Day 17 - Jabiru /. Kakadu Trip

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Day 17 - Jabiru



Today was a mixed day. A few activities to explain.

Firstly my sister and I were booked on a Scenic Flight over parts of Kakadu. Now I like to have control on how I die and getting into a 6 seater plane, hitting my head on the way in and doing a contortion act to get into the back seat was a little unnerving, particularly given this plane looked like it was born before me.

Anyhow there was no returning from my little buckled seat. There were four passengers on the flight. My wife and the others were at the fence ready to wave us off. The problem is I noticed Paul standing on the fence doing the sign of the cross repeatedly. OMG does he make one feel really good (not). I looked at Tracey and with nervous laugh we both settled into our ragged and worn seats.

The plane took off on a runway that had a hump in it. I don’t know why but it did and the pilot went out of his way to tell us. In spite of the hump we took off smoothly and we were up there for over an hour. The takeoff, landing and flight were as smooth as can be but Tracey still got a little weazy by the end. Lucky the old seat had spew bags. Good that she did not need them.

Anyhow let me tell you about the scenery. This rugged country looked like a flooded floodplane once we passed the rugged escarpment. The country was green and wet and full with 10,000 crocs. Now when the pilot mentioned this many crocs I started to get really nervous about crashing into this water. The South Alligator River is the main water body coming in from the sea and it dominates this environment. I can see how the wet season can change everything if the water levels rise and push through the escarpments. We also got to see all of the Ranger mine which we found out produces 12% of the WORLDS uranium.

Now while we were enjoying the plane ride Xavier decided he would go to Cahill’s crossing by himself to do some Barramundi fishing. But he tricked us, he decided he would cross the famous crossing by himself to get bragging rights for having crossed the crossing whereas Paul and I had not. He even went to the effort to video himself crossing the flooded road surrounded by crocs as proof that he has done it. I am sure he was as nervous as hell but he won’t ever admit it. The problem now is we will never ever hear the end of this. At the end of the day he spent 3 hrs fishing and only got one nibble. Better luck next time Xavier.

After we all returned and had lunch we went to the 4.5star Mercure Hotel which has a building in the shape of a Crocodile. It has 110 rooms and a marble reception and air conditioning to die for. We spent a bit of time perusing their croc shop.

This afternoon is barbecue time.

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