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Darwin after Europe - Kakadu National Park

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Kakadu National Park

 

With only a day to see some highlights in a park that is half the size of Switzerland, with four major river systems and six major landforms, we decided to take a package tour.  This managed the fourteen hour day more efficiently than we might have.  It included a river excursion on a billabong (Guluyambi) linked to the South Alligator River and provided entrance to the park and a guide see ancient Rock Art; in addition to visiting the Warradjan Cultural Centre and providing an ample smorgasbord lunch.  It also meant that I didn't have to drive several hundred kilometres with wildlife hazards.

The crocodiles are famous for eating people.  They are protected in the wild but are also farmed for their skins and their meat - so we get to eat them; and we did - nice as a stir fry. 

 

Never Smile...
Never Smile...

 

At one time they were hunted close to extinction but now they are numerous again.  They mostly eat fish or carrion; when they can't grab a child or tourist or two; and are occasionally cannibalistic. 

 

A medium sized 'Salty'
A medium sized 'Salty'

 

They come in two varieties: salt and fresh but the distinction is more in size than in habitat as the 'salties', the bigger ones, are quite happy in fresh water alongside the 'freshies'. 

 

Salties smile back - Freshies don't
Don't be taken in... 'Salties' grin and show their teeth    'Freshies' don't

 

 

People fishing in their 'tinnies' need to be wary as big crocks can grab an arm or hole a boat. 

The northern media loves Crocodile stories; as do the locals. This is a long tradition, as part (bottom right) of a page ot the Sydney Morning Herald from 1955 demonstrates: 

 

Crocodile Story
'Crocodile Missed By One Inch - BRISBANE...'  SMH May 25 1955 
(see my Bonfire Night recollections )

 

They are much more fun than the snakes that, although numerous, hardly ever kill anyone.

 

A freshie resting or hiding(?) on a tree branch
A 'Freshie' resting or hiding(?) on a tree branch

 

As I write there is a news story on the radio in Sydney about a tourist in a kayak being chased and then stranded ashore for some days by a six metre 'salty'.

 

 

There were many more
And there were many more

 

But the park wetlands have many other attractions. 

 

 

Wetlands
Wetlands in the dry season - add three metres in the wet

 

 

Among these is the wide variety of bird life; some of which are quite large like the brolgas:

 

 

others are small; like this little kingfisher; or medium like the eagle: 

 

 

And there are many others:

 

 

 

 

 

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Travel

Cuba

 

 

 

What can I say about Cuba? 

In the late ‘70s I lived on the boundary of Paddington in Sydney and walked to and from work in the city.  Between my home and work there was an area of terrace housing in Darlinghurst that had been resumed by the State for the construction of a road tunnel and traffic interchanges.  Squatters had moved into some of the ‘DMR affected’ houses.  Most of these were young people, students, rock bands and radically unemployed alternative culture advocates; hippies. 

Those houses in this socially vibrant area that were not condemned by the road building were rented to people who were happy with these neighbours: artists; writers; musicians; even some younger professionals; and a number were brothels.  

Read more: Cuba

Fiction, Recollections & News

Egyptian Mummies

 

 

 

 

Next to Dinosaurs mummies are the museum objects most fascinating to children of all ages. 

At the British Museum in London crowds squeeze between show cases to see them.  At the Egyptian Museum in Cairo they are, or were when we visited in October 2010 just prior to the Arab Spring, by far the most popular exhibits (follow this link to see my travel notes). Almost every large natural history museum in the world has one or two mummies; or at the very least a sarcophagus in which one was once entombed.

In the 19th century there was something of a 'mummy rush' in Egypt.  Wealthy young European men on their Grand Tour, ostensibly discovering the roots of Western Civilisation, became fascinated by all things 'Oriental'.  They would pay an Egyptian fortune for a mummy or sarcophagus.  The mummy trade quickly became a lucrative commercial opportunity for enterprising Egyptian grave-robbers.  

Read more: Egyptian Mummies

Opinions and Philosophy

Science, Magic and Religion

 

(UCLA History 2D Lectures 1 & 2)

 

Professor Courtenay Raia lectures on science and religion as historical phenomena that have evolved over time; starting in pre-history. She goes on to examine the pre-1700 mind-set when science encompassed elements of magic; how Western cosmologies became 'disenchanted'; and how magical traditions have been transformed into modern mysticisms.

The lectures raise a lot of interesting issues.  For example in Lecture 1, dealing with pre-history, it is convincingly argued that 'The Secret', promoted by Oprah, is not a secret at all, but is the natural primitive human belief position: that it is fundamentally an appeal to magic; the primitive 'default' position. 

But magic is suppressed by both religion and science.  So in our modern secular culture traditional magic has itself been transmogrified, magically transformed, into mysticism.

Read more: Science, Magic and Religion

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