Mount Borradaile 2

Thursday was a spectacular day. We joined five others from the group who were prepared to do one of the more difficult walks in the morning, allowing us to see another 5-6 spectacular art filled caves at the higher levels of the sandstone outcrops surrounding Mount Borradaile. 

The climbing involved was quite easy for us but the agility required to navigate slippery rocks and big crevices was a little challenging at times. The guides were excellent - ensuring their rather elderly tour group stayed safe and experienced a wonderful, awe inspiring cultural experience for their efforts.

This ancient beautifully incised message stick coated in a bush preservative was found in this cave.

This was the weavers' cave ..........

A close up of the women in the weavers' sitting position. The bottom figure has rarrk work (hatching) on the body.

More finely detailed delicate work - up close. We were literally crawling along a ledge less than a metre away from these paintings.

It is thought that the painted spots on the breasts of these women indicate they were lactating!

The only way to see some of these works ......

A beautifully detailed macropod .......

This one is "celery man"........

Our new friend Jenny, not looking too worried about the big rock jump she is about to make .....

We reached the top of this rock outcrop eventually and had 360o views of this massive property.

Our last stop was a large burial cave - still with many human bones in situ. With great respect we carefully navigated the cleared areas in the cave to take some time to appreciate the huge array of paintings on the cave's roof - quite an awesome experience.....

We were able to finish off our challenging and rewarding walk with a swim in a local freshwater (guaranteed no crocs) waterhole. I could have stayed in this perfect pool of crystal clear, lotus fringed water all day! 

This is our one picture of our driver, guide, general all round great bloke who is also a great storyteller and a very funny man. His name is David. He's out of uniform in this pic but the excuse is he was joining us for a swim!

Later in the afternoon a sunset cruise on the extensive wetlands of Cooper Creek was planned. Cooper Creek eventually forms part of the East Alligator River system but around here it forms a huge area of water in the wet season and now in the dry is home to multitudes of birds: egrets, herons, Jesus birds, jabirus, mango geese, sea eagles, bee eaters, finches, whistling kites and ducks and yes, plenty more crocodiles......

Our guides made the cruise a very special experience with an open bar, delicious nibbles, a very informed commentary on everything we were seeing and then the most amazing (another one) sunset and magical view of Mount Borradaile (known as Awunbarna to the Amurdak people) in the last rays of the setting sun.