Tales from the Top End

by Rachael Cowie (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

I didn't expect to find Australia

I’ve never been one for spontaneous camping trips, or even non-spontaneous camping trips (why willingly decide to sleep on the ground when there are hotels with actual beds?), so I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing having just agreed to join two friends in the Australian outback. Not quite where I thought my first experience of camping would take me. Glamping for a hen’s weekend perhaps, never Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. I had two hours to pack up and clean the apartment I had called home while working in Darwin and thanks to my recent enthusiasm, organise my camping swag. Nothing like time pressure and the chance of losing your rental deposit to start off a holiday. The three hour car journey from Darwin to Ubirr, in the north-east section of the national park, transports you to wetlands, a land of six seasons and one with no phone signal. Swapping the tarmac roads in the Top End’s capital city for the red dirt of the outback, passing billabongs (home to just some of the territory’s 100,000 crocodiles), we reached our destination. Grateful that I had remembered to pack a fan, it soon became a multi-purpose tool that I used to deter the persistent flies as well as to cool my pale skin in the unrelenting midday heat. Ubirr is one of Kakadu’s most popular spots as visitors come to see some of the oldest and most remarkable rock art in existence. Our guide gave us a tour of this 20,000 year-old art gallery, giving us just a glimpse into the life of Aboriginal Australians - the oldest living culture on Earth. The paintings tell stories of their diets, interactions with non-aboriginals and tales of how the world was created. We were told stories of a Rainbow Serpent and other creation ancestors responsible for the dramatic storms that light up the tropical skies. Captivated like a child being read Harry Potter for the first time, I could have sat and listened to the stories all day (if it wasn’t for all the flies and intense heat!). Sadly, these stories are in danger of being forgotten, with fewer Aboriginal elders around to pass on the stories to the younger generation and yet they are so vital to their cultural identity. Passing a sign with a quote from a local elder, it read: “My people. Not many. We getting too old. Young people I don’t know if they can hang onto this story, but now you know this story. Might be you can hang onto this story.” As we watched the sun go down, sitting in silent wonder and soaking in the incredible view of the Nadab floodplain from the Ubirr Rock lookout, I reflected on the history of this special place. Busy with tourists yet so peaceful as everyone gave the land and its natural beauty the respect it deserved. The feeling of calm was soon disturbed by the buzzing of what was the largest swarm of mosquitoes I’d ever seen making its way towards us as dusk approached. Time for my fan to have another workout, for us to bid farewell to Ubirr and for my very first night of camping. Thankfully, the friends I was with were seasoned campers who had everything we needed to set up our temporary home. I watched and learned as they set up the tent. Feeling more like a spare part than a helping hand, I decided that preparing dinner was a more suitable role for me. We stayed up chatting under the starry sky with no communication with our friends elsewhere, yet feeling so connected to the land and each other. I never thought that I’d be sad to see the end of a camping experience but this had been such a special adventure. The experience taught me so much more than just how to put up a tent, it gave me unexpected new passion for something that was completely out of my comfort zone, educated me on the fascinating culture and troubled history of Indigenous Australians, and reminded me of the incredible value of storytelling. That’s something I’ll certainly hang on to.