Sunday September 26, 2010

Sunday morning we had to wake up around 5 to get all our stuff together for our overnight 4wd tour, which we were getting picked up for at 6. The tour was taking us through Kakadu National Park, which is supposed to be one of the most incredible national parks in Australia. After the tour I definitely understood how it could be labeled as such. The first stop on the tour was to see the Tradition Owners of the park so that they could welcome us to the park. Traditional Owners is a more proper term for Aboriginals and the park is one of their cultural landscapes. As such it is proper/necessary to have them welcome you to the land. The Traditional Owners that welcomed us to Kakadu also taught us a little bit about some of their cultural traditions. That included learning about how didgeridoos are made and what their significance is, how baskets/bags are made and from what materials, and how to make/throw spears. It was very interesting although after taking my Aboriginal Heritage class I kind of felt bad because most Aborigines feel that by us partaking in their traditional activities, such as throwing spears, we are mocking them. Either way the TOs that we met were very kind and welcoming. After welcoming us we went on a crocodile cruise where I learned a lot of interesting information about crocs that kind of gave me a new perspective on them. For instance, crocs can sense heartbeats so well that they can pick out every individual person’s heartbeat on a boat. Also, crocs are pretty smart animals and don’t want to take on a bunch of humans, which is why there are no recorded instances of a crocodile attacking a boat without being instigated. On the croc cruise we did get to see one along with a bunch of different birds including eagles and cranes. We actually got the honor of seeing two sets of male and female cranes together, which is practically unheard of. If you look at my facebook pictures you’ll also see the huge lily pads that we got to pick out of the billabong (where we took the cruise). After the cruise we went to Ubirr where we got to hike up a mountain and see a bunch of Aboriginal rock art. I personally think my pictures will speak better than my words, but I have never seen anything like this. At the top of the mountain looking out over the land seeing wild kangaroos hopping through the grass and groups of cockatoos across the land, it was one of the most majestic places I’ve ever seen. Not to mention the colors; there were shades of green that I never even imagined existed. Oddly enough, the view made me think of what you might stereotypically see in Africa minus the animals. The utter silence combined with the majestic view easily makes it the most serene place I’ve ever been to in my entire life. Once we left Ubirr we headed to our campgrounds where we were going to spend the night. I can honestly say that this was the most luxurious “campground” I’ve ever seen. We had fixed tents with bunk beds in them and the campground had a restaurant, bar, and two pools. Like I said, I’d hardly call it camping, but I didn’t mind because the pool was definitely needed and the bunk beds were a lot better than sleeping on the ground. Upon arriving at the campsite we unloaded, prepared dinner (chicken satay with rice), and then ate as a group. Speaking of which we had a great group of people from France, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and America. Everyone was very nice and outgoing making the trip a lot of fun. After dinner a bunch of us went to the pool to cool off because we had been dripping sweat all day including through dinner, so like I said it was much needed. Once we dried off after the pool we decided to go to bed because we had another early morning ahead of us, which would be followed by a long day filled with exciting activities.