KAKADU

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Headed out of Darwin to spend 4 nights in Kakadu National Park. What a spectacular place...even if most of it has been closed because of the wet.

We made the most of it though and did lots of walks and a bit more 4x4 driving. Our poor car! I wouldn't be surprised if it falls apart in the near future. Peter has had to borrow (permanantly) some wire from a caravan park to try and tie our exhaust back on to the car. There are a couple of hoses which get shorter and shorter as we cut the split bits off and re connect every few days. It makes alot of noises now but all things considered it has been a trooper. It is only a $5000 car!

Our only complaint really is that the old Rodeo can't do the 130km speed limit that is up here. Lucky there is no one on the roads as we struggle to do 90km/hr with the van on and sometimes it gets as bad as 75km/hr if it's a hill!

There is a storm every afternoon without fail at the moment. The amount of rain that gets dumped is amazing. If we are driving we do our best to pull over untill it stops but sometimes there is nowhere to go so we cringe and go very slow. Of course the road trains keep on going as fast as ever! Have I mentioned how big they are up here in the Northern Territory? Huge! They all have 3 extra trailers (Peter tells me they are called dogs) on the back. We have counted somewhere around 86 wheels and are about 60meters long.

There is alot of Aboriginal Rock Art in Kakadu which has been interesting to see and the galleries and information centres are very good and really give you the history and insight into the Aboriginal way of life.

The most spectacular place for us was Ubirr at sunset. The view was amazing, the illuminous green and the storm brewing over us. We will remember Kakadu for this one place.

We also really enjoyed our night at Yellow Water. We had a bit of a celebration diner at the restaurant of the resort. Peter has a new job!

Anyway our holiday is not over yet, we're off to Katherine for Xmas and New Year.

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Photos

Fishing at a boat ramp in Kakadu
It's always worth throwing a line in!
Notice the crocodile warning signs up here, they actually show someone getting eaten by crocodile just in case you can't read!

Bardedjilidji
Yes most of the names are a mouthful but what a beautiful place.

Us on the Nadab Lookout at Ubirr
What a spectacular and memorable place.

Rock Art
Our self portrait skills are not that good but here we are standing in front of some fairly recent Aboriginal Rock Art (painted around 1000 years ago)

Gunwarddehwarde Lookout
More fantastic views. However Peter was trying to photgraph the huge volume of sweat pouring out of me. Thankfully it can't be seen.

Yellow Waters Resort Pool
Here I am in the pool, I have it all to myself. It's too big to get it in one photo!
That is a very dark storm cloud in the background, great lightning show soon followed.

Comments

[John Foster]

Katherine floods
Pete & Kylie Just watched the ABC news & saw two rivers close to Katherine in major flood (frieght train washed off bridge and people stranded). Are you high and dry?? JF

[kandpa]

Katherine floods
All good here at the moment John we only had 275mm here at the house, and the rivers near us have peaked and are now falling.