Kakadu

Pine Creek is not exactly a large place these days.  It’s time of glory has passed along with the gold mining operations that once took place in the area.  Once it had a railway, now it has a few hundred metres of track and a rusting steam locomotive in a shed.  The town has something of a forlorn look about it, despite the efforts of some of the local burgers to introduce a heritage walk and some well kept grassy areas.  However, Glyn having successfully managed to airlift Chuck to his son and family in Sydney, rejoined us.

Kakadu, world heritage national park.   We’d heard mixed reviews of the place.  Some good but rather too many of the “it’s not worth visiting”, “it’s full of tourist buses” and “other parks are better” so it was with mixed feelings that we decided to make the diversion and find out for ourselves.  Our first foray took us to Gunlom in the Mary River region where, after a hard climb of a kilometre we arrived at a spectacular spot with a gentle waterfall and not one but three separate pools, all of which were safe for swimming.  Fortunately, crocodiles can’t climb mountains!  One pool forms a natural ‘infinity pool’ with wonderfully panoramic views across the landscape.

We bypassed the Jim Jim falls as someone had turned off the tap and instead drove on to Cooinda.  We found the camp to be excellent, with some of the best showers we’ve experienced in quite a while.  When you’ve been on the road all day, a good shower is as close to heaven as it gets.  Again we took a boat trip and what a difference it was.  Our guide/boat driver Belinda was knowledgeable, personable and had a well trained eye for spotting the wildlife.  Of birds we saw the white bellied sea eagle, jabirus (big storks with black heads), a variety of ducks and geese, several pelicans, egrets and lots of darters (similar to cormorants)

And then came the big boys.  First just the briefest of sightings of a medium sized estuarine crocodile

Then a little later, this huge fellow relaxing on the bank.

At about four metres long, the beast would happily be a ‘man-eater’.  They are known to hunt humans and a few less than aware visitors manage to meet their demise in Kakadu.  We were happy to have strong metal protection along the side of the boat.  Even then, stern warnings were given about keeping well inboard.  A magnificent beast indeed.

As a grand finale, we were treated to yet another Northern Territory spectacular sunset just before arriving back at the jetty.

Anbangbang billabong presented a fine view of a waterway, but with warning notices everywhere about crocs laying in ambush by the walking trail, we contented ourselves with a few photographs before progressing onto Jabiru, another small town that is fading away because mining, this time uranium, is about to close.  The day finished with us camping near Ubirr, close to the border with Arnhem Land, which is closed to visitors.  Climbing a peak we watched the sun set overlooking the wetlands.  Once again it’s a spectacular show but this time with a full 360 degree view.

Back to camp where we were attacked by hoards of mosquitoes so took to the roof top tent just after 7pm to avoid the things.  It didn’t cool and so we lay in the thirty degree heat with just the screens in place praying for a breeze to cool us.  Eventually the breeze made its appearance and we cooled sufficiently for a good night’s sleep. 

Tomorrow is Saturday when we leave Kakadu with a much better impression than we expected – apart from the mozzies.  Next stop Lichfield.  Hope you’re following this on your map.