Blogs from Jabiru, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania

We’ve got a few busy days ahead of us so we very generously decide to award ourselves a morning off from touring. The restaurant at the hotel is freezing cold. As we go to get lunch we see that none of the hundred or so tables inside it are occupied. We ask if we can sit at one of the two outdoor tables. Our waitress's reaction suggests that this is an unusual request. A few minutes later four fellow diners take their seats at the only other outside table; there's still no one sitting inside. We’re left wondering why the proprietors think that all their guests are craving cold. We came here to get away from the icy chill of a Melbourne winter. We head out to Cahills Crossing, which is a causeway across the East ... read more

Day 18 - Jabiru last full day Today we had booked to go on a morning cruise on the East Alligator River. Now this was about 40mins away from our camp and was very close to Cahill’s crossing. We left early enough to allow us to find the place, have a cup of coffee and also cross Cahill’s crossing and still have time to spare. Paul reckons if we had of been any earlier we would catch yesterday’s tour. Anyhow they don’t appreciate my organisational skills. That is my story. The tour nearly didn’t start off at all. The tour is run by the Local Aboriginal council and the aboriginals had two deaths in the last week. This means they need to attend all of the sorry time rituals irrespective of whether they have jobs or ... read more

Day 16 - Jabiru Today we decided we would take a trip to Jim Jim Falls. Now we were told by the caravan park receptionist and by the visitor centre staff that the road into Jim Jim Falls was corrugated and that the 50km Trip would be slow. Well they didn’t tell us everything did they. Firstly the road was graded for half the way, the first half, the rest of the way was heavily corrugated. They were so bad they shake your eyeballs out of their sockets. Going slow was worst so we travelled at an average of about 80km going in. I found that going back it was much smoother if I drove at 100km to 110km remembering this was loose gravel. Let me just say my car lived up to its reputation of ... read more

Our next stop was Kakadu National Park; a 19,804 square Km world heritage site. The park is internationally known as one of Australia's cultural and ecological treasures. More than a third of the Top Ends plant life is in Kakadu, 1600 species of plants, 275 species of birds, 75 species of reptiles, 25 species of frogs and 10,000 species of insect all live in Kakadu. Kakadu comes from the Gagudju language spoken by the Aboriginal people who live in the North of the park. The rock shelters, stone tools, grindstones and ochre quarries show us that Aboriginal's have lived in that area for over 50,000 years. Our first stop in Kakadu was Jabiru, the main but small town which is a central gateway to all parts of the park. Jabiru had a music festival on that ... read more

Geo: -12.6767, 132.828That's been a big day of tourist adventures. The alarm went off at 5.30 because (agedMac) had missed the adjustment for the change in time zone but this did turn out to be a handy addition because we only just made it to the foyer in time for our 7.15 pickup by AATKings Tour.It was a very large coach for just the 19 travellers in our group. After a false start ( we had to return to the depot to retrieve luggage that was forgotten) we were heading along the Stuart Highway (again) pointed due south towards Adelaide.The tone of the trip was established early by Mac. He spotted a 60 km road sign and commented that they must have known he was coming! Talk about egocentric! Everything 60 is about the Birthday Boy ... read more