A comparative lie in this morning – our zodiac out to Jar Island didn’t leave until 9.45am. We had anchored in Vansittart Bay, which is quite close to Truscott Air Base, which was operational during the Second World War. There was quite a breeze this morning, so it made our transfer a little bumpy – and not only were my boots hanging precariously over the sea, they were getting full of spray from the boat. Paul’s were fine inside his back pack! We arrived on the beach, changed into our boots and made out way up across some fantastic rock formations. The main reason for coming to Jar Island is the Rock Art. Here, it is in a different style from the Wandjina that we had already seen. The first “gallery” we came to was relatively easy to get to. Some of us went up to the second “gallery”, which was a little harder. You needed to be a little bit flexible to squeeze through rocks, climb up, duck under and scramble around. The cave at the top was full of art. The figures were more stick like, and harder to see on the rock. Unlike the Wandjina that repaint the lines, these are thought to have been there for thousands of years, untouched. The style of art is called Gwion Gwion, after a bird that the aboriginal people thought created the art, or Bradshaw Art, after Joseph Bradshaw that was the first European person to record it in 1891.
There are several different types of art, from stick figures to figures with adornments on their arms and heads, and animals and scenes that could be battle scenes. Because none of them have been repainted, it is very hard to date them. The best guess has come from a chap called Graham Walsh who discovered a Bradshaw Painting covered by a fossilized wasp nest. Scientists removed the nest, and by a carbon dating method discovered it to be over 17,000 years old. That was the nest – the painting was obviously older than that, but as there is no pigment left on the rock surface from the whatever made the painting it is impossible to do. I can imagine sitting up in the rocks doing paintings. It is away from either the searing heat of the sun, or the deluge of the monsoon. It is so peaceful up there (apart from when a boat load of people descend on it). I bet the reasons the aboriginals painted were not so different as to why people paint today!
We then went down from the second gallery, and took a detour on the way back to the beach to a third spot. This had only been found a few months ago, as was a small cave system. Some of the best pictures were taken whilst laying on one’s back – until I saw how many ants were running around down there! What I had, I had. What I didn’t, I wasn’t going to get! Another gloriously sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. How used to this weather can you get? The walk back to the beach and then into the zodiacs took us nicely back to the boat in time for a lecture by Mick Fogg on “Stories in Stone”. This explained, as much as they know, as to how the art came to be. There is still so much to be found out there – new research was stopped at the end of the last century as it appeared that some of it was deemed racially against the aboriginal people and became a bit sensitive. The government stopped giving grants, and so research stopped. A couple of years ago a new initiative in the Kimberley has given funding to a university, and so hopefully more of this art will be found, and maybe some answers to so far unanswered questions will be sought.
Enough of all that intellectual stuff – lunch is ready! On the way out of the lecture theatre I looked at the fantastic wildlife photographs that are framed on the walls – all taken by Mick Fogg, our expedition leader! Wow, what talent that man has! Not having much connection to the internet (the $30 for an hour doesn’t go far when it takes fifteen minutes to upload a picture!) I really miss google. I could be looking up all sorts of things that we have seen and done, but will have to wait until we get back on inhabited dry land and find a McDonalds with a free wifi connection. I have had no phone signal either – like going back to the good old days!
Lunch was good out on the deck, and in the meantime we were repositioning a few miles for this afternoons trip. On the zodiacs again, this time to go to the crash site of an old C-53 transport aircraft. After landing on the beach, we headed up the sand dunes and across some bush. When we got to the top, we could see a lake like shape of mud, with a few rocks sticking up. “It’s quicker to go straight across than go round” says Max – “It’s not that muddy”. It actually wasn’t. I imagined it to be like the mud you get in England, where you can actually get your boots sucked into it and the mud comes up over the top. But this was quite firm. There was a small film of water over the top, but the mud underneath held our weight, and we didn’t sink at all. Once we were in a few metres, we could see hundreds of holes, and bright pink and blue crabs were scuttling about all over – as soon as we got near they shot down their holes. Got a few pictures of one or two though! When we got to the other side, a few more yards and the plane came into view.
Apparently, the plane was on course from Brisbane to Broome, but missed by several hundred miles. As it came back to find Broome, there was not enough fuel on board so they had to look for somewhere to land. They saw the mud flats, and decided to land there. The trees and scrubs took out a wing, caught the engine on fire, but all crew landed without injury. It took a few days for them to be found, but they were rescued eventually. The plane has been there ever since, and is still in the same state as it was when it landed. After a fairly good look round, we made our way back across the mud flats again, and over the sand dunes. Back to the little umbrella, and cold pineapple juice! This is the sort of expedition I like! The beach here was beautiful, it went for miles both ways, and the rocks made it so interesting. My pictures, I am sure, are not going to do these places any justice – they never do!
We got back on the zodiacs – and this time Paul’s boots were hanging over the edge of the sea and mine were safely tucked away inside. Result! Afternoon tea awaited us on our return – just had to have a little, it would be rude not to!
When we went to the Leda Lounge for our photographic recap of the day, I realised that the mud plains had, in fact, been full of water when the first couple of groups went over. I thought they were empty all the time! Not only that, the tide had covered around 50 metres of beach from one trip to another. The difference in the water levels wherever we have been in incredible. We had dinner this evening with a couple of guys that have joined the ship because their company is thinking of chartering it for a few tours. They are American, and their company puts together tours for the National Geographic. Hmm – think there might be a plan coming together…. Had six courses tonight, so plenty of time to think about it!
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