Up fairly early in the beautiful cool of the morning, a
quick breakfast and shower, and a view of some local water buffalo and wild
pigs on the property, and then we hit the road towards Kakadu NP. First
stop a half hour up the road was The Bark Hut Inn, for a coffee. Just as we
were leaving, Warren pulled up on his motorcycle, so we had a quick chat, and
then were back on the road (after one false start after we realised Janet had
left her handbag behind ! Luckily we had
only got about 2 kms up the road before she realised !! We entered the National Park, but the
vegetation was just the same old scrub as before – Most unimpressive. Then suddenly it changed to open wet lands –
An amazing change, and then not long afterwards all the vegetation changed to a
type of palm.
We crossed the very wide
South Alligator River – The original explorers thought the crocodiles they saw
were alligators, so named the river accordingly !! Next stop was the impressive Mamukala wet
lands, where, despite it currently being the dry season, there was an immense
diversity of plant and wildlife in the water – Unfortunately most of it being a
very long way away – You needed binocs or a strong telephoto lens to get close
to it. But an impressive sight,
nevertheless. Then it was off to the
Bawali Visitor centre to pay our park fees, and see an impressive display they
had there. Lots of interesting sights – Found out that it is the green ant that
builds their nests by weaving leaves together, a photo of which I took in
Litchfield NP a couple of days ago. Also
found out some of the names of the flowers of which I have been taking photos
over the last few days. (See pics)
Then it was back on the road heading the 30 kms or so to
Ubirr, which several friends had advised us to visit. The drive was along the edge of steep
escarpments and rock cliffs that were yet another impressive change from the
previous scenery. Then there was lunch
by the Cahill Crossing of the East Alligator River – All seemed pretty
innocuous to us as we sat beside this muddy river eating chicken
sandwiches. Then we saw a log floating
past – Wait a minute, that log has a nose.
And two eyes !! Our first wild
crocodile !! Let me just say that to see
crocs in the wild, where there is no netting or man with a big stick between
the croc and you is a WHOLE different experience. We finished our lunch and went up to the
river crossing to check it out more closely, and at this stage the river was
flowing from right to left across the ford / weir. Cars and trucks were crossing the ford
occasionally – It is Arnhem Land on the other side of the river, and you need a
pass to go there – but we slowly saw more and more crocs appearing. Within no more than 30 – 45 minutes, the
river was flowing the OTHER way as the tide came in, and by the time we left
the water was 0.5 metres deep and flowing very fast across the weir. The crocs
there to catch fish that are also trying to cross the weir, and they lie there
with their mouths open and the front legs spread wide, trying to funnel fish
into their mouths ! One croc decided he
would do better on the other side, and slithered across the weir to take up
station on the other side ! A great hour
or so of entertainment !
After that it was on to Ubirr which houses (if that is
the right word) some of the best preserved and oldest Aboriginal rock painting
in the country. Excellent viewing as one
followed the trail through the park for an hour or so, ending up on top of
these rocks from which there was a stunning view over flat wetlands in one
direction, and rocky cliff faces to the NE over Arnhem Land. We ended up at a Ranger talk about the
Rainbow Serpent and aboriginal kinship and family relationships – an excellent
and informative talk. Then, pretty hot
and sticky and thirsty by then, we headed the 50 kms back to Jabiru and checked
into the campsite for the night, to continue our explorations of Kakadu
tomorrow. Janet attended another Ranger
talk in the camp after supper, while I did the boring thing and, after washing
up and setting up the tent for the night, started to try to catch up on the
last couple of days on my blog !!
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