Kakadu to Katherine

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Day 133 Sunday 13 August 206
Darwin to Kakadu National Park
How sad it was to leave Darwin - it is such a nice place. The weather was magnificent around 32 degrees everyday and never out of shorts and singlet tops. It would be nice to visit in the wet season to see how spectacular the storms are and the humidity. People say they go crazy in the wet season because of the high humidity. On the move again and it was hard to get back into it after two weeks of staying in one spot. Wasn’t far to Kakadu only 250 km’s. Graeme was looking forward to it but because I have done a previous trip down the centre in the 90’s I knew what I was in store for. The kids were quite happy to stay as the park was really family orientated. On we went and drove to Jabiru, had lunch in one of the parks beside a beautiful lake and then tried to find a spot to stay the night. Because we wanted to do the Yellow Waters Cruise we wanted to stay as close to this as we could so we picked Cooinda. As we drove in the kids saw Belle, Adam and Belinda (these are people we met in Fitzroy Crossing) so that was it for the afternoon- they played and swam for the rest of the afternoon. We had tea at the resort that night which was nice (barra and chips).

Day 134 Monday 14 August 2006
Cooinda (Kakadu National Park)
This morning we had to wake up very early around 5.30am to get ready for our two hour sunrise Yellow Waters Cruise. It was so hard to get up so early but it was worth it. The birdlife was spectacular. We saw a Jabiru which was exciting and water buffalos, wild pigs, wild brumbys and lots of saltwater crocodiles. Personally this was the only spectacular thing about Kakadu - some people say Kakadu or Kakadon’t and we all agree that it is Kakadon’t. It is so expensive here. $3.00 for a small glass of lemonade for Kiera. The powered site was $35.00 and very over-rated although the pool area was nice. Graeme was very disappointed with Kakadu. He expected it to be similar to Litchfield or Karijini but nothing of the sort. It is so commercialized and lots of tour buses coming in and out not to mention caravanners. After the cruise Graeme took out his tinny with Adam trying to fish for that elusive barramundi. Actually he was very hesitant to go out after seeing all the 4 metre saltwater crocodiles that we saw on the cruise but he had to go because he was committed with Adam. He came back safely and no fish. After this we didn’t do much else. The kids were happy because they were playing with Belle and spent the time in the pool. We were really tired after the early morning so needless to say we jumped in bed early.

Day 135 Tuesday 15 August 2006
Cooinda (Kakadu) to Katherine
Booked into a nice caravan park come resort. We had an ensuite site which was nice for the next two nights. Spent the afternoon around the pool and not much else.
The weather is very similar to Darwin still nice and hot 31 degrees.

Day 136 Wednesday 16 August 2006
Katherine
We spent the morning looking at the museum and going to the themal hot springs. The afternoon was spent picking up supplies and trying to find a part for our oven. You don’t realize how much you depend on the oven. More bbq’s and cooking on the stove top. No luck!! Sent emails to Melbourne for service part on the oven. We will probably have to wait until Alice Springs now.

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Photos

Yellow Waters Cruise
The beautiful lillies.

Yellow Waters Cruise
Many crocodiles on this water.

Katherine Museum
Duane doing the washing!!!!!