Could we have reached our tipping point? For the first time over the past 5 months the kids have indicated they are keen to get some stability in their geography. All this packing up, driving a few hundred kms, doing some sight-seeing and then repeating the same exercise is waning on them I guess. Living in a box is manageable for some time but the need for a bit more individual space and privacy gradually eats at you. In terms of caravanning though, we’re into the final stretch now as we’ll need to auction it and the Kluger off in Brisbane towards the end of next month. We’ve got a fair amount of ground to cover until then and it feels like we’re stuffing as much into the next 4 weeks as possible which is great except that we don’t necessarily do places like the Katherine Gorge or the Kakadus justice. These are exceptionally beautiful areas of wilderness and we’re essentially using them like a pit stop, getting a taste of the incredible history and scenery, then toddling along.
We’ve made it to the Kakadus and a place called Cooinda or Yellow Waters within the National Park. We’re staying at a motel/caravan resort that sits adjacent a rather large billabong and river system currently overflowing with flood waters from further up stream. When you drive into the boat ramp area it is under water. Upon arrival the mozzies were out of control – like we’d driven into a swamp or something and on seeing the proximity of the adjacent wetlands we weren’t surprised. We visited a local cultural centre on our bikes and learned a little bit about the local indigenous peoples and their practices. The women had the pleasant task of finding Arafura File snakes in the root systems of Pandanus (small river palm-like trees) which were used as a food source. They would slap the water to briefly scare away any saltwater crocodiles then feel around the roots along the water’s edge for the scaly smooth skin of the snake, pull it out and plop its head in their mouths, pull briskly down on the neck/back to break it then stuff it in their food collecting tray/ sack for feasting later. It must get quite stormy in these parts as there was also a lot of information about the local dreamtime spirits like the Lightning Man. The heat was sticky so we enjoyed an ice cream and headed back to camp for a swim in the tiered resort pool complete with faux waterfall. Our evening of mozzies was difficult with Aidan crying out clearly nearing insanity levels of mozzie irritation. Cole started off in the lower bunk and seemed to be having small discontinuous fits, unable to lie still for more than 2-3 seconds at a time. His gyrations continued for a good 30 minutes if not longer and he eventually made his way around the corner and into Piper’s bed in the dining area. Piper eventually, as has been her recent practice, jumped into bed with Jen and I, purportedly scared in her bed which is about 2 feet away.
A bit tired and itchy, we clambered out of bed the next morning to join the queue to the boat ramp for a tour and cruise around the local waterways. It felt like we were entering an issue of National Geographic with white egrets, sea eagles, whistling kites, darters, whistling ducks, rainbow bearders, swimming snakes and crocodiles, to name a few, perching on trees, taking flight in front of the boat or lurking alongside eyeing potential food sources gazing awkwardly over the railings with large black lenses clicking away. One of our favourite sights was that of a small Jacana bird and its brood of chicks following it awkwardly over the lily pads. Like fluffy ping pong balls with long gangly legs, the little chicks would scamper along, occasionally losing their balance and falling between the lilies. One of my favourite utterances from high school was that of how ‘Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny’ – in other words how the development of certain features in an animal are reflective of their function in the environment in which they exist. Never had it been so apparent how true to form this would appear to be – especially with the crocs, jacanas and other birds seen on our nature cruise. It was exquisite to see and the kids behaved themselves – seems they do learn from our lecturing. For the afternoon we made our way to the Nourlangie Rocks – an apparent white-fella bastardization of an aboriginal word referring to the area further up the road. The area we were in was called Anbangbang – has a much better sound to it and it is host to some amazing rock art depicting everything from dancing to hunting parties and mythology. The 2 hr walk took about an hour and that was taking it easy – they must base their timing on the more commonly seen out of shape, rather rotund visitors or something. From our nature walk we trekked into Jabiru – the major centre of the Kakadus and invested in some mosquito repellent strategies to make our evening more manageable. Another swim back at the resort and a curry feast left us ready to tuck in at a reasonable hour. All was well, with mosquitoes successfully repelled by toxic smoke and a calm and relatively cool inner sanctum until the banging began. Our neighbours in their rented motorhome had apparently not noticed the extent of the nimble flying blood-suckers with which they had begun to share oxygen. The kids were well asleep and hour approaching 10 pm when the doors of their motorhome slammed shut and an incessant banging began to emerge, like some crazed lunatic had been caged in and was desperately seeking a weakness in the walls to pound their way out. The banging continued for a good 30 minutes if not longer. We escaped relatively unscathed with only a few mozzies finding their way past our defences. Today we’re off to Darwin for a couple days, hopefully to swim with crocodiles (with a plexi-glass partition of course) and a visit to the Thursday markets.
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