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We woke to a glorious Darwin sunrise. Both the sunrises and sunsets his far north take a long time - another cloudless sky in the Territory!
Leigh went for a walk with Spencer and picked up some brekkie while we we're packing. Duncs picked us up in Papi Petes truck and drove us to the Camper an place (apollo) to pick up our Campervan.
The Campercan is a huge Mercedes "house on wheels" - spencer and I did the 30 min orientation and then we were in our way back into the Darwin CBD to pick up Leigh and Eleanor and Campbell. The van takes a bit of getting used to but allowing for the wife turns she's not too bad to handle. We provisioned at Woolies and got some booze (Kakadu'a dry) and then met Duncs and Bin in the outskirts of Darwin and we were then on our way to Kakadu.
On the way we stopped off at the Windows on the wetlands which was an interesting place - our first glimpse at the vast expanse of the Northern Territory.
We drove on for another hour or so and then entered Kakadu national park. The scenery once you enter the park isn't that spectacular however it's a slow burn - it grows on you.
The kids and parents were getting peckish so we stopped at a picnic place on the side of the road. The great thing about having the campervan is that it's al with you, your kitchen and your beds. Leigh made us a yummy lunch and we took some photos by the Kakadu sign.
We drove on for another hour to Jabiru. Jabiru is the only "real" town in Kakadu. We are staying in the Kakadu lodge caravan park which is very nice - a lovely swimming pool - lots of space and lots of grey nomads. Unfortunately Papi Petes truck has some beehive issues so while Duncs was sorting them out we had a swim and the BBQ' some dinner and had a great evening under the stars.
The next morning I was a little dusty. By then Duncs had worked out that the truck needed some serious repairs and needed to be towed back to Darwin to be fixed.
So while Duncs was waiting for the tow truck we drove to the Nourlangie rock art.
The rock art here is amazing. We walked around a 1.5 km loop, into different rock caves. It was amazing to see the different paintings and learn about the various periods - dating back to 20,000 years ago. The picture of Lightning man and the BulwinBulwin were spectacular. You can imagine families living here in a tribe, hunting and eating. It's a very spiritual place. It was getting hot and the kids restless so we drove back to camp for lunch and a rest.
Later that afternoon we drove to Ubiir to see the rock art. On the way we drove to Cahills crossing. Cahills crossing is a tidal roadway into Arnhem Land that is covered with water flowing from the east alligator river. At a low tide the fish get "trapped" on the causeway and get eaten byvthe waiting crocs. We didn't see any crocs but did see a 4wd that had overestimated the speed of the river and had been washed into the river- scary stuff.
We drove on to Ubiir. Like the other sites Ubiir is in the Stone country that borders the flood plain. The rock art here was also spectacular - especially the gallery where all the different types of food were drawn - barramundi, cheeky mullet, title etc. it was great to hear the ranger speak about the rock art and the special mini spirits that come out at night and do their own rock art.
We kept walking up to the lookout over the floodplain. It is amazing and with the light slowly fading as the sunset a particularly photogenic one. We watched the sunset with the rest of the tourist and then hurried back to the campervan to beat the mozzies.
We drove back to Jabiru in the dark, arrived back at camp and had Duncs chickens curry and rice for dinner. It had been a long day so a couple of games of UNO and we were off to bed.
The next morning we learned that Duncs truck would be fixed quickly so we be able to reconnect at Cooinda. I made some egg and bacon wraps and then Rohan and I rode bikes into town to get some more water. We packed up camp and with Toby with us we drove south toward Cooinda.
On the way we stopped out at Murritt lookout however it was a longer walk then we'd planned so we drove on to Jim Jim billabong. Once we got off the Tarmac the corrugations on the road were bone shaking! We could only drive about 20kms an hour - luckily it was only 3kms! The Jim Jim billabong is beautiful but full of crocs so we were very careful not to get too close to the edge. We had a bit of a walk and then drove on to the Waradjin cultural centre. This is very well done and explained a lot about the local tribes and their relationship with the land and food.
We drove into our campsite at Cooinda. Cooinda is the base for the yellow water cruises - its fairly busy. We checked in. And after a bit of an issue with The air conditioner - (which we fixed). We lounges by the big pool and waited for duncs and Bin to arrive from Jabiru.
The pool at Cooinda is very large and billabong like. We enjoyed chillaxing around it with the other families and tourists. Duncs and Bin arrived around 5pm and set up camp - we were back on track - the truck just had a dodgy sealant ring fitted by the mechanic- it as now fixed and they were ready to continue.
We had a couple of drinks in the Barra Bar and then I made pizzas in the Campervan oven. It was a tricky oven and I don't think the pizzas were my best but they were tasty nonetheless. We sat around chatting for a while but had an early night as we had to be up very early for our yellow waters cruise the next morning.
The iPhone alarm woke us at 5:40 and we quickly dressed in the dark dawn and then boarded the bus to the wharf. There were about 120 people all doing the early cruise this morning. We boarded the boat at the front and waited to depart while the mozzies had their breakfast on us.
Our Tour guide Adam took us out into the billabong of the east alligator river as the sun slowly rose. Words are very hard to describe the sheer beauty of Kakadu in the morning - it was peaceful, stunning, alive and spiritual all at once. We cruised slowly along the water seeing all trypea of amazing birds - an azure kingfisher, spotted herons, magpie geese, whistling ducks, brolgas and an amazing Jabiru - huge and beautiful flying away. It wasn't long before we saw a dark black mass swimming toward us - a croc! A 5m beauty - gliding slowly past the boat - no more than a couple of meters from the boat. Such an amazing animal - so dangerous yet so serene. A spellbinding sight.
We continued on into the billabong, seeing jacanas and their little baby's walking on the water Lilly leaves. We saw a large Sea eagle off in the distance. It was all just stunning.
Our two hour cruise was coming to an end so we slowly motored back to the wharf - what an experience! A highlight of the trip!
We were busses back to the Cooinda lodge where we had a large yummy buffet breakfast. We packed up camp and got on the road to Pine Creek.
About and an hour or so from Cooinda are the Gunlom Falls. This is only accessible with a 4wd so we drove our Campervan approx 12 kms down the corrugated roads - this was a long 12 kms as the campervan shook wildly. We parked the campervan in the campsite beside the road and then Duncs ferried us in the 4wd.
We arrived at Gunlom and started the long uphill trek up to the Gunlom pools above the waterfall. It was a tough walk but it was worth it when we saw the beautiful "infinity" pools at the top. We waded in- the rocks were slippery and worn smooth by the rushing water during the wet season. The kids had a blast - swimming into the different pools. The views were stunning over the expanse of Kakadu. We walked up to the top pool which was larger and deeper. We all swam up through the narrate chasm with high cliffs either side - it was a spectacular sight. It would be amazing to see in the wet season - we will have to come back and do an aerial tour!
A large group of high school students had arrived at the lower pool - taking away some of the serenity so we walked back down the steep hill and duncs ferried us back to the Campervan. We drove on for another hour or so to Pine Creek.
We were staying in the Lazy Lizard caravan park in Pine Creek - its a quirky place but a fun and interesting over night stay. We'd had enough of camp cooking so we treated ourselves with dinner in the Lazy lizard pub. It was schmiddy night too! - I had a delicious schmiddy with mushrooms.
It had been a long day so we were off to bed!
The next day dawned sunny and warm - big black bats in the trees around the campsite. A quick coffee and brekkie and we were on the road to Litchfield.
We drove for an hour of so and then popped into the Adelaide River inn for a drink. It's a great pub with Jock the Croc and a stuffed water buffalo in the pub. We refuels then drove on through Batchelor and into Litchfield National Park. We stopped by the termite mounds - very interesting magnetic ones which are thin and shark fin like on the plains.
We then drove into Florence falls - a beautiful walk along the Florence river - amazing all the different vegetation in such a close area. At the end of the walk we're found the plunge pool and then falls - stunning! We swam out to the waterfall - amazing to swim behind the waterfall in the cool clear water. We swam around for a bit taking photos and videos on the GoPro. The kids had a ball playing with the rocks in the stream. We walked back along the shady creek track (we saw a snake on the way) to where duncs had made a BBQ. We cooked some sausage and had a yummy picnic lunch by the river. It was a very special place.
We drove on for another twenty minutes to our overnight campground at the Litchfield Safari park. We set up camp and the kids played. That evening we had deconstructed sushi which was yummy. A couple of games of adult quirkle while the kids watched a movie and then we were off to bed - our last day in NT tomorrow.
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