Day 6 - Botany and Butterflies
Today I had the most amazing and humbling experience. I was working with Matt the butterfly man and Kevin the Botanist and we were dropped in a sight that was absolutely mind-blowing. The sight was on a small river that still had some water flowing through it and there was a waterfall that had trickle going over it into a beautiful pool at the bottom.
After we had made our way to the top of the waterfall to the sight where we would leave all of our gear we started to explore the rocks and the rock walls around us. To my absolute delight there was aboriginal art everywhere. There were Bradshaw figures, kangaroos, Wandjina’s, hand-prints, crocodiles and snakes. It was the most incredible thing to see in the flesh. It made me realise how lucky we are to be able to explore this amazing country.
The large pool below the trickling waterfall was just too tempting. I had to go for a swim. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have bathers – I just made do. I waded across to a little sand island (that is now called Shae Island) and went for a swim under a beautiful rock ledge and out under the trickling waterfall. It wasn’t until Matt swam over that we saw the most amazing thing attached to the underside of the large overhanging rock. There were little bunches of Micro Bats hanging from the rock above the water. They were so cute – I just wanted to squeeze them!
After we left this beautiful sight we headed to another that was on Karunji Station. Here I tried my hand at butterfly catching. I managed to catch a few, but they are very fast! Catching butterflies is probably one of the most dangerous things I’ve done up here in the Kimberley (besides swimming with crocs). It’s so dangerous because when you get focused on catching a butterfly, all of your ‘bush sense’ goes out the window; you don’t’ look where you are walking, you run and jump on and off things that you wouldn’t normally and you lose track of which way is home. I did manage to escape butterfly hunting unscathed though.
Another great day out here at Home Valley; and I haven’t even talked about the little frogs that I saw that could hop across the surface of the water…
After we had made our way to the top of the waterfall to the sight where we would leave all of our gear we started to explore the rocks and the rock walls around us. To my absolute delight there was aboriginal art everywhere. There were Bradshaw figures, kangaroos, Wandjina’s, hand-prints, crocodiles and snakes. It was the most incredible thing to see in the flesh. It made me realise how lucky we are to be able to explore this amazing country.
The large pool below the trickling waterfall was just too tempting. I had to go for a swim. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have bathers – I just made do. I waded across to a little sand island (that is now called Shae Island) and went for a swim under a beautiful rock ledge and out under the trickling waterfall. It wasn’t until Matt swam over that we saw the most amazing thing attached to the underside of the large overhanging rock. There were little bunches of Micro Bats hanging from the rock above the water. They were so cute – I just wanted to squeeze them!
After we left this beautiful sight we headed to another that was on Karunji Station. Here I tried my hand at butterfly catching. I managed to catch a few, but they are very fast! Catching butterflies is probably one of the most dangerous things I’ve done up here in the Kimberley (besides swimming with crocs). It’s so dangerous because when you get focused on catching a butterfly, all of your ‘bush sense’ goes out the window; you don’t’ look where you are walking, you run and jump on and off things that you wouldn’t normally and you lose track of which way is home. I did manage to escape butterfly hunting unscathed though.
Another great day out here at Home Valley; and I haven’t even talked about the little frogs that I saw that could hop across the surface of the water…