Kakadu at last (from Darwin)

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So now we are in Darwin.

After leaving the otherwise delightful Katherine - disappointed that we couldn’t find anywhere that had wi-fi, we headed off into Kakadu - not knowing quite what to expect.

What is obvious from all of the reading is that it presents very differently depending on the time of year - and the season. Our trusty Lonely Planet tells us that this (the end of the dry) is the optimum time for birdlife - and pleasingly, the best time for mosquitoes.

Crossing into the park, several things are obvious.
1. It is very dry - with little evidence of any recent rain, and
2. The Aboriginal practice of burning at this time of the year continues unabated - as there are many fires that we pass right by the roadside.

They apparently believe that if you don’t let the fuel load build up, then the chances of a treacherous fire are far less. Maybe a lesson for us all there.

The flora is different - mainly paperbark trees (I think) and Pandanus Palms. Not much else - and not as thick as I would have thought given the tropical climate - although explained above. Its called Savannah woodlands.

The lodge at Cooinda on the southern entrance road into the park was well recommended to us, and they had a room for a couple of nights - at the reasonable price of $199 per night. We learn after Uluru and pay the price.

We arrived early enough in the afternoon to settle in, go for a swim (nice pool) a bush walk for 90 mins to take some pics and dodge any crocs that may have found themselves ashore then head out on a boat trip on ‘Yellow Water’, Home Billabong, and the South Alligator River.

The latter was the highlight and we spotted many birds, plenty of crocs in various poses (some touchably close), and great river scenes and sunsets. Great day.

Before dinner we were going to jump on the internet and do some admin, but surprise, their satellite connection was ‘lost’ and we had no access (for the whole of our stay). Dinner at the Bistro was Barramundi and chips, and it was too small, badly cooked, too expensive, and altogether too fatty! Tomorrow night salad in the room!

The next day - Saturday, we were booked on an all day 4WD adventure into Twin Falls and Maguk Falls - with a damper Jam and cream morning tea, picnic lunch, introduction to indigenous uses of various plants, several bush walks, a boat ride, and a wonderful swim at the croc free (hopefully) pool at Maguk.

A good day was had by all - and the weather continues to be kind to us - although at 38 deg, we need to keep the fluids up.

Interestingly, the guides advised us not to go if we had any problems with the heart, knees or back. Your correspondent kept his mouth shut and after consultation with his personal physician, decided to take a punt (and not waste the $155 pp BTW!). Passed with flying colours!

Back in time for a swim - but the beer and chardy took over and we had to settle for a shower before our room-prepared ham salad.

The next morning we checked out and headed for Jabiru to fill with petrol, then off to Ubirr within the park, but roughly on the way to Darwin.

Ubirr is well known for its rock art, but what was going to be a 15 minute stopover turned into a couple of hours as the general topography there was quite different to anything we had seen so far in Kakadu (or anywhere else for that matter), as it was on the edge of the Arnhem Land Plateau, but bothering to walk to the top (ticker still doing ok despite the 38 deg) provided the most magnificent vista we had seen in the park, as even in the dry, the river and wetland systems were obvious, and one could easily imagine what it would be like in the wet (if you could get there at that time of the year).

The rock art too was magnificent, and after being pounded by this stuff for the past two weeks, it’s starting to mean something. Interesting comparisons with the Inca stuff of our travel at this time last year.

And so to Darwin where after about an hour’s search, we find this little oasis of a ‘resort’ in the middle of the city. They even have Internet connections ……. Palms City Resort - its on the net.

So I am typing this on our patio with our view of the pool 3 metres away only slightly obscured by the palms and pandanus palms. Tough life this.

We will do a once only sweep on Darwin before we leave. At this stage we intend to leave on Wednesday morning.

Until tomorrow.

Chris and Ian

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Comments

[Peter Edwards]

Photos and finesse
Hi Chris and Ian, I have been printing out the blog for mum and John and are enjoying the read. Ian, you forgot the mention that you probably have a glass of beer or wine as you sit beside the pool typing the blog. I'm sure Lonely Planet will be getting in touch to offer you both a position writing and visiting unknown places and typing a blog. The quality of the writing and description of the journey is both very impressive and very enjoyable - must have something to do with that 0.5%!!! Glad to hear you are enjoying yourselves. Cheers Pete