Mutawintji National Park

On the third day of trip out west we departed White Cliffs for Broken Hill via Mutawintji National Park and for the first stretch to the park itself we were mostly on dirt roads. We passed some interesting rock landscapes, but much of the route took us across flat plains with sparse vegetation. Given the long drought experienced by this area, we were pleasantly surprised by the green tinge to the vegetation.

On arrival at the car park at the end of then entrance road to the park, we found we weren't the only visitors. The landscape was a mixture of hillsides and flat plains, both with reasonable vegetation coverage.

After surveying the broader landscape, Rebecca took off on a hike to an attractive gorge, leaving Dot and me to amble along the creek bed that leads to that gorge.

As you can see from the pictures above and right there was no flowing water in the creek. However, there were a few small pools of water. It was fairly easy going but nevertheless interesting to observe the vegetation, birdlife and even a few lizards. Fortunately there were no snakes in view - what a relief!

Here's Dot strolling along the sand wearing a back-pack. Why not come prepared!

 

Back near the carpark there was this lovely tree partly shading a spot where we could have had something to eat.

No! We weren't interested in that because another interesting walk beckoned.

Just nearby, another path led the way to some great Aboriginal rock art. Again, Dot and I separated from Bec who fancied a much longer and more difficult route. She went on ahead.

I loved this kind of rocky landscape with caves and overhanging rocks - just the location to find native art-works. Just above you can see what I mean. These look like sticks painted on the wall.

At this point Dot found the going a little difficult so I went on ahead up the fairly dry creek bed looking for further rock art.

I didn't find any but the landscape itself was lovely with lots trees, grasses, and so on.

After a while I realised that there were no new artworks as explained on a notice-board at the start of our walk. Something had gone wrong!

The I realised that the artworks above were the second of the lots expected rather than the first. So I turned around and walked briskly back looking out for the portrait I was expecting.

Here it is! Can you recognise a face painted on this rock wall? I wonder if it might be older than the Mona Lisa ... quite possible as some Aboriginal art-works have been dated back to over 40,000 years old.

A short while after discovering this intriguing image, Rebecca returned in good shape from her walk. We jumped back in the car and headed off for the hour or so's drive to Broken Hill - the subject of my next post.

Comments welcome.

AS