{"id":1491,"date":"2020-04-30T11:23:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T11:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oliverberry.com\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2022-01-07T19:36:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T19:36:19","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-kakadu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oliverberry.com\/writing\/a-day-in-the-life-of-kakadu\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day in the Life of Kakadu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Travel feature on Kakadu National Park published in 2020 by Lonely Planet Magazine. Photographs by Chris Chen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out my related feature on Darwin<\/a>, Australia’s northernmost state capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kakadu,<\/em> Australia\u2019s largest national park, is a land of giant termite mounds, ancient rock art, secret swimming holes \u2013 and crocodiles<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No one is quite sure how Kakadu got its name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to one tale, it\u2019s due to a hard-of-hearing English\nexplorer by the name of Philip Parker King, who misunderstood the word for the\nlocal language, Gagadju, in 1818. Listen to another story, however, and you\u2019ll\nbe told it comes from the German word for cockatoo. Ask the local Bininj and Mungguy\npeople, who have lived here for round about the last 65,000 years, however, and\nthey\u2019ll politely inform you that actually, there\u2019s really no such place at all.\nWhich is rather inconvenient, given that Kakadu sprawls over 19,804 square\nkilometres of the Northern Territory – an area approximately half the size of\nSwitzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To indigenous people, the land now known as Kakadu is\nactually a patchwork of tribal territories, whose extents are marked on no map,\nand whose boundaries are recorded only in memory. But since 1979, this vast\narea has officially been home to Australia\u2019s largest national park: a land of\nred rock, sandstone, bushland and billabongs, not to mention termite mounds\ntaller than the tallest man. It\u2019s the essence of the Australian outback cranked\nup to eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buffalo hunting, cattle farming and uranium mining have all\nbeen tried here; all have failed. Kakadu is simply too wild to be tamed. For half\nthe year, the land is swamped by monsoon rains; for the other half, it\u2019s\nparched to the point of dessication. Appropriately for the place that provided\nthe backdrop for Crocodile Dundee<\/em>, every\nriver is crawling with crocs. Snakes, scorpions and nightmare spiders lurk in\nthe bush. There are few roads, even fewer hotels, and only one town worthy of\nthe name: tiny Jabiru, home to a handful of shops and a solitary gas station,\nas well as the national park\u2019s main headquarters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And according to the rangers, if I want to experience a day\nin the life of Kakadu, there\u2019s only one logical place to begin \u2013 and that\u2019s\nwith sunrise on the billabong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.30am – Yellow Water\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The orchestra strikes up at first light. At first, it\u2019s just\na whine: a keening buzz, like interference on a badly-tuned radio. Gradually,\nother instruments join in: croaks, trills, hoots, drones, booms, chatters and\nwhirrs, building to a crescendo as the first stripe of pink streaks the sky\nabove Yellow Water. But for river guide Greg Patterson, the sounds are more\nthan a dawn chorus: on Yellow Water, they tell him when a croc\u2019s on the prowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Crocs are devilish to spot, especially at dawn and dusk,\u2019\nhe says, as his boat slips through the milky morning mist. \u2018They\u2019re perfectly\nadapted to the environment. And they\u2019re crafty. Often you won\u2019t see them till they\u2019re\nreal close. Sometimes I\u2019ll be looking out front, and there\u2019s a croc round the\nback looking right at me. But things always go real quiet when a croc\u2019s nearby.\u2019\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg has been guiding tours on Yellow Water for years, but\neven he remains wary of its crocs. Since hunting was outlawed in the early 1970s,\nKakadu\u2019s crocodile numbers have boomed: the current population is around 10,000,\none for every two square kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018There,\u2019 Greg says, nodding toward a hollow in the riverbank.\nTo inexperienced eyes, it looks like a gnarled old log floating amongst the\nwater-lilies – but Greg points out the telltale signs: a double ridge of dinosaur-like\nspines, two m-shaped nostrils, and a pair of green, lizard-like eyes. \u2018He\u2019s\nwatching us,\u2019 Greg says. \u2018But he\u2019s only a little fella: 3 metres or so. I\u2019ve seen\nfive-metre crocs in this creek. Now the sun\u2019s up, he\u2019ll come up onto the bank\nto get warm. Then he\u2019ll get peckish. And then he\u2019ll go hunting.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dawn mist burns off, and the billabong\u2019s wildlife wakes\nup. The rising sun lights up the wetlands, pan-flat and acid-green. White\negrets flutter their wings in the treetops. Jesus lizards skitter across the\nponds, splayed feet flapping. Giant-billed jabiru birds strut along the banks on\ngangly stilt-like legs. And as we near the jetty, a ripple breaks the water\u2019s\nsurface, followed by a thrash of a tail, an explosion of spray, and a swift\nsnap of jaws \u2013 then nothing but water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Someone\u2019s just had breakfast,\u2019 Greg says, gliding in beside\nthe dock. \u2018Which reminds me. It\u2019s about time I had mine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.00am – Burrungkuy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Thirty miles east, under a sandstone escarpment the colour\nof brick, park ranger Adrian Buman is beginning his first tour of the day.\nDressed in khaki shirt, hiking trousers, stout boots and a broad-brimmed bushman\u2019s\nhat, he greets his visitors, checks everyone has enough water, then tramps off\ninto a forest of eucalyptus, pandanus and green plums.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After ten minutes, he emerges from the canopy. Ahead, a fissured\nsandstone wall rises into the blue morning sky, like a stack of paving slabs\npiled two hundred feet high. It\u2019s only 9.30am, but the sun\u2019s heat is already\nfierce, so Adrian leads his group into the shade of a rocky overhang. But\nshelter isn’t the reason he\u2019s chosen this spot. Inside, the walls are\nemblazoned with artworks: x-ray fish, impressionistic animals and strange\nhuman-like forms, etched on the rock face in a palette of ochre-browns,\nyellows, oranges, crimsons and whites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Amazing, eh?\u2019 Adrian says, craning his neck to take in the gallery.\n\u2018Some of these paintings date back long before contact.\u2019 He points to a white\nfigure with two feeler-like appendages behind his head. \u2018This chap is\nNamarggon, the Lightning Man, a creation ancestor believed to bring the monsoon\nstorms. He made thunder and lightning by clapping together those axes behind\nhis head.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are thousands of rock art sites like this scattered\nacross Kakadu. They were made by the Bininj people, the indigenous inhabitants\nof northern Kakadu. The paintings served multiple purposes. Some recount family\nhistory or mark sacred sites. Others deal with the songlines, the intricate\ntapestry of oral history and creation legends which indigenous people used to\nrecord their past. Often, the paintings are multi-layered, creating cross-generational\ncanvases that span centuries: the oldest in Kakadu were painted at least 20,000\nyears ago. Only a handful are open to balanda, or non-indigenous people. Most\nremain taboo, hidden away in a labyrinth of caves and valleys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Every time I come here I see something new,\u2019 Adrian says,\ncasting his torch over the cavern\u2019s walls. \u2018But I can only guess at all the\nmeanings these places have for Bininj people. They\u2019re mankind\u2019s oldest artworks\n\u2013 and we know almost nothing about the artists who made them.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He switches off his torch, giving the paintings back to the darkness.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11.00am \u2013 East\nAlligator River<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a traffic jam at Cahills Crossing. A line of trucks,\ncars and 4x4s are queued five-deep on either side of the river. The cause? A ute\nhas got stuck halfway, having mistimed its crossing when the water was too\ndeep. The driver is leaning anxiously out of the window, spinning his wheels to\nget free of the mud. He looks worried, on the ragged edge of panic. He should\nbe. The river\u2019s already up to the wheel arches. In half an hour it\u2019ll be roof-height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cahills Crossing is the only road link between Kakadu and\nthe autonomous, indigenous-governed region of Arnhemland. It spans the East\nAlligator, the tidal river that tracks Kakadu\u2019s eastern edge. Even in the dry\nseason from May to October, it\u2019s only open for a few hours a day around low\ntide; but during the monsoon from December to May, the river-level is too high\nto cross, effectively cutting off Arnhemland for half the year. To make matters\nworse, the East Alligator is notorious for crocs: every few years, there\u2019s a tale\nof a driver or fisherman who\u2019s been carried off, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018My friends and I swam here when we were kids,\u2019 explains\nRobert Namarnyilk, a member of the Bulaja clan, who runs boat tours and fishing\ntrips along the East Alligator. \u2018But it\u2019s too dangerous now.\u2019 He nods towards a\nvortex of deep water on the far bank. \u2018A truck sank there just last year. The\ndriver had to swim for it. I wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d make it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes ten minutes for the truck to coax itself free. On\nthe far side, the driver steps out, leans against the tailgate and sparks up a\ncigarette, relief etched onto his face. He knows he caught a break today. Next\ntime, he might not be so lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.00pm \u2013 Gunlom Falls<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By lunchtime, the temperature in Kakadu has ratcheted up to\n35\u02daC, and the eucalyptus-lined track to Gunlom Falls is busy with people\nlooking for somewhere to cool off from the heat. Sipping water from their\ncanteens, sweat streaming from their brows, they trudge up the rocky path\nbeside the falls until they reach their goal: the swimming pools of Gunlom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carved from the sandstone by natural erosion, these\nclam-shaped ponds were made famous by Crocodile\nDundee<\/em>, when bushman Mick Dundee takes journalist Sue Charlton to his\nfavourite spot for an al fresco dip. Since then, they\u2019ve become one of Kakadu\u2019s\nmost popular wild swimming spots. Throughout the afternoon, people splash\naround in the terraced pools, plunging into the water or wallowing in the\nshallows as they listen to the thunder of the falls a hundred feet below. In\nKakadu, this is as close as they\u2019ll get to an infinity pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.00pm \u2013 South\nAlligator Country<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By late afternoon the searing heat of midday has eased, and\na strong breeze has picked up, as it often does at this time of day in Kakadu.\nFor Victor Cooper, that means it\u2019s time to start a bush-fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018People are afraid of fire,\u2019 Victor says, piling up a heap\nof dry grass as he gauges the wind\u2019s direction and strength. \u2018But that\u2019s because\nthey don\u2019t understand it. It\u2019s a part of life here. The thing is to know how to\nuse it right.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content with his preparations, he sets light to the tinder.\nThere\u2019s a crackle, then a whoosh: the undergrowth ignites, and in seconds has bloomed\ninto a head-high wall of flame. Smoke plumes skyward, and the fire races away\ninto the trees. But Victor\u2019s not worried: he knows he\u2019s set the fire right. It\nwill burn till nightfall, when a combination of rising moisture, falling\ntemperatures and lessening wind will combine to snuff it out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire management has been practiced by indigenous people in\nKakadu for thousands of years. Using small, frequent burns to clear the land of\nscrub actually lessens the probability of a major conflagration \u2013 many endemic\ntrees have evolved natural fire resistance, so as long as the flames never burn\ntoo fast or too fierce, they take a long time to catch light. Amazingly, some\nof Kakadu\u2019s plants actually rely on fire for germination, and within days of a\nburn, the blackened land starts to regenerate, promoting a burst of new\ngreenery. Regular burns are now officially park policy in Kakadu, with indigenous\nowners working alongside rangers to identify the correct areas to clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No-one knows this country like us,\u2019 Victor explains, steering\nhis 4×4 onto Kakadu\u2019s main highway. \u2018We know how to look after it. In return, it\nlooks after us.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he drives back towards Jabiru, fires are burning all\nalong the highway, and pillars of smoke are twisting into the evening sky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.30pm – Nawurlandja<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For most of the day, Kakadu\u2019s skies are painted a uniform\nshade: blue. Sunset brings out a subtler palette – peaches and tangerines,\npinks and puces, yellows, plums and burgundies. This evening, however, above the\ngreat slab of rock known as Nawurlandja, the skies have a special show in\nstore. A bank of black cloud has rolled in, bringing with it a rare rain-shower,\nand the appearance of something very unusual indeed: the rainbow serpent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known by many\nnames in Kakadu \u2013 Almudj\nto Gundjeihmi speakers in the\nnorth, Bolung to Jawoyn speakers in the south \u2013 the rainbow serpent was among\nthe most important creation ancestors for Aboriginal people. It was believed\nshe created Kakadu\u2019s valleys and waterholes, and her appearance often marked\nthe changing of the seasons, and symbolised the lifecycle of all living things.\nAppropriately enough, the rainbow serpent also features in the national park\u2019s official\nlogo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.00pm \u2013 Hawk Dreaming<\/strong>, near Kakadu<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Darkness\nsettles over Kakadu, and Rana McChesney stokes up the campfire, then removes\nthe lid of one of her cast-iron cooking pots. Inside, a meat stew is bubbling\naway. Lifting another lid, she checks on her damper, the soda bread traditionally\neaten by settlers and bushmen travelling through the outback. She tears off a\npiece and chews it like a connoisseur: the perfect damper should be crusty, she\nexplains, but doughy and yeasty on the inside. \n\u2018Damper is the staple food of the outback,\u2019 she explains, gazing into\nthe orange flames. \u2018Without it, the early settlers would starved. It kept them\nalive. So I think it\u2019s important that our guests get to taste it.\u2019 While she\ncooks dinner, a wallaby ambles out of the bush, nuzzling against her leg in\nhope of a titbit. \u2018This is Jilly,\u2019 Rana says. \u2018We rescued her when she was just\na joey. She always shows up for dinner.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along\nwith her partner Ian, Rana runs Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Lodge, a bush-camp located\nnear the remote rock outcrop of Cannon Hill. With its safari-style tents and\nrustic outdoor kitchen, the camp sets out to give its guests an authentic glimpse\nof outback life: there\u2019s no wifi or mobile signal, showers are solar-powered, and\nback-up electricity is supplied from a rickety generator that often gives out\nwithout warning. Rana makes all the camp food from scratch, favouring old bush\nrecipes wherever possible, and after dinner, guests congregate around the\ncampfire, swapping stories like the settlers of old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an hour or two, everyone retires to bed. The generator shuts off and the camp goes dark. Stars, planets and constellations carpet the black sky overhead. Crickets chitter like static, and once, a dingo yowls in the darkness. According to aboriginal people, night-time was the time of day when the spirits of the ancestors walked abroad. I wait quietly by the campfire, wondering who I might meet before the new day dawns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related stories<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Darwin: The Outside City<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Travel feature on Kakadu National Park published in 2020 by Lonely Planet Magazine. Photographs by Chris Chen. Check out my related feature on Darwin, Australia’s northernmost state capital. — Kakadu, Australia\u2019s largest national park, is a land of giant termite mounds, ancient rock art, secret swimming holes \u2013 and crocodiles No one is quite sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Day in the Life of Kakadu | Oliver Berry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Travel feature by Oliver Berry on Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. 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