kakadu, pt I

Omigod, I overslept! The fan was so freaking loud that I didn't hear my alarm clock. I woke up to a knock at the door, checked my watch, and hysterically jumped down to answer, cussing the whole way. Thankfully, my tour hadn't left without me, and the guide was waiting downstairs at reception. I frantically shoved my sleeping stuff in my bag, thanking God that I had packed neatly the night before. I repeatedly apologized to the rest of the group loitering outside by the bus, but I'm not sure they realized I was late. Steve, our guide, made me sit in the front for being late, but that's my favorite seat. So take that, Steve.

Ten minutes out of the city center and we were in complete bush wilderness.

The first stop was a boat cruise down the Mary River in which we saw CROCODILES lazing about in the sun and generally looking dead. Ted the boat captain had a serious beef with Steve Irwin and pointed out several times how lazy crocodiles really are, how they don't go around waiting to attack people, rather lay on the banks of the river warming up, going to eat a bird once every few weeks. Yes, if you go in the water, they will kill you, but only to guard their territory and not because they are hungry. I believed Ted because out of the seven or so crocodiles we saw, not a single one blinked an eye, much less moved an inch, when we passed. We also flocks of birds taking off and landing near the water, much as they do in the nature videos, very picturesque. We played with some water lily lotus flowers and leaves, which are incredibly waterproof and hold liquid like they are covered in plastic. Ted picked a bunch of leaves and flowers and made the girls all take photos with leaf hats. All the while, little wallabies were jumping around in the background.

The first site in Kakadu National Park was Ubir rock art. Rock paintings!!! Done in red, yellow, and white. Some of these were 5,000 years old, some only 30 years old. The Aboriginals paint over their own paintings because the act of painting is more important than the painting itself. They use paintings to tell stories and make requests. There were line paintings of fish, snakes, wallabies, buffalo, hands, and white man standing with his hands in his pocket and a pipe in his mouth. Steve told us a bunch of Aboriginal creation stories.

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE ABORIGINALS AND THE BUDJIMI CLAN

1. They have been in Australia for over 40,000 years.
2. Each clan speaks a different language. Each person grows up speaking their clan's language plus the languages of the clans surrounding theirs.
3. Incest is a huge no-no and in order to mix the genes, people from the same clan cannot marry.
4. Clans in the Top End used fire management to maintain the land. In the middle of the dry season, patches of savanna and grassland are burned, leaving the land “clean” for seedlings and new grass during the Wet. Trees don't end up burnt because there is so little dead brush on the group (because of previous burns) that the fire spreads quick and stays small. Areas are burnt every three years. We saw several small bush fires while driving through the park. It is a very successful system and they end up with no raging wildfires. LISTEN UP, LOS ANGELES.
5. The only thing that all Aboriginals have in common is the Rainbow Serpent, their creator God. The Rainbow Serpent slithered over the land and formed mountains, rivers, lakes. I think the Rainbow Serpent was once upon a time based on the Milky Way.
   

We climbed a huge rock formation and had a brilliant 360* view of Kakadu. In one direction was the red rock escarpment that separates Kakadu from Arnhem land. In another direction was flat savannah land covered with eucalyptus and pandana palms. In other direction was the grasslands of billabongs, and in another direction still were huge black rock formations, covered in trees, looking like a lost ancient city. It was awesome, and I could easily tell why the Budjimi held this land sacred. The German boys on the bus took the first of many jumping pictures.

On our way to camp, we stopped and picked up firewood, like literally wandered around the side of the road looking for fallen branches. At camp we set up our SWAGS and ate dinner. Out in the middle of nowhere, the stars were crazy awesome and the Milky Way was so clear and white and stretched over the whole sky. I had a dream that Ed from The Bachelorette was my boyfriend.