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Kakadu National Park
8th September 2008
Kakadu Car Kilometers: 175,434
Distance Travelled: 662km
Total Distance Travelled: 7183km
After a few days in Darwin, where we caught up on all the mundane things that we can't escape even when travelling the world, we were ready to head to Kakadu National Park.Kakadu National Park had been on our itinerary for a long time. It is classed as a highlight of Australia in the Lonely Planet (a sure sign of approval as you will know), and to back up the knowledge of the Lonely Planet it has also been classified as a world heritage site. I had been asked in Perth if we planned to head into Kakadu and at that time I must admit that apart from the facts above neither of us knew that much about it but as we had started the drive up North and the crossover into the Northern Territory we had read more about it and by this point we were really looking forward to visiting. Initially we planned to head into Kakadu on our way up to Darwin but pretty much at the last minute we decided to delay. This wasn't because we didn't want to go there but more down to the fact that it had been quite a quick intensive run up to that point and we realised that we would enjoy it more after a few days rest.
We left the Caravan Park in Darwin all stocked up with food and water and headed off on the relatively short run into the park pausing briefly on the way to get a quick photo of the sensibly named town of Humpty Doo between Darwin and Kakadu.
Kakadu National Park is the largest national park in Australia and covers hundreds of square kilometres offorest, bush land, mountains and numerous sights of rock art spanning over 20,000 years. We had read the book and picked up a Kakadu Visitors Guide from Darwin Visitors Centre and decided the areas we were going to try and visit. Unfortunately there were a few sections that sounded really impressive in the guide book but they were only accessible to a 4x4 so they had to be left for another day. It did still leave a number of sights that could be accessed by a normal car although not all of them had sealed roads.
We started off by visiting the Gungarre Billabong. This was a large Billabong surrounded by Monsoon Forest. There was a 3km walk around but we were happy walking along the water's edge for a few minutes rather than the full walk. We were reminded about the possibility of Crocodiles so decided that we would stay a few metres away from the waters edge. It was very pretty and the Lilies & the lines of ducks waiting to start swimming were a good introduction to the beauty of Kakadu. We didn't see any Crocs at this point but we did see a cheeky Cockatoo having a drink from a sprinkler. I accept this may not be quite as exciting as a wild, man eating saltwater crocodile but in our defence it was an isolated spot with no one else around. We were happy with our wildlife encounter for that area.
The next stop was only another 7km along the road and was the Mamukala Wetlands. We found a platform built to look out over the wetlands and were amazed by the amount of life. The wetland area was similar in appearance to the billabong but on a much larger scale. This time though there was so much more than a few ducks and a cheeky Cockatoo. All around the wetlands there were Magpie Geese congregating to feed complimented by numerous stalks and cranes and other ducks and water birds (sorry I can't be more specific). Once again a beautiful sight.
From there we continued along the Arnhem Highway and on reaching the main township of the park, Jabiru, and a visit to the Bowali Visitor Centre we drove towards the area of Ubir, generallyaccepted as possibly the main highlight of a visit to Kakadu and certainly one of the most popular (judging by the amount of tour buses in the car park). We found the Merl Camp Ground and pitched up on a spot where the forest and bush was so thick you couldn't see anyone else in the park. It was strange to not be on a manned park and we were both a bit reluctant to leave the tent but we settled by not leaving anything with the tent so that if anyone did help themselves they would only have that. I also decided that I wouldn't leave the bag that the tent fits in. I am not sure why but I had the amusing thought of somebody stealing a tent but running down the road flapping in the wind.
Before we got to Ubir we stopped at another area called Cahill's Crossing. This is a causeway across the East Alligator River and one of the few crossing points across into the Arnhem Land on the other side of the river. Arnhem Land is managed by the traditional Owners, the Mungguy Aboriginal community and you have to request a permit to enter the land. Anyway, we parked up and walked the few metres to the crossing, passing a small bushfire area which was still smouldering, and two or three warning signs again relating to the Crocodiles. This time they were a little more specific about not fishing by standing on the causeway and that the Crocodiles had been known to take people while they were doing it. As we made it round the corner to an area overlooking the crossing we saw two things. The first was a Saltwater Crocodile in the river sitting about 50m or so downriver from the causeway.Amazingly the second thing we saw were at least two people standing on the causeway knee, deep in water, fishing. After our recent visit to the Crocodile Park in Darwin we knew all about the speed in which Crocs can move, and the fact that they only need a few inches of water to hide in, but no one seemed worried by the 4m crocodile looking on. After seeing the Crocs in the park it was good to see them in the wild. It was even better to be seeing them from a safe platform rather than any closer. This was close enough for us.
Ubir was busy with a combination of self drivers like us and tour groups all heading there for the climb to the summit in time for sunset.Apart from the crowds the walk to the top was spectacular in the fact that it passed a number of rock art sites including paintings of Kangaroos, tortoises and fish painted as if in X ray showing all the bones. These are reputed to be from a period around 8000 years ago which made the English history us Pommies are so proud of seem like recent events.There was also one area of painting that, even now with modern cherry pickers, seemed to be in an impossible place to reach! The final climb lead up to Nardab Lookout rewarded us with a 360 degree view around the floodplains with rocky crags jutting up and unspoiled country for miles around. You really begin to understand why this is a sacred area to the Aboriginals.We watched the sunset and scrambled back down to the car. By this time we were tired as it had been a long and hot day and we were both ready to stop and relax for a bit before going to sleep.
Unfortunately the Mosquitos had a different idea. As I said before, the campground was in a pretty dense forest area and (we hadn't put these together at this point) close to large wetland areas. Combine this with the heat & humidity and you get mosquito heaven. As soon as we got out of the car we noticed (and heard them) buzzing around and the familiar whine of a close by mosquito became a constant sound for the next few hours. Jemma described it as like a mini Formula 1 car constantly buzzing around your head. Even with the Citronella burning and doused in repellent they were still so keen that any attempt a cooking was abandoned due to the dangerous combination of hot water and insect slapping and it was decided that sleep and an early start was probably a better option. This was again not so simple. A couple of our little friends managed to get into the sleeping area but we managed to dispatch these with some wild arm flailing and body slapping, but even when these had been controlled the sound of them doing a dive bomb routine against the fly screen on the tent was a bit off putting to say the least. I had visions of them forming attack squadrons and bouncing off the mosquito net just close to our heads. We could have closed the outer door rather than just sleeping with the fly screen but here comes the next problem. The temperature was around the mid to high twenty degrees during the night. This combined with a humidity of around 90% or so and a tent without the benefit of air conditioning lead to an uncomfortable and broken sleep and we were both almost relieved to be able to get up and move on in the morning.
Neither of us are afraid to rough it a bit but in the morning we were both tempted to head back out to civilisation as soon as possible. By the time we had showered and had a bit of food we both agreed that it would be a shame to be in such a spectacular area and not see a little more of it. We agreed at this point to have another day in Kakadu but then drive the extra hour or so and drive back to Katherine that night rather than staying in the national park again.
That decided we packed up and enjoyed the wonder of auto air conditioning once more while heading over to the Nourlange area. This area is known as "Kakadu's best known collection of Rock Art" and didn't disappoint. For a start the whole area is surrounded by, and is in fact part of, large rock escarpments and cliffs that border the Arnhem Land. This has resulted in caves and creeks that are shaded and breezy despite the temperature and humidity outside.The ranger talk at Anbangbang rock shelter described the way of life in these caves and shelters for the aboriginal people. The site had been used for approximately 10-15,000 years and it was incredible to think that until just over 200 years ago it was still used in the same way.The rock art was incredibly detailed, my favourites being the party scene and the sprit who apparently eats females after striking them with a yam! We finished in this area by walking to the Gunwarddehwarde lookout and some more amazing views of the Arnhem Land escarpment.
The last stop in Kakadu was Yellow Water. This was another wetlands area and was supposed to be one of the best places to see crocodiles. Unfortunately they all obviously had other things on that day so apart from a few more birds there was not a lot going on here. Still, it was another pretty place and worth stopping despite the lack of Crocs.
Katherine was about one and a half hours drive from Yellow Water so we agreed again that, tempting as it was, the thought of another night constantly doing the mosquito dance was not something we were going to do and we got on the road. We checked back into the Gumtree Caravan Park and enjoyed a relatively bug free night.
The last time we were in Katherine we visited the hot springs but decided against swimming.As, a little unexpectedly, we were back we decided that an early morning swim would be something different. Generally an early morning is not that common but I refer more to the swim! We got to the hot springs for about 7.30am and I took the plunge. It was gorgeous warm crystal clear water but I didn't tell Jemma how warm it was. It was really funny to see her face as she lowered herself into what she expected to be cold water and then found it was like a warm bath. We only had about half an hour in the springs before we needed to get back and pack up and within another hour or so we were on the road again for the long drive down to Tennant Creek in proper outback Australia.
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