Valley of 1,000 kangaroos

ACT - Valley of 1,000 kangaroos

You'll find rock art and more kangaroos than you can count on this great short walk in Namadgi National Park

We've all heard the old saying that someone has "a few 'roos loose in the top paddock". Some of us may have even heard it in relation to some of our politicians in Canberra. But as I stand looking around me there are a lot more than just a few 'roos loose here in this paddock. It's known as the 'Valley of 1000 kangaroos' and it's definitely living up to its descriptive name. I am surrounded by hundreds of kangaroos, all warily staring at me as if I have stumbled uninvited into a macropod meeting of secret roo business.

My American friend beside me can't believe his luck - he's been in Australia for three weeks and has been looking forward to seeing his first kangaroo but has so far lucked out and had almost resigned himself to missing out as he flies back to the US the following day - and now there are more than he can possibly count, all within spitting distance. If you're keen to see wild kangaroos, then Canberra is the place to do it, specifically, the wide open grasslands of Namadgi National Park.

The national park on the southern outskirts of the national capital covers more than half of the ACT, and together with neighbouring Kosciuszko National Park, the Bimberi and Scabby Range nature reserves and Brindabella National Park, forms a huge swathe of high country wilderness. It's always been a place of importance to the local aboriginal people, the Ngunnawal, who have always called these rugged mountains 'Namadgi' and who have, according to archaeological evidence found at a rock shelter at Birrigai, just north of national park, been living in the area since the last ice age, more than 21,000 years ago. There are a number of quarry sites where stone was gathered for tool making, campsites with discarded fragments of stone and animal bone, ceremonial stone arrangements on the high peaks, and rock painting sites scattered through out the park according to the rangers in the visitors centre at Tharwa. Most likely, they came to these snowy peaks to feast upon the bogong moths that congregate in the rocky crevices each spring.

We've come here to visit one of the area's best rock art sites at Yankee Hat, as part of a full-day tour with Go Bush Tours, a small Canberra-based touring company that specialises in small group tours that explore the local parks and reserves around Canberra.

To get to Yankee Hat, which is named after a nearby mountain that is supposed to look lie a colonial American hat, although to be honest, I couldn't really see the resemblance, it's a 3km walk. It's an easy stroll through open grasslands and skirting the edge of the Bogong Swamp, which is alive with the croaking of frogs after recent rains. In mid-summer though the walk is hot work as there is little shade, and what little there is pooling under the few spindly gums is well and truly monopolised by the mobs of eastern grey kangaroos that barely flick an ear as we wander past.

Once up into the lower slopes the track begins to meander amongst the trees offering some welcome shade, when all of a sudden we round a bend and are confronted with a huge weathered granite boulder, its lower sides covered in vibrant white and ochre figures. We can make out human figures, kangaroos, wombats, koalas, dingos and birds, but our guide explains that the precise meaning behind the art is unknown. What is known is that they were not just the casual paintings of individual artists, but, according to the trail notes, "the strict conventions in style over a very long period of time and across all sites in the area indicate great cultural importance attached to the art."

Carbon dating of camp site remains in the Yankee Hat shelter show that Aboriginal people began using the shelter more than 800 years ago, and there is even evidence from nearby sites that indicate they were using the area as a campground and gallery as long as 3700 years ago.

We spend a while gazing and wondering at the art, then head back across the grassy valley, trying not to disturb the kangaroos, who at any rate, ignore us, even when we creep up as close as we can to take photos.

We unpack a picnic lunch at one of the campgrounds, deserted in the midday glare, then head to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, which borders the national park in the north, a 40-minute drive from the city centre along Tourist Drive 5. The reserve offers a slightly more contained back-to-nature experience and features great picnic faculties, walking trails, ranger-guided activities and prolific wildlife including koalas, the endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby and the northern corroboree frog. While it's a not a zoo, the animals are enclosed, which means you're pretty much guaranteed to see them - my American friend was quite chuffed to spot five platypus in less than five minutes - but I think I prefer the slightly less certain version. Give me the wild kangaroos of Namadgi any day.

More information

• Go Bush Tours full-day tours include Namadgi National Park, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and the neighbouring Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex and include lunch and morning tea. Cost is $120. Tel: (02) 6231 3023.
• Canberra Visitors Information Centre: 330 Northbourne Avenue, Dickson, Canberra. Call (02) 6205 0044 or 1300 554 114.

Article and images by Lee Atkinson, June 2008.