Yellow Water Billabong

Yellow Water Billabong is located at the end of Jim Jim Creek, a tributary of the South Alligator River. There are beautiful lily-covered wetlands, floodplains, backwater swamps and river channels.

About one third of Australia's bird species are found here in Kakadu National Park,and there are at least 60 species found in the wetlands - whistling ducks and magpie geese are prolific.

Yellow Water Billabong

We went on a 2 hour cruise in the early afternoon and our "Captain" was Agnes.

Tiwi Islands

Friday 23rd June 2006

100 kms north of Darwin the TIWI ISLANDS are Bathurst and Melville Islands. The Aboriginal population call themselves the Tiwi people. You can’t arrive on the islands unannounced and tour around – there are no facilities to do so. You must go with an organised tour or fishing group.

The Tiwi people are world famous for their art - traditional forms of paintings on bark and canvas, wood carvings, silk screened cloth, weaving and pottery. Paintings can be found hanging in major art galleries world wide. There are several art galleries on both islands. You can purchase directly from the artists. The Tiwis are also famous for their love of sports in particular Australian Rules Football with several men holding important positions in the AFL.

Nicknamed the Islands of Smiles, Tiwi people are coastal Aboriginals with a culture different to those on the mainland. Their strong traditions are still a very important part of everyday life today and they've successfully combined both traditional and modern lifestyles and have combined Christianity with their old culture/religion.

The Arafura Pearl

The shuttle bus picked me up around 7.30am from the hostel and dropped us off at Cullen Bay. The ferry the Arafura Pearl departed at 8.00am for a 2 hour trip to the Tiwi Islands. We had coffee at 8.15 and morning tea at 9am - chocolate muffin, cheese and biscuits, and a nice hot cuppa coffee. I had paid $20 extra to be on the upper deck which gave wonderful views of the ocean and it is so relaxing feeling the wind in your hair as you cruise on the water.



The Tiwi flag

The Tiwi flag is made up of part of the N.T. flag.

The stripes represent ochre that is used in their ceremonies and art.
The spear is a fighting spear and represents protection of the clan lands and the pukemani poles are male and female and the designs represent all the Tiwi clans.

The whole flag is pukemani.

As we neared Nguiu, we all carefully went from the ferry to another small boat which basically was a large piece of timber with drums underneath to keep it afloat. The Tiwi people were very friendly and greeted us with wide smiles.

Alice Springs - Camel Safari

Saturday 17 September:

After arriving in the Alice around noon, I did something that was on my "to do" list - went camel riding. Pyndan Camels had the best prices - so that decided me. I chose the Twilight Safari. Well not exactly chose - the other times were fully booked! As it turned out, the Twilight one was best because after the Safari was over, the camels had to be fed and we all took part.

Above: Shadows
On the safari, camels make long shadows.

Above: Camel train
The camel "train" had a maximum of 12 plus the driver. Riders are sorted according to height and weight. A young Chinese lass sat in front of me. (The heaviest sits at the back). I should perhaps point out, that since then I am no longer the heaviest having lost heaps of weight - but that's another story.:-)

Above: On Safari
Most of the camels had exotic sounding names. My camel, was called "B.J." Bit of a let down. Two little known facts about camels- 1. They have incredibly bad breath - yeewk! 2. The camel behind me kept on sniffing my camel's...er...rear end. Seems this is what camels do - don't ask me why, I'm not a camel.

The first five minutes on the camel were incredibly scary. I was terrified I was going to fall off - silly thing for a grown adult, but there you have it. Had I been able to get off I would have done so. Fortunately I was not able to - get off that is.

After the first five minutes or so, I realised that if I moved my body in time with the camel's gait I was alright. Once you do this, it is a very relaxing and soothing experience. Camels have a very awkward movement and you sway this way and that. We saw some incredible scenery and joked that if the camel driver walked off and left us, we had no idea where we were.

Feeding the camels:
After the Safari was over, we all helped feed the camels and handle them. There were several babies amongst them.

We found them to be very gentle creatures and it was the most amazing thing being in the middle of the desert with the dying sun and the silence of the Outback. The man who owned Pyndan Camel Tracks was helped by his wife and their young son, who I think from memory was around three years old, was a delight

Above: Mother Zillion and 4 week old baby
The baby camels  were very cute and the mothers are very protective. Their hair is very soft.

Something hilarious
When you first alight from your camel if you think there's no "side effects" then think again. We found that none of us could straighten our legs, and all had to stand with our feet about this far apart (indicates with arms a distance of about 85 cm) and the only way to walk was to stomp one foot at a time as though our legs were in a permanent position. Everybody was in hysterics - we all looked so ridiculous, and almost split our sides laughing. It was just such a wonderful day and so rewarding an experience.