DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 63

We travelled today a short 54 km from Jabiru to Cooinda, dragging our anchor behind us. Cooinda is a settlement (Gagudju Lodge) or more simply, a very well serviced caravan park. There is an aboriginal cultural centre here too.

On our way we visited Nourlangie, which is a rock outcrop of the Arnhem Land escarpment and is of aboriginal significance. There were examples of both ancient and recent (1964) rock art. We were fortunate we came across a park ranger giving a talk on aboriginal law and family. It was most interesting and gave us an insight into the complexity of aboriginal law and family obligations. Too complex to explain here, even if we could remember the detail. Suffice to say we now realise the significance of these things to aboriginal people and how they dictate the way people relate to each other, who they can and can't speak to, what food they can and can't eat and many more. Anthropologists have accepted this most ancient culture to be one of the most complex but best maintained, through speech and law, of any culture in the world. Sadly modern life is impacting seriously on tradition and the older folk are trying desperately to maintain their cultures.

From Nourlangie we went to the nearby Anbangbang Billabong. This was beautiful and we were most cautious of crocodiles as we approached the edge of the billabong to take photos.

In the afternoon we headed off to see Jim Jim Billabong but it was very difficult to see, so heavily wooded were the edges. Fear of crocodiles limited our bravado.

Finally today we visited Yellow Water. This is surely a misnomer as the water, in what seems to be a huge lake, is crystal clear. This is the true Kakadu we expected with clean water, the greenest of green grass and water birds by the hundreds. Maybe we will inspect Yellow Water tomorrow.