Day one in Laura, at the end of the sealed road northwards and the starting point for those wanting to drive to the top of the Cape York Peninsula (it's on our list but not this trip). We're devoting today to exploring the Quinkan Cultural Centre, attached to our caravan park and we've booked into a tour of the Quinkan Rock Art caves. At $160pp it's not cheap, but if the photos in the Cultural Centre are anything to go by, it will be worth every cent.
The Quinkan Information and Cultural Centre haas very good displays of life and times on the Peninsula. There are all aspects of life in Laura - indigenous, festivals, mining, exploration etc etc. Very well done and with good interpretations.
Every 2 years there's an indigenous Dance Festival here - unfortunately we're in the off-year (another good reason to come back).
About 9.30am we set off with Roy, our guide, and another couple to view the rock art. We drove along a sandy track through the bush for about 15kms and parked in a clearing for the short walk to the decorated overhangs.
It was certainly worth the dollars we paid to see these magnificent artworks. As we approached each gallery Roy let the spirits know we were coming. The paintings were multi-layered with paintings over paintings. As we looked into them we could see more and more.
Most of the painting were "signed" with stencils of the artists' hands. We were not able to see all of the paintings - only the ones the indigenous people will allow us to see. Some areas are too sacred for those who do not have the cultural learnings.
We saw paintings of animals including kangaroo, emu, bats, snake, platypus, crocodile and dingo as well as people and spirits. Roy told us that this area was rich in food and people would live in these higher areas on the escarpment during the wet season.
A dingo had been through earlier in the morning marking out his territory by scratching in the dirt.
What can we say but WOW!!! A morning very well spent. While we're here we'll wander through the self-guided Split Rock Gallery which is just a few kms south. So watch out for more photos.
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