Thierings on Tour

We had a slow morning at the campsite, I did a bit of work and the girls made a new friend so played nicely. 

Slow days also involve all the usual boring bits and pieces like trying to get a washing machine at 7am to do a load of washing early enough for it to dry. It’s a real battle! 

Today we were headed to Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) for a boat tour through the first gorge with a cultural learning from a local Aboriginal guide.

It was a scorching hot day and it was nice to be on the water. We were also very lucky to be the only ones booked for the tour, I actually think it was meant to be Susie’s day off, but lucky for us we got to go. 

As we cruised along, Susie told us all about the local clans that make up this nation and how it’s gone from 52 clans to 16 over the years. Only a handful still retain their native language, but they all try to maintain as many traditions as possible.

In particular we loved hearing about the smoking ceremony for new babies, which is done before they can see any male members of the family. It is done to cleanse off any bad spirits, to set them on their life path with the protection of the land and good spirits of ancestors past. I love that idea!

Susie also shared about the 5 seasons that her people have, which help the traditional owners know when to hunt for certain animals and when to eat certain bush foods. Such as the bush apple, the black plum and many others.

Along the cruise we saw a couple of crocodiles and before we knew it we were at the end of the gorge.

We got out and Russell, the skipper and male guide took us up to the gorge to look at the rock art.

There were depictions of mimis (spirits) both good and bad as well as various animals and of course the rainbow serpent. Dreamtime stories tell of the Bolong, the river serpent creating the gorges and resting in the second gorge, with its depth of around 30m. This is the reason why a lot of Aboriginal locals won’t swim in the second gorge. It is also said that he dug tunnels to Edith Falls and Gunlom in Kakadu. With Gunlom being the Aboriginal word for waterfall. 

Other rock art included hand prints. Russell said that for the hand prints, these were done by crushing ochre (of all colours) and then mixing a bit with saliva and spitting the colour spray out around your hand. Apparently there are also some ancient caves in France that have very similar hand prints in them. So fascinating!

Cruising on the way back we learnt all about the spears and weapons from Russell, this being men’s business. We learnt about boys initiations, making weapons, including how a special beeswax is used to glue the sharpened rocks to the iron bark handles of the weapons. The beeswax itself is collected from special trees by following specific fruit flies feeding off it. The local knowledge of how to live off the land is truly incredible! 

Susie then shared more with us about the art of weaving. Whilst her nation were known as the healers with their bush medicine and practices, she had learnt to weave from other clans to share the knowledge with travellers like us. The girls loved getting involved and having a look at all the beautiful creations. Scarly loved the handbags and baby baskets in particular.

Once we were back, the girls enjoyed some delicious ice creams to cool off at the visitors centre and learn a bit more about the gorge and culture of the Jawoyn peoples.

Kms travelled – 70