Playing in Kakadu National Park

Today we leave Kakadu National Park and head to Darwin, so today I pick out all the juicy stuff from our time here in Kakadu to blog about.

Our first stop on the road to Kakadu was at the Mary River Roadhouse to buy the National Park Passes that we need for traveling in the Park over the next week. The outside toilets were a real treat!! And then I discovered some pleasant alternatives inside - too late to save me from the outside experience unfortunately.

One thing I have noticed is the amount of snakes we've been seeing. I've seen more snakes on the road to Kakadu than I have seen my whole life living in Tasmania. I'm starting to feel just a little concerned about walking around some of these bush tracks out here, and have given Kevin a bit of a talk about being wary of snakes while he's out tramping about on the bush as he does!!

So we arrived at Kakadu Lodge Caravan Park and I was pleasantly surprised. Firstly they allowed us to pick our own site, and we managed to get a great site with heaps of shade - however Kevin did do several laps of the park before he decided on the very best spot!!  The pool was great, and the bistro area serves great meals, so I think I might enjoy it here.  The comment about keeping our shoes inside as the dingoes that visit at night have taken a liking to them was just a bit off-putting though!!

We checked out the Jabiru township which took about 5 minutes, and then headed out to the interpretive centre to get our bearings and see what we should go and check out while we are here. Then exhausted from all that effort, we came back to the caravan park, and Kevin forced himself to have a swim in the pool, while I filled in my time with a red wine and some phone calls back home. Tomorrow we planned to check out some of the sights and sort out what cruise and which cultural tour we should take - or maybe we'd just relax (life's tough when your on holiday)!!

Day two in Kakadu started with boring stuff like washing sheets and generally cleaning up.
Today is quite windy here, and I'm hoping the washing doesnt takeoff on me while we are away soaking up the culture!!  So once the housework stuff was done, we travelled out to the cultural area to view the aboriginal people rock art paintings which included walking to the top of a lookout, where I had the strangest feeling I'd been there before. I then discovered that the Crocodile Dundee movies were filmed from this very spot - and here I was feeling there was some deep spiritual feeling I was experiencing among all this culture!!

After the walk, we then headed off to the crossing on the East Alligator River between Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land, called Cahills Crossing, to watch the tide turn and check out the crocodiles who wait at the crossing with mouths open in the hope that they score an easy fish! We spent the next hour watching a big old croc lurking in the water, watching adventurous (stupid) drivers attempting the crossing on the turn of the tide, and watching the barrumundi fishermen getting way to close for comfort to the reptiles in the river!!

We decided after the long day, we'd eat out. Kevin expended more energy with a swim, and I expended mine just watching him. Then we treated ourselves to dinner at the Bistro. Beautiful meals, but very very big - we didn't need the extra wedges that Kein had ordered!!

Day three in Kakadu. We started our day early, as with the heat, we're not sleeping well so early starts are easy. We headed out to take a boat trip on the East Alligator River. Our tour guide was an aborigine guide called Terry, who was really great.  We saw heaps of saltwater crocodiles - it was a little disconcerting when he started the tour with a safety talk that included not resting any body parts on the side of the boat or anywhere near the water. And what is it about providing us with life jackets on these boat trips? Who cares about drowning while you're being eaten??

The cruise was on the East Alligator River, which divides Kakadu National Park from Arnhem Land, allowed us to enter Arnhem Land - you have to get permission from the traditional owners. Terry then showed us how to throw spears and what they were used for. We also learned a bit about tribal justice and how traditionally they deal with those that break tribal laws - it was pretty interesting stuff.

On our return to the Caravan Park, we detoured and checked out the Uranium Mine out here at Jabiru. It was really awful to see it all happening in such an amazing place. The pit was huge and the piles of waste were mountain-high!!

By the time we reached home, Kevin was still hot, so we visited the pool, so he could cool down! Then he decided he couldn't be bothered cooking, so we settled in beside the pool with wine, a fancy chicken dish and music playing in the background. I wasn't sure at this point how I would ever return to my normal life!

Day three meant an early early start. I don't call a 4.30 start to the day much fun, but the fact that I was already awake at 3.30AM probably didn't help my mood at the beginning of the day. Anyway a quick shower helped to wake us up and before too long we hit the road to be at Cooinda Resort 50 Ks away to catch the boat for a Yellow River Boat trip. 

After our arrival and checkin for the cruise, we sat on the boat in the dark for ten minutes contemplating just how many crocs there would be lurking just under us smelling their breakfast! But before they managed to eat any of us (although the million and twenty Mosquitos had had a fair go) it was time to hit the water!  So just on sunrise we headed out, and two hours and a hundred photos later we'd had a great trip! We saw birds, crocodiles, amazing waterlillies, wetlands and more crocs!!

Then it was back to shore and back to the lineup to catch the shuttle bus back to the lodge for the big breakfast that was included -Kevin had been hanging out for this!  We ended up being in the last load for the bus and the threat of missing out on crispy bacon was almost too much for Kevin to bear! But we made it, and there was bacon to spare, so disaster was averted!!

From breakfast, we moved on to the aboriginal cultural centre, and then to Jim Jim Billabong, but we couldn't get through the water that was blocking the track, so after attempting the first water crossing we decided to give the idea up. Kevin then had a great idea that we should climb a kilometer and go to the top of Cahills Lookout! Personally I felt it wasn't one of his greatest ideas, especially when I was half way up and just about dying on the track!!  I did make it to the top however and was proud of my achievement, although I could have managed without the experience.  Day four was to be a rest day for me while Kevin went trekking in the bush. I must say after the climb to the lookout I was more than happy for him to go off walking without me!

So day four arrived and my relax day. Kevin had organized to go walking in the wilds, and I had organized to do absolutely nothing!! Bliss!!  So after packing the old boy off I'd decided to take it easy -to take it very easy in fact. Washing done, ironing done, groceries done, caravan cleaned, booked in to the next caravan park in Darwin and generally just sat about. Good for the soul and not very productive, but I felt quite relaxed at the end of it.  Kevin returned about 3 and had had a great day walking in the heat (not sure how he could have but each to his own)

So our Kakadu experience was just about over. Now it's on to Darwin and on to the next adventure.  I must say the civilisation is looking pretty good to me at the moment. There's only so much of the 'wild' a girl can take. I think I need a manicure, a pedicure, a massage, and some serious retail therapy to recover ....... But that's my next blog!!!