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<\/a><\/a>We left Darwin on Monday 13th August<\/strong> having done three shows at the Darwin Festival. From Darwin we moved into Kakadu National Park<\/strong> and spent the first two nights at Jabiru campsite. We had no idea what to expect in Kakadu but we had been warned about the expense. Certainly the campsites are expensive at about $56 for two people which is the most we have paid so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jabiru<\/strong> town was set up when the uranium mining started in 1982. There is now some question over it’s on-going viability. It’s a small town with a bank and a supermarket plus the crocodile hotel. On Thursday 16th Aug we moved to the North East corner of the Park to Ubirr<\/strong> which borders on Arnheim land. From here we did an evening walk with one of the rangers around several of the “galleries” of rock paintings. The ranger was really terrific very enthusiastic and knew her stuff. Although European she included several local stories and was well versed on some of the indigenous customs – it was truely enlightening. When we were travelling up through WA several fellow travellers advised against visiting Kakadu, too commercial, too expensive etc etc, well all I can say is these travellers have no soul. It really is a very spiritual place. From enormous flood plains, which are covered by open eucalyptus forests you see, rising, out of nowhere, large ancient rock formations. These formations are about 1.6B years old, the area and has inhabited for something like 65,000 years. A land with such a history just has to be experienced to really appreciate the atmosphere. Next day we took the bikes to the Bardedjlidji walk<\/strong>. The walk follows the river to a rock outcrop with several caves and rock painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the way back from Bardedjlidji we called in at the “Border Store<\/strong>” which sits right on the border between Kakadu and Arnheim Land. Seems quite strange that it’s run by Thais and has a great Thai menu. This must say something for multiculturalism in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This scrabble game ended in a very narrow win by William, unfortunately his last for a while. I think there are at least 2 words which should not be allowed (but are in the Scrabble dictionary) in which case I would have won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Ubirr<\/strong>, on the Saturday, we moved south to Ngurrungurrudjbal<\/strong> camp site. From here we booked on the evening and early morning riser cruises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both cruises were great with an abundance of wildlife including; feral horses, cattle, buffaloes, pigs and of course many many crocodiles. We were actually on the flood plain of the “Aligator” rivers which by this time of year were starting to dry up and levels dropping. This condenses the aquatic wildlife into an even more concentrated area. The birdlife included; Jabirus both stationery and in flight, Sea Eagles, Brolgas, a variety of Darters, Whistling Ducks, Magpie Geese,Whistling Kites, the beautiful Azure Kingfisher and Bee-eaters, really grumpy looking NightHerons and the rather penguin like Pied Cormorant<\/p>\n\n\n\n We left Cooinda (Kakadu)<\/strong> on Monday and headed south towards Katherine and then on to Tennant Creek and Alice Springs<\/strong> – it’s a very long and very boring journey of about 1,000km – we did it in 2 days arriving in Alice Springs<\/strong> on Thursday 23rd Aug, on the way we had three overnight stops at free camping areas which were quiet good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
We did absolutely nothing while in Jabiru, we arrived late afternoon and spent the next day “at leisure” me reading and William working once more on self-improvement.
We were on an unpowered site so didn’t have any air conditioning and in temperatures of 34\u00ba just sitting around is fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a>
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We visited Cahill’s Crossing<\/strong> which at low tide is a river crossing, but as the tide rises it floods and then is a great places for crocodile watching. They arrive to hunt barramundi heading up stream. You can just stand on the river bank (not too close) and watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/a>