Today was rock art - no not Guns & Roses or the Rolling Stones , we were off to Anbangbang ( thats the aboriginal name ) or Nourlangie - Europeans name . The rangers do a tour explaining lots about everything , for 2 hours on Mondays , Wednesdays & Fridays in tourist season . The ranger from last nights talk ( Christian ) was the guide for today also - he is awesome - he's been working up here for 15 years and knows a bit about aboriginal culture & law , he reckons about 0.025 % of it , but highly knowledgable !! More of that later .
We drove down to Anbangbang , about 21 kms from our park , turning off the highway for another 12 kms to the site . The road in is all bitumen , an easy drive . As you go in you can see an imposing rock appear in front of you , rising 100m in the air , the air smoky this morning from yesterdays burns. Arriving with time for a loo stop , and a bit of a look around , we waited for Christian to arrive with about 40 other people who were also there to listen to the tour .
We started the tour , walking to the first spot , which was a lookout . The terrain is almost completely solid rock , trees & shrubs clinging to life in cracks & crevices .
The lookout overlooks Anbangbang , an imposing rock escarpment , that has been used for shelter for periods of 1month , up to 6 months , depending on the time period that they were here in .
The colours in the rock faces were amazing , and in the rocks in the lower areas , you can see all the layers in the rocks , as well as all the quartz rocks that are all mixed in with it .
We continued on down a track to the next spot - 5 mins down the track , we passed a cave used for shelter , then down a little further to one of the most photographed pieces of rock art .
The paintings were explained to us , with depictions of the lightning man , another man & sister who had a relationship - something that is against aboriginal law - no incest allowed . With their law , there are rules regarding who can marry who & who you can & can't look at - it's an amazing way of life , the laws help perpetuate the race & relationships - pretty complex stuff !!
Christian was trying to get us to understand the complexities of it all , not understand everything , just an appreciation . He told a story about the junior ranger program , where school kids get to go out into the park with the rangers , to learn what happens in the park - Christian has actually learned a lot more from the kids . He was taking them out one day in two troop carriers , they all jumped in , except 2 boys , who made excuses and said they couldn't go out as they were sick , the real reason was student A , already in the troop carrier , the two boys - B & C were prohibited by law to make eye contact or have any contact with student A ! Student D , told Christian what was going on , so he went for a walk while the problem was sorted without causing embarrassment to any of the students from a white fella . This is part of aboriginal law .
From there we headed around to a shelter under a huge rock shelf , protected by another huge rock in front of it and to the side .
We learnt about an archaeological dig here , they calculated things they'd found had been for 20,000+ years . While they were digging , the local aborigines would call in and have a look , and ask them what they'd found . The people digging would show them all the bits & pieces , and tell them what they were - they already knew naturally , and told the archaeologists where they could get that stone , it wasn't from here , it is 2 days walk into stone country from here . All this information that has been passed down over all those years !!!! You can see in the photo , the flat rock that was used as a work table to grind up seeds & other food stuff , there are depressions in the rock from the grinding.
Our talk was over and was one of the most informative 2 hours we have ever had - we learnt more about the culture & country & law , than we ever knew before !!! quite enlightening .
It was lunchtime , so we went down the road a little to Anbangbang Billabong .
On the way back out , we got a better picture of Nourlangie / Anbangbang .
From here we drove south a bit and went into Djarradjin / Muirella Park Campground and then onto Sandy Billabong . This was impressive , the billabong was huge , stretching into the distance , we had it to ourselves , apart from the birds and a couple of feral pigs . There are water lillies everywhere , pandanus & paperbarks and some bloodwood trees , a really pleasant place to be .
The sun was pumping out a lot of heat , so we headed back to the park . Time for a cold swim to reduce our core temperature - it was running pretty high , only took about 10 mins to cool down again!!! The beer was even nicer sitting beside the van .
Well , so far Kakadu is scoring very well , we've been here for 6 days so far , and looks like we might be here for a few more yet . Kakadu 6 , detractors nil !!!
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