Kakadu National Park: Sunset@Ubirr

Kakadu's Ubirr rock art site*****. The aboriginals have been recorded in Australia about 50,000 years ago. This site particularly, tracks the presence of aboriginals from 20,000 years ago, which until today the aboriginals still stay here.

There are many rock paintings here, we followed the guided site talk which is only available during the peak season in northern territory, which is the dry season from  april to september. This is because during the wet season, many national parks will be closed due to road flooding.

It was quite interesting to listen and think of how the Aboriginals survive this land. It is through rock paintings that the knowledgeable teach the young about laws, culture and kinship. Each picture has a story and the moral lesson behind it. 

This is the rainbow serpent, one of the ancestral spirits that formed the landscape here. The aboriginals here tell the story that the rainbow serpent left that imprint on this wall. One of the stories about rainbow serpent goes like this: one day, few women from a clan brought the children to the flood plain to gather food like turtle, goose, etc. A toddler cried because he wanted a sweet water lily root (which is like a lolly to the aboriginals), so his mother picked one and he sucked happily. After he had finished, he cried for more sweet root. So this time his mother picked a sour water lily root without realising. The child spat it and keep crying until it gets dark. And cried through the night, the family just ignore the crying. The noise disturbed the rainbow serpent who live in the nearby waterhole and he got so angry that the next morning he ate the child, his mother, aunty and them lots. So the moral of the story is that children have to be quiet at night and that anyone related to the child should have comforted the child. Because anyone connected to the children have responsibility to take care of him.

Sunset at the top of Nadap Lookout. This is the best spot to view the monsoon rainforest and the rocks around Ubir. 

After that, we camped at the Merl Campground which is just about 4 km from Ubir. $10 per person, with only toilet and showers.

NEXT: Ubirr in the morning