Day Six

It’s Saturday and I’m so happy because we don’t have to get up super early to meet the demands of our intense itinerary. Yay!

After a leisurely start and campfire breakfast (with an actual billie can) we head up to Laura, making a few stops to spot crocodiles and swim (at different places!) along the way.

We then travel on to see the Aboriginal rock art at Split Rock. In primary school, we learnt about rock paintings and it seemed like a cool thing because it was so old, but it’s not something that I probably ever thought about in great detail and appreciated enough.

Seeing a little dusty red hand right in front of you, on a huge wave-like rock with animals and spirits and other paintings, you can almost imagine the owner of that hand and start thinking about what their life was like. If you haven’t seen Aboriginal rock art before – do it!

Heading back to Normanby Station, Ronnie takes us to one of his ancestor’s cultural places. Like the smoking ceremony two days earlier, this will be one of those memories I treasure forever. I don’t want to go on about it because I can’t explain how special it was, just know that is was very cool ok?! 

Ronnie has a reputation of being a legend stockman and shares this knowledge with his sons. While I can’t vouch for their stockman skills, I can for their music – check out their band Black Image and be as impressed as we were!

   

On Day One, we had appointed four secondees to be Masterchefs who would cook on Saturday night. They had prepared, shopped and now cooked up a storm on the ol’ campfire. I can’t even make paella in my kitchen at home, let alone in the bush, but somehow they managed. Amazing!

Day Five

We’re up early (actually, we’ve been up early every day – I am exhausted) and have breakfast on Cape Tribulation beach. Brad was right to be worried about the coffee, instead of an extra hot skinny latte our ‘camping coffee’ comes in a bag like tea!

After breakfast, we drive a few hours north and call into Shiptons Flat to see traditional owners Peter and Condalina (Big Peter and Marilyn were away). We’re keen to have a swim on their country, so they gave us an impromptu smoking ceremony to make sure the spirits of their ancestors know that it’s fine for us to be there. I have never seen or been part of a smoking ceremony before, but it’s an awesome thing and I felt pretty lucky.

We have a quick swim nearby at Two Bridges, cross some rivers, spot a crocodile, deal with car issues and pass Black Mountain, before heading onto Cooktown for fish and chips.

After a couple of hours more on the road, we arrive at our destination: Normanby Station. This is the country of Ronnie Harrigan, elder and traditional owner from Kuku Yalanji people.

Ronnie is also the person who gave Jawun its name:

"When (the older people) say 'Who is this waybela (creole for whitefella) coming here', I say 'this is Jawun – friend and family. I talk to them, they come here and we all work together as a partner.'"

Ronnie’s family welcome us like jawun (friend and family) and soon we’ve rolled out our swags and lit the campfire.