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So UTS (the University where I work) sent me to far North Queensland in June this year to the Laura Dance Festival which is Australias biggest Indigenous Dance Festival, to take part in the TKRP program, which is an Indigenous run program designed to record and transmit traditional knowledge. Amazing experience.

Just to get an idea of exactly where Laura is (and it's pretty bloody remote) check the map to the right or, click here for a zoomable interactive map thingo!

I was to go and, well, partially just to meet people and get to know the whole TKRP philosophy and approach, but also to do some recording. So 3 days of the most amazing indigenous dance. Groups and entire communities coming from all over the Cape, and awesome camping in the heat under beautiful huge gums, and then recording as well! For me, well, ya can't really get much better than this! And awesome people too. Really inspirational.

I had organised some time off after the festival, so was intending to 'go bush'. I do this every now and again. Find it a good soul-nourishing and restorative past-time. Just getting away from everybody and everything. Reconnecting with the land and slowing down enough so that hopefully, you can hear some of the whispered secrets out there. These trips also somehow seem to co-incide with, and I guess therefore, institute a part of, a certain part of the healing process after a relationship has finished.

Just to the North of Laura, the closest town to where the festival was, is Lakefield National Park, a huge expanse of wetlands, rivers, scrub and wilderness. Remote, vast and beautiful. During the wet season, Between November and April, the entire park is closed as much of it is over-run with water, the individual rivers swell, burst their banks and often form vast inland seas, and the entire region becomes an utterly impassable, fertile, wet eden teeming with birdlife and of course... crocs. Lots and lots of crocs. So this beautiful place was my goal. Go as far north as I could, or I wanted to, into the National park. Beyond that I had no real plan.

When I set out from the festival into the park I had 7 days worth of food, 4 days worth of water, some good maps, a compass, an Epirb emergency locator satellite beacon thingo, tent, sleeping bag etc... all in a VERY heavy pack (bout 25kg). For reference that's almost half my body weight.

The plan was to hitch-hike into the park and then either hitch-hike or hike around as seemed like a good idea at the time, generally moving north. I had thought to try and get as far north as Bathurst Head, since I knew there was a road that went that up that far, although I eventually decided against trying to get there.

And yes, I knew about the crocs, although by the end of the trip I know a LOT more about them than at the beginning.

Quinken Country. Whilst up there and spending time with some of the locals, some of which were aboriginal elders who really knew their stuff, I learnt a bit about the country I was in and was to be travelling through. The area around Laura (as with any bit of Oz) had a rich history, both corporeal and spiritual. I was in Quinkan Country. The Quinkans, I learnt, were malevelent, although perhaps more mischevious and troublesome rather than downright evil, spirits. The whole area was known for their presence. They would jump huge distances, and sometime surprise people, particularly women on their own, and sometimes have sex with them. An Antipodean Incubus! Anyway - there was a lot more to learn besides, and looking around now, I can find almost nothing on the net of the rich culture and tradition I learnt about in the few days I was there. Here are a few bits and pieces I did find:

Some stuff about the rock art at Split Rock

More stuff about the area.

Now Northern Australian waterways generally, and Lakefield is certainly no exception, are pretty much crawling with crocodiles. And this was new to me.



I've dealt with the Australian bush a bit, so I'm o.k with, and know more or less what to do about, snakes and spiders etc... But crocs? Um, ok. Here's what the Queensland Govt has to say about Crocodiles:

Click here

Which is all well and good. But what I learnt over the duration of this trip that the NPA does NOT tell you are cute little tidbits like the following:

There are actually two types of crocodiles present. Freshwater Crocodiles (commonly referred to as 'Freshies') only get to about 2m in length, are quite timid and generally nothing to worry about. Estaurine crocodiles on the other hand (commonly referred to as Saltwater Crocodiles or 'Salties')... Jezus - you couldn't make up a more frightening beast.

Salties: If ya want all the details of various attacks over the years as well as some extremely gory pics go here.

So anyway, First stop - Laura Festival!

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