Kakadu National Park (cont.)

20 May

Rock Art at Nourlangie Rock

Today we experienced Nourlangie Rock, an area rich in aboriginal rock art. We decided with the weather being so hot that we should do all our hiking early and head back to the pool in the afternoon. There was a couple of ranger talks in the morning at different sites so we planned our walking around these. The first stop was Arnbangbang Gallery where one of the rangers talked to us about an aboriginal story painted on the rock. This picture was only painted in the 1960's by one of the last remaining members of the tribe that inhabited this area in an effort to pass down the stories. The tribe has since died out but the stories are being told by neighbouring tribes.

 Views to Arnem Land from Gunwardewarde Lookout

From here we walked up to Gunwardewarde Lookout and saw the area in Arnhem Land where Narmeggon the Lightning God (the small white figure in the top right of the painting with things that look like antennae coming from his head) lives.
After visiting the Arnbangbang Shelter and hearing a ranger talk about tools and implements the local aborigines used, we drove to Mirrey Lookout for a 360 degree view that overlooked the plains and all the way to Arnhem Land.

Nourlangie Rock from Mirrey Lookout

With the heat beginning to take its toll on the boys, we headed back to our campsite to have lunch and then spend a relaxing afternoon in the pool.

21 may

After arriving at the Kakadu Resort and starting to set up the camper trailer I discovered the back end of the car was unusually low and had to jack the trailer up to unhitch it from the car. After a call to the RACV and a trip in to the Jabiru mechanic it was discovered that our poly airbag suspension had deflated due to the springs pinching them. It seems the person who bought the airbags did not upgrade the springs before installing them.  The end result being we made some phone calls into Darwin and contacted a suspension specialist who was able to fix it for us today. This meant a 6 o’clock start for me to drive in to Darwin to have the car there for an 8:30 appointment. One and a half hours later the job was done, I picked up some supplies and returned the 240km to the resort to find Linda, Thomas and Declan doing homework. Did I get the easy job?