Some very talented Aboriginal artists, and some unusual tropical plants

Two weeks have flown by, but at last I can resume the story of this incredible journey. 

My last day in Darwin was spent visiting some amazing gardens and a spectacular art gallery. The art gallery featured winning works of art by indigenous people from across Australia. They included works in many different media, including glass, and were simply stunning. So powerful, so unique and so beautiful! Unfortunately, however,  I could not take photographs. 

I was reminded of this when a week ago I attended ‘Dark Emu’, which was yet another spectacular performance by our internationally acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre. The dancers in this company are all of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, and are superb dancers. Everything they do is very symbolic, telling stories of their past and present. In this performance they were capturing the essence of the very well-researched book ‘Dark Emu, Black Seeds: agriculture or accident?’ by Bruce Pascoe, which dispels the myth that our indigenous people were simply hunter-gatherers, and shows they were far more sophisticated. The dancers also showed the impact of the white settlers who invaded their land and massacred so many of them - the pain, the grieving . . . 

When you see the works of art such as I saw at the art gallery, the artistic sets used in ‘Dark Emu’ and the highly athletic, beautifully choreographed dancing, not to mention hearing the music, you really appreciate the rich and unique culture of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  

As we travelled around some coastal spots, we saw some most unusual and yet gorgeous plants in the gardens. The photos below show just some of them. I am sorry that I cannot identify them. It was a great way to spend my last day in Darwin before catching the Ghan. I am delighted to say that I was able to visit Darwin again two years later, when I trekked there after exploring the coast of Western Australia and the Pilbara region, which is famous for its iron ore. That will be another story. 

A zoo just out of Darwin and a famous beach market

Today (31 August 2018 here in Australia) is a special day for me. Exactly 180 years ago today, the ship bearing a brave young farming couple from Sussex, England, sailed into Sydney Harbour. There they were interviewed by landowner from Melbourne, then known as Port Philip,  and appointed to manage his large estate in what is now known as Hawthorn, along the Yarra River.  They arrived there by ship on 3 January, 1839. Eventually they had their own farm. 

They were two of my forebears. Now there are thousands  of their descendants living in Australia. I belong to our family history committee and we have held some major family reunions, which have been simply wonderful. My readers may remember I visited the little village of Etchingham in Sussex on my last day in England last year. 

My other forbears also arrived in Australia in that era from England and Scotland, and also were free settlers. In its early days, Australia was a penal colony. However, many of the convicts sent to Australia by the British government, under the most appalling conditions I might add, were only guilty of things like stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving children. I would not mind in the least having desperate people like that, who did their utmost to save their family, as my forebears. 

But I digress. Back to my travels . . . 

Before I left Darwin, I did a little more touring around, travelled to a zoo  and also had a great time with friends at one of Darwin’s famous beach markets. 

The tour to the zoo was a fascinating experience. We travelled a couple of hours by coach to the zoo, then were free to wander around. It was, as is usual for Darwin and its surrounds, very hot and humid, so it was quite exhausting walking around to see the many exhibits. Unfortunately, most of my photos did not work, but I did at least manage to capture photos of a small number of the birds and snakes.

To return to Darwin we had to catch a boat along a major river that flowed near the zoo. Boarding this proved to be quite a challenge - all the waterways around here are full of crocodiles. Even Darwin Harbour has hundreds of them. Protecting ourselves from vicious little insects was equally challenging, as it turned out. It took days for all the blisters that suddenly appeared all over my skin to disappear! Nevertheless, I was glad I had this experience, as we saw the incredible importance of mangroves in this ecosystem, just as we had seen in some of the waterways along the Kimberley Coast.  

The beach market, which gets going just before sunset, was tremendous fun, with many stalls. I was delighted to be able to buy some unique gifts to take home, as well as a CD from a group of South American musicians, whose vibrant music added great joy and excitement to the atmosphere of the market. This was a very multicultural market, as is Darwin itself, with Aboriginal people mingling with people from all over the world. And before we left we joined many others on the beach to enjoy a brilliant sunset.  

I loved this sculpture inside the Aquarium. Unfortunately my photos of the fish and turtles on display were all out of focus for some reason.  

A very timely warning to any visitors to these parts. 

I am not sure what species all the birds were, but I think this is an ibis.

I assume this is a wild duck. 

I only know I was glad this snake was behind glass. 

Ditto!

A gorgeous very tiny bird.

A kookaburra, known for its hearty laughter.

How well camouflaged! 

Some of the zoo setting. We were only given a couple of hours to race around before catching the boat. 

I saw this along the river bank on the trip back to Darwin. See the roots of the mangroves. 

Making music at the beach market.

Rock art in Kakadu, a uranium mine and a sad farewell

The rock art site we visited before heading back to Darwin involved a hike in some rugged terrain (with sand and gravel paths and handrails laid out though), and some rock climbing, but it was just so worth seeing.

The image that was of the greatest interest and certainly the most surprising, was that of a ‘Tasmanian tiger’. There could be no mistaking its form. Clearly the ‘tigers’ had roamed over all of Australia at one point, no doubt before Tasmania split from the mainland. However the image was far too high to climb up to. It was really hard to get a photo of it because it was small image on a huge rugged cliff face, and I do not have a special zoom lens. In any case, you had to balance fairly precariously on a rocky outcrop to capture the image. And now of course our Tasmanian tigers  are extinct - thanks to the white settlers and later populations. 

After we left Kakadu we travelled north to glimpse the large uranium mine nearby. For security reasons you are not permitted to stop and take photos of it, but I did manage to get one clear photo from the speeding bus. The open-cut mine was huge! (And I have visited many mines!)

On the way back to Darwin we saw a number of ‘road trains’, many transporting chemicals to the mine. An Australian ‘road train’ consists of a huge prime mover and four large trailers. They are massive! But without an extensive rail network, these are the only practical solution in a region that has such a sparse population.  

It was with a very heavy heart we finally arrived in Darwin and said goodbye to each other and to Chappy. It was so hard to know our wonderful journey had come to an end.  We had spent 16 days and driven thousands of kilometres with one another, mostly over rough roads,and seen some incredible sights. The rugged beauty of northern Australia really touches your soul in a way that ‘pretty’ landscapes cannot. It has unique power and majesty, and a richness of colour that is a feast to the eye. I determined to see more again, which I did two years later. That will be a later set of stories. 

But in the meantime, I am delighted to say that some of my lovely fellow passengers - from England and Queensland - have remained friends. We still exchange stories of our travels and jokes by email. I hope to see at least two of them again next year! 

Chappy explains what we are seeing.

It was great to see explanations of some of the art. 

As in other sites, it was extraordinary how trees survived on the rocky outcrops, sending their roots right down to the soil beneath. 

The Aboriginals drew wha they saw in their environment. The image on the left appears to be of white fishermen visiting the area long ago - probably from Indonesia.

The Tasmanian tiger.

A small part of the uranium mine.

The East Alligator River between Kakadu and Arnhem Land

That evening we stayed another night in tented cabins at the eco-lodge in Kakadu. As it was our last night together we had a wonderful time watching a movie showing a very different Kakadu in the Wet Season and stories of the local Aboriginals, and shared reminiscences and stories.

This time we had to watch out for mosquitoes, from which we had been spared for most of our journey. 

Early the next morning we farewelled our hosts and set of back to the East Alligator River that forms a natural border between Kakadu and Arnhem Land. This time we went on a cruise along the river in two small ferries, which were captained by local Aboriginal men from Arnhem Land. This cruise was simply fabulous! 

Along the way we heard all about many of the bushes and trees growing along the river banks that are used for all kinds of purposes, including natural medicines and materials for making various things. Eventually we stopped at a sandy part of the river bank, very carefully hopping off our boats so the many crocodiles lurking in the water could not grab us! There our Aboriginal hosts told us more about the spears they make and how they throw them up at the overhang I showed in my previous post  for practice. They then proceeded to show their prowess by throwing the spears to the opposite river bank, which was some distance away. We loved their delightful sense of humour and all the knowledge they shared with us. They showed great wisdom and depth. 

All in all, it was a very picturesque, thoroughly enjoyable journey. 

After that we visited yet another rock art site before heading back to Darwin. That will be in the next post, as there are many interesting photos arising out of that. 

Our last morning, getting ready to go to the river. This was our little group with Chappy and our four-wheel-drive bus that served us so well.

The next few photos are taken along the river.

This large crocodile had a tracker attached to it,. These are deadly salt water crocodiles - this is a tidal river that opens to the sea,  as explained in a previous post.

Where we stood on the embankment to watch the spear-throwing. The spears were thrown so quickly I could not get a good photo. 

One of our boats.

Unfortunately this was the best photo I could get of our guide.