Arnhem Land Trip 2018, Day 9: Next stop, Mt Borradaile

For much of the trip croc spotting has been the main fascination but for today’s trip it was buffalo spotting. Unfortunately, they were surprisingly skittish for big critters, so we didn’t get good sightings and pics.

It was a demanding drive, as we were on a Permit road, which took Outback Spirit three years to negotiate. Our driver warned us that it would be our longest leg, as he was not allowed to let us off for the length of this road. This meant we’d be driving for around about three and a half hours without the usual sightseeing and cuppa stops. On the plus side, it meant having to use the coach toilet not the bush toilet that day!

However, it was a varied drive, as we descended from plateau and escarpment to floodplains, and on into Western Arnhem Land and Stone (ie sandstone) Country, 1.4+ billion years old. Our destination was the Max Davidson established eco-lodge at Mt Borradaile, which is not owned and run by Outback Spirit.

Note: We were given a lot of information today, some of it needing further research, so we’ve entered that on a separate Further Details page which you are welcome to check if you’re interested.

The things we learnt or saw

Driver Ian, thankfully, kept us occupied with all sorts of stories and information about the land we were passing through and what we’d be seeing at our next stop. His topics included:

• the thin Magnetic (now Meridian) termite mounds which were here in prehistoric Gondwanaland, and why their name has been changed. (No photographs, though, because we couldn’t stop could we? You’ll have to wait for a later post.)
• sand, and its history.
• the Djelk Rangers, a pioneering Indigenous land management program formed around 20 years ago by TOs from the Maningrida area due to concerns about environmental degradation. I loved hearing firsthand about self-directed programs like this.
• the explorations of Ludwig Leichhardt, who crossed the Arnhem Land plateau during his Second Expedition, 1844-45, and of Philip Parker King, who was the first to chart this area. He named major features, including the Alligator River system.
• burnt country, created by indigenous patch burning practice, and how it is much easier to walk through, something Leichhardt discovered.
• introduced animals (including dingoes around 4,000 years ago, buffaloes, and deer), and their incorporation into indigenous songlines.
• freshwater crocs, who need 29°C to produce 50% males and females. If it’s cooler, the eggs produce males, if warmer, it’s females. Increasing temperatures are posing a threat to reptiles with this temperature-determined sex.
• early Arnhem Land anthropologists: Balwyn Spencer (around 1902), Donald Thompson (1930s), and CP Mountford (and his Greater Arnhem Land Expedition in 1948.)

Rock art

Although Len and I have seen quite a bit of rock art now over our Aussie travels, we are still not across all the nuances. Ian discussed the different periods and styles, and their identification. For example, paintings in the pre-estuarine period, ie before sea levels rose up to 20,000 years ago, are done in red haematite. If a painting is not done in red haematite, it can’t be that age, but haematite was used for a long time so haematite paintings can be younger.

Knowing these styles and knowing colours (such as that yellow and white don’t last as long on rock as red) helps the identification and dating of rock art. Rock art can be heavily layered because, here at least, indigenous people are happy to paint over a previous work, but see touching up older paintings as disrespectful.

Indigenous Australian art uniquely documents climate change over the last 20,000 years – by their styles, their subject matter, the materials they used.

The art’s aim was communication – with the spirits, with other groups, with each other.

Finally, Mt Borradaile

We arrived at Mt Borradaile, Davidson’s Arnhem Land Safaris eco-tourism lodge, very late, ie well after 2, partly because the road was in poor condition and partly because, once out of the permit road, Ian stopped for a cuppa break, for photographs, and also at a remote spot where he knew mobile phone connection is available!

Anyhow, we were welcomed and quickly served a hearty but tasty Chicken salad. It was served in a ball shape on shredded iceberg lettuce – I should have taken a pic –  followed by fruitcake, an unusual hot weather choice, but of course I didn’t have it.

We then had a short break to settle into our eco cabins before going on our first rock art walk. (This location is a registered sacred site, containing one of the richest collections of rock art in Australia.)

Rainbow Serpent walk

Danielle led our half of the group on this walk and, like many of the guides we’ve had, was knowledgable and enthusiastic about what she was doing. She showed us:

• plants endemic to the area, including the Northern Kentia Palm and the Livistona Inermis
• bush food, like the Green Ant, which she offered for us to try. With others demurring, I agreed to give it a go. They have a strong, sour, acidic flavour (and you’ll hear more about them later!)

And the art from several caves and rock-faces, including:

• Grass prints from around 55-60,000 years old, and hand prints and white hand stencils from around 45-50,000 years old. These dates come from similar art in Kakadu, as local TO Charlie Arteo does not want the art to be touched (which is necessary for dating)
• Aburga, the Rainbow Serpent, which is 6.1 metres long, around 600 to 800 years old, and in X-ray style. It’s the largest rainbow serpent art so far found in Australia. Near it is a white symbol which no-one has yet been able to decode. Danielle told us the child’s version of the Aburga story. The story had several lessons for children, one regarding not eating the wrong thing, ie it teaches law. There are different stories for women, and for men.
• Other art, including naturalistic figures. We saw a large naturalistic wallaroo, with fruit bats painted over top, and over them some dynamic figures. This art dated from around 10,000 years ago to more recent. We saw a female Wilkins Rock Wallaby, a snake, a catfish, and a figure from 15-20,000 years ago with a still-to-be-decoded pot belly. Pregnant? Malnutrition? Something else?

Danielle also took us into a habitation cave, identified as such by its shell midden, grinding holes, blackened ceilings, and coals and soot on ground.

Finally, she showed us the gorgeously coloured Leichhardt grasshopper, discovered by Leichhardt in 1845.

Dinner

Dinner was either sous-vide beef or Spanish mackerel. I had the latter, not knowing until this night that this fish is caught in Australian waters! Dessert was a cake made for our tour members who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary! (No cake for me, however.)

We celebrated a few special events on the tour, in fact: 59th birthday (driver); 60th birthday; 35th anniversary; and this 60th anniversary

More about Outback Spirit’s service

At each place we would get off the coach, and be welcomed by the staff. We would be given a brief introductory talk and/or a meal and/or a complimentary glass of something nice! After this, we would be given our room/cabin allocations, and find our bags there waiting for us. At departure, we’d leave our bags at the front of the cabins for the staff to take to the coach. Luxury!

Today’s images

Still ones …

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Moving one …