Blogs from Jabiru, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Hi Everyone, It’s the last day of the tour with Mel and two of the girls in our group today and the four oldies, this is because this whole 13 day tour we are doing is split into 3 sections, so other people can choose to do 3, 6, 10 or 13 days. Today on the itinerary was the drive over to Litchfield National park, some more waterfalls and spring feed streams (Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole waterfalls and Wangi falls). Always refreshing as it is so hot and muggy!! First thing we visited was the termite mounds there are two types, the tallest being the Cathedral Termite mounds these can get up to 6 metres in height, and the Magnetic mounds which are the thin grave stone mounds that the termites build facing north/south, so their ... read more

We packed up and left just before 10am, did the usual dump and then the fuel stop at the one and only BP while I went next door to the Jabiru Bakery and bought some more of the delicious pecan tarts and a couple of fruit scrolls. We drove about 31km down the road to Mamukala, where there is a bird hide overlooking the flood plain wetlands. We were very surprised to see a very large, new building with large viewing areas, a couple of bench seat and a set of steps to allow children to see as well. They also had some good information boards showing the six seasons with comments by one of the elders about the foods available at each season and what they did to catch them. We watched for about half ... read more

We set of towards Ubirr, 40 km from Jabiru, another rock art site rated by most as even better than Nourlangie. We should have gone a bit earlier as the day was getting hot already by the time we arrived. We went into the Border Store to see if they had a map or guide sheet but they didn’t. It’s right on the border of Arnhemland, which is an area that requires special permits to enter and is the only shop beyond Jabiru. They had nothing we needed, though, so we headed for the Rock Art. It was about 11 am by the time we got to the Ubirr walking track so we made sure we had hats, sunscreen, mozzie repellent and plenty of water. The walk itself was quite easy with just a few spots ... read more

Hi everyone, Today we did some small things. At 9 am we left with a boat on the East Alligator river to see some crocodiles and learn about the Aboriginals. We saw like 30 crocodiles in 2 hours, a lot! And we learned about the hunting techniques and carving and rituals of the Aboriginals. The guide gave us some red paint the Aboriginals use for painting rock walls and other stuff and my sister and I got ourselves some tribal stripes. Also we heard all kinds of ghost stories about people getting attacked by crocodiles. Like a woman who went cayaking at 7 pm and got attacked but she survived eventually. And a 12 year old boy who got eaten. Kinda scary when a crocodile is 2 meters away from the boat.. After this little trip, ... read more

Following on from Ubirr we went to Nourlangie Rock again to look at some aboriginal rock paintings similar to Ubirr but telling a different story. An interesting place with paintings dating back thousands of years.This place is wheel chair friendly to a point but some of the paintings are only accessible after climbing up some rocks.There is also a cavern in which Aboriginal people would take shelter during the stormy wet season.Again an inspirational place where you would be taken back in time. We liked Ubirr and it's close proximity to so many natural attractions,one disappointment was that the road to Jim jim Jim Falls was closed not sure why.This road is strictly 4x4 for 2hrs followed by a 1hr hike over rocks to reach a spectacular waterfall and plunge pool,never mind there is always next ... read more