After the idyllic
days at Wangi Falls swimming in crystal waters we somewhat reluctantly headed north
towards Darwin. Our objective was Kakadu
National Park which these days is almost an outer suburb of Darwin. The best indication of how good an area is
comes from fellow nomads, not always grey, and a reasonable percentage had said
“Kakadu – Kakadon’t”. We were being
bombarded with photos of the adorable little Sylar and there was some
temptation to just head straight for Mackay to have a cuddle. We did resist the temptation though and found
that Kakadu had heaps to offer after all.
So up the Stuart
Highway towards Darwin we drove, took a sharp right to Humpty Doo and
Woolworths to stock up for our next adventure – no bush tucker here, just
wholesome whitepella stuff. We asked a
well-dressed lady of our age if she was a local and was the butcher better than
Woolies and she replied that she always buys at Woolies because she only eats
clean food! She also confided that
anything she can’t get in Humpty Doo is not worth having. She doesn’t even go to Darwin, which is about
50 km up the road!
Well stocked and
with a full fuel tank and gas bottles we headed east – since Adelaide it had
mostly been north. Jabiru is the most eastern end of Kakadu but there is little
to see on the way. However we found a
lovely well-watered and tree-ed Caravan Park at Mary River (no it doesn’t go
all the way to Queensland) where we lashed out for a sunset crocodile cruise,
with guide Geoff, in a 30 foot tinnie.
We would have preferred higher sides especially when the Geoff told the
story of a young couple who hired one of their little boats and were taking
photos of a Wallaby drinking at the river’s edge when a crocodile leapt out of
the water and took off its head. We saw
about five crocs (2 salties and 3 smaller freshwater) within striking distance
of the camp ground, the salties two were 4-5m long. More trepidation and a worry that the signs
suggesting we go no closer to the river edge than 5 metres probably understated
the problem.
Most people had
said there isn’t much at Jabiru and they were right but the Kakadu Tourist Park
called and we overnighted anyway. Our
aim was to head slightly north and stay in a bush camp near Ubirr rock for a
few days – that changed when we found that this is the mozzie capital of the
world – they could literally carry you away.
We spent the day travelling and looking at some really fascinating rock
paintings and climbing the surrounding rocks. Ubirr had some really beautiful
paintings and the view from the top was stunning, Nourlangie had more paintings
– equally beautiful, set in an amazing array of rock passages. We had enough time left to head for Gagadu
Resort at Cooinda where we had pre-booked a couple of nights with sunrise and
sunset wetland cruises included.
People had raved
about this place and we were not disappointed.
A beautiful resort with two stunning pools and a bar/bistro – much
better than the dusty bush camp, even though the mozzies were still thick.
The sunrise
cruise left the jetty at 6:45 with the morning mist still shrouding the river surroundings,
moisture dripping off every leaf. It’s
little wonder that the mozzies like the place.
The two hour cruise started with a warning that crocs can lift
themselves out of the water past their back legs. No comfort in that when it would allow them
to join us in the seats. Lucky the boat
was full so they wouldn’t have fitted.
For two rapturous hours we cruised the South Alligator River (misnamed
by an early explorer for the large number of crocodiles which he mistakenly
called Alligators, having just arrived from the Americas) and the extensive
surrounding wetlands. We were up close
and personal with about a dozen crocodiles and a vast array of birds, sea
eagles (go Manly), jabirus, kingfishers, whistling ducks, cormorants, darters,
jacanas, egrets, ibis, herons, Nankeen night herons, and the ubiquitous magpie
geese to name just a few.
Ray took over 700
photos in 2 hours and the afternoon cruise was equally stunning, yielding about
600. The remainder of the day was spent
sorting and culling down to 500, only 25 of which are included here. The piece
de resistance for the afternoon cruise was finding a large water buffalo and
getting him close to the side of the boat.
Ray shot him about twenty times and the two shots included here indicate
that he probably didn’t appreciate the invasion of his privacy. The morning
cruise also included a buffet breakfast and we will say no more in case Ray’s
cardiac specialist gets to read this.
We were a little
deflated to leave Cooinda after such an exciting two days that really had made
Kakadu for us and we headed south for the start of the long trip back to Mackay
and then home in early December.
There were other
hidden delights in Kakadu but for many of these it is necessary to have
4WD. No doubt our trusty Ford could have
made it down some of these tracks, but it really doesn’t like corrugations - and neither do we.
Travelling
through Pine Creek we made a very special find – Maysie’s Café. We had a real
old-style lunch; salad sandwich on white bread (for Sally) and fish burger for
Ray. The salad was fresh and crisp, the
place clean as a new pin. The chocolate
milk shake was in keeping with the statues of James Dean and Kylie Minogue? and
the hundreds of old pictures of movie stars on the walls.
We overnighted
last night at a roadside stop, peaceful enough once you manage to shut out the
noise of the road trains. On our way out
this morning we stopped just short of Mataranka to sample the delights of
Bitter Creek. It’s another hot spring,
smaller than that at Mataranka, but with a gentle flow downstream to a
bridge. There’s a ladder to climb out at
this point, but it is possible to swim back upstream – just a lot of effort, so
most people walk back along the trail and do it all again. The stream is quite narrow but lined with
thick bush and pandanus, and the orb spiders make their webs across the narrow
parts of the stream, so it’s head down at that point so as not to disturb their
carefully constructed webs.
Tonight the NT
(not to be confused with the Tasmanian) culinary trail continues at the Daly
Waters pub. The campground is dusty but
shaded and has power and water. The pub
is the most incredible place (see photo last blog) and the menu tonight is
Barra on the Barbie with salad.
Happy hour starts
shortly so we’ll away and enjoy our first evening out for quite some time.
PostScript - Daly Waters Pub lived up to its reputation, with a wonderful Barramundi meal, well cooked, and fresh caught. The second surprise was the wonderful music provided by 3 different groups, 3 different styles, and we ended up dancing for an hour or so to the old rock and roll we used to know. Good food, good wine and a jolly good time was had by all.
Now on our way to Tennant Creek and our next Turn Left - for Mackay and ultimately, home!
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