That night we stayed at Oak Valley, owned by a family from the Luritja group. Craig, the owner, took us on a little drive around the property…
… Teaching us about the Luritja culture and stories. Not just about the past but what is happening at the moment. He was very open and honest, as well as engaging. I think what he had to say impressed us all.
He also showed us some interesting rock formations. Looks very much like snakeskin doesn’t it? Maybe the rainbow serpent slithered through here?
I had thought the giant rainbow serpent impressive, but there was even a bigger surprise in store when Max brought us out on to a large rock overhang. He called the place (for want of a better name) “Major Art”, as if everything else was minor compared to this.
When we saw the massive wall, covered from top to bottom with paintings, I could see what he meant by it. It really was a history of civilisation.
Paintings aren’t redrawn but drawn over, so that the story remains. There were illustrations of spirits and detailed paintings of animals. There was a depiction of a sailing ship as well as guns that illustrate the arrival of westerners.
And there were hundreds of handprints.
That was just what was on the surface. As a matter of fact, the wall was thick with ochre. I was very moved, more moved than I’ve felt sitting in some grand cathedrals. The 50,000 years of civilisation, how many people have come here to illustrate their lives? It brought home that Australia is a very ancient country. Ancient and grand.
Our next adventure was visiting the most striking single piece of rock art in the area: the giant rainbow serpent. The rainbow serpent stories actually originated in Arnhemland, so it’s fitting that I was able to see one of the most vivid representations of it. Unlike in Kakadu, there were no walkways or handrails, just a ride in an ancient Jeep and a walk through the bush.
We eventually ended up in the overhang, and this is what we saw:
The painted serpent is a mammoth 6 metres long and thousands of years old (up to 10,000 years old some say). It’s quite humbling to sit at the foot of this painted serpent. So old and yet so alive. Completely wondrous.
Ubirr is in the north-east corner of Kakadu, on the border with Arnhemland, and is known for its extensive rock art galleries.
Although the rock formations weren’t as dramatic as at Nourlangie, it was no less beautiful, looking as it does over a very green floodplain. Although apparently the green grass is a weed!
I left Darwin the next day on my Kakadu and Arnhemland adventure. The first 3 days were spent in Kakadu on a 4WD adventure tour.
It was a bit of a haul from Darwin into Kakadu. Our destination for the morning was Nourlangie.
It gave me a taste of the Top End landscape – dry woodland against massive sandstone escarpments.
It is the home of the Lightning Man, and the locals really did get it right, because this place does get the most lightning strikes in country!
Again, like back at Newnes, the paintings were located under massive overhangs that offer protection during the wet. They are done in the x-ray style that’s typical of the Top End – very different from the dot paintings from the desert areas.
Next stop was the Newnes State Forest and Blackfellows Cave, a large rock overhang featuring some Aboriginal rock art that was a nice precursor to my trip to NT.
The area had some interesting flora and rock formations that reminded me of the Bungle Bungles, both the result of sandstone weathering over time.
Static and Silence 