JABIRU/ARNHEM LAND/KATHERINE/TIMBER CREEK

Kakadu National Park is over 20,000 kms and the cliffs are sandstone, but underneath the plateau is 2 billion years old and too old even for fossils!

After our Merle Campground episode, we were told of a caravan park in Jabiru called Aurora Jabiru, so this is where we headed for.


Take-away alcohol is not permitted here in Jabiru so the indigenous are not a problem. We have found, however, that in these places where the indigenous are prominent, that they really do not want to have anything to do with white people. They avoid eye contact and just don't want to even speak to you. They just sit on the ground with their children all day. There is a shopping "square" with a supermarket, a post office, a tour/souvenir shop and a "boutique" (?!) There are signs in all the shops indicating that school-aged children will not be served during school hours unless accompanied by a parent. The local public swimming pool started it and the shops followed. It doesn't make the children go to school, but they don't have much else to do.

The river here is the East Alligator River, named by an American explorer who spotted the crocs but didn't know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile. Instead of a bridge, there is a road which crosses the river into Arnhem Land ... called Cahills Crossing, and YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE CROCODILES!!!! They come up to the crossing at high tide to feed on the barramundi and they even climb over the crossing to get to the other side.





Usually, one can't visit Arnhem Land without a permit, but we were lucky to have been in Jabiru during the Stony Desert Festival and were able to cross over into Arnhem Land to be part of their celebration. The indigenous in Arnhem Land are so very, very different to the people we have experienced elsewhere. We travelled 50 kms into Arnhem Land to an aboriginal community called Gunbalanya.



The women cooked turtles, wallabies and Magpie Geese for the festival and the men mostly painted artwork.


The turtles are killed then the intestines pulled out and thrown on the fire. It is a very primitive way of life but they all have MP3 players and mobile phones!



The kangaroo tails are packaged in plastic bags with a bar code and you can buy them from the supermarket like this.
They still have fur on them but this is burnt off when you throw them in the fire. I watched a child about 3 walking around gnawing at one, but unfortunately all the fur wasn't gone!


The community is "dry" and, as a result, there is a certain "calm" amongst the people, but ...... they are only 50 kms from the Sports Club in Jabiru, and we were told that the men drive over the "crossing", get drunk, sleep it off, then drive back to their community. The community elders won't allow the men back in until they are sober. I have to add here - it is white man who sells it to them!

Note the photo of the paintings by the kids of suggestions for a new Australian Flag.






We were treated to a display of traditional dancing and the rainbow serpent dance, but it was so incredibly hot and dusty with so many people we didn't hang around for much longer.




I think the fridge could do with a wipe-over!




While here we took a 1-hr flight over Kakadu and Arnhem Land. It was a bit bumpy but the scenery was beautiful. We followed the river all the way up to the Gulf and flew over some amazing cattle properties. The Ranger Mine is enormous!






The "build up" to "the wet" has started and it is really hot up here now. The humidity is building and we are lucky to have a beautiful pool to swim in each morning and night. We have been in Jabiru in this lovely caravan park for 2 weeks and have met a really nice fellow who lives at Corroboree (he's building a house there ..... why!!) and loves fishing. He arrived at our caravan with a barrumundi fillet and a pouch of spices for us. How nice is that! We had a bottle of wine with him and then Ken cooked the fish on the barbie - magnificent.

Rud and Kathy with us again and Rud to the rescue - our TV stopped working, but Rud has everything in his caravan (that's Rud with us outside the plane). Everybody needs a Rud!! Thanks mate.

This is a beautiful part of Australia and I remember when the greenies fought to save it. I would love to see it in "the wet" season - it would be fantastic with all the waterfalls and full gorges.

Wednesday, 2/9/09

We left Jabiru for Katherine, where we had to revisit for the turn right to Broome. On the way, we stopped off at Yellow River and the Aboriginal Centre - fantastic!








Then Mary River, Victoria River, then an overnight stop at Katherine.



Thursday, 3/9/09 - Off to Timber Creek, 270 kms west of Katherine.



Fuel 175.9
The caravan park was less than average - yes, behind a licenced roadhouse where the indigenous gather - but (I use "but" a lot!!) at 5pm each day, they feed the fresh water crocodiles in the creek behind the caravan park and they are so big. There are also large turtles that feed as well but the crocodiles know that it's 5 o'clock and start to gather under the walk way ready to feed.



Friday, 4/9/09
Off to Kununurra. It is so hot! Drove hundreds of kms to the border, and Quarantine took all of our fresh vegies and fruit. I remarked to the border security, "you'll get a good casserole out of that" ... she wasn't too impressed, but really ..... I can understand fresh apples, bananas, etc. but really (there goes that "but" again!)

It's 38 degrees in Kununurra ... setting up the caravan is a real chore, but it's a lovely caravan park.

Hey - the handbag!!
Love from us.

JABIRU IN KAKADU NATIONAL PARK

Dear all,

I'm trying to catch up on our Blog. I'm about 1 month behind.

We are presently (28/9) in Broome, but in our Blog, we're now in Kakadu National Park. If any of you ever have the chance to visit Kakadu, take it .... it is absolutely fabulous.









Our destination from Corroboree was Jabiru (283 kms east of Darwin), but specifically Merl Campground. Merl promised to be a national park type camping ground and we thought it would be an oasis hue.

It was really nice and the camp sites were separated by about 50 metres of bush and each had a camp fire with picnic table and bench seats. The amenities block was brand new and each afternoon they had indigenous people visit and show basket weaving or just talk about their culture ... but we went to Ubirr to see the Aboriginal rock art and the sunset.

Ubirr (pronounced Oobeerr) is a spiritual place for the indigenous and so interesting. The rock art is fabulous and there is so much of it.







We climbed up rocks to a flat rock tableland with a magnificent view over the floodplains. There must have been 80 people up there when we finally arrived waiting to see the sunset. It wasn't a hard climb, but it was quite steep in places. The view to the west was fabulous with hundreds of kms of flat, green grasslands and the sunset beautiful ... but that was before the drama unfolded!

While we were there, the park rangers commenced control-burning of the floodplains before us (like everything up here, they burn the ground before "the wet"). It was quite beautiful until the wind changed and all of a sudden, we were engulfed in smoke and the flames were heading in our direction.







We decided to make a run for it but as we got to the bottom of the cliff, the flames were rapidly heading our way. Ken grabbed my arm and pulled me back up the rocks and back to the top of the cliff. The flames were now in full view in front of us and, together with everyone else up there, we were cut off. We could hardly breath and our eyes smarted from the smoke, and one of the rangers who was up there with us, took off to get everyone out of the park below. The remaining ranger got everyone to move back to the face of a cliff with the promise that we would be evaculated by helicopter if the fire didn't abate. Ken pulled me aside and said "when the helicopter arrives, make a run for it!" We (and all of the others) were worried about our cars in the car park, but the ranger who stayed with us was on her walkie-talkie and said that there was a fire truck at the car park and another was on it's way to us. It was really terrifying, especially when the flames reached the top of the ridge we were on and the trees and spinifex burst into flames. About 2 hours into our ordeal, out of the smoke came 2 firemen who told us that the park below was still alight but they would take anyone down the cliff who wanted to leave.

Amazingly there were only 6 people who went with them, 2 of them being Ken and Frances! When we got to the bottom, the fire was still smouldering and there were small flames at the bottom of the trees.


So ... we live to tell the tale. However, we then went back to our campground at Merl ... that is another story!

It was now, obviously, dark and we had always said that it would be nice to cook our dinner on the campfire .... that was one of the reasons why we chose Merl - but we didn't count on the insects! The insects up here could carry you away! We covered ourselves in so much repellant which kept them from biting, but it didn't stop them from flicking our arms and legs. It was too hot to have long sleeves and jeans, so we were driven inside. After dinner I decided that if I went to the amenities block to have a shower, I would have to walk back without repellant, so, for the first time, I had a shower in the caravan. Fantastic! Mr. Big copied me!!

Sleep, then the next morning out of here to civilisation called Jabiru. I must say, however, before leaving Merl Campground, off to the loo only to find there was no water for showers and toilets. They'd used it all to fight the fire!!!

Jabiru ... home of the mightly Ranger Uranium Mine - HUGE! Aurora Caravan Park - why Merl Campground for goodness sake ... this is fantastic.

Don't forget to double click on the photos if you want to see them properly.

Love from us.

PS. It was lovely to talk to the Esso girls yesterday! I raised a glass or 2 with you from Broome!