Keep River NP

It was time to say goodbye to WA and make our way over to NT for the first time EVER (properly...)! Saying that, the excitement of going into a new state has become more subdued over time to a more mini yay than a full-blown WOHOOO. The quarantine check was non-existent on the inbound to NT so everything was smooth going.

And the first thing we noticed in NT was that the tarmac changed colour...

We weren’t planning on heading in to Keep River NP but it was close by so why not! It turns out the people who write the NP placards as well as park notes have a bit of comic timing (or that is how we read it). To be met with a sign describing “a small circular stone hut with stick roof, 1m high and 1.5 metres round, too small for humans to live in, confused early Europeans” followed by can you guess what it was for? Turns out it is a hawk hunting trap used by aboriginals – sure we would have guessed that in a 100 years!

Here is how people used to catch birds of prey!

The Hawker’s Trap was the mini walk, our next stop was only a 3km return but it was relatively uneven ground and HOT for 10am! Although we had hats and water it was an unpleasant experience heading to a wet season shelter used by aboriginals.

Wandering around the shelter we saw some aboriginal artwork on the ceiling...

...the close up!

With the thought of another long walk and us getting ever more moist due to the heat it was time to move on to Gregory NP. If we were in the area we would definitely come back to explore more of the art work in Keep River NP.