Kimberley Expedition: Day 4 (Afternoon)

Lunch today was at 12:30p. And then we had about 30 minutes before we set off on our afternoon outing.

A 20-minute, high-speed ride on the Xplorer took us from the Coral Discoverer to an island in Wollaston Bay to see some more ancient rock art … this time newer Wandjina art … estimated to date back some 4,000 years.

Wandjina is a powerful Rain Maker spirit. Dreamtime images painted in rock galleries and caves can be found throughout the Kimberleys. Often painted in red and white ochre, these figures have significant cultural and spiritual importance to the Aboriginal people. In fact, the paintings are repainted periodically — by Aboriginal men authorized to do so — in order to keep the art fresh. The figure we saw today has not been painted in quite some time.

The landing had the possibility of being wet, but the gangway managed to reach the beach, so once again we did not get wet. The climb to get to the rock art site was described as moderate. More of a rock scramble to start out. Expedition team members lined up along the boulders to assist with monkey grips.

From the staging area, we followed a flat, sandy path through waist- to shoulder-high vegetation. The site itself was breathtaking, the more complex art quite vivid in places. Some of it was on the side of a cliff, protected by a ledge; others required hunching over quite a bit to enter a cave and lay down on our backs to view the ones on the ceiling. Anne pointed out one painting that she thought was of a thylacine … the Tasmanian tiger that has gone extinct ages ago. The similarity to photos we’ve seen of the animal was quite uncanny.

When we returned to the landing beach, the idea was to do some beach combing. It was too hot to do so, however. Most of us lined up near the rocks, seeking respite in the narrow strip of shade we found there, guzzling water as fast as we could.

So, Katie called the Xplorer to pick us up early and took us for a scenic drive through the mangroves, looking for birds and crocodiles. Found neither. Though we did catch a glimpse of some Gwion Gwion figures painted on a ledge high up on a rock wall.

By 4:15p, we were back on Coral Discoverer for a bit of a break before our evening outing to a beach nearby.Baca selengkapnya