Coming up to six weeks of being on the road and there are a few things I'm geting used to other than living out of a small camper van which took some getting used to. For instance the night sky .......seeing the Southern Cross and the star constellations around it. It's getting dark before 7:00pm so I can watch the stars come out. Sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine, can't remember when we last had rain. Getting used to being hot and sticky and the buzz of mosquitos. Smoke and or fire along with burnt landscapes. Early in the dry season they use fire as a way to manage the forests and avoid hot burns later in the season that will do more damage to the forest and animal habitats. So rangers and aborignal stewards are starting grass fires in designated areas in the parks, range land and aboriginal lands. The result is smoke everywhere ..... it makes for some pretty spectacular red sunsets. Reminds me of those Okanagan summers when its been a bad forest fire season with the ever present smoke haze. Geting used to road trains which were pretty scary in the beginning. Driving on the left side of the road and traffic circles..... they have a lot of them here.
Surprised that we had to get used to not having recycling but we still seem to carrry recyclables around for an unreasonably long time. Getting used to seeing a lot of kangroos and wallabies unfortunately to many as “road kill”. Becoming familiar with crocodile safety. Finding idylic springs in the most unexpected places....... the water here seems to come from nowhere bubbles up from the earth flowing over the rocks filling pools and waterholes that are safe for swimming. Some are mineral springs, some are thermal springs but the landscape is jam packed full of crystal clear springs. Rivers on the other hand are most often murky and muddy full of fish as well as crocs. This year with the high water some of the crocodiles have moved into areas that are normally croc free but the rangers are doing a good job setting up traps and closing these areas to the public until they can ensure the publics safety. (They sample until they don't catch crocs for “a while”, then itis safeunless someone spots another one??) This has resulted in some closures of campgrounds and trails which we would have liked to visit but we're seeing and experiencing enough. We're getting used to raucous bird calls sometimes even at night. And once these noisey birds turned out to be flying foxes (fruit bat). We are getting pretty good at identifying birds. Getting used seeing colourful birds.... the azure kingfisher being one of the most beautiful. Red cliffs, red dirt and red rocks that define the landscape. Every National Park.....Nitmiluk, Kakadu, Litchfield....... has featured rock formations that are both ancient and are the home and shelter of the aboriginal people of these lands for thousands of years. Their stories are painted on the rocks. They are places of power, spiritual and sacred their cultural significance is as important today as it was thousands of years ago. One such place is Ubirr in Kakadu park where we ended up climbing to the top for sunset and there were at least a hundred other people there to watch sunset .......groups of quiet, reflective people..... all of us there for the same reason captured by the power of the place. There is much to learn here. The parks are jointly managed by the government and its traditional people. Things have not worked out along the lines of the service work /volunteering I had hoped to do so I am getting used to the idea of a road trip and a life of leisure. So we're off to see the desert the wonderful centre of this country. The Happy Exploreres/Wanderers
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