Mount Borradaile

13 and 14 July 2017

Another early start this morning - 6 am breakfast and on the road by 7. Our destination was Davidson's Wildlife Safari, Mt Borradaile. This was another road where our permit didn't allow us to stop so, by the time we reached the turnoff to Davidson's, we were well and truly ready to stretch our legs. The turnoff is only about 6 km from Gunbalanya (aka Oenpelli), which we had visited on our previous tour in 2015. Davidson's has a 40 km 'driveway' which is pretty rough but, of course, by now we were quite familiar with bouncing along...

Eventually the lodge was reached just on lunchtime and, after a short rest we set off on the Rainbow Serpent walk - about 3 km there and back along a relatively easy track apart from some rock scrambling at the serpent cave. Along the way we passed numerous rock faces with art but the Rainbow Serpent was the undoubted hightlight.

Rainbow Serpent - Mt Borradaile

We had become aware of the rock art at Mt Borradaile though the "First Footprints" program on the ABC several years ago and the chance to visit the site was the main factor in our decision to undertake the tour.

The main art galleries are on the walls and roof of an incredible, geological formation supported by rock pillars - the whole structue had been sculpted through thousands of years of erosion. Unfortunately, by the time we had reached the first of the two main galleries, I felt a little unwell so I decided to rest while the others proceeded the short distance to the second gallery. I wasn't going to let Marg miss out on that experience so Mark, our fantastic Kiwi Tour directror/driver, waited with me. By the time the group returned, I was feeling much better.

The photos tell the story...