Kakadu

Maybe it is the blue skies and the delightfully warm (hot) weather or maybe I have just gone troppo, but somehow or other it has taken until now to get around to updating our blog. So much has happened since the last post it all now seems like ancient history.

We left Townsville and headed west, stopping one night at Richmond, a little town trying to reinvent itself and being on the dinosaur trail it seems to be succeeding. We stayed in a great park, right on a lake, very clean and very quiet.

Next stop was Mt Isa. Having been there before we decided to veg the only excitement was going out to dine in The Buff.

Our next one nighter was Barkly Homestead – sounds very gracious but it is in fact a roadhouse so the less said the better.

Next stop was Cape Crawford – last time we were there it was choose your site – this time we were lucky to get one. So many people are on the road these days. We had two nights there, our aim was to revisit the lovely Caranbirini NP and have a good wander around what are loosely termed 'the beehives'. We arrived early in the morning and decided to do the 5 km loop walk, which turned out to be a mega blunder. We trotted off into the wilderness armed with cameras, water and not a lot else. After about 2 hours and no closer to our objective we decided that someone had made a typo on the distance of this walk and that it should have been at least 10 km maybe more. No we did not get lost, we followed all the signs and markers. When we eventually reached the beehives, we were totally out of water, sweating like pigs and all we wanted to do was get out of there. Great adventure that one, NOT.

After two nights we moved on to Katherine where we stayed for 3 nights. Our first day was spent doing the usual housekeeping and some shopping. Next day we headed out to Edith Falls, neither of us had been there before, so that was a good reason to visit. It is about 40 km up the road from Katherine and well worth the trip. Upon reaching the car park we then had the decision, wander just to look at the lake or do the loop walk. Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we decided to do the 2.5 km loop walk. This time the walk was accurate, there was a lot of uphill, downhill stuff and a fair bit of rock scrambling but the views of the falls made it all worth while.

Next day we did the Gorge. It was a third time for both of us, the bonus this time was we actually got to the third gorge, usually only to the second. It is all done on a boat no mega exertion required. On other visits the third gorge has been too shallow for boats, this time just enough water for us to float around. Next time we will do a chopper flight over the gorges for an entirely different perspective.

From Katherine we moved up the road to where we are now based – Jabiru in Kakadu NP. Last time we were here we stayed at Cooinda – the southern end of Kakadu, but this time we decided to come to the top of the park at Jabiru wich allows easier access to the East Alligator River region.

Today we drove up to Ubirr which is as far as you are allowed to drive east. The East Alligator River forms the natural boundary between Kakadu and Arnhemland and you can't get in there without jumping through hoops.

There is a fantastic collection of aboriginal rock art at Ubirr and climbing up to the top of Nadab Lookout gives 360 degree views of the Kakadu wetlands and over to Arnhemland.

We are so glad we opted to come here, it is quite different to Cooinda and because of its location we will tomorrow be hopping onto a trip into Arnhemland. I have been wanting to go there since I was a little kid so I am very excited and Mike is too as again he has never been there either. Going on a tour means we don't have to jump through the previously mentioned hoops.

Our final day in Kakadu will commence with a quiet cruise for a few hours down the East Alligator River, what a pleasant way to finish our stay in Kakadu.

Next day we head out to Darwin where we will have 7 days to wander. We hope to get to do lots of things we have not done before but will throw in a few old favourites too.

That's it for now. Oh yes, it is 5.30 pm, the weather is perfect, currently about 32 degrees, and just perfect for beer o'clock.