I am writing this from an apartment overlooking the beautiful Lake Macquarie in New South Wales (NSW). This is about 3 hours north of Sydney and is the largest inland lake in Australia. Well - Lake Eyre in Central Australia is larger, but it is often dried out. Lake Macquarie opens to the sea, so always contains salt water.
Unfortunately the entire state of NSW has been declared in a state of drought. Disturbing images of dry dustbowls, dried-up creeks and empty farmers’ dams, dead cattle and sheep and farmers doing all they can in their desperate effort to save their animals are all over the media. Much of the rest of Australia is in drought as well. This has been classified as the worst drought we have ever had, and we have had many!
I am here to visit my son and younger grandsons. Right now schools and even supermarkets are collecting donations of money or groceries to help drought-stricken communities. That is not the only challenge we face here in Australia. In just three weeks it will be Spring, and we are all dreading the likelihood of massive bushfires, across much of Australia, which come earlier and earlier now, thanks to climate change. The highly flammable vapours emitted by the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees, and the tinder dry bush will make it infinitely worse.
Having said all that, this post is really the continuing story of my visit to Kakadu. After seeing the unique and beautiful flora and fauna present in the billabong, we stepped back on our coach and went to see a stunning ancient rock art site within the park - the Anbangbang Gallery. The hike around that area was really interesting, despite the never-ending heat. And the variety of rich colours in the rocks was just a feast for the eyes. My photos below show some of that rock art and a couple of the helpful signs. You can even see our lovely ‘Chappie’, though unfortunately the photo does not do him justice.
 |
| This refers to the image immediately above. |
No comments:
Post a Comment