2...3....4...Hello Kakadu Dreams

We rose very early the next day (5:30 am) to head out for our 2-3-4 Kakadu Dreams trip. We were going on a 2 night-3 day-4 wheel drive tour into Kakadu park. Our group consisted of Meg, Darren, and Dave who worked on an oil exploration/surveying ship. Darren and Dave were ship navigators and Meg a geophysicist. The last 2 in our group of 9 were Marian and Alexandria who were sisters from Italy. Marian is from the Italian international snowboarding team and has just retired from competition. And of course, our tour guide - who was Steve. Steve has been doing tours for about 1 ½ years and knows his stuff and seems to enjoy his work. It was enjoyable group with lots of interesting conversation over the bumpy drive (that's a view of our trailer out the back of the vehicle - including the spare tire which we were about to use).

So by about 7:30am we were off to Kakadu. We saw wild horses on the drive into the park. Our next stop was for a flat tire. Since we were stopped anyway, we set up lunch at the roadside while Steve and some of the guys struggled with the tire. All inclusive trip – part of the fun.

After lunch we headed for the South Alligator river where we took the jumping croc tour. To start however, we were introduced to some of the local snakes. We got to hold the water python. The snake was very calming to hold. It was soft and smooth and you could feel its muscles moving very strongly under its skin.

The crocodile tour was impressive. We spotted lots of crocs - all 'salties'. Despite being called salt water crocodiles, they in fact live much of their life in freshwater. Males can grow up to 7 metres – the average fully grown male about 6 metres. Some of the crocs were a golden colour, and others were dark and had algae growing on them. We found out later that it was due to whether they had been out to the salt water or not. They go out to the salt water to get cleaned off, and will come back lighter coloured. These are the ones which are most hunted for their skins.

There were a surprising number of missing limbs from these guys. They apparently fight a fair bit, and most were missing one or more hands, arms, feet or legs. One was missing 3 complete limbs and one foot. They do an amazing job of hiding themselves in the mud. They dig their nose in and crawl into the mud leaving only their eyes and nose exposed. They can be very hard to spot and given their acceleration and ability to jump, you really don’t want to get anywhere near them. (The jumping seen here is encouraged by hanging the food from a rod off of the side of the boat)

Similar numbers of people die of crocodile attack as shark attack (average 1 per year or so). Steve told us of one instance where some guys were out on their ATVs. They stopped for some reason. One guy was grabbed by a croc and his mates had to scramble up a tree. They were there for 48 hours as the croc walked back and forth below them slowly eating their friend. They were finally rescued by a search party. Bit of trauma there I suspect.

The black kites were also fed on the river cruise. They are well accustomed to the feeding and would swoop right in to catch the food mid air. They must have exceptional eyesight.

We stopped by the cultural centre to learn about the traditional aboriginal ways. There are still a few hundred people living off the land in Kakadu in the full traditional way, and many others still follow the traditional rules even if they don’t live in the bush.

Then to Nourlangie to see the rock art. On the walk in Steve gave us one of his many insights into local life. These green ants live in the trees and wrap the leaves into their nest. You can actually hear them working if you listen carefully. The aboriginals boil them up. The nectar that rises to the top of the pot is sweet and is medicinal for breathing and lung problems.

There were many paintings – more than we saw at Uluru. And they were a different style. Here there were many more spirit drawings. Several of the larger drawings were done by an elder in the 1960’s. He wanted to make sure the stories were captured. He drew a large image of the spirit which women must avoid. His story teaches girls not to roam into the bush alone. The second story (artwork photoed here) was related to Namondjok (a warrior in the centre here), his wife Barrginj (lower left) and Namarrgon (Lightning Man to the right). The whole story can be read here.

Then we were off to our campsite near JimJim Falls. We all chipped in to get dinner going – sausages, mixed veggies and baked potatoes. And beer. The campsite manager brought over some fresh baked damper for us – made with dried fruit, it was very good. After some impressive didgeridoo playing by Steve, we all packed in for an early bed by 9:30.