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Cooinda Kakadu National Park ( 9th - 12th July)
Arrived back to Cooinda after doing the Gagadju boat tour in the East Alligator River / Ubirr. The river is called East Alligator as it was named by colonists that didn't know about crocodiles at the time and the differences between them therefore presumed they were alligators. This was a great tour to do as it was fully run and staffed by aboriginals from Arnhem Land. Great guys, between 20-30 years old taking the boats out and educating us about Arnhem Land, the East Alligator and its flora and fauna. Great to learn about the three different pandanas plants and their uses, the wetland pandanas with its roots well above the water is used for raft building with the paper bark tree and the fruit it grows is used to stun the fish, causing them to become disorientated and float to the surface. Once the fish are removed the rest of the plant is removed and the ones left behind return to normal. The fruit looks like an orange pineapple. The reeds along the sides are used for spears, the ironwood tree for spear heads, knives and musical instruments. When steel was introduced in the 1800's the aboriginals adopted the use of this as it was even stronger and sharper. The paperbark trees also existed in three sorts, the silver, the green and one other. The silver used for herbs on fish and the green used to wrap bodies after death and make rafts. The food sources in the river were abundant including, swordfish, numerous barramundi ( facing down in all aboriginal art as bottom feeders), stingrays, long necked turtles and short necked turtles, catfish and many crocodiles from 1- 8 metres in length. We saw one that was very large and this one had a tracking device, put on by rangers, as it can be very dangerous to humans. We learnt numerous words such as bawbaw which is thank you and goodbye, Ganja is saltwater crocodile and abalchamar, which means good place and Mai which is an aboriginal ceremony. We even stepped into Arnhem Land for 10 minutes and the tour guides threw spears from one side of the East Alligator and almost reached the other. They threw with such force, precision and spin. We haven't done the Yellow River Cruises but I would recommend the East Alligator one as it is more culturally specific and its great to hear stories and history and culture from the aboriginals themselves. This group of men were also really happy, smiling and enjoying their work. Great to see!!
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