On the road by 7:00am and the day was filled with trekking, swimming, visiting an Aboriginal education center, Aboriginal rock art, and a billibong boat tour. Graham, an Aboriginal leader of one of two clans remaining in Kakadu, gave us some history of his people and showed us how didgeridoos are made and played. He also introduced us to his 15 year old daughter who was great at making doobags. She is not good at basketry, she leaves that to her grandmother! She tried to give us each a palm to make rope which is used in doobag construction. We all were miserable failures!
Our next stop was hiking past Aboriginal rock art. This just blew me away! Teaching this to my second graders and seeing it first hand was a thrill. The red and yellow ocre leeches into the sandstone a few millimeters and therefore it is not washed away. The black is charcoal and is not permanent. The white is a milk sap obtained from a plant and is used as a sealant.
After lunch we headed for an hour billibong boat tour. We were so fortunate to see two saltwater, estruarian crocodiles. The largest was about 15 feet in length. These are the most aggressive crocodiles in the world.
It was a full day and a most memorable one.
