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Window on the Wetlands
Follow along with the story and you'll know all that I am talking about... @ 11:06pm on July 1, 2008
I’m safe and sound (no crocodile attacks!) back in my bed listening to fireworks being shot off for Northern Territory Day (and typing this on my computer to copy and paste into my travel journal tomorrow) and I have to say that it feels great to be back in a bed. We got back from Kakadu National Park around 6:30pm after three stops and a really long (about 5 hour) bus ride home.
Kakadu was a great experience… we got up around 6:00am in order to catch the bus out of the Alatai at around 7:00am. The bus was a nice one… it was a Greyhound Australia coach bus… so a lot of people slept on the way to our destination. Our first stop on Sunday morning was at a place called “Window on the Wetlands” which was just that… a visitor center/viewing area of the surrounding wetlands. We saw our first mammal creature of Australia… the Wallaby, hopping through the field heading down the lane of the Wildlife Center. Once we were done taking pictures and viewing the wetlands (and Eastern Water Buffalo), we got back on the bus and headed
Window on the Wetlands 2
More of the Window on the Wetland scenary! to the Jumping Crocodile Cruise and to have toast and tea (LOTS OF TEA around Australia) for breakfast. The cruise was not only informative… but it was highly entertaining as well. Definitely more entertaining than the Crocodile Cruise that I went on in Louisiana as well (although that one was fun too). It’s shocking/surprising at how big some of the crocodiles are in the rivers in Australia. There was one crocodile (named Michael, after Michael Jackson, because he had a white head and dark body… ha ha!) who was about 5 meters long, which is one of the longest they have in the water systems in Australia. There was a lot of other interesting information, but this post will be 30 pages long if I write it all down, so ask me later and see if I remember! (Probably won’t, but it’s worth a shot! ☺) After the Jumping Crocodile Cruise, we got on the bus again, fell asleep again, and went to view Rock Art. I think the pictures speak more about the Rock Art than anything that I could say about it… so just take a look at the pictures when they’re up (or you see them). As
Water Buffalo
... I thought they were pretty darn cool. They're a cross between two buffalo type things, I forget what two though! part of the Rock Art tour, there was quite a bit of a climb to the top of the world (as they call it) where you could see everything within a 100 mile radius of the rock. It was another spectacular view. Our last stop for the day was the East Alligator River and to be honest, I’m not 100% sure why we stopped there. There was one crocodile on the East Alligator River but it wasn’t anything too spectacular because it was just laying on the banks in the mud. Once we were done at the East Alligator River, we got back on the bus and headed to camp. It was pretty comical when we pulled up to the camp site because there was a circle of chairs around the fire area and then about 30-40 tents (two person) set up all over the place. I can’t say that I have ever seen that many tents in one area, ever. We were staying our first night with the Wildlife group as it was their last night in Kakadu. Rebekah (my roommate at the Alatai) and I stayed in a tent together and there was JUST enough room for two
Greyhound Australia
We roll with class... ha ha. Too bad our busses on the 5 hour trip back weren't half as nice! people and their stuff… I’m still trying to figured out what the “glorified” part of the camping experience was because it was not the lack of bugs (the bugs were HORRIBLE, even for their winter) or the tents. Maybe the food and speaking of food… for dinner the first night we were there, I had crocodile (tasted like chicken), buffalo (maybe water buffalo?) and kangaroo (tasted like regular beef that you’d put in a stew) which wasn’t bad at all. Of course, like anything else, I put a lot of barbeque sauce on it, but I did manage to eat it! Dad - Aren’t you proud of me?!?! Ha ha. Before dinner, we walked to a billabong (their term for a lake or pond) to kill time. After dinner, we sat around the campfire, told stories and learned to play the didge, and I’m actually not half bad at. It didn’t sound like a dying elephant, which was a good thing. The stars in Kakadu are absolutely amazing… I wish that I could have taken a picture of them on the first night, but my camera isn’t THAT high-tech! A picture wouldn’t do justice to them anyways.
The next
Jumping Croc Cruise
Here's the picture of the boat... morning, the Kakadu Alarm Clocks (cockatoo birds) decided that they wanted to go off around 6:30am, about an hour before anyone said they were getting up. We had cereal for breakfast, nothing fancy… but it did the job. Then, we went to an aboriginal family’s home to learn about their culture and their relationship with Kakadu National Park. The females got to make bracelets (I didn’t do bad on that either!) and the guys learned how to play the didge. In aboriginal culture, there are things that are considered men’s business and things that are considered women’s business… playing the didge is not women’s business and making bracelets is not considered man’s business. The theory behind the didge is that it represents a man’s body part and if a woman plays it (only in their culture) it is said that there will be an unexpected pregnancy. We did get to judge the guy’s didge playing though. Didge = didgeridoo by the way. We had lunchmeat sandwiches for lunch and then got on the road to head to another Rock Art place, where we were lead by the traditional owners brother, Johnny, who told us all about the place (I forget
Mean Crocodile
One of the crocodiles we came in contact with on the Jumping Crocodile Cruise! what it’s called!) and the history behind it. There are more pictures from that too. Because it was so hot (like 95 degrees) we didn’t do anything strenuous then because it was in the middle of the day. After that, we headed to another billabong and then climbed a huge rock with a steep slope (calf burner!) to the top and took more pictures. Around sunset, we headed to Yellow Waters River (maybe that’s the name?) for the sunset… MORE SUNSET PICTURES! Yay! I liked this sunset better than the one at Mindl Beach, but that’s because there was more than just water in the pictures -- like boats and trees and birds. Dinner on the second night was good, but it was no crocodile. We had stir fry chicken and beef with veggies and rice. No one should complain about how we ate because I think it’s the best I’ve eaten while on this trip. We then celebrated Evalyn’s birthday, she turned 21 today (July 1st).
Around 4:30am or so, the dingoes woke me up. Let me tell you what… they may be cute but they have a NASTY howl. I don’t even know how to describe it
The Jumping Croc River
The river that we were on while looking at Jumping Crocodiles... and I’d really prefer not to think about it but it doesn’t even sound like an animal. It sounded like a human howling right outside our campsite and maybe that was the scary thought but I’m pretty sure they were dingoes. We got up around 7:00am this morning and headed to Gunlom Falls (more pictures too!) to go swimming. This was the nastiest climb of all. I bet it was at least 1,000 feet up to the top of this rock, almost directly straight up. By the time I got up to the top, I was way out of breath (as was almost everyone) and not feeling too hot (light headed) but I’m ok now. The view was spectacular (yet again) and I got tons of pictures while I was up there. That was DEFINITELY a once in a lifetime thing for me. Ha. About half an hour to forty-five minutes after climbing to the top (scraping my knee too because I slipped -- my Keens are not the best rock shoes) we went back down the rocks (another tough thing to do due to so many rocks) and swam in the pond/billabong (whatever it is) at the bottom of
Bird with Meat
... they put the meat on the stick and the bird came down and got it ... he's flying away with it now. the water fall. The waterfall wasn’t that spectacular though because it is the dry season and it hasn’t rained since March, so not a lot of water to go down the falls. I did not swim at the bottom because there were some fresh water crocodiles in there and I wasn’t feeling it. Granted they are very timid (and not salt water crocodiles) and smaller than “salties”, I wasn’t swimming with them! There were also rumors of leaches going around, so there’s another reason why I wasn’t going in the water. I don’t think anyone came out with any attached to them though. Around 12:30pm, we gathered around the picnic tables, ate lunch and Tracy (the teacher) decided she wanted to create the “Tourism Pyramid” on the grass. I, of course, was on the bottom, holding the weight of at least 4-5 people directly on my back. I was in PAIN! Specially after scraping up my knee… it was NOT FUN! So… we got some pictures (not good ones) and then headed back on the bus to come here… and here I am. ☺
(I'm so smart... I wrote all that I was going to say last night in
Big Crocodile
This is Michael... order to save time!)
I'll upload some more pictures when I get online while I'm in Sydney!
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Mom
non-member comment
No didge playing...
That's one to bring back, the word anyway. No didge playing please. Looks like an incredible experience. The croc was definitely a Peter Pan look alike. Thanks for such a well written update. Love, Mom