Animal Tracks

After a couple of nights in Darwin and a fix of bustling crowds at the Mindil night market - complete with host of food stalls, arts & crafts, fireworks (as the last of the season) and street entertainment, we headed back into the bush. Having found the camper a bit of a cramper for the last few weeks, we eventually invested in a couple of genuine aussie swags (complete with mossie nets) and the kids were keen to try the real outdoors. Pretty brave really considering all the nocturnal creatures around. Kate lasted one night in a campground, then 1 night out bush and decided it was time for Mum or Dad to try the experience! We did, and they are very comfortable and give you a great view of the stars from bed! Whatever the combination, at least now we have fewer bodies inside, which is a real bonus given the tropical temperatures. Over to Jack to tell you about one of our big days in Kakadu (where Crocodile Dundee was filmed).

In Kakadu I had the best tour I've done in a long time. We had Patsy an Aboriginal guide and Sean who picked us up and told us about buffaloes and about the wildlife. After we had picked up Patsy out in the bush we went to a billabong(water hole)and fed the ducks and jaberoos. Patsy told us about catching File snakes there and when you catch them you put their head into your mouth to break their neck – disgusting! On the way to another billabong we were told about itchy bush. The bush is itchy because the caterpillars that eat it leave their hairs on the leaves and if you brush past them they land on you and they're itchy. Back at Patsy's house we picked up two Magpie Geese and a Barramundi(fish) that her husband had already caught. On the way to the next water hole we stopped to eat some green tree ants that tasted like lemons! At the billabong we went hunting for Long-necked Turtles. To find these turtles you get a metal pole and prod the ground and if you hear a clunk you dig and you will find a turtle. The long-necked turtles dig under the mud for the dry season and the first rains will bring them out because it washes away the mud. At the first billabong we did not find a turtle. After that we drove into a marshy bit to see the buffaloes and Patsy said that there were lots of turtles in the marsh but there are a lot of buffaloes as well. We drove out of the marsh and in to the bush and picked some leaves to cook with and we scraped some bark off a Paper bark tree to cover up the food when we cook it. We kept on going to a billabong to try and find some turtles but on the way we stopped to have an apple and some biscuits and look at spear heads and Patsy's music sticks. We also tried making fire but we failed. Sean and Patsy didn't, they made a fire. At the billabong we were poking around when Sean said, “I found one somewhere along that log, see if you can find it!”. I found it and dug it out with my hands and it looked like it had a snake head. Then Sean found another two and one of the Irish men dug one out and I dug the other one out from under a log. Then Patsy found one and Kate dug it out so we had four Long-Necked Turtles. We headed off again and we stopped to get fire wood and spiky palm leaves to made string with. We walked down to the billabong with Patsy and watched the birds. We licked some cob webby stuff off leaves and it was like icing sugar but it was little bugs. We were heading to the place where we would have a fire when we saw two Dingos run across the track! When we arrived we made two fires, one for the meat and one for the damper. Damper is bread made of flour, salt and water and you chuck it straight on to the fire and put ashes over the top. Then we had a go at making string and throwing spears and Dad threw his spear the furthest. Mum, Kate, the Irish men and Dad helped Patsy pluck the geese. Sean killed the turtle and pulled out its stomach by breaking its jaw and pulling its bottom jaw down. Mum held it down on its back while Sean pulled the jaw and its stomach and its intestine out without hammering through the shell. After having billy tea(Dad had three mugs of it!) we ate the goose that tasted like venison, the turtle that tasted of chewy chicken, the damper that was better that Coles(supermarket)bread and the Barramundi that tasted lovely on damper! After tidying up we went back to Patsy's place and tried to say good bye to her in her language, but we failed! Back in Cooinda we said thanks to Sean and went in to bar and had a drink with the Irish men and then I was tired and I went to bed!
Jack