I mentioned in a previous post that if you manage to reach the top of the walking route at Ubirr you’re well rewarded with some amazing views of the Nadab Floodplains. Well, I’ve decided that, whilst photos can’t make up for the real thing, some things are too good to keep to myself. So here is my take on the experience of the floodplains. You also get to see my first panoramic photograph. Bonus.
As you may know, I despise click bait. Straight to the point: here is my first panoramic photo. Here’s to hoping it actually loads and doesn’t look rubbish!
Now that I’ve got the awkward part out of the way, here’s my explanation/description of the wonderful Nadab Floodplains.
As previously mentioned (twice now) they’re situated at Ubirr, and to get to the viewpoint in the picture above you’ll need to do a bit of a climb to reach them. Nothing too taxing – you don’t need to scale any rock faces or anything like that. It’s barely difficult enough to be called exercise. A leisurely stroll is most suitable.
It looks more daunting than it is. I’m sure the most difficult part is lifting a leg up a 1 foot high step (12 inches/30centimetres depending who asks). It’s quite a popular path and you’ll almost certainly encounter other travelers on the way. It’s probably better to explore on the way up, so you can use the time you spend looking over aboriginal paintings and other rock art to rest up should you need to.
Once at the top you get an (almost) unobstructed 360 degree viewing platform to chill out on. There are a couple of interesting things to note.
The first being these termite mounds. Keep in mind that I’m pretty high up here. For a size comparison look at them compared to the height of the trees. I’d say they’re probably not as big as the gigantic magnetic termite mounds I wrote about here, but they’re certainly sizeable and make up one part of the panorama.
Once you reach the top of the track and you’re looking out over the plains, you’ll notice a body of water in the distance. This area is known to the indigenous people as the ‘Rainbow Serpent Gallery’, and features in dreaming stories.
This spot is traditionally a women-only one, and as this is a sacred spot for the locals, the rule still stands for the aboriginal men. Luckily for us, it’s more relaxed for tourists, so we’re allowed to explore.
The rainbow serpent, Garranga’rreli – the same one from the story which resulted in the rainbow serpent’s eggs being laid at the Devil’s Marbles, passed by this spot on her route across the northern side of Australia. It is said that she ‘sang’ this part of the northern territory into existence, the plants and animals, and the rocks and people.
It turns out the Garranga’rreli did a fair old bit of travelling.
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