Monday, October 02, 2006

See You N.T.

See You N.T.


Today we say goodbye to the Northern Territory having rounded off our stay in the Top End. It was certainly an interesting trip and a good time was had by all. I really feel like we saw quite a bit and took advantage of every turn. Frank and Chana are keeping the party rolling by parlaying on to Cairns and snorkelling on the great barrier reef, whilst Peggy and I are flying back to Sydney this arvo.

Last night we took a sunset cruise on an old 1920's Pearl boat called the Pearl Lugger (re-nicknamed the Pug Lugger by yours truly). We berthed from the privately owned city section of Darwin harbour was controlled by a lock (or is it loch?), which was an interesting gateway out to sea. The main harbour of Darwin itself reminded me a bit of Alameda, not in the most complimentary of terms. Large US and Aussie warships and frigates were docked along side piers, sometimes adorned with waterfront dining. A bit of a contrast between romantic and machoistic environments. Afterwards, we returned to the night market where Frank then notched crepes numbers three and four, setting the Northen Territory record for Most Crepes Consumed By an Individual Possessing a Full Set of Teeth.

We've just finished the grand final weekend here in Australia, bringing to a close of both the aussie rules and rugby league seasons. One grand final was on Saturday and the other Sunday. Why two leagues would schedule a climax on consecutive days like that, I'm not sure. Seems as if there is only so much drinking one can do over the course of a weekend, but then again, this is Australia. Drink driving (drunk driving) arrests skyrocketed over the weekend, as did emergency room visits. Thankfully, the words 'grand final' will now subside for a few months.

We never really got the hang of the whole time zone thing. Western Australia and N.T. are and hour and a half apart, which is much harder to comprhend than just adding and subtracting whole numbers from a given time. Why would a time zone need to be a half hour increment? Was there a breakdown in the time zone negotiation process and this was the compromise? It doesn't take much to fluster me when I am on holiday.

posted by ncawthon at 12:18 PM

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Going Upriver

Going Upriver


Another unique experience this morning, taking the crocodile cruise along the Yellow River. We saw a dozen different crocs, in various stages of swimming and basking. One female came directly at Chana, while Agnes, our aboriginal boat driver exclaimed that he's trying to come on board. I don't think Chana appreciated the humor as she leaped away from the edge.

Birds were another highlight as we spotted many different species of stork, tern, eagle, kingfisher and so on. The wetlands reminded me of what I would think Florida looks like, if that makes sense.

We puttered around for an hour with Agnes pointing out birds, mammals and reptiles that an entire tour boat had no chance of spotting. Unlike yesterday, where we were all riveted to what Patsy was saying, the passengers were more concerned with the animals than her stories. As she was discussing the seasons and how it effects her people, someone screeched out, 'Pelican!' and the boat would stand up and grab their cameras. A considerably less immersive experience. As Chana suggested, Kakadu is a fantastic national park, but you wouldn't really get the most out of it unless you took the tours.

posted by ncawthon at 11:02 AM

Hunter Gatherer

Hunter Gatherer


An amazing day yesterday in Kakadu. We checked into this giant, crocodile-shaped hotel, where we moved our stuff to the lower right abdomenen room, next to the small intestine pool.

The day was to be spent with the Animal Tracks tour, featuring a bush aboriginal guide. A dozen of us: Kiwis, Yanks and Aussies, piled into the back of a 4x4 van and headed off into the bush. Our first stop was to pick up Patsy, our guide for the day.

Patsy's house was a compound with various industrial scraps scattered amongst dozens of water buffalo skulls. Nothing says welcome more than rotting buffalo head. This certainly gave the group pause, just before Sean, our driver, pulled out three magpie geese with shotgun pellets through their breast. Our dinner later in the night.

The next few hours were spent driving around the never-never helping Patsy find bush food. Although, 'helping' might be a stretch, given that we were a bunch of over-heated, white-skinned, city-dwellers who had little idea what they were doing in the bush. We dug under tree roots for water chestnuts, picked trees for grub-containing fruits, harvested green ants and leaves for some flavoring, poked around bogs for eating turtle as an appetizer. Thankfully, no turtles were found, much to Peggy's relief.

In between each gathering spot, Patsy would tell stories on the van radio. Rambling and hard to follow, but full of laughter and vivid description, she would go on about different aspects of life in the bush and her surrounding family. When we were stopped at a break spot, Patsy mixed up some crushed termite mound and water, passing the cup around for us to drink. Tasted like dirt, but was supposedly a good anti-diarrhea bush medicine. She then started showing us her fighting sticks and spears, some used for clubbing animals, some for clubbing human. Patsy had almost applied the beat down to one of her sisters for dissing her Auntie when she was sick and dying. Patsy was a keeper of the old laws that one must respect their elders, and was willing to kill her lazy-ass sister to make her point.

But apparently, Patsy's dad was even more of a bad-ass. He once beat this guy's brains out with his whoopin' stick and took down a buffalo by jumping on its' back and slicing it' rear tendons. After these stories of unchecked tribal justice and violence, the group was a bit uneasy. My question to Patsy about whether there was a aboriginal fighting style was met with a hard stare and uneasy silence. I half expected her to kill the entire group right there.

Yet, goodness prevailed and it was tme for tucker. We were taken out to this peninsula at the edge of the wetlands just before sunset. There must have been a million mapie geese in these wetlands, all honking and hollering to one another. We prepared a fire and threw the geese we plucked and feathered onto the hot stones. Combined with some freshly-baked bread and water chestnuts, it made for a very unique meal. As we were messily gnawing away at the somewhat gamey but certainly fresh geese, the other million of its' bretheren took flight overhead at sundown. The sight and sound of this was amazing.

Today were going on a crokkie and bird river tour before heading back to Darwin, about two hours drive.

posted by ncawthon at 11:02 AM