23rd – 26th June

Kakadu is an amazing area of the world.  We have been here for seven nights now and we have not seen everything that is available to see.  Many sites have not opened this year due to the late wet season.  Makes a great opportunity for another time or visit. 
 

We have spent the last three days at Jabiru visiting the northern sites of the park.  The town here is actually a freehold land site and resembles a mining town in it’s layout.  Nearby are the Ranger mining sites and the airport is on their land.

Ffording the East Alligator River

 
Highlight of this time was a visit to the nearby West Arnhem Land area.  We obtained a permit, forded the West Alligator River and drove some 15 klms along a dirt road that took us through some of the most amazing wet lands and mountain escarpments we have seen.  The final destination was a small aboriginal town of Ooenpelli (Gunbalunya people) to visit the Injalak Arts Centre.  The scenery along the road was in itself a great experience but having combined this with the visit to Injalak made the day complete.

The road to Oenpelli

A Jabiru beside the road - wish we had a bigger zoom.  He had 3 mates

An island in the wet lands

A wet garden beside the road

 

The Injalak Arts Centre is a creative arts workshop established and fully owned by the Aboriginal artists of this area.  In this establishment the artists create their works and present them for sale.  It is managed by a local Aboriginal Board but managed by an art specialist who we found had moved there from Noosa.  During the visit we were able to sit & talk with the artists and weavers as they worked and they explained how they developed their creations.  There are other activities including screen printing of their designs and carvings also but being a Saturday not all artists were available. 

Injalak Arts Centre

His works sell for over $3000 each & he barracks for Geelong AFL team

Weaving a great tale

 

Audrey & her creation

Injalak is actually the name of a large hill behind the town. The centre can actually organise guides to take visitors to see the Aboriginal art on this mountain but as the path is quite difficult and the cost high for hiring the guide we did not choose this option. It is on this mountain that many of the painters receive their inspiration. 

Injalak Hill from the rear of the Arts Centre. 
A snappy reception awaits those who take a shortcut.

In this establishment the management are not only finding sales for the local art work but creating markets.  The two senior painters have recently shown their paintings in Melbourne at a special showing and have sold all of their works at over $3000 per item.  All profits stay in the community.  Added to this the local people are being trained to play the roles of guides for the mountain, lead groups around the centre, serve in the sales area including the computing records of sale, training screen printers for a new market of “T” shirts and many other works.  The whole concept was truly impressive.  On the Saturday we visited (Saturday is a short day for them) there were four bus tours expected.  It was great to be able to meet and talk with the local people and Alice certainly showed she had a gift for communication.

Back across the East Alligator River and we visited a special art site called Ubirr (pronounced Oobeer).  Ubirr is on the very northern boundary of the park and a short walk took us to several displays of Aboriginal painting.  These were in very good condition and had been preserved well.  The park managers have also established good protection around each of these exhibits.  Some photos are attached for you to see. 

Ubirr art

I think they enjoyed fishing

At the end of the track we climbed up onto the top of the rock and saw the most magnificent view over the wetlands and neighbouring hill areas.  A guide pointed out that this was the same view which was included in the movie Crocodile Dundee and even though it is a long time since I have seen that film I am sure it was greener this time than my memory of it previously.  It was one of those places one did not really wish to leave.  This lookout is promoted as a great place to see a sunset however climbing back down the track in failing light was not something we wished to attempt so we passed this opportunity.

The movie view

Can't show you 360 degrees but this is a glmpse

Next day our travels took us to Nourlangie and more Aboriginal art sites.  Nourlangie is actually a large rock mountain and the art is spread around the lower sides of this monolith.  They too were impressive however the rock appeared to be softer and the works were not as well preserved. 

Nourlangie

A natural artwork itself

We learnt that the Aboriginals actually used these art works for teaching their youth.  The youth were not allowed to visit these places until a certain stage of their development and then the paintings (which a record of past history) were relayed to them.  They are mostly painted from their spiritual encounters with their dreamtime, hence their culture and beliefs were handed down from generation to generation.  We were told that at nearby Nanguluwur one of the paintings actually depicts a sailing ship of European design.  This track was too difficult for us to traverse so we can only hear about it.

Also dotted around the area are several small billabongs, wetlands where birds abound as well as some snappy friends.  Unfortunately we did not time our visit to one of these nearby well as in middle of the day the birds are not very active.

 
Our exploration of Kakadu has been wonderful and though we have not seen it all we do know there is more to see if we return again.

20th – 22nd June

We have made it!!  We are in Kakadu!!

From the time we started to plan this holiday the first real point of interest we were looking forward to was Kakadu.  But we have come to realise that the word “Plan” was never meant to be a part of this holiday.  So instead of reaching this point in week 2-3 of our holiday we have finally arrived in week 10.

Our first stop has been Mardugal Camp Ground near Cooinda Resort.  Cooinda is the base for Yellow Waters, a wonderful billabong on the South Alligator River.  We moved into camp on Monday and to our surprise there were many spare spaces to choose from. All the caravans we shared the Stuart Highway with appeared to have moved right past Kakadu. 

Well known wildlife photgrapher Paul Arnold at work

First day and we headed off to see the lagoon.  We were lucky to score seats on the sunset cruise of the billabong and how wonderful was that experience.  As the day was coming to an end the birds and animals were coming out from their rest and starting to feed.  The crocs also were waking up from the sun basking and starting to move.  We have seen many photos on documentaries and in magazines but it is still amazing to see it for real.  The cruise lasted two hours and hardly moved more than one or two knots as the guide just set about ensuring that we got to see everything that he could find for us.  We took so many photos and we would love to show them all here but that is not realistic.  It all seemed so surreal. And as we headed for the dock at end of the tour the dominant male croc for the billabong actually swam alongside the boat about 2 metres away for some 60 metres.  You will recognise him as the big Budda sleeping on the bank in the photos.

The dominant male in the pond - avery tired one!

And she looks tired too.

 

And when Dad & Mum get together the result is .......

It is not all about mates.  Here is the Lord of the Manor - The Jabiru

 

Hang on, -isn't that him with his mate in their new home?

Oh its OK.  There is a watchman.

And this guy can walk on water

And at the end of the day ....

It was so great that we actually booked to do a sunrise cruise on Wednesday as we had been told the birds were even better at that time of the day.  Well it was just as good the second time around and we did get to see new birds that we had not seen the first time.

And in the morning...

And new faces

Some are sneakier than others

Might be small but what an impact.

And there are some old faces too

On Tuesday we set off to see the Jim Jim Falls.  As you will see the falls were great.  At a guess they would have stood some 150 metres high and a fair run of water for this time of year. But the falls were not the only highlight of the day. 

 This trip was a real extreme adventure.  The road to Jim Jim is 50 klms of corrugated dirt road.  Then there is 10 klms of 4WD track which is very interesting.  This track really has never had any improvements or maintenance on it ever it appears.  It includes sand patchs, creek crossings, mud holes & speed bumps every 50 metres to ensure slow movement.  It was all first or second gear driving.  I can only think that they were trying to limit the number of people coming here or promote the Extreme Tours industry.

4WD track for 10 klm

Then we climbed up a rocky gorge

To see this.

And this

Then once at the end of the road there was a 1 klm climb over rocks along the side of the gorge to get to the falls.  This was a real test of physical fitness but we were surprised at how many made it to the top.  All in all the combination of the drive, the climb and viewing the falls made up for a big day. 

There is a lot to see here although it is fairly spaced out over a large area.  Most feature areas seem to be 40 – 60 klms apart and once off the main roads there is a lot of dirt road to traverse.  There is also a lot of opportunity to learn and understand the indigenous background and history.  Many of the businesses are owned or partly owned by the local Aborigine peoples. 

Back here in camp it is a very leisurely pace.  There is plenty of space for camping and while we have phone contact there is no TV reception so we really do get away from it all.  We have been able to have a short break here too.  This is a tough life and we have to be prepared for the unknown called tomorrow.

16th – 19th June

We are sitting in a roadside camp on the Kakadu Highway after spending three great days in Katherine.  The weather has been great although still a little cooler in the mornings than we expected.  Katherine’s latitude is equivalent to a point midway between Cooktown & Weipa so having temperatures of 6 & 7 degrees in the mornings is quite unexpected.  The locals are telling us this too.  Having said this the days are actually beautiful with mostly blue skies and temps in high 20’s.

 We arrived here on Thursday and booked into a camp on the Gorge Road.  This is a real tropical setting with each camp site surrounded by palm trees and bamboo.  It is like having God’s air conditioning working for you.

Friday we spent most of the day in Katherine Gorge starting with a boat trip in the morning and I having a long trek in the afternoon.  Hence it goes without saying that we slept well that night.  The Gorge is really magnificent although our photos are a little flat because of a light smoke haze hanging in the gorge.  All through the territory they are burning off grass slowly to reduce the fuel before fire danger time.  They use a chequered process of burning much like a drafts board where they burn an area, then leave, then burn another area.  Then they return later to burn the in-between areas left from the first stage.  This reduces the chance of it getting out of control.  The fires burn very slowly at this time of year but because there is little wind the smoke settles in the valleys & gorges.

There are 13 gorges in the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park.  These are all on the Katherine River but are separated by rock walls or falls.  We travelled up the three longest gorges by boat.  To do this we have to walk over the rocks between each gorge and board another boat.  Let us share some of the scenes we enjoyed.

There was some amazing Aboriginal Art on the walls of the gorge.  Considering that the water level has climbed up to 13 metres higher in some past wet seasons it is incredible that it is still there for us to enjoy.

 

Katherine is quite a thriving centre commercially although most of this is centred on service supporting the indigenous peoples and also in tourism.  Nearby is the RAAF Tindal Air Base.  There is also a developing agriculture industry with peanuts, mangoes, fruit & beef.  None of these are large enough in themselves to be a major financial influence but cumulatively they are very supportive for the area.

Katherine is the first large town a traveller comes to if moving north form Qld or SA and it is also the crossroad for those coming over from WA, in particular the Kimberley’s.  There are caravans & motor homes everywhere.  There is a Tourist Information Centre set up by the town council and it has a car park just for vans & motor homes.  It is almost always full.

The Katherine River is a fast flowing stream so there are several small races.  There are also hot springs here in Katherine and also at Mataranka about 100klms south.  There also some limestone caves near the town.  Most people are very “well tanned” as I heard it said on the CB radio as we entered.

Lower Level Nature Reserve - Katherine

Today we booked out of the park and went to church.  Some of you might be aware of David & Norma Ironside who are heading up the COC here.  Then after lunch we headed north for Kakadu.  So here we are on the banks of Harriett Creek with several other campers enjoying the peace & quiet of the countryside – well we will when some of our fellow campers turn their generators off.

Harriett Creek - We are camped about 20 m from this babbling Brook