Gunlom - Kakadu National Park (11th and 12th. Left 13th July)

Headed back to Gunlom from Cooinda, as they had some interesting talks on the Friday and Saturday, and we had missed this on the way in as we needed to meet up with Auntie Michelle and family. I am glad we decided to do this as our last stop, in Kakadu ,as it was an amazing place. It showed how different south Kakadu is to North Kakadu, even though only 1.5 hours away. When we arrived we went for a swim at the base of the falls and went for a short snorkel around the rocks. A saltwater had been pulled out of Maguk, just up the road, the week before, so I am still extremely nervous and hesitant, especially with the kids swimming in these areas. The crocs can move in overnight so we usually leave swimming until the afternoon. The kids sat on the sand for ages making a great sandcastle and I watched a spotted water monitor basking on the rocks for awhile whilst Luuk talked to other travellers about the history of this area.

The first night slide show was about Jawoyn country. This land has now been given back to the Jawoyn aboriginal people. The history in this particular area is profound, commencing with the dreamtime stories of Bula (traveling with his two sisters, the namarrgon sisters) and Bolung (the rainbow serpent). These creation beings formed the land, put the people and the food sources here and taught them the language (totally different to the Bininj people, further north). Then, the colonists came and employed the aboriginal people for agriculture. During the war the colonists were afraid that the aboriginal people may decide to fight for the Japanese and therefore they were deployed to towns to work making provisions for the war effort. Years later Gunlom was named UDP falls as it was heavily mined for Uranium Deposits. Not that romantic! Coronation Hill, very sacred to the Aboriginal People because Bula, the creation being, was said to have broken his spear here and fixed it with string, was heavily mined. The sacredness of this site was not even considered by the miners and they fully mined this area, swimming in the waterholes and had no respect for aboriginal beliefs. To the aboriginals in Jawoyn country, they had always called this land around coronation hill, sickness country. They hunted here but never stayed longer than needed. Whilst the mining occurred many people also became sick and the ranger pointed out that there are many court cases being filed for illness caused from mining in this time, similar to asbestos. It is also amazing that it is only recently we have developed a conscience about rubbish and cleaning up after yourself and protecting the environment as the miners left their rubbish everywhere as you can see when travelling throughout this area. When mining ceased the area was devastated and the aboriginals were obviously disturbed by the uranium left exposed in the area and the fact that when the wet season came this would be brought down into their water sources through the creeks and billabongs. Finally the decision was made to bury the waste deep underground to try and prevent this.

The next morning we met the ranger to do the plunge pools on top of Gunlom falls. This also was a breathtaking place with the most amazing views over the falls. Luuk and Ashley stayed sleeping after a rough night, whilst I took the boys up for a swim. We knew most of the plants and information the ranger spoke about from previous tours and the bush tucker tour. It was good consolidation however. We swam in all the pools and climbed up to the highest one and swam around, watching the teenage boys jumping for the higher rocks. There was one girl who stood there for, at least 1.5 hours, trying to do the jump, but reneged in the end. Luuk and I discussed the differences between males and females again and the amazing properties testosterone has. Even my boys tried to find a few lower rocks to jump from. They had a ball, but 10 years from now I can see them up on those high ledges doing those crazy things the other boys were doing. There was a boy in Glen Helen Gorge, West MacDonnell Ranges, just after we left, who jumped from the rocks and ended up in a critical condition after hitting the rocks below. I hope my boys grow up having a little more sense.

Later that afternoon we were exhausted from the steep walk in the morning up to the top of the falls so the kids and I watched a movie whilst Luuk had alone time and went to the plunge pools to cool off. That night there was another slide show, which was bush tucker in Kakadu, and once again, we knew most of what the ranger talked about but enjoyed consolidating. When we left Gunlom, the next day, I questioned the kids about all we had learnt and they earned a cookie for every right answer. Luckily I had a big packet as they did amazingly well. Hopefully, one day if the world becomes too big and we can't sustain the populations, the kids will be O.K.

Left Gunlom and headed towards the Stuart Hwy. Not sure where we a heading. Could be Darwin, Litchfield or Douglas Daly Hot Springs. Can it get an better???