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| Lots of legs reveal Dad protecting these chicks, Comb Crested Jacana, aka Lotusbird |
It is easy to forget how big Australia is. Our flight from Sydney to Darwin will take around 5 hours so similiar to crossing the US from the East to the West Coasts. Once we land, we get our stuff and our rental car and Jeff practices driving on the wrong side of the road for a minute and we are off. We are ultimately heading for the Kakadu National Park, but want to pick up some provisions first so we are stopping at a shopping mall/center with a grocery store. We are heading out to a big land of nothingness and it is hot like a southern US summer day so humid too. The Aussies recommend 3 liters of water per person per day, we won't do that much but we do buy water and some fruit and granola bars for snacks. Now we are off. Off down a long straight 2 lane road for 3 hours till we hit the large thriving metropolis of Jabiru.
When we told Cierra we were returning to Australia she looked at us like we were crazy. Seems she remembers well how many things can kill or maim you here from plants to animals. Jeff did try and do me in a couple of times in Kakadu, but I am sitting in Darwin now writing this so obviously he failed both times!
A little background for you:
Kakadu National Park is a huge World Heritage listed park in the "Top End" of Australia's Northern Territory. It has vast wetlands, rugged limestone gorges, ancient sandstone escarpments with great views and rock art. Add all the wildlife that is here to the pot too: crocodiles and millions of migratory birds.
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| Image credit goes to Natural World Heritage Sites |
Jabiru is the main town in the park and maybe 1,000 people live there. The town was built for a now closed, huge uranium mine (largest ore deposit or one of largest in the world). Jabiru is also the local name for a bird - the black stork. The indigenous people were against the mines. They felt and still do that a mine hurts the country and that the local gods would not be happy thus causing problems. It was pointed out to us that the uranium used in the Japanese Power Plant that failed during the tsunami was from that mine.
Arnhem Region is indigenous people owned land adjacent to the park that cannot be entered without their written permission and only accessible in the dry season. It's roughly the size of Iceland. Often in the park you see reference that the Park is on indigenous land, but there is an agreement anyone can visit, not so in Arnhem.
What we did:
We spent 2 nights in the Crocodile Hotel in Jabiru. The hotel is built in the shape of a female crocodile. Happily, there are no crocodiles at the hotel. One of the snacks we bought became our lunch so we are ready for an early dinner which we eat at the hotel because honestly, I don't know where else we could have gone! We wander towards the reception area after dinner to look at some artwork. As we walk past a door to the outside, I hear a loud, horrible screaming type of noise which unsettled me a bit. Yes I know I am out in the wilderness but no one said anything about any dangers outside my door (that was last year on safari). We make our way up to the second floor (motel style so outside) and then learn that the nearby trees are now covered with hundreds of birds mostly white macaws. That is the sound I heard and would hear most of the night. The next morning the ground in that area is covered in white feathers.
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| Crocodile Hotel |
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| Two of the multitude that made such a racket |
Survived the birds and now onto our full day tour which clueless Carol knew as a culture tour no danger there, right? We are doing the 4wd Arnhemland culture tour. In reality it was a little bit adventure and a big dose
of culture. We visited several ancient
rock art sites, the vast flood plain, the Injalak Arts Centre in the town of
Gunbalayna but one of the first things we needed to do was make a river crossing
before the tide waters got too high for our vehicle. It was cool to see as we crossed it and then
we pulled over to look back at it and talk.
Only then did I realize that once again Jeff had failed to kill me. We had just crossed Cahills Crossing which is
infamous in Australia. During certain
seasons of the year there will be big crocodiles on one side waiting for barramundi
fish who are going upstream to spawn. No
crocs on the day we crossed it twice. As
we stood around talking – appropriate distance from river I learned about the
crocs and some specifics of the area.
When we crossed the river we went from Kakadu National Park to the
Arnhemland which is owned by the local aboriginal tribe. Our tour was doable because a local owned the
company. Everyday folks would have to put
a lot of paperwork in to even hope to visit.
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| Aussies often hear tales of the dangers of Cahill's Crossing |
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| Our crossing was like this vehicle that came shortly after us |
From there we visited a couple of ancient rock art sites and
learned some things about them. We saw
one that was close to an ancient trail that had pictures of barramundi, catfish
and mullet. This would have told the
travelers what type of food was abundant in the area. Later
in the day we would see one with a spirit that was described as the boogie
man. We also saw one of a kangaroo which
probably does not sound like a big deal
except that it has been thousands of years since kangaroos have been in this
part of Australia.
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this is 3 fish, barramundi on left mullet with head cut off and catfish
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| spirit or the "boogie man" |
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| more recent art because it was in blue paint and a white man's ship. Blue was from the missionaries who used it to clean their white clothing |
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Only top half of Kangaroo remains, very old has they haven't been here for thousands of years
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The
area is quite pretty. We had rock walls on one side and a big open flood plain
on the other side that was still somewhat flooded since the rains have only
recently ended. This flood plain is
important because millions of birds from all over Asia come to this area as
part of their migratory patterns. We saw
a jabiru, magpie geese, and lots of other birds and some new animals such as a monitor
lizard. I
have to talk about the jabiru for a minute.
Our guide, Nic, told us that they are one of the only birds that
crocodiles are afraid of. Seems these
birds love to eat young crocs plus their beaks are so hard that they can break
through a skull. The rock wall is the escarpment and calling it a rock wall is a
little misleading. Seems the escarpment was much taller thousands of years ago. They have shrunk because they are from
sandstone.
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floodplains - we saw a lot of water lilies | | our ride for the day |
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| Escarpments |
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| Monitor Lizard |
At lunchtime we went to the town of Gunbalayna which is a major
town in the area. It is a very self-sufficient
town and has to be since for 4 months of a year it is surrounded by flood
waters thus cutting it off from the outside world. We stopped at a billabong for lunch. A billabong is a watering hole/spot that during
the wet season is part of a greater body of water but when the dry season
comes it is a standalone body. Here the
locals often fish and we saw a couple of crocodiles. Then we had a nice lunch of Thai food only to
learn that the town is known for its beef.
Seems they have their own herd of cattle, and it is well- known – Jeff had a
filet the night before that advertised it was from there.
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| by the way, that is all flooded land in the picture as it is the billabong |
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| first crocodile of the trip |
Then we visited the local arts center, Injalak, which supports
400 members of the 1500 residents of the town.
There was a wide variety of art such as paintings, weaving, and fabric
painting. All of it was quite nice. Then we would head back towards Kakadu with a
couple of stops. Unfortunately, in 90-degree
weather the AC went out on the van and there were no operable windows just 2
small vents. I think we made a couple of
extra stops so we could all step out in the “cool air that had a breeze.”
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| Nic our guide talking about the kangaroo painting on the rock wall - how they try and do carbon dating by finding tools from the correct time period |
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| notice the rock art on the wall behind us |
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| Sacred site regarding angled stone at top |
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| Those are spear tips on the wall. Not that long ago if a young warrior was able to throw a spear and have it stick up high in the wall then he got a wife. This is like 80 feet up a rock |
Again, we ate dinner at the hotel and again after dark the birds were there loud as can be. The next morning we eat a little leisurely and then head to the airport for a scenic flight. We had booked a flight to fly over the park and see some of
the sites from there. Sounded like a nice idea and it was but had to wonder
in the beginning. It was us and 3 other
passengers in an older airplane. The
plane did not want to start repeatedly; Jeff and I exchanged looks. After several false starts it was working, and
we were off to explore. This airport was originally built to support the miners.
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| our plane |
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| Wetlands that will soon be dry |
After the plane ride, we went back to town to check out the
local grocery store and the Marrawuddi
Arts Center. We visited this small
center to check its art out too. We saw
a couple of fiber arts we liked but agreed there was no space for them at home. Although Jeff really did consider a spear for
future HOA meetings – you will accept my budget!
Then on to a park visitor center to ask about the 2 rock art
sites we were interested in. Good to go
with one of them so off we went. We were headed for the Nourlangie Rock Art
Site. I commented how few other people
we saw and how it would never be that way in a US National Park. We agreed it is shoulder season but still rather
empty. There were just a handful of cars
at the Nourlangie rock art site, but plenty of warning signs about the heat
(southern US summer weather hot and humid).
We really enjoyed the art here and the views we were able to see from a
slight hill.
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| Canoe at park site |
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| Kangaroo |
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| Spirit to protect the area |
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| Cave through the hill |
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| view from Nourlangie look out site |
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| While all natural, the stone looked like some from an old construction site; blacktop with small stones in it. |
Finally, we went to the Warradjan Cultural Centre which was
quite nice. It was more of museum than a
cultural center and explained local animals, locals' beliefs and some
interesting quotes. We changed hotels or should I say accommodations for the last night in the park. We went to the Cooinda Lodge and caravan park. There was a variety of camping options up to individual cabins in the "lodge" which we had one. We stayed there so we could do the daybreak river cruise in the morning which has buses that depart from here. Thus, we were close to the Yellow Water Billabong. We are so close that Jeff realizes that these cabins have been built to survive flooding. The beds could easily be rolled out, all electrical outlets are at least tabletop height, nightstands and other surfaces don't stand on the floor but are attached to the wall, the air conditioner is elevated, and the buildings are concrete block with concrete floors. We learn on our morning boat ride that yes, they do flood and in fact one flood must have come up fast and bad because everyone had to retreat to the roofs and wait for helicopter evacuation. No such problems for us.
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| Crocodile in the yellow river - saltwater crocs can live in fresh water too. The ones here get stained dark brown from the tannins from the paper bark trees |
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| Plume tailed whistling ducks. We wish we had filmed this. There are so, so, so many of them and they spook easily. Which means they all take off at once. So many birds leaving at once that you can hear the wings and feel the wind they create. Amazing |
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| Sunrise and yes Carol was up and took the photo our tour started at 6:45am |
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| Sunrise peaking under the mangroves |
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| White-bellied Sea Eagle of which we saw several |
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| another croc |
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| Bush Thick-knee |
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| Pied Heron |
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| Plumed Egret |
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| Nankeen Night Herron |
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| Black-necked Stork or Jabiru |
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Great Egret
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| Royal Spoonbill |
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| Australasian Darter |
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Comb Crested Jacana - notice the size of their feet!
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| Note the two chicks |
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| do you see the crocodile? |
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Crimson Finch
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| While we did a scenic cruise, you can also do fishing expeditions, and this guy caught a barramundi |
After our river cruise, we were leaving the park but only after one more stop. It was out of the way, but everyone said this was THE place for the rock art so off to Ubirr we went. Its rock art is very extensive in fact it is one of the reasons Kakadu was named a World Heritage site. The main gallery contains "x-ray" art plus art that is so high up it is hard to understand how it was ever painted. Most of the surviving rock art was painted under overhangs or even on roofs/ceilings of rock so that the elements have not wiped them out. There are several important pieces including one of a Tasmanian tiger. It is important because Tasmanian tiger left this area over 2,000 ears ago. (
Tasmanian Tiger or wolf was a carnivorous marsupial.) After we were done exploring, it was back to Darwin to drop the car off and spend 1 1/2 days before we got on the ship. 
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