Lords Safari Arnhem Land Tour

I absolutely loved this tour and would recommend anyone that is up this way to do it. It was a full day tour, full of amazing scenery and interesting facts and something that I would definitely love to do again. Mike picked us up in his 4WD bus thing from the lodge and then we drove out to Cahill’s Crossing and crossed into Arnhem Land from there. The morning was spent climbing up Injalak hill with two aboriginal guides who explained the paintings and answered our questions, including some particularly dense ones from one of the ladies (there is always one in each group).

Some of the paintings they showed us were just amazing. Huge barramundi, rock pythons, fresh water turtle, wallaby and emu, painted in deep reds, yellow ochre and white cover every available surface. In some places the paintings have been layered on top of each other as generation after generation have recorded their lives.
We also got to see a burial site and had morning tea looking out over the billabong in the west and the rocky escarpment in the south while we sat underneath a rocky overhang that had aboriginal paintings on the underside whilst drinking our tea and eating our monte carlos. Talk about surreal.

On our way back we visited a sacred site where they performed circumcision ceremonies and had a little bit of an exploration along the back of the rocks. We also got to see a painting of a double rigged schooner (or double something or other, can’t remember the details) which the local people had painted as a record of some of the early settlers that came through. Pretty crazy hey.

Another mind blowing thing was seeing how they chose young boys to go on hunting expeditions. It is a little hard to explain but basically the young guys had the be able to make and throw a spear well enough so that it wedged in the crevice of this huge rock out on the floodplains. Now that probably doesn’t sound that hard but this rock was like 80m away from where they were standing and the crevice was about half a centimetre thick. Check out the photos to get a better idea o what I mean. The long sticky things hanging out of the rock are spears. Mental.

Our mode of transport for the day.

This gives you a little bit of an idea about the rock art. It's hard to capture it in one but hopefully you get the general idea.

Me and the rock art.

This is where we had our morning tea. It was under a rocky overhang that had art on the underside and had the most amazing view of the floodplains and escarpment.


When white settlers first made there way up here - god knows how they made it - the local people recorded it on the rocks. I forget the explorer that this boat belonged to though.

This is a close up view of the spears in the rock face. You can just see the black sticks poking out of the crevice.

And this is the view from where we were standing and where the young guys had to throw the spears from. Absolutely mind blowing.

1 Hour Scenic Flight.

Aside from the fact that I was slightly nervous (ie: completely packing it) about the fact that our plane looked like one of those remote control ones that you get in a box and put together yourself, I actually really enjoyed the one hour flight with Kakadu Air. Well, when I wasn’t in the throes of debilitating nausea due to our plane bouncing around like someone on pills, I really enjoyed it. Hmmm, I am beginning to get the feeling that perhaps I actually didn’t enjoy it all and have brain-washed myself into thinking that I did. Such is life.

Nervousness, nausea and self brain-washing aside I have to say that it was great to see Kakadu NP and Arnhem Land from such a different perspective. You get such a changed view of the rocky escarpment from that height. It makes it seem as though a giant hand has simply pushed it up from underneath so that on one side there is a slope and the other a massive drop off and makes you appreciate why the aboriginal have the dreamtime and creation stories that they do. The commentary that we had on the flight spoke about the early explorers moving through the region but it is impossible to imagine anyone other than aboriginal people being able to travel through and survive on such difficult terrain.

Highlights: the amazing view.

Lowlights: nervousness and nausea. Oh and did I mention the nausea?

Thunderbirds are go.

My, my, what a small plane you have... aargh!

The East Alligator River which is the border between KNP and Arnhemland. I have to say that I do admire the creativity that the early settlers used when naming the rivers. We have the East Alligator, South Alligator and West Alligator Rivers. Oh and no alligators.

Magela Wetlands.

This is an aerial view of where I am working. Hurrah!

Guluyambi Cultural Cruise (pronounced Goo-lee-arm-bee)

The Guluyambi boat cruise left from the upstream boat ramp on the East Alligator River, headed down to Cahill’s Crossing - which is the only road into Arnhem Land – and then back upstream to a sandy river bank where the wet had dumped 20,000 tonnes of sand. I did the cruise with one of the bar staff, Keith (A.K.A one half of the infamous Keiffany, go hard or go home) along with a group from AAT Kings. As Keith so eloquently put it, it was like “being in God’s waiting room” with the two of us being the youngest by oh, maybe forty years or so.

It was a really interesting cruise though and our guide taught us about the uses for some of the plants that line the river bank including beach hibiscus (spears, string, mozzie repellent and antiseptic) and paper bark trees (shelter, water carrying vessel, cooking utensil) as well as explaining some aspects of traditional aboriginal law (if you were naughty you got a spear in the thigh or if you were really, really naughty, in the Achilles tendon so that you had a limp for the rest of your life and people knew that you were a ‘bad fella’).

Highlights:
Seeing my first croc in the wild.

Lowlights:
Being stalked above mentioned crocodile. I am nobody’s dinner.


This is me. And a bus. Yay.


Conway doing his best tourist impersonation.


Guluyambi means 'paperbark raft' in the local aboriginal language. This however is not a paperbark raft.


My second croc in the wild - woo hoo! I didn't get a proper photo of the first one as it kept cruising around the boat and going under. Cheeky little devil...


This is a water carrying vessel made from paperbark. Pretty neat, eh?

Jab-ah-roo, Kak-ah-dooo...

So, one of the girls that I work with has this song that she sings about Jabiru that goes something like “Jab-ah-roo, Kak-ah-doooo”, so now every time I say/think/write the word Jabiru I get that stuck in my head. I guess that it’s not a song really. It’s more like two words with a melody. It is surprisingly catchy though. It’s like one of those silly cereal jingles that get stuck in your head. You know, like ‘Just like a chocolate milkshake only crunchy’ ad. Yeah, you know it. The one with the gorilla. Or is it a monkey? Or that ‘happy little Vegemite’ one. Yeah that always gets stuck in my head. Sorry, what was that? Now it’s stuck in your head? Mwah, hahahah!!

Aside from the fact that I may actually be losing my mind (see above paragraph) I am actually really enjoying being in the middle of nowhere. Whilst it is polar opposite to London there is something refreshing about getting back to basics and being in the bush again. I haven’t really taken any photos of my donger or around the park but I have got a few pics from the different tours and walks that I have done which are as follows:

Ubirr (pronounced Ooo-beer which I find quite fitting considering the beer belly that I have proudly acquired in my mere four weeks here).
This is an amazing lookout about thirty minutes drive from Jabiru and within Kakadu National Park but close to the river border with Arnhem Land which is aboriginal owned and only accessible with a permit. There are some cool art sites including a painting of a Tasmanian tiger which I was blown away by. Not because the painting is that amazing but I had no idea that thylacines were up here at all. Admittedly it was like 2,000 years ago but still, how cool is that?

Highlights:
Aboriginal art sites including some pictures of sorcery figures that were believed to be painted by Mimi spirits as they are on the underside of a 30m high cliff overhang (spooky!).
The 360 degree views of the floodplains, Arnhem Land and the escarpment especially on sunset.

Lowlights:
The number of foreign tourists – ‘Can you please take photo of me? Oh and one of me and my friend? And me and my friend from this angle? And one with my friend and this random person that we just met?’ Meh, get away from me.


Ubirr rock - this place has the most amazing views. On one side you have the flood plains, on another the escarpment which winds up the eastern side up into Arnhemland and joins back up with the northern wetlands. So pretty!


I still can't get over how green it is here. It's like that fluro lime green paint that you use as a kid. So cool!


More green and rocks.



These photos don't do it that much justice but the sunsets from Ubirr are phenomenal.