Chapter 2
Day 3
I’m up sharply at 8:00 a.m. I get cleaned up and dressed, and wake up Derrick so he can do the same. We both head for the kitchen and are pleased to see that Dane has prepared a small feast. I think he cooked everything in his refrigerator mainly because he is planning to be gone with us for a long time, so everything that will spoil needs to be eaten. We will need to stop at a store on the way out this morning for some canned goods and other essential camping food. The SUV is full of gear, so there isn’t a whole lot of room for groceries.
Derrick and Dane are loading up the SUV, and I decide to throw a little snack bag together with the leftovers from breakfast. It’s a shame to let all that food go to waste. Our first stop is Kakadu National Park which is located about 170 kilometers Southeast of Darwin; from Dane’s house it is only about two hours away.
“Kobi, are you ready to hit the road?” Derrick yells from the SUV.
“Yes, I am.” I call back to him. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
Dane will be doing the driving, so Derrick and I will be free to look around. What a perfect, beautiful day it is today--clear blue sky and a temperature of 83 degrees Fahrenheit. We pull into Kakadu National Park about 1:00 p.m., and stop by the Bowali Visitors’ Center to pay the park fees and get the latest on the monsoons and what effect they have had on the park. If it rains too much, some of the park closes due to flooding. Hopefully, the park will not be too affected by the rains.
Kakadu National Park is the largest National Park in Australia. It is believed that the Aboriginal people have inhabited the park for over 40,000 years. We are planning to visit Jim Jim Falls, a gorgeous waterfall that should be perfect this time of year. Dane applied for permits weeks ago to take four wheelers into Arnhem Land, which is just to the east of the park.
We arrive at the Garnamarr campground located about 10 kilometers from Jim Jim Falls. The campground is located right next to one of the most prominent landforms in this part of Australia, the Arnhem Land Plateau. This plateau is a vast escarpment covering approximately 300 miles of the east side of the park. The cliffs are near vertical and appear to be about 1000 feet high. Below the plateau there are acres of low lying hills covered in grass and woodlands. Our campground is in a wooded area, but offers a good view of the Plateau.
We decide to unload everything out of the SUV because we’re planning to
stay here about three nights. Dane gets to work on the shelters, and Derrick and I go searching for firewood. Wood is a little scarce around the camp site, so we need to spread out farther to find enough wood for the next three nights. We finish getting everything set up at the camp site and decide to take the next couple of hours to drive up to the visitors’ center again so we can scope out the area.
We get back about 5:00 p.m. absolutely starving, so I throw a can of beef stew in a pan and heat it up. Derrick has made a huge, roaring, fire which will produce a lot of hot coals for quick cooking. It doesn’t take very long for the stew to get warm, so we serve ourselves a nice bowl and grab some bread to soak up the gravy. I don’t know why, but food always tastes so much better when it’s cooked on a camp fire. We use the water from the water buffalo to wash the dishes.
The three of us decide to sit around the fire for a while because it is such a beautiful night. I think you can see every star in the night sky, especially out here, because there aren’t any lights to distort the starlight like there is in a big city. The temperature is perfect, just a little chilled, but the fire is keeping me nice and warm. We have packed a nice bottle of Scotch and decide to break it out and share a few glasses around the warm fire. Wow, what a perfect night.
Dane starts talking about the Aboriginal people and some of their customs. They are a very private people with a long history, and a lot of their customs and rituals can’t be discussed without a local Aboriginal person present. He assures us that we will learn more about the local people as the trip progresses. He also tells us that there are some roads, especially when we are travelling in Aboriginal country, that we are not allowed to venture off of. We have permits to drive on the highways, but leaving the roads to sight-see is not permitted. After chatting for a couple of hours, we decide it’s time to hit the sack. We’re going into Arnhem Land tomorrow on four wheelers, so we need to turn in early. The plan is to get up and leave around 7:00 a.m.
Derrick and I retire to our tent and Dane to his. We are on our honeymoon after all, so we enjoy our privacy. It is very quiet out here under the Australian sky. I can just barely hear the water splashing down at Jim Jim Falls and it is very hypnotic and peaceful. I kiss Derrick good night and quickly drift off to sleep. Something startles me around 3:00 a.m. I sit up and listen--not sure what it is. It sounded like a distant boom and I felt a slight vibration. It almost felt as if something hit the ground nearby. I decide to poke my head outside the tent to see if I can see anything. I glance around the campsite, and everything looks normal. I throw another log on the fire and just happen to glance up at the night sky and am lucky enough to see what appears to be a falling star or a meteor. I wonder if a meteor hit close by; maybe that’s what woke me up earlier.
I return back to the tent and lay down with every intention of falling back to sleep, but I sit up in the tent and just listen. I notice that it is really quiet. When I went to bed earlier, I heard the typical night noises from the nocturnal animals in the trees and the insects making their usual sounds. The really strange thing is the insects are very quiet now--no chirping sounds. There is no noise at all in the nearby forest.
I reach over and tap Derrick on the shoulder to wake him up.
“What’s up babe?” he whispers.
“I don’t know. Listen to the forest. Do you hear how quiet it is?” I am looking for reassurance from Derrick right now.
He closes his eyes, listens for a minute and says, “Yeah, it’s real quiet.”
“Yeah, I know that--that’s what I just told you,” I jokingly say.
“There is probably a predator walking around out there, and all of the other animals are being quiet so they don’t become dinner,” Derrick says.
“That seems logical I guess, it’s just weird all of a sudden. I heard something else, like something hitting the ground and I felt a vibration. What do you think that was?”
“I don’t know, Honey. Try to go back to sleep because we have a big day
planned tomorrow,” Derrick says as he kisses me goodnight again.
I know the question was a rhetorical one, but I was hoping he would offer some kind of explanation for the noise and the vibration, but he had none. I lie back down and try hard to turn my mind off so I can get some more sleep.
Day 4
Derrick wakes me up about 6:30 a.m. I get dressed and go outside and find Dane getting water and food loaded onto the four wheelers.
“Dane, did you hear or see anything strange last night?” I say.
“What do you mean strange?”
“I don’t know--it was like a far off clap of thunder followed by a slight vibration,” I explain, “then it got really quiet in the forest. I came out of the tent and looked around; the skies were clear. It was just weird.”
“No, I didn’t hear anything at all. We should get going. Kobi, this ATV is yours--it’s an automatic. We have a long day in front of us, and I really want to get started so we can be back here before dark.”
I have never been on an ATV, so I am very excited about driving one. Dane takes the lead with me in the middle, and Derrick is bringing up the rear. The drive to Jim Jim Falls only takes about 40 minutes and proves to be even more breathtaking than I could have imagined. As we emerge from the wooded area, we get the first clear view of the falls. The waterfall cascades off the escarpment almost 700 feet into a deep pool of water. The areas around the pool are heavily wooded and almost impossible to drive through. We decide to sit on the four wheelers and admire the
beauty of the falls for a while before heading deeper into Arnhem Land. From Jim Jim Falls we head east up steep hills and heavy bush. That keeps us busy for the rest of the day. After a full day of sightseeing, we arrive back at the camp right at sunset. Exhausted and starving are the only two words in my vocabulary. I get a bowl and head to the water buffalo for some clean water so I can take a sponge bath. I got really dusty riding on the trails today, so I would like to clean up before dinner.
Tomorrow will not be quite as busy as today was. We will take the SUV
down to Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls for a relaxing day of swimming and snorkeling. Swimming is not allowed at Twin Falls because of the crocodiles, but Jim Jim has a real nice swimming area, and I imagine it will probably be crowded; but I don’t care. I am looking forward to relaxing and soaking up some rays.
Derrick and I turn in rather early because we are both really tired. Dane stays up for a while looking at his maps and plotting out our next adventure. A couple of hours later, Dane comes to our tent and wakes us up.
“Hey, you guys need to come out and see this. I don’t believe it myself.”
“What is it, Dane?” I say still half asleep.
“Look over there towards where the visitor center is. The sky has a sort of green glow to it. Do you see it?” Dane asks.
“Yeah, I see it,” Derrick answers. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know what could make the sky glow that color out here in the middle of nowhere. It almost looks like Aurora Australis, but we are a little too far north to see that phenomenon. I’ll check with the park ranger in the morning and see if he knows.”
The glow in the night sky lasts about 15 minutes, and then just disappears. Very puzzling! I’m wondering if it has anything to do with what I saw last night. Derrick and I go back to our tent and fall asleep about five minutes later. I’m hoping Dane did the same thing. I’m sure they will be talking about it at Jim Jim tomorrow, so we will get the scoop then.