It's time to leave the Australian rock legends behind and wander back to the gentler times of the 1970s with Bread. This post dear reader will be relatively brief and devoid of relevant photos. However, to continue the visual feast that is the Kimberley region, I will include some previously unpublished photos to sweeten my dirge of words.
The reason for no photos you ask? Today's expedition was to Jar Island to observe Gwion Gwion rock art. While we were given permission to take photos, they requested that we do not publish them on social media. Since I'm one of those bleeding heart lefties that you hear that right wing bufoon Alan Jones spew about, it is my right to observe the wishes of the original inhabitants of this land. Therefore ... what you'll get today is a thousand words and no pictures of the art. See what I did there?
So at the expedition briefing the night before, we were unsurprised to find that group Yellow B would be the second of eight groups to depart by zodiac for the short trip to the beach of Jar Island for the first excursion of two planned for the day. This meant another early start since departure time for us was 7:10am. We are hanging out for the rotation among the groups since we (read Jayne) really feel we have done our fair share of early risings already!
Once on the beach, we elected to keep our reef shoes on while others changed into joggers for the 500 metre stroll up to Gallery 1 to have the first set of Gwion Gwion interpreted for us. The figures are quite distinctive in their style with defined bodies and detailed representations of hands, fingers and body adornments, especially the large and intricate headdresses worn for particular ceremonies. The art has been dated at around 17,000 years old.
Interestingly, they are sometimes hard to discern as you look at them with the naked eye but they come out of the rock more distinctly if photographed.
We retraced our path towards the beach and crossed over with the other Yellow group to view Gallery 2, a slightly more rocky walk which took us in behind rocks to another, more extensive and diverse set of Gwion Gwion. Here there were snakes, people, an echidna and fish. The scene was described whereby the paintings would have been used as a backdrop to tell stories around the campfire at night both to entertain and instruct - the world's first open air cinema. For some more detailed background read this: http://theconversation.com/aboriginal-history-rewritten-again-by-ignorant-political-class-43996
The colour that remains is a dark red ochre stained into the rock but originally it is thought that there would have been black, yellow and white as well as the red to bring this dimension of the Dreaming vividly into the midst of the gathering.
After Gallery 2, we returned to the beach and then the ship via the zodiacs for a lunch interlude until the second part of the day - another zodiac trip to walk over a salt pan to view the wreck of a WWII C53 plane that crashed on to the island.
We had already decided that the expedition leader's representation the previous evening of what we would see was less than inspiring - vandalised, parts missing, unable to go inside the wreck. We weighed this up against the huge responsibility to you, dear reader, since the blog was well and truly behind in its usual daily production. We opted to forego the C53 experience and stay on board to catch up on the blog and emails. We duly discovered that many of our co-passengers were similarly uninspired by the briefing and had also stayed put that afternoon. Therefore the C53 will have to remain a WWII mystery to you all.
For the dedicated reader, you will be pleased to know that Jayne has rediscovered her love affair with the Pina Colada. It has become the go to drink when we have time prior to lunch. Although that is not often - this is, after all, an expedition, not a cruising holiday.
Tomorrow we are back on the zodiacs heading up Porosus Creek off Prince Frederick Harbour.
Until then.
The reason for no photos you ask? Today's expedition was to Jar Island to observe Gwion Gwion rock art. While we were given permission to take photos, they requested that we do not publish them on social media. Since I'm one of those bleeding heart lefties that you hear that right wing bufoon Alan Jones spew about, it is my right to observe the wishes of the original inhabitants of this land. Therefore ... what you'll get today is a thousand words and no pictures of the art. See what I did there?
So at the expedition briefing the night before, we were unsurprised to find that group Yellow B would be the second of eight groups to depart by zodiac for the short trip to the beach of Jar Island for the first excursion of two planned for the day. This meant another early start since departure time for us was 7:10am. We are hanging out for the rotation among the groups since we (read Jayne) really feel we have done our fair share of early risings already!
Interestingly, they are sometimes hard to discern as you look at them with the naked eye but they come out of the rock more distinctly if photographed.
We retraced our path towards the beach and crossed over with the other Yellow group to view Gallery 2, a slightly more rocky walk which took us in behind rocks to another, more extensive and diverse set of Gwion Gwion. Here there were snakes, people, an echidna and fish. The scene was described whereby the paintings would have been used as a backdrop to tell stories around the campfire at night both to entertain and instruct - the world's first open air cinema. For some more detailed background read this: http://theconversation.com/aboriginal-history-rewritten-again-by-ignorant-political-class-43996
After Gallery 2, we returned to the beach and then the ship via the zodiacs for a lunch interlude until the second part of the day - another zodiac trip to walk over a salt pan to view the wreck of a WWII C53 plane that crashed on to the island.
We had already decided that the expedition leader's representation the previous evening of what we would see was less than inspiring - vandalised, parts missing, unable to go inside the wreck. We weighed this up against the huge responsibility to you, dear reader, since the blog was well and truly behind in its usual daily production. We opted to forego the C53 experience and stay on board to catch up on the blog and emails. We duly discovered that many of our co-passengers were similarly uninspired by the briefing and had also stayed put that afternoon. Therefore the C53 will have to remain a WWII mystery to you all.
For the dedicated reader, you will be pleased to know that Jayne has rediscovered her love affair with the Pina Colada. It has become the go to drink when we have time prior to lunch. Although that is not often - this is, after all, an expedition, not a cruising holiday.
Tomorrow we are back on the zodiacs heading up Porosus Creek off Prince Frederick Harbour.
Until then.
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