JEALOUS JABIRU

Foreboding rock formations on the way to Ubirr

Vast expanses of water - Kakadu from the air!

East Alligator River wending it's way to the Gulf - Arnhem Land from the air.

Kakadu escarpment alongside Ranger Mine.

Pillow Pincher!!



Hello again! I hope that life is treating you well, and you are learning to be kind to yourselves.
Jabiru was wonderful. From Jabiru we explored parts of Kakadu and Arnhem Land. We also continued our acquaintance with new chums Anne and Trevor. This was a delightful couple we met in Darwin and who by now will be close to home in picturesque Tumby Bay. We spent a couple of lovely lazy evenings musing the ills of the world over some light libations. Anne and I spent a delectable hour or so in the glorious pool at the Caravan Park, discussing the forbidden subjects of politics and religion – scintillating conversation Anne – thanks so much for your company.
Well, I did go on my flight over Arnhem Land and Kakadu. The flight was excellent as was the pilot. We were handed some heavy duty head-phones and enjoyed a knowledgeable commentary (pre-recorded) with the occasional interjection from our pilot, Wade. The company I chose was Kakadu Air. The flight itself was a little bumpy, the aeroplane was cramped and the cooling device was air, filtered in from outside (quite effective). I was fortunate to share the plane with only 2 other passengers. The downside was the poor visibility. Due to the Territory’s policy on burning off, most of the scenery was jealously hidden behind a curtain of smoke. The traditional owners of the land here have throughout millennium, burned small patches of land, both to aid in hunting, and as a form of land-care. The Territory government continues that practice today. No doubt this is a very good form of bush-fire prevention, however, from Tenant Creek upward we have been encompassed in a pall of smoke. It must be hell for anyone with asthma. I have to say, it does impinge on the beauty of the place, seeing sooooo much burnt land. Admittedly, the re-growth is fast and verdant, but I can’t help but think that they are over-zealous in their approach and perhaps some of the less vigorous flora might suffer as a consequence of all this fire activity. Anyway, back to the plane – we swept over the wonderful and diverse kilometres of Arnhem Land, out towards the Cape. We flew over country that has possibly never felt the foot of man, be he black or white. The country is so rugged as to be largely impenetrable in many places. You have to wonder at what amazing things are still down there undiscovered. We soared above vast rocky outcrops, gigantic green rifts in the earth, left by ancient land movements, prehistoric cities of stone, jewel-like green valleys, green and brown rivers, vast waterways and lakes of the brightest green grasses decorated with watery veins. The sheer vastness of this wilderness was staggering. My only regrets are that the smoke veil didn’t lift to show a brighter perspective and my very unfit body is unable to see some of the wonders at closer range. I would love to repeat the experience in the wet – then we wouldn’t have the smoke to contend with, and the grass lakes would be water lakes.
Whilst in Jabiru, we took a tour of the Ranger Uranium Mine. This was, in our opinion over-priced to buggery. I found it interesting, as I had not been on a mine site before, and had heard so much about them from various friends and acquaintances. Without wishing to open a very contentious can of worms, I am not in favour of nuclear power. Having said that tho’, I am very willing to admit that my body of knowledge is sadly lacking, so perhaps I am not really in a position to judge. The ‘spiel’ that we were given was indeed very political. Even Doug, who is pro-nuclear was peed off with what could really only be described as propaganda. We were charged $30 each to hear what amounted to a very pro-uranium speech. As you are probably aware, the mine site is in a particularly sensitive place, from both an ecological and indigenous perspective. Having seen the mine site I can certainly see what all the hue & cry was about. The mine is right alongside the Kakadu escarpment. This very beautiful place is also one of the most sacred of the aboriginal sites in the country. Regardless of your personal thoughts on ‘sacred sites’ – there is no denying the outstanding beauty of the place and the existence of aboriginal art along those rocks. The speech was inclusive of praise for aboriginal art, this I felt was a rather polished attempt to be seen as ‘giving back’ something. We both felt quite incensed at the end of the tour. The mine itself, of course is impressive, as only something of that size can be. We were amused to see a small lizard sitting in front of our group, listening along with us, to all the interesting propaganda. I wonder what he made of it all.
From Jabiru we drove out to see and climb Ubirr Rock. The drive out there was stunning. The rock formations, are to say the least, amazing. As in other places we have seen, they are reminiscent of ancient ruins. With the morning sun behind them, the stony faces of the ranges were forbidding and mysterious. Ominous and blood red against the pale blue morning sky they trudged along beside the roadway, keeping pace with us all the way. To our left however, lay vast sun-drenched oceans of grasses and water-lilies, speckled with white egrets picking their way through their morning repast. The land here is just so alive – you cannot help but resonate to the extraordinary pulse of the country. Ubirr Rock is a living art gallery. The ‘walls’ of the hills there are liberally decorated with aboriginal stories. Some of them, sadly are deteriorating rapidly, and will one day become invisible to our eyes. I hope that before that happens, they find a way to preserve the work in a manner acceptable to all. The paintings are truly fascinating, as they are up to 5,000 years old and depict a lifestyle and countryside that is completely alien to most of us today. I was fascinated to see that one of the animals painted on the rocks was a ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, - I hadn’t realised that they would have been found so far north. Having just flown over so much wilderness the day before, I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps a few might still remain in those remote and prehistoric valleys I had spotted from the plane.
We stayed at Aurora Kakadu Lodge Jabiru (write up at the end of this entry). In the evening the dingos would wander into camp. As you would no doubt be aware, we are at the anniversary of the Azaria Chamberlain incident right now, so it was rather topical to have these beautiful wild creatures amongst us. To really support all that has evolved in that sad case, we saw a young dingo literally nosing around a small tent one evening. As I watched him, he shook the tent all around, nosed his way under it and wandered all around it, trying to gain access. What I didn’t realise initially, was that eventually in sheer frustration, he bit a large hole in the ‘fly-netting’ that formed one side of the tent. As I watched him, he poked his head inside the now open tent, and removed a pillow. From his general demeanour, I could see how immensely pleased he was with himself, as he ran towards the fence with the pillow held in his jaws and dragging between his front legs. Yes, I know! His excitement was to be dimmed however when he reached the fence/gate and just couldn’t work out how to get his ill-gotten bounty to the other side of this obstacle. I think given enough time, he would have succeeded in his quest, but sadly for him, another young camper and myself, chased him off, and he dropped the pillow and took off. We took the pillow back to damaged tent and placed it on top. I had a look at his handiwork, and saw that he had chewed a hole roughly 1 foot square through which he had pulled the pillow. I went back to camp to watch for the return of the tent-owners. They finally rocked up, I would say they were foreign uni-students, all travelling together in a beat-up old station wagon and having a wonderful. I strolled over and explained what had happened to their tent and pillow. Due to language differences, I am not sure they really understood the chain of events. Needless to say, when I quipped that they should write home and say “A dingo stole my pillow” they were somewhat nonplussed. Sorry, I know it is a far from funny subject, but at the end of the day I am Aussie, and do suffer from that same sick sense of humour that most of my countrymen are afflicted with. Of course, the other question, was why a pillow? We decided considering there was one car, one very small tent, 4 young men and one young woman and the somewhat dubious state of the pillow, we would rather not know what it was that appealed to the dingo. The story did have one more humorous twist, when the following night a couple of gentlemen sharing a caravan parked next to us. Now, we don’t really know what their personal persuasions were, but being an incurably curious woman (and Gemini) I was watching closely for hints as to their ‘inclinations’. TBBITW felt that my answers were answered when the older of the two gentlemen told us of his companion's hasty retreat when he appeared outdoors with a plate of meat which took the same dingo’s fancy. It seems that our young (French and very good looking) man beat a very hasty retreat back into the caravan with what he thought was the very hound of hell hot on his heels.
From Jabiru we intend to move on to Yellow Waters and stay at Cooinda Resort, so ‘stay tuned’ for the next instalment. Steph.
Caravan Park – Aurora Kakadu Lodge Jabiru – we found this to be an excellent park. We were going to book, but friends had tried to do this and had been told that there was no need as “they had never been full”. We took this as gospel and just turned up – we were told to pick any site that didn’t have a sprinkler on it. This was great and we had plenty of choices of nice grassed sites. The amenities were fine and the pool was brilliant. Admittedly not in the first blush of youth, but a huge lagoon style pool complete with spa. An absolute blessing after a hot day traipsing up and down rocks and water-falls etc. We would rate the park as ‘highly recommended’.