Traveling the Top End
This is my first retro-post: it's about a trip Dana and I took over a year and a half ago, but it was fantastic and the photos are well worth posting again.
We've just returned from a holiday in the Northern Territory and we sure could use a vacation!
The trip was full of fantastic views, exhausting hikes, and relaxing swims.
Here are a few interesting facts about the region:
- The Northern Territory contains about 1% of Australia's population: 210,000
- It makes up about 1/6 the land mass of the entire continent
- It is larger than France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined
- The Northern Territory is not a state - the last attempt at statehood was rejected by vote in 1998
- Australian Aboriginal people make up over 25% of the population and have claimed back almost half of the land
- Darwin is the capital city, with a population of 110,000
- Darwin was attacked by 242 Japanese warplanes in February, 1942. At least 243 people were killed and much of the town was destroyed
- In 1974, Cyclone Tracy killed 50 people and destroyed 70% of the city's buildings
- On average, people in the NT consume 1120 drinks per year
- Kakadu is the largest nation park in Australia, about half the size of Switzerland
- Arnhem Land is a restricted area in which many Aboriginal people live. It's about the size of Michigan
- Crocodiles inhabit many rivers, billabongs, and ocean beaches of NT. They had been hunted almost to extinction until 1971 when they became a protected animal. There are now PLENTY of crocodiles in NT
language of the Aboriginal tribe Wiradjuri - and we were joined by Sabrina, a history teacher from France, Martin, a recent college graduate from German, Ali, who flew in from Scotland for six months of travel, and Jan & Maxine, from The Netherlands and England, respectively, but now living in Belgium. Together the eight of us toured the Top End of the Northern Territory, swimming, bushwalking, camping, and kayaking the time away.
The trip started with a visit to Aboriginal land on the beach, where we were taught how to
play the didgeridoo, throw traditional hunting spears, and make string from tree bark. An appropriate Aussie-Western mix was the snacking on billy tea and Anzac bisquits. The didge really has an amazing sound to it. Those who master it play continuously through circular breathing. Didgeridoos are built from tree braches hollowed out by termites.
Spear hunting proved to be quite difficult. While we didn't have any live wallabies to aim at, none of us hit the wooden cut-out either! We now know that if we're ever stranded on an island, Dana will not be handling the music, hunting, weaving, or eating-of-ants required of wilderness life.
After snacking on some green tree ants (they taste like lime!), we piled into our 4 wheel drive and continued on our journey. Termite mounds are all over the place, but I think they're all pretty amazing. Many and hundreds of years old, making them the oldest buildings in Australia. I guess they're really the first sky-scraper, too... given the size of an ant.
These are magnetic termite mounds we went to check out. I don't think the termites themselves would be sucked up by a magnet. Though the thought is pretty funny. Their homes are built like tombstones, and all face East-West. This is so that one side is heated in the morning while the other is heated in the afternoon, but the mound is not so hard hit during the hottest time of the day. Termites need to maintain a specific temperature to survive, so if these fellas get it wrong the whole group dies. Pretty intense. The termites work all day collecting their spit and poop to build up and maintain the hive. As long as they can fend off the ants trying to eat them, they just keep stacking. After many years, they get homes likes these.
We drove on through Litchfield Park to do some safe swimming. Know your crocs! We took a dip in Wangi Falls and there were no crocs of the fresh or salt water kind. Lots of bats in the trees, though. A good hike took us up to
Tolmer Falls, where we could not swim at the base because of rare and fragile wildlife... so we hiked up the falls to the source. This was a great swimming spot. Here is where Martin, our new German friend, started pushing the limits of dangerous dives. So next we hiked to
Florence Falls which was gorgeous. Some folks were climbing up the side of the falls and jumping off of them, so... maybe Denis is getting old, but he tore a shoulder muscle when he hit the water. Nothing big, but it was a bit annoying.
At night we set up camp, which didn't take much. It meant parking the truck, cooking, and throwing down our swags. Then we relaxed, talked about the day, stared at the incredible Southern sky, and slept...
The next day brought us lots of wildlife at Katherine Gorge. The road was peppered with not so live wallabies, but the waterfront was full of friendly fellas. There were so many beautiful birds, but the blue-winged Kookaburra was particularly intriguing. Maybe the bower bird was the coolest, though. This bachelor bird decorates his pad with heaps of scraps of the same colour. This dude picked white. He'll try to attract female bower birds to his abode with this trinkets and take as many female partners as he can. Looks like he doesn't like us being so close. The eight of us paired off into... uh, pairs... and set to kayayoeing (or canoeyaking) upstream through the gorge. The boats were somewhat of a cross between a kayak and a Canadian canoe. Can anyone tell me why they call them "Canadian canoes" outside of the US? Their are thirteen gorges, each one separated from the next by rocks, over which we had to pick up and carry the floating human capsules. The Second Gorge was the most impressive of the three we did. We were on the water for 6 hours. To get to the far gorges you have to do an overnight trip. If you try it, you better get a light kayak! There were some "freshies" in the gorge, but they don't mind human swimmers, just don't go up on the beaches where they nest.
This snake neck bird was putting on a show for us. Katherine Gorge was a great day - and they have motor boat tours for you lazy folks
The Third day we entered Kakadu National Park after stopping at a convenience store on the border. This land is so sparse that the convenience store is on most maps. Look on the bottom left for the Wirnwirnmila Mary River Roadhouse. Many people say that Litchfield Park and Katherine Gorge are "better" than Kakadu. I think a big reason for this is that much of Kakadu is very hard to get to. Unless you have the proper vehicle you can't drive down most roads. While Litchfield and Katherine were beautiful, Kakadu seemed like a land from another time. Even though more people go to Kakadu as tourists, we still found a great place for a private dip.
During the trip we had to collect firewood for the fires to make dinner and breakfast. We stopped along the road and poked through the wood, dragging the pieces back to the truck. We usually stopped at spots that had recently been burned as part of routine, scheduled burning to prevent non-routine, unscheduled burning. During the wet season, the area turns into a jungle. All this flora dries up during the dry season and, obviously, is at risk of catching fire. The longer the bush goes without fire, the worse the fire would be. This is why the fires are set early on in the dry season. The history and reason for planned burning is long and still debated. Since I don't have a degree in horticulture or sociology, this is just a summary of what I understand has happened, based on limited reading:
- Australia was all jungle
- Man arrives
- Man sets fire to jungle so animals would flee and be easier to hunt
- Jungle burnt completely
- Jungle becomes desert
- Jungle semi-regenerated yearly during the wet season
- Half-assed jungle dries up during dry season
- Man learns to burn dried bush to prevent uncontrolled fire
- New man arrives and stops controlled burning
- Serious bushfires prove to be... serious
- New man starts controlled fire
Here we are collecting firewood
The bush shortly after a fire. As you can see, the plants regenerate quickly. By burning yearly, they prevent the fires from being so large they destroy the trees. Amazing as it is, the animals all get out of the way in time. Well, we like to think so. I'm sure some bunnies get toasted... but they're not supposed to be here anyway!
We took a healthy hike along a river and then up above Barramumdi Gorge. I guess it was Barramundi Falls. Either way, we were right at the top of the falls and looking down you could see the massive barramundi (fish) in the water. This place had loads of great places in which to swim and explore. I think this was the most fun swimming spot. Just being at the top of the falls like that was invigorating.
Back on the road... we stopped to take some shot of cathredral termite mounds which are all over the countryside. The termites just run underground while the bush burns. They return to their mounds and keep working. Some of them are hundreds of years old. We learned at an Aboriginal art site that paintings have been placed on top of existing paintings, which is cool, you just can't retrace the lines of an existing painting, else your interfere with the spirit of the original painter.
And we continued on. After a night in Kakadu, we decided to drive though a river. Hey, why not? Well, we did so to get to Twin Falls. This is one of the most spectacular sites in Kakadu. During the wet season you can't get anywhere near it, but in summer it's dry enough to kill a cane toad. We hiked up the mountain and stood in the riverbed. You can imagine what the falls are like at their peak. During our visit we took advantage of the calm river and pools at the top. After hiking back down to the bottom we got on a boat to the foot of the falls.
This is a trap. They put a dead pig in it, wait for the croc to enter, close it, then a) release it in a river where fewer people go, b) put it in a crocodile farm, or c) kill it and give the meat to locals for food. Seems fair. Twin Falls is more of a trickle during the wet season. The water falling comes from underneath the riverbed. Our Group had a nice lunch and crocodile-free trip to Twin Falls and a safe drive home.
Jim-Jim was incredible. This place is (of course) unapproachable during the wet season, but the falls stop entirely during the dry season... becoming Jim-Jim Gorge, which is an excellect swimming spot. It's hard to imagine what this place looks like during the rains, but I don't think I would be swimming in it then.
Our last night we stayed at a campsite by Sandy Billabong, which was beautiful but creepy. In 2002 a German woman was killed at this same campsite. With the consent of her tour guide she went for a dip in this water and was eaten. If you want to know a bit more about this terrible story, here is an article. Sad story.
On our final day we went to Ubirr. This is a gorgeous spot and where much of Crocodile Dundee was filmed! Here is where he fought the croc. But, even more significant than that, it is the home to some of the oldest art in the world. Aboriginal rock art is all over the area. Some paintings are estimated to be thousands of years old. It was a bit tough to get a photo of it, but one depicted a Tasmanian Tiger, which went extinct on the mainland about 6000 years ago. Some paintings told stories while others were meant to log great hunts or fishing expeditions, I guess for bragging rights. This area was outstanding. If you take a look at the photos, you'll see that the floodplains are green with a grass-type plant. This is not indigenous to Australia but was brought in to feed the water buffalo - also not indigenous to Australia. The government has been trying to get rid of both the plant and the water buffalo. Efforts have been semi-effective as their numbers have been severely reduced thanks to shooting the buffalo, but there are still plenty of both. I'm not an elected official, but maybe it would make sense to let the water buffalo eat some more grass before shooting them. The remaining water bufallo are often a favourite snack of Estuarine (Saltwater) Crocodiles. Believe it or not, a croc can pull down one of these massive animals and put it to a death roll. In other parts of the country, the crocs like camels... also not native to Australia. Seeing as how crocodiles seem to like water buffalo, camels, and white man, all not indigenous creatures, it seems that the Estuarine fellas should go on the Aussie payroll. Just a thought.
Speaking of crocs, we had a quite a view of them on the last day. On a billabong off the Mary River, we toured the area most populous with wild crocodiles in the world. There were crocs galore! Both the vicious Estuarine Crocodiles (salties) and the tame Johnston's Crocdiles (freshies). You can swim with freshies, which grow to be about 10 feet long, and not have any issues. They eat small fish and birds. Salties, however, are scary things. In this billabong is thought to be the largest wild saltie in the world: over 20 feet long. These guys will kill you even if they are not hungry. They'll take you down and put you aside until they've finished digesting that wallaby. As frightening as these animals are, remember that they are probably the only dinosaur that has survived until now. They seem to fit in rather well with their environment and a trip up North would not be completed if you didn't get to see fascinating animals in their natural habitat.
That about sums up our trip. Here we are in front of the truck we drove around in and back in Darwin and ready to... SHOWER. We then hit the town for a full night of karaoke, bad beer, and lots of laughs with the friends we made on the trip. Thankfully, none of these photos survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment