Ancient art. An art safari to Arnhem Land.
Adventure art
In May 2022, I joined a group of 10 artists visiting remote Australia. We congregated in Darwin - at the Top End of Australia - boarding an early morning flight to Mt Borradaile.
We swept along the coast in our 13 seater Caravan, buzzing the mangrove swamps and estuaries. It’s a hostile and beautiful landscape, filled with birds and crocodiles, ancient inhabitants of the shores of the Arafura Sea. Our airplane left the coast to cruise over trees, covering rocky outcrops, showing us a different terrain.
It took us an hour to reach our destination, Mt Borradaile in West Arnhem Land, just over 300 kms by road from Darwin.
We touched down on the dirt landing strip, whipping past the waiting jeep and land cruiser. The previous guests were flying out, making way for us 10 newcomers.
The artist group
I had joined a group of seasoned artists and remote travellers. These women had explored parts of Australia that most of us never get to see: the Pilbara, the Kimberleys, Kangaroo Island - to name a few. For the past ten years, Val Johnson, has led these trips - and this year we were going to Davidson’s Safari for art and adventure.
Our designated tour guide, Ryan, took charge of his ‘Ten Grandmothers’ and for the next five days, he drove, guided, led and even drew with us as we explored the 700 square kilometres of country.
The art galleries of Arnhem Land
I had wanted to join this trip to see the rock art, which is awe inspiring. We scrambled over rocks, under overhangs and through tight spaces to see ochre drawings created 1000s of years ago.
Ryan described the characteristics of the three periods evident there: Pre-Estuarine (c.40,000-6000 BC), Estuarine (c.6000 BC to 500 AD) and Current (Fresh Water) c. 500 AD to the present day).
Our own art
Each day at 8.30 am, Ryan collected us in the big land cruiser: destination art setting. There was plenty on offer. We drew under the ‘Tassie Tiger’ rocks (so-called because of a drawing of a Thylacine Tiger). We painted in mosquito-infested swamplands. We sketched from the boat on the billabong. Not content with just a morning’s excursion, we went on late afternoon drives as well, stopping to explore sacred burial grounds, which included an ossiary containing the bones of the dead. Late one afternoon, we swam in a waterhole. My toes just managed to touch the sandy bottom of the clear, cool water. There were no crocodiles this high up in the hills, but we did see these beautiful sleek reptiles in the billabong.
One of the highlights for me was speeding home through the water channel, following the lead boat as it twisted and turned on the water, under the darkening paper-bark trees.
Comforts of camp
While we tramped and panted our way along dirt tracks, our accommodation always provided respite and comfort. The meals in particular were tops: how the solitary chef managed to produce gourmet meals for 30+ lodge residents every day was a masterful act. Our host was ever helpful, as were all the staff and our cabins were comfortable and contained everything we needed.
We finished off our stay with a fun ‘show-and-tell’ where we wore elements of our designated birds of Borradaile. This was a challenge as we had to include our costumes in our hand-held luggage, but as true Planepackers, we stuck to our weight limit of 10 kgs per person.
On our day of departure, we were the outgoing visitors as we watched the incoming flight disembark on the dirt strip. My personal adventure was flying back to Darwin in the cockpit with the pilot - a highlight of what was an exceptional trip in so many ways.
