From
Katherine we moved on up to Kakadu National Park. We found a nice
ranger operated campsite called Mardagul, near Cooinda. From here we
explored some of the southern end of the park.
The Yellow Waters Cruise was great. There was so much birdlife and we saw lots of saltwater crocodiles and some wild horses in the distance. Apparently there are also wild buffalo but none there were none the morning we went. It is a beautiful area and it would be amazing to see it in or just after the wet season but much of the park is inaccessible at that time. We had another campfire meal of Roast Pork as you will see from the photos.
The Maguk Track was our next excursion. Here the vegetation was quite different from the wetlands round Cooinda. Here there were palm trees and tropical forest. There are quite a few different habitats within the park which makes it really interesting. After 4 relaxing nights here we moved on to Jabiru and stayed in the Kakadu Lodge caravan park.
From here
we explored the Nourlangie track which took us along an escarpment
housing a lot of Aboriginal Rock Art. This is the best and most
informative rock art site we have visited so far. It was a 1.5 ks
circuit visiting several different galleries. Each gallery was
different and had an explanation of the story the art work depicted.
Well worth visiting.
We decided to attempt the 2.5 ks walk round Anbongbong Billabong which was lovely. It was nice and flat and shaded a lot of the way, which was good. Egrets, magpie geese, herons and numerous other birds were in residence.
A cruise
on the East Alligator River was next on the agenda. It was operated by
the local Aboriginal group. We learnt a little about their culture and
the plants and animals along the river.
We had heard that going up to the border with Arnham Land at high tide was something not to be missed as you can see the crocodiles come up and feed on the fish that are trying to get across the causeway at Cahill’s Crossing. That was quite a site to see.
Altogether we spent 8 days in the park. We could have seen and done a lot more (and done a lot more walking) but walking isn’t our strong point. We could also have done an organized trip up into Arnham Land but they were very expensive so we decided to leave that for another time.
For those who don’t know – Arnham Land is a large expanse of Aboriginal land that you need a permit to go on to, so an organized tour is really the only way to go. There are a lot of aboriginal groups resident there and the scenery is said to be quite spectacular. Going in an organized tour you get to learn about the culture and art and mix with the locals. The tour groups also have access to places that you wouldn’t be allowed to see otherwise.
Heading East 2009
Part Two - KAKADU NATIONAL PARK
