding stick. It will be a while before they get that one back!

This one was really big!


This was not easy for Heather

Since we have returned home from Darwin there has been one more trip. We did take a weekend to see Alice Springs, King’s Canyon, The Olgas, and Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock). We were so lucky to share that trip with friends Chad, Nicole, and Alex from Edmonton. During this trip we saw the School of Air, a public distance education school that educates children all over the outback, rode camels, nearly hit a camel on the highway, and experienced a sunrise at Uluru. Amazing!
Alex and Fenton - best friends with Uluru in the background

Mt Conner - often confuses tourists into thinking they are seeing Ayer's Rock

Camel stable

Add caption



The vibrant orange and red colours of King's Canyon

The stained rocks at The Olgas

The old climbing route up Uluru

Sunrise at Uluru

There are 7 weeks left before we fly from Brisbane to Edmonton. Our feelings are mixed about the impending return. In some ways we are happy to see our home again, yet there is so much here that will be missed. As I sit here typing away outside, enjoying the balmy 20C day, sipping on an apple cider, I remind myself that winter in Edmonton will be much different.