KAKADU NATIONAL PARK

We headed into Palmerston to see a dentist but he said there wasn’t enough time to fix JJ’s tooth & to come back Thursday. She said no; we’re going to Kakadu! So off to Woolies to buy some supplies then a real cup of coffee (not like that crap in Singapore) and then to Kakadu.
 

We stopped at a freebie about 30k’s along the Kakadu highway for the night and when we pulled up, a bloke from Wynnum came over & gave us 2 Kakadu passes that had been given to him. Saved us $50! It’s normally $25 each for a park pass & $10 per person at most campgrounds; unpowered – not a cheap park to visit. We exchanged info on Darwin & Litchfield while he told us about Kakadu then sat & watched the sunset before we killed a few thousand mozzies & off to bed.

Today we go to Kakadu but first a cruise up the Adelaide River to see the Jumping Crocodiles. Sounds a bit corny  I know but it was a really good morning. As soon as we left the jetty there was a croc swimming by. There were heaps of crocs; big ones & little ones, even a baby one and these are salties. Most of the crocs we've seen before were freshies which don't harm you unless they're cornered but salties are nasty. There was a woman at the front of the boat holding a pole over the water & she’d get them to jump for meat tied to a rope at the end of the pole. They can jump up to 2 metres & boy did she have them jumping! It was pretty impressive.

 

They’re all wild but they see some of them regularly & there’s this one croc they call Stumpy & he’s got no lower back leg. The guy was telling us how scientists are testing crocodile’s blood because they can lose a limb & they don’t bleed to death; they can shut off the flow & they also never get infections. They’re hoping to find out how & then use the knowledge on humans. Pretty amazing hey? He gave a really interesting commentary all the way; he was almost as enthusiastic as Steve Irwin! Then we came across a white bellied sea eagle sitting in a tree & she threw meat up & it caught it. Do you know that you’re not allowed to call birds white ‘breasted’ anymore? It offensive! They have to be called ‘bellied’ now. How ridiculous is being politically correct getting? As we cruised along there were dozens of whistling kites flying around and the woman threw meat up in the air for them to catch. It was a very enjoyable cruise & well worth the cost.

 

From there we went to the Wetlands Centre where we saw a buffalo farm then watched a video on Kakadu, had another crap cup of coffee & headed off into the ‘wild’.
 

We decided to turn off the highway & head to a lookout overlooking the Mary River wetlands. After 45kms of pretty rough gravel we ended up at an overgrown area where if we stood on top of the car we could see some of the wetlands. A bit of a waste of time & fuel. But if you never never go, you never never know. This was one of those. Plus the van filled with dust. It wasn’t until we stopped that we realised the front window wasn’t closed properly. What a mess!
 

Back to the highway where we finally entered Kakadu National Park. First stop the Mamukala Wetlands centre which is built over a billabong full of water lilies & other plants. Very pretty.
 

We headed out to Ubirr where we stopped at the campground for the night. Ubirr is right on the border of Kakadu & Arnhem Land. The drive out was beautiful with lots of creek crossings. There were indigenous families playing in the water along the way. Dad would be standing there fishing while Mum sits & watches the kids. My only thought was 'What about the crocs?' but it doesn't seem to worry them; I guess they're used to them.

What a night; mosquitoes by the millions. It was like sleeping next to a jet engine; it didn’t stop all night and as we packed up the van to leave this morning it was completely covered with mozzies. I left the roof up as we drove off to try & blow the little buggers off the top.
 

Next we did the walk around Ubirr to see some ancient rock art & then climbed up onto the top of Ubirr rock to look out over the wetlands & Arnhem Land. What a view; absolutely beautiful.

There was a ranger telling an Aboriginal dreamtime story that was really interesting too.

 After that we did a walk around  some ancient sandstone formations & then we headed into Jabiru to ask about scenic flights. Jabiru is the only town in Kakadu & it's pretty small; mostly accommodation & a few shops. There's also a Uranium mine on the outskirts.  Jim Jim falls still aren’t open after the wet & you can’t get to Twin Falls & we'd really like to see them both so we've booked a flight for tomorrow.