19 | Indigenous Camp

By now we were used to the long train journeys. This time a quick 6 hour trip up the coast with more endless views of flat land covered in sugar cane crops. We passed a few small towns on the way where a dog would run alongside the train but there were no people around at all. We got to the station at Tully and were hit by a wave of humidity as we stepped off the carriage. For the first time on the trip it really felt like we were somewhere tropical. After hitting the town (row of shops) and seeing the local attraction which was a 7 meter high steel wellington boot which signified the highest amount of rainfall which fell in the area over a year (wettest place in Australia apparently) we were picked up by our aboriginal guide Dougie.

Now this guy I can only describe as a beast. He used to be a tracker in the Australian army and served overseas, now he lived back in the lands of his aboriginal ancestors and teaches tourists and school children about their culture… good man!

On the way to the camp out we passed some of the largest banana plantations in the World, some had around 500,000 trees which you can imagine takes up a large amount of land. I had previously seen farming jobs in this area for ‘Banana Humpers’ where you lift the foil looking bags which weigh around 90kg out of the tree to be packed. I had heard stories of large spiders been collected in the bags along with rats and snakes having their habitats amongst the rows. A job not for the faint hearted.

As I was peering out into the dense vegetation the van came to an abrupt stop. Dougie jumped out and disappeared into the tangle of trees. He emerged moments later with lemons, ginger leaves and firewood. Natures supermarket supplied us with what we needed and off we sped.

We arrived at our dwellings to find that there were not tents pitched or things organized. Little did I know that we had to set up the tents ourselves. I think my basic scout skills would have prepared me to layout a 10m roof sheet and pitch 5 tents in the space of 1 hour. Between ten of us we managed this just in time to get in the river before the sun went down.

Little did I know that the Tully river is one of the top 3 whitewater rafting places in the World. I then turned my thoughts to how strong the water would be. Five of us braved the task of swimming across the river to the other side where there was a waterfall with reeds dangling down which we could hold onto. We swam from rock to rock taking shelter each time to recover from the velocity of the open channeled water to reach the other side. On the final rock we had to really work hard to swim directly against the current to reach a slippery boulder about 8m away. One of the lads last up made a brave attempt to fight the current before he was just treading water. In the rope went like a fish on the hook, we pulled him to safety after forming a human chain to pull him in. After our exhausting and exhilarating experience our guide told us that a 5m salt water crocodile was living 2km down river from where we were swimming. Thanks for the heads up Dougie!

In the evening we sat around a campfire where Dougie shared stories about his tribes past and the meanings behind their connection with the land, animals and spirits. It was a intriguing insight into the culture and what it means to their community. I really wanted to have this kind of experience while I was out here and thankfully I got it first hand whilst sharing a beer over the campfire.

At night we set off to find nocturnal wildlife. After literally leaving the camp by 30 seconds the breaks were screeched on. Out we stepped to see Dougie holding a 2m Rock Python. We managed to get up close and I even touched its head which was surprisingly smooth. The ode it left on my hand was pungent to say the least and took several washes to eventually fade.

Overall the night trip was fantastic and well worth the money.

#Culture #Wildlife #Nature #Tour