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Published: November 23rd 2017
Water Lilly
Beautiful, these are all over. Water is deep where these lillies are, a place for large barramundi (sea bass) to get stuck and be captured by the salties. At first we thought we were only going to do one of Kakadu National Park or Litchfield. We then realized it would indeed be very unlikely that we would visit Darwin ever again, so we booked both. Today is Kakadu. It’s a 4-hour ride through some pretty desolate and dangerous country, so we decided we should not drive and take a tour bus. AAT Kings are a big and very good outfit so we booked with them.
While Darwin has some very nice shoreline and beaches, swimming is prohibited because of the large number of salties and the presence of box jelly fish, both deadly. OK, no problem there! On the way to Kakadu we drive through wetland areas that will be several meters under water in 2-3 weeks once The Wet gets going full bore, and that includes parts of the roads we're traveling today. So our timing is good and the weather has cooperated nicely.
Our coffee stop is at Corroboree Park where we all rushed to the counter for a cappuccino. They don’t drink regular coffee here. It’s either this, or instant Nescafé 43 beans, which is actually not that bad for an instant, or flat
Jesus Bird
So named because it looks like it can walk on water. white, which is mostly milk. Of course, no Tim Hortons here, one could make a fortune buying the Australian rights for that! This place is also advertised as the “last alcohol stop before the Park”.
We cross the Adelaide River and the Mary River, inundated with salties. The Mary River is said to have more crocs than any other river in Australia. All the rivers here are saltwater about 100 Km inland and have significant tides. Next stop the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre, where both of us are very impressed with the presentation of the Aboriginee culture dating back 50,000 years!
No doubt that the highlight of this day was the cruise on the Yellow Water Billabong and River. Our guide is an Aboriginee and he has no trouble spotting dozens of crocs and numerous birds and water buffalo. We certainly would not want to fall off the flat bottom stainless steel boat, we’d be lunch for the hundreds of crocs that are in there.
The last stop on the trip is the rock art, depicting Aboriginee life and beliefs, some estimated to be as old as 40,000 to 50,000 years old. Natural colours blended with animal
Duck
These ducks spear fish with their sharp beak. fat and blood leach into the rockface up to 1 cm deep and if protected from wind, dust and sand, as they were at this location, can last thousands of years!
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Nancy & John
non-member comment
Kakadu
Looks like you had a great day. So glad you are there before “the wet” really set in. The Art is amazing as are the Salties. We are enjoying your daily blog with our morning coffee. Nancy and John