Gunlom to Mardugal

Well, our van is covered in red dust, and I am covered in hundreds of bugs.  “What sort of place is this?” asked Joseph.  “I want to go home” said Nadine.

We’ve moved to the “swampy” part of Kakadu.  We’ve camped for the night at Mardugal.  About the only change we’ve noticed is the bugs.  It’s still very hot and humid (and I just had to move inside, there were too many crawlies) and the sleeping arrangements are proving a bit warm.  Joseph has moved onto a separate couch and I think Cooper will be kicked out of our bed soon too!

Our campsite at Gunlom

We had a lovely time with our ranger, Joel, (seasonal ranger, he tells us, he doesn’t have to do toilets) who showed us more about aboriginal uses for plants and took us to the plunge pool and found us frogs, archer fish (they shoot a jet of water out of their mouths to knock insects they want to eat off overhanging plants – Joel said they can shoot up to 2.5 metres) Saratoga fish, catfish and some turtle shells and croc skulls he’d brought along. We felt very privileged to have his undivided attention for a few days!

The plunge pool at Gunlom

After packing up our camp (hot work) we headed back down the 30km of red, dusty road.  We were very proud of our Landcruiser, and Grant got me to get out and take a photo of him making a lot of dust, however we’d passed the grader coming the other way and there weren’t a lot of dust clouds to be made. 

Grant tearing along the dirt road to Gunlom

Joel the ranger drove a Landcruiser from the Kakadu fleet, and said the park had tried all types of other 4x4, including Patrols, but none of them survived the rigors of Kakadu like the Toyota Landcruiser!  Go Landcruiser, go!

Driving along the dirt road, Grant kept asking what the noise was.  “Just someone clapping” I said.

But no one was clapping.  It turns out it was rocks, flicked back by our tyres, bouncing off the front of the van onto the back window of the car.  Once we worked that out we stopped and shut a beach towel into the boot, covering the window.  That protected it until we got off the unsealed road, but we’ve found a few chips in the glass.  Grant said it even happens occasionally on sealed roads so we have to come up with a way to protect it more permanently.

The Warradjan cultural centre was very well done, with lots of information about weaving and rock art and the influence of various things on aboriginal culture.  There is a lot written on the “creation beings”.  They seem to be very important to the aboriginals.  And they often come in threes.  Either three beings, or a creation being and his two wives.

Grant took Dom and Oskar fishing this afternoon from the pontoon at Yellow Water.  They didn’t see any crocodiles, but a fellow fisherman said there were loads at Cahill’s Crossing on the border of Arnhem Land, so we might go there.

Jo caught a Barramundi but it wasn’t over the required 55cm length, so he had to put it back.  Oskar reeled in something without scales that made a weird noise out of the water – they put that back too.  They also put back Grant’s prescription sunglasses – oops. Some happy croc can see a lot better.

I met a family from Philip Island in Victoria who are living up here for six months.  The husband is working as a seasonal ranger.  They are finding the humidity hard at this time of year.

Well, that’s all for now.  We are keeping a tight schedule to fit in all our free ranger talks!  Better get to bed.