Phew, a hot sleepless night leant itself to a slower morning, got a bit of schoolwork done before our campsite was in full sun and then headed out to look at some rock art at Nourlangie. This area was a refuge in the wet season due to lots of large overhangs for shelter. A lot of the artwork was on the ‘ceilings’ of these shelters and quite well preserved. Maybe more recent but this was certainly more sophisticated art than we’d seen before. Interesting to see the different subject matter and way of depicting humans between tribes and regions, have certainly developed a great appreciation for the meanings and subtleties and layers within aboriginal art. Noticing in Kakadu the practice of painting over the top of other artwork and also figures warning of sickness in the form of joint swelling if any of these sites are disturbed. This was a hot walk especially as we’ve been spoilt having a cool plunge pool at the end of most of our walks so far. Headed to Cahill’s Crossing to watch the tide turn and hopefully see some crocs waiting lazily for the fish. We saw a few large ones and enjoyed watching the brave fishermen fishing straight off the crossing (next to the plaque for Gregory the fisherman taken by a croc 6 months earlier) and also the overturned cars downstream that had misjudged the crossing! Some of the fishermen in the boats were pulling in huge barramundi which was doing nothing to give our newly minted fishermen a realistic idea of fishing! We stopped at the Border Store (Cahill’s crossing is actually the border into Arnhem Land) where we encountered our new favorite beverage again- lime and mint slushee. It was so hot we had one each and walked out of there in various stages of brain freeze.
We then climbed the steep rocky lookout at Ubirr for an amazing view over the East Alligator River region (no alligators in sight nor have there ever been). A lot of the flat green areas look like grassland but they are billabongs and wetlands stretching as far as eye can see. It was also interesting here to see depictions of the arrival of Europeans in some of the rock art here.
Trying to get used to having crowds of people around now it’s school hols, it’s a challenge getting photos without any photo bombers, fleetingly feeling the same indignation all the grey nomads are showing on their faces, having to share the attractions with so many people (sigh!). Another hot night ahead of us with an early start for our sunrise cruise. Have gotten very used to the beautiful sky in the outback, is good after the lights and haze of Darwin to be back with the incredible stars we see each night.