More Karratha

We were up early this morning to join Sarah the Ranger for her guided tour of the Deep Gorge (Ngajarli) section of the Murujuga NP on Burrup Peninsula. Sarah is a ranger with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) which represents the 5 Aboriginal language groups of this region who have freehold title over the NP and joint management with the WA Govt. through the government's Parks and Wildlife Service. We instantly warmed to Sarah and felt it was quite a special experience learning more about this unique place and its amazing rock art through her empathetic approach and deep levels of cultural understanding.  

Early in the tour we had a kangaroo sighting making its way, sure footed over the rocks. ......

Sarah also knew a lot about the local native plants. She encouraged us to taste the sweet sap from these flowers - it was very sweet!

And she showed us where to find bush tomatoes (although they're not ready for eating yet).

Apparently the bark resins from this eucalyptus have very powerful medicinal qualities.

The hour and a half we spent with Sarah at (Deep Gorge) Ngajarli deeply enriched our understanding of the cultural heritage of Murujuga. We were lucky to have two visits there over the last few days even though Ngajarli is only a tiny section of the rock art spread all over the Burrup Peninsula, and beyond.

Sarah is off to Canberra next week. She's been nominated to represent the MAC at Parliament House to witness the likely passing of the Voice Referendum Bill sometime next week. We exchanged numbers in the hope we might be able to welcome Sarah in some way during her visit. It made me realise that next week will be busy in Canberra as there are likely to be a lot of other visitors in town witnessing history in the making.

Before leaving Burrup we made sure we paid homage to  the Red Dog monument on the road into Dampier.

Late this afternoon we walked up to the lookout above Karratha's iconic water tanks, completing some of the Yaburara Heritage Trail.

At this stage of the walk Rob was reading all about the 3,200 million year old rocks that form this landscape - making them among the oldest rocks in the world! They're a very fine grained form of granite and very resistant to weathering - which is why the rock art petroglyphs have survived as long as they have

From here we got great views over Karratha and the waters of Nickol Bay in the distance.

We got very excited finding petroglyphs quite close to the walking trail - quite intact and easily recognisable - amazing!

Its like being in the world's biggest art gallery - with unexpected treasures all around you ......

And another beautiful sunset against a cloudy sky ........  over Karratha ........