We departed Mataranka Springs at 8.15am as we had quite a big day of travelling before us. We stopped at Katherine to stock up on food. There was a Woolworths on the Stuart Highwat (Katherine main street), so it was easy.
After leaving Katherine we drove about 91k and turned onto the Kakadu Highway, stopping at Mary River Roadhouse for lunch. The 208km journey on the Kakadu Highway was on a good road, but with very little to see as the scenery didn't change at all. The only thing of interest was the burn off fires which is an aboriginal tradition, tens of thousand years old and is summed up by this quotation. (It took my fancy!!!!)
"This earth, I never damage. I look after. Fire is nothing, just clean up. When you burn, new grass coming up. That means good animal soon, might be goanna, posum, wallaby. Burn him off. new grass coming up. new life all over."
BILL NEIDJIE Bunitj Clan
We arrived at 3.30pm and checked in to Lakeview Park Caravan Park at Jabiru, ($40 power AND OUR OWN ENSUITE). The caravan park is all grass and shady trees which is a pleasant change from red dust or gravel.
On our first day we drove to Bowali Visitors Centre to check out what to see and do and then drove on to Mamukala Wetlands, where we walked the 3k loop. The bush at the side of the path was still smoldering as the local people had been burning off. No chance to see much wildlife in that area as it would have run off to escape the burning. However, there were lots of hawkes hunting for those animals who had been flushed out by the fire.
We came across a young American birdwatcher who had just witnessed a dingo eating a dead pig. We walked the remainder of the path with him. As it turned out he was from one of our favourite places in the States, Flagstaff. Before leaving we visited the observation deck which overlooked the wetlands where we did see lots of bird life.
It was a pleasant change to have TV reception again and so we watched the Queens 60th Anniversary Concert - good stuff!!!!
We were booked on a Yellow Water Wetland cruise at Cooinda at 9.00am the next morning and had to drive for 45 minutes to get there on time. Originally we were going to book the 6.45am cruise, but were advised to go a bit later and were glad we did, as we saw lots of crocs which surface to sun themselves on the banks when the sun is hot and were not around for the earlier cruise. It was a lovely, warm day and we saw lots of birdlife in a beautiful wetland setting which will only be there for another month, when a lot of the water disappears and the pigs and buffalo move in.
After the cruise, our next stop was the Nourlangie Region where archaeologists have uncovered 20,000 years of Aboriginal occupation. We walked up to Nourlangie Rock Lookout, passing several aboriginal rock painting sites along the way. When we reached the top the view was spectacular.
On the way back to Jabiru we stopped by a bridge over a small wetland and saw Jabiru Storks and a huge black wild pig in the shallow water. We ate a late picnic lunch at Jabiru Lake, before returning to our camp.
No need to rush out early on our last day at Kakadu, so we took our time before driving out to Ubirr. The Ubirr area is about 39km north of the Arnhem Highway and has the magnificent Nardab Lookout and lots of Aboriginal rock art, dating back 8,000 - 15,000 years. Some of the art is not very visible as it has faded over the years. Others have survived better because they have been protected from the elements by large overhanging rocks.
We climbed up to the lookout and found ourselves surrounded by a 360 degree view of wonderful flood plains and distant ranges and we could see right across to Arnhem Land.
During the drive back to Jabiru we drove through a few areas where water crossed the road, but no problems as it was only shallow.
We have enjoyed our time at Kakadu, but were a bit disappointed to be here during the large scale burn off which produced lots of smoke in several areas we visited, and we didnt see as many animals as we thought we would. However, having OUR VERY OWN ENSUITE was a luxury!!!!
Tomorrow we drive to Darwin, so next blog will be from there.
Cheers
Rhonda (Sam) & Pete
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