Saturday, May 29, 2004
Arnhem Land
At last, I'm back on blogline and lo and behold, everything looks different. Things sure move fast in the world of blogging.
This will be a quick entry just to say hi. I don't seem to be able to access comments on this blog anymore; maybe a temporary glitch, or maybe something happened while I was lost in real time - hope to get this going again soon.
I've had some huge personal changes in my life since I last wrote and don't know how much of them I can or want to share - maybe later.
Was in Sydney for a month, now back in Darwin. I spent the last week in Arnhem Land (an Aboriginal protected area for those who don't know) - virtually the only way you can get in there is to be invited by Aboriginal people or obtain a permit. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Aboriginal Women's Land Management Conference and spent a week camped in this remote wilderness with 150 mostly Aboriginal women (and assorted children). No men allowed. The conference is held annually and this is the second time I've been invited in conjunction with my work for the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service's Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.
We three women in one 4WD vehicle set off from Darwin to travel East and North to the banks of the Blythe River. Our departure time of 7.30am was dictated by tidal times for Cahill's crossing on the East Alligator River, about 4 hours along the road. The East Alligator was named by early explorers because they saw what they thought were alligators there. In fact these were not alligators, but the Australian crocodile. The river is still thick with these fearsome beasts - the salt water variety that commonly grows to 4 or 5 metres and can catch and kill something as large as a buffalo, if the unwary animal steps too close to the water's edge. Although smaller specimens tend to prefer fish, they will readily take dogs or a small child if the opportunity presents.
Crossing the East Alligator is an adventure in itself. There is no bridge, just a concrete causeway and it depends on the state of the tide whether you can cross at all, even in 4 wheel drive. We crossed a couple of hours ahead of the high tide but even so, my heart was in my mouth when the wheels hit a washout in the middle. Had I only known it, this was the best crossing we would encounter.
We stopped on the far side to radio a colleague who was to meet us in another vehicle, only to have our HF radio die - thus disrupting necessary communications for the entire week. We still had a satellite phone, now our one link to our home office and via that link to pass messages to the other survey team we were to meet. After about half hour lunch break, we hit the dirt again- for another four and a half hours. This is just a one day drive in Territory terms.
As we bumped along deep corrugations, skirted wash-outs and slid through running creeks we were able to enjoy some of the most spectacular scenery - the sandstone escarpment of Arnhem Land meeting the flood plain near Oenpelli with its masses of water lilies and water birds, canopies of dense eucalypts and paperbarks with an understory of cycads (ancient, palm-like plants). Everywhere was green and lush because of the late end to the wet season - in fact we are still getting almost daily showers a month after the normal cessation of the wet.
One whole section of the road had fallen trees over it at about 50 metre intervals necessitating numerous twists and turns to drive around them, but it was the crossing of the major rivers that presented the biggest challenge. Our Toyota Landcruiser is not the toughest vehicle in the range, being designed for on-road comfort as much as off-road reliability so, when we discovered halfway across one river that the water was up over the bonnet and our wheels were skidding and sliding in gravel, we were somewhat nervous. In the end we crossed many lesser rivers and two this deep without incident except for losing one spotlight cover and the front number plate; washed away by the fast-flowing tide.
To be continued next session...
I want to post photos and will do so as soon as I can sort out how.
This will be a quick entry just to say hi. I don't seem to be able to access comments on this blog anymore; maybe a temporary glitch, or maybe something happened while I was lost in real time - hope to get this going again soon.
I've had some huge personal changes in my life since I last wrote and don't know how much of them I can or want to share - maybe later.
Was in Sydney for a month, now back in Darwin. I spent the last week in Arnhem Land (an Aboriginal protected area for those who don't know) - virtually the only way you can get in there is to be invited by Aboriginal people or obtain a permit. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Aboriginal Women's Land Management Conference and spent a week camped in this remote wilderness with 150 mostly Aboriginal women (and assorted children). No men allowed. The conference is held annually and this is the second time I've been invited in conjunction with my work for the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service's Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.
We three women in one 4WD vehicle set off from Darwin to travel East and North to the banks of the Blythe River. Our departure time of 7.30am was dictated by tidal times for Cahill's crossing on the East Alligator River, about 4 hours along the road. The East Alligator was named by early explorers because they saw what they thought were alligators there. In fact these were not alligators, but the Australian crocodile. The river is still thick with these fearsome beasts - the salt water variety that commonly grows to 4 or 5 metres and can catch and kill something as large as a buffalo, if the unwary animal steps too close to the water's edge. Although smaller specimens tend to prefer fish, they will readily take dogs or a small child if the opportunity presents.
Crossing the East Alligator is an adventure in itself. There is no bridge, just a concrete causeway and it depends on the state of the tide whether you can cross at all, even in 4 wheel drive. We crossed a couple of hours ahead of the high tide but even so, my heart was in my mouth when the wheels hit a washout in the middle. Had I only known it, this was the best crossing we would encounter.
We stopped on the far side to radio a colleague who was to meet us in another vehicle, only to have our HF radio die - thus disrupting necessary communications for the entire week. We still had a satellite phone, now our one link to our home office and via that link to pass messages to the other survey team we were to meet. After about half hour lunch break, we hit the dirt again- for another four and a half hours. This is just a one day drive in Territory terms.
As we bumped along deep corrugations, skirted wash-outs and slid through running creeks we were able to enjoy some of the most spectacular scenery - the sandstone escarpment of Arnhem Land meeting the flood plain near Oenpelli with its masses of water lilies and water birds, canopies of dense eucalypts and paperbarks with an understory of cycads (ancient, palm-like plants). Everywhere was green and lush because of the late end to the wet season - in fact we are still getting almost daily showers a month after the normal cessation of the wet.
One whole section of the road had fallen trees over it at about 50 metre intervals necessitating numerous twists and turns to drive around them, but it was the crossing of the major rivers that presented the biggest challenge. Our Toyota Landcruiser is not the toughest vehicle in the range, being designed for on-road comfort as much as off-road reliability so, when we discovered halfway across one river that the water was up over the bonnet and our wheels were skidding and sliding in gravel, we were somewhat nervous. In the end we crossed many lesser rivers and two this deep without incident except for losing one spotlight cover and the front number plate; washed away by the fast-flowing tide.
To be continued next session...
I want to post photos and will do so as soon as I can sort out how.
Comments:
Post a Comment
