Nourlangie Safari Camp, Episode 18

Nourlangie Safari Camp, here is 9SLK
Is anybody listening? (My radio code)
From the Diaries of Flemming Jensen 1968-1969

Sunday, February 16th

The pensioners got their rations without baking powder. If Pat or Allan do not come before Thursday they will receive no rice too! After almost having given up just seeing a buffalo, I suddenly got sight of one after two hours of searching. It was grazing in the high shrubbery and if it had not moved I would not spot it. We were not far from the car. It could not escape. I let it get out in a little open ground and then I shot. It stood silent for a moment and looked around confused. I hit it but it was only wounded. Now it began to run but something seemed not quite as it should and that gave me time to give it another shot and then it went down. When I reached the suffering roaring animal, I gave it the decisive bullet before I let the blood run. It was the sixth and the third in a row which had gone down in three shots. Quite well, I thought. It was lying so I could take the meat from both sides. Fortunately we were not far away from the car this time. While I dismembered him I heard a plane hovering over the camp but it was not likely to Allan or Pat and the machine did not make ready for landing. Had it done so they had to walk from the airstrip to the camp because I was not able to come before I was finished with the animal. When I came home and had hung the meat to cool I was ready for a shower. I had blood all over my body and hair from wearing the meat on the neck. In the evening I could once again not catch anything on the radio. For my evening tea there were freshly baked oatmeal cookies. Something has to happen.

Monday, February 17th

Since two weeks ago when Pat on short notice went off, everything has gone well I should say. The camp is looked after and I am still alive and in good health. On the other hand I would like either Allan or Pat to come so we can get the economy to fall into place. Otherwise not much has happened out of the ordinary. However I have yet to see a crocodile, so this morning I went into the boat and sailed a little up and down the small canals that lead to the billabong but I unfortunately I did not see any crocodiles. I had as a precaution taken Allan´s Carbine with me. Just in case!

Small episode

The pensioners should have two beers in their rations on Sundays but every second Sunday Jack would have a bottle of rum. When he got it he asked me if he could drink it here on the spot. He apparently could not wait. It was alright, he could do what he likes. He took a swig and suddenly he looked like someone who had been eating fire. His mouth was open and his throat was burning and some of the booze came out again. I thought he would die but he was apparently fine and recovered quickly and it looked like me and him, in Jack's opinion now, were very good friends. After that day I had a feeling that Jack was always close behind me and was always looking after me. Allan told me later that he always diluted Jacks rum with water but he did not write that on the list and he did not have the time to tell me. So Jack had for the first time got the clean goods and it looks like it feels good to him.

Tuesday, February 18th

Just another day I think they have forgotten me. They have at least confidence in me and do I dare also having confidence with them. Sunday's hunt was going on barefoot. I've now got the consequences to feel a deep gash and several cuts are beginning to pain me in the foot. I rub them with iodine several times a day and I believed that I was callous enough to walk without sandals. I have realized you have to be an Aboriginal to do so. They always walk barefoot. In the afternoon I spend some time cooking and it is the first time I try it but the bread is all right and tastes OK. When I finally had translated the recipe and baked the bread I spend just as long to get cleaned up. But I enjoyed myself and time was running away.

Wednesday, February 19th

Today for the one hundred seventeenth time it was the laundry day and most of my clothes were washed. After washing I went into the woods with the 22.

It would be good if I met a wallaby. There was no catch but I had a good time. There was bread on the table again tonight. It was baked in the afternoon and today I felt the cooking went better. The radio was working but nothing new.

Thursday, February 20th

The pensioners got their rations, rice included. I found several kilos hidden in a flour barrel but they got no baking powder, however I gave them a decent piece of meat. That is something they like. They can´t even catch a buffalo as it's too big a head for them. In contrast wallabies, wild boar, goannas and bandicoot are some of the animals they can catch. In fact, it is with help from their dogs. Of course they also fish in billabongs. I think in a way that they are omnivorous. It is not peanuts that they pick up and eat, but they've had to do with what they can find for centuries. When I went down to move the boats once again, this time the water had receded and there was a swamp tiger under one boat. In my confusion I did not see where it disappeared. Now that it was gone I shuffled cautiously the boat around. Oh, how I missed some decent boots or shoes! When the second boat had to be moved I was more cautious. I had a stick ready. Another had sought refuge under the boat and as it appeared when I moved the boat but I got it with the stick! Because it sprawls in two parts, my fear was not the same. For dinner I had no desire for steak but it was hardly surprising after one and a half months with steak. I decided to cook the rice pudding but something was not as it should be. Either I had cooked too much rice or else too little milk for it was something. I was sated, however.

Reproduced with permission: Kakadu National Park Cultural Heritage & Biodiversity Management Unit.