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Next day one of the men drove us in his truck sixty miles to the crossing on the East Alligator River. From here we were to walk four days, following up the river then cutting across country through a range and so back to Jabiru. | Next day one of the men drove us in his truck sixty miles to the crossing on the East Alligator River. From here we were to walk four days, following up the river then cutting across country through a range and so back to Jabiru. | ||
- | Following a river should not be difficult, but we soon found that unless you kept the water of the main river in view you could be lured | + | Following a river should not be difficult, but we soon found that unless you kept the water of the main river in view you could be lured away even more than 90 degrees off course following one of the anabranches, |
- | away even more than 90 degrees off course following one of the anabranches, | + | |
- | or the long billabongs that arc off in mares' tails over the flat country. It took a little bit of sorting out for the first few hours, when some crossed a billabong while the others remained on its near bank. I had | + | Arnhem Land is buffalo land. You meet them everywhere. The mothers are formidable foes if separated from their young, so whenever we came upon them unexpectedly we took good care that they were all galloping together, heads thrust forwards and horns back, and of course away from us. |
- | cliMbed | + | |
- | couldn' | + | Our first night' |
- | call and there was the lost party, sitting by the riverbank. From then on we all kept ,together, although Libby kindly gave me a tin of sardines | + | |
- | in case vi should have become separated again when the next meal came around. | + | New country is always fascinating. Besides the buffalo there were wild pigs wallowing in the black mud, and wallabies, dingoes, emus, lizards, not to mention brown snakes and taipans |
- | Arnhem Land is buffalo land. You meet them everywhere. The | + | |
- | mothers are formidable foes if separated from their young, so whenever we | + | There were the usual Bushwalker adventures of route finding in unknown country. Once, rather than swim a billabong, we had to climb up through a small range, then back again to the river. Pretty rugged going up among the rocks, but very interesting. |
- | came upon them unexpectedly we took good care that they were all | + | |
- | galloping together, heads thrust forwards and horns back, and of course away from us. | + | On our second day the river spread out into a lake about a mile wide with many water birds - ducks and jabirus and magpie geese with legs on them like footballers, and white egrets and herons, and darting over the banks were russet and blue kingfishers. Whirring flights of quail rose at our approach. At night curlews wailed in rising crescendo of panic. It gave Dave the shivers - like a woman being strangled, he said. We wondered whether he spoke from first-hand experience. |
- | Our first night' | + | |
- | Being on the banks of the river made us ea.: | + | When we left the river we took a compass course across low country, finding water when we needed it wherever the paperbarks and pandanus grew. The last day was a long one. We had hoped to get back to Jabiru by dark, but were still steering our course by starlight, and eventually tried to home in on the generator' |
- | mind, everyone was remembering the story we had heard of the woman who was recently eaten alive. We lit a big fire between us and the water, and Denlas | + | |
- | focussing | + | Libby and I spent the night with the Ranger |
- | the wood. Sometimes we climbed up and made camp away from the water, just to be sure. | + | |
- | New country is always fascinating. Besides the buffalo there were wild pigs wallowing in the black mud, and wallabies, dingoes, emus, lizards, not to mention brown snakes and taipans | + | Mt. Brockman |
- | There were the usual Bushwalker adventures of route finding in unknown country. Once, rather than swim a billabong, we had to climb up through a small range, then back again to the river. Pretty rugged going 127) among the rocks, but very interesting. | + | |
- | On OUT second day the. river spread out into a lake about a mile wide with many water birds - ducks and jabirus and magpie geese with | + | Gove Peninsula is the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land. We stayed the night with a pleasant young couple, the husband being one in charge of the bauxite |
- | Page 11 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | legs Ali them like fc) b ba,llers, and white egrets and herons, and darting over the banks were russet and blue kingfishers. Whirring flights of | + | Our next destination was Urapunga and the Roper River Mission. One of the elders of the tribe, who spoke quite good English, met our plane and offered us the hospitality of his house for a cup of tea and use of the toilets. His pump was not working, so the boys repaired it for him. An interesting aspect of the toilets was that when you pulled the chain a large green frog came swimming out of the dwindling surge and clambered up again to his damp home in the cistern. |
- | quail rose at our approach. At night curlews wailed in rising crescendo | + | |
- | of panic. It gave Dave the shivers - like a woman being strangled, he said. We wondered whether he spoke from first-hand experience. | + | Lots of photographs were taken of the little aboriginal children on the beach. Libby bought a bark painting from the store. She asked an artist on the beach would he touch up a spot on it. He looked at it in some disgust, dismantled all the trimmings and set to and repainted the whole thing. |
- | When we left the river we took a compass course across low country, finding water when we needed it wherever the paperbarks and pandanus | + | |
- | grew. The last day was a long one. We had hoped to get back to Jabiru | + | That night we went to a beaut barbecue party and were given some large fillets of barramundi to take away with us. |
- | by dark, but were still steering our course by starlight, and eventually tried to home in on the generator' | + | |
- | Libby and I spent the night with the Rancor | + | We had been making enquiries along the way as to the whereabouts of a mysterious "lost city" of Arnhem Land, recently shown on T.V., but no one was sure of its location. At Roper River, however, we struck pay dirt; a huge aboriginal offered to show it to us if we would afterwards drop him off at the Roper Bar airstrip, 30 miles away. |
- | 60 ft. caravan. Next day he drove us out to Mt. Brockman, a place sacred to the aborir; | + | |
- | as to what may happen to this priceless treasure when the mine is finally established (its working has been held up for four years while an environment impact study is being conducted). The mountain is only two miles away from the boundary of the company7s | + | We offloaded all the packs to offset his weight and packed him in among the passengers (a tight squeeze for me in the gap between seats). Then, following his pointing arm, soared out 60 miles and came spot on target. It was an ancient range weathered down to a mass of spires and pinnacles with maze-like gaps between. We circled it many times and photographed it from all angles. An astounding sight! Then we returned and duly offloaded our guide at Roper Bar. |
- | Mt. Brochman | + | |
- | the Kakudu National Park. We climbed around its base, looking at the beautiful rock paintings on the red walls of the bat-filled caves and feeling the spirit of antiquity upon everything. We had to leave | + | Next day we flew to Rockhampton, |
- | sooner than we would have liked as we had to reach Gove Peninsula before sundown. | + | |
- | Gove Peninsula is the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land. We stayed | + | Rain greeted |
- | the night with a pleasant young couple, the husband being one in charge of the bauxity | + | |
- | diggings to the process plant. (We could do with something like that to carry pebbles from the Kangaroo River to OUT hut building site!) | + | Dennis is already making plans for another trip next June. Worth keeping in mind. The cost was $225 plus food. |
- | Our next destination was Urapunga and the Roper River Mission. One of the elders of the tribe, who spoke quite good English, met our plane and offered us the hospitality of his house for a cup of tea and use of the toilets. His pump was not working, so the boys repaired it | + | |
- | for him. An interesting aspect of the toilets was that when you pulled | + | ====SOCIAL NOTES==== by Spiro Ketas. |
- | the chain a large green frog came swimming out of the dwindling surge | + | |
- | and clambered up again to his damp home in the cistern. | + | |
- | Lots of photographs were taken of the little aboriginal children | + | |
- | on the beach. Libby bought a bark painting from the store. She asked | + | |
- | an artist on the beach would he touch up a spot on it. He looked at | + | |
- | it in some disgust, dismantled all the trimmings and set to and repainted the whole thing. | + | |
- | Page 12 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, 1975. | + | |
- | *xxxx*************** M OUNTAIN | + | |
- | ******************** | + | |
- | ********************** | + | |
- | EQUIPMENT | + | |
- | ***************** | + | |
- | IF YOU ARE | + | |
- | BUYING OR HIRING HIRING OR BUYING | + | |
- | BUYING OR HIRING HIRING OR BUYING | + | |
- | GEAR FOR | + | |
- | WALKING ...... CAMPING Opoo000 CLIMTING ...... CANOEING 0 0 0 WALKING ...... CAMPING ...... CLIMBING ...... CANOEING o4doe | + | |
- | THINK OF | + | |
- | MOUNTAIN_EQUIPMENT | + | |
- | 17 Alexander Street, Crow's Nest, 2065 (On the corner of Falcon Street) Telephone 439-3454. | + | |
- | for | + | |
- | FAIRYDOWN SLEEPING BAGS | + | |
- | HIGH LOAD PACKS (Weight 3 ib 10 oz) | + | |
- | AND ALL THE OTHER THINGS YOU COULD POSSIBLY NEED | + | |
- | * * * * * * * * * | + | |
- | Page 13 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALICR August 1975., | + | |
- | . . | + | |
- | That night we went to a b, | + | |
- | large fillets of barramundi to take away with us. | + | |
- | We had been making enquiries along the way as to the whereabouts of a mysterious "lot city" of Arnhem Land, recently shown on T.V., but no | + | |
- | one was sure of its location. At Roper River, however, we struck pay | + | |
- | dirt; a huge aboriginal offered to show it to us if we would afterwards drop him off at the Roper Bar airstrip, 30 miles away. | + | |
- | We offloaded all the packs to offset his weight and packed him in | + | |
- | among the passengers (a tight squeeze for me in the gap between seats), | + | |
- | Then, following his pointing arm, soared out 60 miles and came spot on | + | |
- | target. It was an ancient range weathered down to a mass of spires | + | |
- | and pinnacles with maze-like gaps between. We circled it many times | + | |
- | and photographed it from all angles. An astounding sight! Then we returned and duly offloaded our guide at Roper Bar. | + | |
- | Next day we flew to Rockhampton, | + | |
- | a most beautiful place, threatened by sand-mining. We swam in the ,blue, blue ocean and lazed on the beach, then reluctantly headed for home. | + | |
- | Rain L' | + | |
- | Dennis is already making plans for another trip next June. Worth keeping in mina. The cost was $225 plus food, | + | |
- | ************** | + | |
- | SOCIAL NOTES. by Spiro Ketas. | + | |
On 17th September Ian Saltmarsh will hold his Assam Tea Planting night assisted by an attractive sarong-clad Assam maiden who will serve tea to all, | On 17th September Ian Saltmarsh will hold his Assam Tea Planting night assisted by an attractive sarong-clad Assam maiden who will serve tea to all, | ||
The Federation Ball will be held at 8.30 p m. on Friday, 19th | The Federation Ball will be held at 8.30 p m. on Friday, 19th |
197508.txt · Last modified: 2014/03/14 17:42 by apaddock2