Advertisement
Published: August 19th 2023
Edit Blog Post
Visiting Kakadu had been high on our bucket list for some time, and we finally had the opportunity to tick that box. Kakadu National Park is located 171 kms south east of Darwin and is the second largest national park in Australia. The park is managed by the aboriginal traditional owners jointly with Parks Australia, and is highly ecologically and biologically diverse, hosting a wide range of habitats and flora and fauna.
We checked into Aurora Kakadu Lodge at Jabiru and after setting up our caravan, we enjoyed a cool swim in the resort like pool. Our first destination the next morning was to head to the famous Cahills Crossing, a causeway across the East Alligator River, where large saltwater crocodiles gather at each high tide to feast on mullet and barramundi as they seek to cross the causeway. We counted 21 large crocs (and they were the ones we could see) as the tide commenced rushing across the causeway, whilst foolish cowboys in their 4WD’s drove across with go pros in their hand, filming their bravery. They weren’t too brave though when the Police and Rangers issued $1,200 fines for the drivers not having a permit to visit Arnhem
Land, which lies on the other side of the river. We stayed for two hours watching the croc spectacle.
Nearby was one of the world’s most significant rock art sites at Ubirr, and we walked around the extensive rock paintings in awe. The site was up there in quality and quantity with the rock art that we had witnessed in Carnarvon Gorge the previous year. We climbed to the top of the rock outcrop to experience a vista of the Kakadu flood plain, which extended as far as the eye could see. Kakadu truly must be a sight to behold in the wet season, however, it is often inaccessible during that time. Being a hot day (and this was the middle of winter), we headed back to our stay for another cool swim in the pool.
The next day we drove to Nourlangie, again a world significant rock art site, and enjoyed walking around and viewing the rock paintings and reading the signs interpreting the paintings. It was only a short drive to Anbangbang Billabong to watch the many birds feasting in the swamp. We were wary of getting too close to the waters edge due to the
signs warning that salties are present in the billabong, and have even been seen basking in the sun on the walking path that surrounds the billabong. We then climbed nearby Nawurlandja Lookout, which provided extensive views across the Kakadu landscape.
There are more than 5,000 recorded rock art sites in Kakadu, and the next day we visited Nanguluwurr, which, unlike the previous rock art sites we had visited, required a 2.5 km walk to reach the site. Nanguluwurr, whilst not as extensive rock art as Ubirr, was nonetheless fascinating to view, as they contained some more recent rock art, including a painting of a European sailing ship. We had packed a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed beside Anbangbang Billabong, as we watched the birdlife.
Our friends from Victoria that we had caught up with in Darwin, Mandy and Glen, arrived in Kakadu, and we had dinner with them that night at the restaurant in our caravan park. We again drove out to Cahills Crossing the next day to show our friends the amazing croc show, as the tide ebbed and flowed across the causeway. We stayed two hours and returned to our caravan park to prepare for our
drive to Cooinda, for the renowned Sunset Yellow Water Billabong cruise. It was even better than the rave reviews we had received from our fellow caravanners, with numerous crocs, buffalo, a wide array of birdlife including Jabiru and Brolgas, brumbies, cows, fish and of course, the famous sunset. It was great to be able to spend time with our friends on the billabong cruise.
We unfortunately, didn’t get the opportunity to visit Jim Jim Falls, as the road was especially rough, and there was very little water flowing over the falls. That will have to be one for the bucket list, however, it was a truly memorable visit to Kakadu, undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest National Parks.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0684s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb