Whilst packing up and eating breakfast, we were surrounded by a flock of white cockatoos, screeching and squawking as they fossicked for food right beside us. We then drove into town, visited the famous Crocodile shaped hotel where they have some great aboriginal art and displays, before heading to the local supermarket to stock up on a few supplies. Then down to the bakery for some fresh bread and something to munch on (!!) before heading out to the Ranger Uranium Mine which we had been told was worth a look and even did tours. However we found the tours had been stopped a couple of years ago so just did a drive around the little bit we could – The size of the operation is immense. Obviously a political hot potato as well, and often in the news, so good to get a quick look.
From there it was off to Nourlangie where there are great walks through the rocks, with a lot of Aboriginal rock paintings. Very interesting, and we got there at the right time before it got too warm. In the car park we spotted a couple of black cockatoos – One red, one yellow (tail feather colours). These are quite rare, so we enjoyed their company for some 10 minutes or so as they ate their breakfast of nuts in the trees above us. We also found our first “populated” termites nest ! All the ones we have seen so far seem to be abandoned, but this one was alive and well, with termites hard at work doing whatever termites do !!
Then it was off to the Anbangbang Billabong – A large wetland area with lots of birds and ducks and other wildlife. Including one croc, lying on the bank only a few feet from the foot path !! Janet turned back after a while as her knee was hurting, but I carried on around the entire lake, keeping a VERY wary eye out for other scaly monsters ! Didn’t see any more, but as we are learning with crocs, it is when you CAN’T see them that you need to be careful, because they ARE there somewhere !!
From there we headed to our next campsite at Cooinda (aka Yellow Waters), a bit early but this was where we wanted to go out on a sunset wetlands boat ride, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out. Lovely camp site, so after booking our boat ride we got set up, and by the time we had chatted to some neighbours for a while, it was time to head for the boat. Once we had boarded, we hadn’t gone 50 yards before we pulled into the bank, right along side our first 2 crocs. We could almost reach out and touch them, and as I have said before, seeing them in the wild like this really is very special. From there on, it was wildlife all the way – Eagles, storks, kingfishers, all sorts of ducks, mostly “whistling ducks” we were told, shags drying their wings, beautiful Lotus (!!!) plants, and of course crocs all over the place. One even tried to collide with our boat - he just would not deviate from his course !!! Finally we saw what was probably the highlight of the cruise – A Jabiru stork which just could not care that were right beside him, and for about 10 minutes just went patiently about his fishing. Unfortunately for us (and him) without success. Suddenly, right beside the Jabiru, we spotted a croc lying there partially submerged !! Was he waiting for us ? Or the Jabiru ? !!
As the sun went down with magnificent colours over the wetlands, we returned to the dock after a truly amazing couple of hours. Out of interest, you will see a photo of the dock with people standing on it, and the two tall white poles which keep the dock in position in the water. Well, just to give you an idea, in the wet season, the water here will be at the top of these poles, so about 12-15 feet higher than currently !! When we got back to the campsite we had a cool beer in the bar, and then decided that the fresh grilled barramundi on the menu looked much better than cooking up something in the van, so stayed in the bar and enjoyed a lovely meal. Fresh barramundi really is superb.
And so to bed, to get some sleep so we can face another tough day of playing the tourist in Kakadu !!
Pics :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0040JabiruToCooinda?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_-s8TDtP7YHA#
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