Tuesday 28th November – Kakadu National Park

We got moving earlier – we have a lot of park to see today!  First stop was a viewpoint over the lush green forests.  I was navigating and planned to stop along the route at other viewpoints as we passed them.  However, many were closed or involved a long hike to see them.  We had to be choosy about where we were going to spend our time.

Our first panoramic view over Kakadu

One of the main sites right in the middle of the massive park is the Yellow River.  I had read about a boardwalk loop that would take about an hour to show us around some of the wildlife of the wetlands.  We had to fill up the camper (for a change) and I just happened to ask the lady at the counter about the river cruises running today.  It turned out that we were in perfect time for the 1130am cruise that would last an hour and a half.  Simon had seen some reviews raving about the experience, so we figured we’d stretch our over-stretched budget another time.  It was one of those ‘we may never get this opportunity again’ moments.  The cruise was amazing.  Firstly, when we walked to board the boat there was already a crocodile floating around in the billabong in front of us and numerous waterfowl.  That reminds me of an interesting fact - birds aren't bothered by the crocs because crocs can't digest feathers, so they are completely off the menu.

Our first proper wild croc (Simon wouldn't go close enough to assist with scale, but it was BIG)

Cormorant

Then we met our guide, Ruben.  A true force of nature. He was hilarious and if I hadn’t experienced him with my own eyes and ears I would have said he was an Australian Aboriginal caricature!  It started during the safety briefing.  Having explained about how to wear the life vests he made it clear they were NOT to be used overboard due to there being a crocodile every 200m, he finished with ‘if ya don’t speak English and didn’t understand a word I said you’re probably the ones that’ll die first!’ He had verbal diarrhoea, talking ten to the dozen and having third person conversations with himself.  ‘So, why did we do this?  I’ll tell you why Ruben!’ But he was also very enthusiastic about finding the wildlife to show us so he made the tour for us.  I took loads of photos, here are just a smattering....

Sea Eagles

Another croc for you...

Egrets

Water lilies

Plumed whistling ducks

Juvenile Sea Eagle

As we finished the tour - this cormorant caught lunch!

The Yellow river wetland

It was the highlight of Kakadu for us.  Again, there are many other areas with a variety of landscapes in Kakadu, but these were out of reach to us due to time, flood waters and lack of a 4WD vehicle. We stopped at a bird observation deck for one last look at the wilderness before it was time to move on.

As we’d not taken as long as expected in Kakadu we went through with the plan to head to Litchfield NP to save having to fit it in with the new RV at the end of the week. It was looking like a push too far at one stage, a long drive but we arrived before sunset, even having time to stop to see the termite mounds (right) and Florence Falls where we’ll be swimming in the morning.

Simon had found a good, cheap campsite in the park, with clean toilets and showers for only $6.60 per person on a powerless site.  It was great to be staying in a park again just like we had so often in the States.  But there were sooo many flies and bugs.  We kept the engine on as late as we dared but there was a ‘no generators’ policy so we had to turn it off for the sake of the other campers.  I got so hot in the camper that I was wide awake about 1am and just suggested we throw caution to the wind and open the door and boot.  After a quick dowsing in bug spray we managed to get some sleep.

Not gravestones... each of these is termite mound specifically positioned uni-dirrectionally to cope with the heat

Florence Falls.... we'll be swimming down there in the morning...