Once in a blue moon.......Oenpelli

It has been an unusual month with two full moons; perhaps thats why our children have been waking at all hours?  But the reason for the title is that Nick and I feel like we were lucky to experience something that you don't get to very often.  We went to a community called Gunbalanya (or Oenpelli) in Arnhem Land for a festival that lasts for just over 24 hours.  It is the only day of the year that the community invites people to visit, and you don't need a permit to enter their land.  There were a few challenges to the weekend, mostly consisting of about 500km travel each way including a tidal crossing, very basic facilities, no showers and hot weather.  My adventurous friend Sabina, who is not a camper, came along for the adventure and certainly had her good spirits with her!!  

We left Batchelor Friday morning and headed for the Humpty Doo pub for lunch.  There are all sorts of stories going around about eccentric things happening at the Humpty Doo pub, including people riding horses up to the bar to purchase a drink.  After being there, the horse story must have pre-dated the ceiling fans, however I could imagine it happening!  We ordered the very fancy taste plate (of burgers- buffalo, crocodile and barra).  It was pretty tasty!  Our little cherebs were kept busy over lunch by some quite noisy toy cars that their Aunty Beena (Sabina) gave to them.  We then endured the noisy cars for the next four hours into Arnhem Land, which should curtail any more noisy presents from Aunty Beena!!  He He!  We finally arrived at the East Alligator River, ready for our last part of the journey into Gunbalanya.  The river is tidal and the crossing can be a bit tricky with the water levels and force of the running water.  After assessing the situation, we decided to wait an hour and check it out again, as the river was heading towards low tide.  We ended up waiting about an hour and a half and spent the time watching the many crocs swimming around and the water birds.  With a bit of a nervous giggle from Sabina, we were across the river no problem.  It was another 20 kms of dirt road and we arrived at Oenpelli.  It was the usual relaxed chaos that you get used to in the territory whilst finding the place where we were allowed to camp, and we were just in time to set up camp with the sun going down.

The town is situated next to a large billabong where all sorts of beautiful birds live.  I get very excited in Batchelor as where we live is near a small billabong where two Jabiru have recently moved to (Jabiru are Australian storks); however the billabong at Ganbalanya is home to dozens of Jabiru.  We also had pelicans soaring over our heads high up on the thermals, and many other birds that I have no idea what they were.   We had to be a bit careful of the billabong as it is home to many crocs who venture up the banks.  Nick was warned by the locals to watch the kids as the crocs apparently like whitefellas!  He was told a story about a local woman who walked a group of indigenous children across the billabong without any problems, but being white we probably wouldn't be so lucky!

This area is called stone country and you can see why, with red, rocky outcrops of land dotted around, it is one of the most beautiful places I have been to.  We booked ourselves into a rock art tour that took us for a walk to the top of Injalak Hill, which had a beautiful view.  A local Aboriginal man with a lovely sense of humor took us and asked us to show respect to his land before we began.  We saw several rock art sites which he explained.  We were very lucky to see a burial cave where there laid the bones of several people.  It was clear that we were entering a special place and I told Flynn that he must be quiet as it is a special place for this man.  I think that Flynn and Aidan picked up on the vibe, as they quietly sat next to me for some time, and were really respectful.  Amazing.  The tour guide sang a song while we were there and while I have no idea what it was about, it was beautiful.

At the top of the hill!

Our rock art guide

We were pretty stonkered after the walk in the heat and so the rest of the day we spent a lot of time trying to manage two kids who were over stimulated, hot and it honestly was pretty hard work!  We did manage to check out the arts and crafts and the beautiful weaving that the community is known for.  Nick tasted some bush tukka- wallabies caught that morning, which were very tender and delicious!  We saw the spear throwing contest and then it was time for the traditional dancing.  This was a bit of a highlight.  As you can imagine, there is no shortage of traditional dancing in the territory; there is dancing at functions, building openings, celebrations, the palmerston markets after the wet! etc etc.  But, this dancing was quite different.  The agility of the men was amazing, and their ability to look like the animal they were dancing like was fantastic.  The had a didgeridoo, clap sticks and chanting to go with it.  There were dancers from other places in Arnhem Land, and some stars from the movie 'ten canoes' were there.  They invited the guests to dance with them, and it was great fun.

That night there was a succession of indigenous bands lined up to perform on the oval, which we attempted to attend.  The boys didn't make it through 15 minutes and really needed to go to bed.  Nick stayed on and Sabina and I put the kids to bed and enjoyed a cup of tea under the stars while listening to the bands in the background.  It was so nice to have a big catch up with Sabina! 

Three dancers

The next day we had a bit of excitement with car troubles and all of us thinking 'Are we going to get out of here'?  (timing of the tidal crossing, no mechanic, planes to catch etc etc)  We worked it out and didn't miss our chance to cross the East Alligator.  We decided to sneak into the Cooinda pool on our way home for a much needed wash, oh I mean swim!  Which was sooooooo refreshing!!!!!!

The message that I took home from the festival, was that the Aboriginal culture is strong in this part of Arnhem land.  We have heard this many times since coming to the NT, however I feel like we were lucky to see a tiny piece of it.