Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park: Ron experiences some luxury accommodation and marvels at some of our Aboriginal culture in the Murraylands region of South Australia
Travelling on board the luxurious houseboat, Odyssey, you take in the ancient cliffs at Wongulla and nearby Nildottie about two hours drive from Adelaide. Surely this is some of the most spectacular scenery along the length of the mighty River Murray.
For owners Des and Annette Eiffe, the Odyssey Charters experience wouldn't be complete without a very close encounter with what nature has carved over millennia. Here you almost touch one of the most impressive sections on one of the world's most ancient waterways.
Annette Eiffe, Odyssey Charters: "Guests are absolutely enthralled with what they see because they're not expecting it to be as good as it is. The colours are fantastic and they change."
And change is a feature of this experience - one minute you gliding by the ochre coloured cliffs in full sunlight and then by close of day you're marveling at a floodlit display.
By morning the fog around Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park adds a sense of mystery to what has long been and still is home to the Nganguraku people, part of the Narrandjeri nation. Little wonder given the abundance of water and good tucker under the shelter of the Nildottie cliffs. With the fog dispersing, local Isobelle Campbell takes me on a guided tour of a place pivotal to the story of her people. Over the next hour or so the mists of time clear to reveal an amazing story of contact between various tribes.
Izzie Campbell, Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park": "The tribe up top (of the cliffs) relied on the surface water and springs. So once they dried out they always had access to the camp up top here. So they could have access to the water."
From a high vantage point aboriginal people - both the Nganguraku who've always lived here and visitors like the Ngarkat people - could take in the beauty of this ancient landscape.
Izzie Campbell: "These footsteps in the cliffs were carved out over years and years. They used that same walkway to get down to the water and trade with the tribe downstairs."
For the time being the main archaeological site is closed to the public but Izzy expects it to be open in the near future. But the track you can still take under the overhanging cliffs remains a walk through time
Izzie Campbell: "When we had dating done in the main dig they tell us that eight thousand years of continuous use of this main campsite."
Along the track there are constant reminders of previous ice ages and retreating seas which have left shells imbedded in the limestone. Keep pressing on and you come to what was a staging post for the Ngarkat people.
And when we reach our destination on top of the cliffs a couple of curious emus are there to greet us. The country on top of the cliffs would have had plenty of game like roos, emus and wallabies. Scour this top camp with Izzie and she'll point out signs of ancient occupation of an ancient landscape.
Izzie Campbell: "It's all about education. Educating people on the Nganguraku and aboriginal people from this area. That we've been here a long time and we're still here today."
Ngaut Ngaut can be accessed in a variety of ways. Odyssey Charters include the tour as part of their experience or you can contact direct Izzie Campbell on 0407 006 651. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park
Odyssey Charters
Contact Annette Eiffe on 8361 7890
Izzie Campbell on 0407 006 651Published 5th September 2010
