Laura Bush Camp Day 1

Near Laura, Queensland, 13 August 2022
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Click on any image to see it larger (If you are on a PC at least).

We got up early in the morning in Laura and set out into the bush with Johnny Murison of Jarramali Rock Art Tours.

We were zotting along in tiny four wheel drives. This is the one following us.

A brief stop along the way.

No chance of a school bus coming the other way. We are on Aboriginal land with no permanent habitations out here.

Sometimes the road was quite good.

Other times it was a little rougher.

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Definitely four wheel drive country.

From memory, it took about an hour to drive in.

Now we have arrived.

We were sleeping in a tent but there was a communal meeting room and dining room. This is the view from the veranda.

A closer view of the left end of the cliffs in front of us.

Wedge tail eagles appear.

We were sitting down for lunch when a wedge tail eagle flew past the large window, very close, maybe twenty metres away. Of course I had put the camera away and couldn’t take advantage of that opportunity. Soon after it was joined by a mate. They sat in a distant tree for a while and then climbed into the sky.

This is the best shot I got. The eagle is a long way away and the resolution is enhanced by software.

Where the Green Ants Dream (though Hertzog was not in sight).

After lunch we headed for the rock art site. On the way we encountered this ants nest, up in the tree for safety.

This appears to be another one, old and abandoned.

As you can see, we are now at the main rock art site.

The figures you see can be as old as twenty thousand years old or as recent as the late nineteenth century.

Here is Johnny explaining the associations and significance of each figure.

I remember little of what he said so I’ll just leave you to view and wonder.

The Quinkan rock art galleries are in many locations in Northern Queensland with only a few open to the public. They are listed by UNESCO as being among the top 10 rock art sites in the world.

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