A day of exploring some of the incredible rock art around Kakadu today – and really, only a tiny portion. We spent the day in the Burrungkuy region of Kakadu – made it to a few sites, and a few lookouts.
First stop was the main Burrungkuy site, where there are a few different locations of rock art in what’s known as the Anbangbang gallery. It’s was a really easy walking loop to start the day off, with only few climbs to some of the art sitesThere were some incredible pieces of art in this gallery – lots of people figures doing plenty of dancing, and lots of animals as well. There was a whole section where the Creation Ancestors were painted – we respected their wishes however, and didn’t take any photos of those paintings. But I promise they were incredibly detailed and amazing.
We headed over to the Anbangbang Billabong and Nawurlandja Lookout area next, with the plan to walk around the billabong and then up to the Nawurlandja Lookout. However, unfortunately the Anbangbang Billabong walk was closed – either part of the seasonal closure, or because feral animals had been spotted in the area (we saw both signs!). So we just had to shorten that walk and just start the Nawurlandja Lookout from the parking area at the base of it. It’s only a short 300 metre walk to the top – but it’s a fairly intense climb up a huge sloping area of rock. The views at the top were incredible though. You look out over what’s known as the savanna woodland, and from up there you realise just how “bushy” Kakadu is! There’s also an incredible view across to the Arnhem Land escarpment. After we walked back down, we drove back around to the picnic tables at the edge of the Anbangbang Billabong for some lunch.
By this stage, it was really only 1pm or so, and while we wanted to get back to the resort for the kids to have a swim (something they were hugely excited about!), we had plenty of time for another walk – and so we headed to the Nanguluwurr Gallery. This is a rock art gallery that has become quite famous for one specific reason – the incredibly detailed artwork of a sailing ship from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The walk to get there was the longest of the day – a solid 4km return. And by this time, it was of course getting fairly hot in the day! But we definitely appreciated the cool breeze that was also hanging around.
This afternoon was some pool time for the kids – yep, seeing incredible rock art is so unique, and a true highlight of our trip, but we’re also learning that we need to balance that for the kids with them being able to jump into a pool and squeal. Today I think we struck a really good balance of the two.
