Thursday, January 30, 2014

Ubirr Lookout


Ubirr has Kakadu National Park's richest display of Aboriginal rock art. If you were to climb straight to the top of Ubirr it would likely only take you ten minutes, but you would unawarely be rushing past an ancient art gallery. The trek up is littered with opportunities to pause and appreciate paintings that are thousands of years old. Colors displayed in various shades of orange, red, and yellow that have lasted generations. The Aboriginals drew things that they valued over the course of their history, which means you find images of extinct animals, fish, plants, or deities that are/were integral in the lives of these people. To this day, Aboriginals prefer their relationship with the natural world over the industrialization taking over the majority of the globe.

In hindsight, this may have been the best view I had in all of Australia. The variations in land from one side to the other made me feel as though I were standing on the edge of two different worlds. I was in awe at what looked like an African grassland at one side and a rocky canyon at the other, the scene was made even more majestic by the afternoon monsoon rolling in from the ocean. Since the top of Ubirr is the highest point for miles the distance that I was able to see from all sides seemed endless. It was one of those few moments in life when you can truly appreciate the natural beauty of the world uninterrupted and you are completely at peace.

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