Kakadu safari

With Peta and kids catching their breath in Darwin, I split ranks for a couple of days and travelled 300 kms east to check out Kakadu.

The main aim to learn more about aboriginal bush craft and to get a better understanding of how to live from the land, without the convenience of safeway.

First stop was several 1000 year old rock art. Rock art provide visual evidience of aboriginal ‘dreaming’.

Dreaming is a myth based on ancient heroes who once roamed the land. They carried out the tasks that the present Aborigines do today including camping, making fires, digging for water, fighting each other, and performing ceremonies. When these heroes became tired Dreamtime came to an end.

Sure Dreamtime was in the past, but it is the Aborigines present religion and culture. It dominates all aspects of aboriginal behaviour. Because of their beliefs in 'the dreaming,' ceremonies and rituals are held, stories are told, pictures are drawn, and daily life is defined.

Safari

Next a day/night animal tracks safari from Cooinda in the southern end of Kakadu. We set off in a 4WD into a large tract of land owned by an aboriginal community. Meet one of their pets. This guy was caged as days earlier he nearly ate someone.

We dug up bush carrots, discovered that aborigines cover themselves in mud when they hunt to shut down body odour, so that animals can’t detect the hunters scent. We ate a fist full of green ants – these have a citrus flavour and boost the immune system (our version of a cough and cold tablet) We ate a few berries that tasted like olives.

We learnt they drop this tree sap into small waterholes to poison fish. The sap when mixed with water takes on a soapy consistency, clogs the fish gills and they float to the surface. Hey presto barramundi for many.

Check out this traditional granite mortise and pestle. This is not only used for grinding berries etc but also animal bones.

Warning Ruth, Anna and other vegos – this gets quite ugly.

Next operation eat magpie goose following traditional cooking methods. This is how it went.

Goose was plucked.

Fire made – coals resulted – clearly.

A thick sheet of moistened stringy bark was placed over the coals. This was then lined with damp gum leaves for extra flavour. The goose, the bush carrots and a few spuds (from a spud bag) were thrown in.

Another sheet of stringy bark, coals on top, followed by an inch of soil. Cooking begins.

Then we waited and watched the sun go down. Millions of magpie geese circled and squawked. In fact, one flew low and gestured to the doomed one ‘You will never be remembered for being lucky Gordon’.

An hour later. We folded back the stringy bark oven, turned up the heat on the goose with some direct coal exposure.

The goose was portioned. Then we ate.

The flavour…well after reading this massive buildup it would seem wasteful if I said it tasted like rancid seagull. Good thing it didn’t – tasted smoked and ducky. I should know cause no body else ate any! Vegies good too.

Followed up with some damper and billy tea. Beat that.

The next morning at 6pm i took the yellow water cruise in Cooinda. From the freezing deck of a boat i checked out egrets, spoon bills, sea eagles, kingfishers, darts, crocs, pigs, brumbies, water buffalo, water monitors and more, as they sprang to life in the midst of the mist..