With
the wind predicted to shift to the north we sought shelter in the
deep inlet of Nara Bay on the south side of Hook island. Entering
the inlet was like entering a small Norwegian Fjord with the high
sides of the narrow valley covered with trees. There were already
ten boats here but we carried on past them to the head of the bay and
dropped the anchor close to the beach were the track starts.
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| Nara inlet, Hook island |
In
our guide we'd read there was a track which leads up to a cave with
Aboriginal paintings dating back 9,000 years. The start of the walk
was from the beach on our right hand side and from there it was a
short 10 minute walk up a stone step path to the cave and the
paintings. The paintings are protected by a barrier so you can't get
close, but we were close enough to see a couple of paintings which
may have been restored and underneath those lighter echoes of earlier
works.
On
the way back down I was leading, hopping and skipping like a young
gazelle (in my dreams!) when I came around a corner and face to face
with a small brown snake. I think I startled it more than it
startled me; it reared up and looked straight at me. I retreated a
couple of cautionary steps backwards to alert the rest of the group
and Bruce came forward with his snake defence stick to lead us past
the now vacant rock where I'd seen our reptilian friend. Our
personal snake encounter (not counting the ones in Steve Irwin's zoo)
is up to three, two in the water in Port Clinton and now a wee one of
the rocks.
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| Aboriginal cave paintings |
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