Kakadu National Park

On our way to Kakadu National Park we stopped at Pine Creek, this is an old mining town, we saw the railway museum and the Miner’s Park, and there are lots of mining machinery and artefacts used during the gold rush, definitely worth the stop.

Pine Creek,NT

We made our way to Cooinda, which is located in the Yellow Water Region of Kakadu National Park where we camped and booked an afternoon tour to the Yellow Water River. During the tour of this ancient wetland we enjoyed watching the birdlife, flora and the famous salt water crocodiles. It was just something we have never seen before.
After the tour we returned to the campground and after dinner we went to spot some crocodiles with our torches, we spotted only one right on the edge of the river and felt thousands of mosquitoes.
Next day we went on another cruise to the wetland to see the sunrise, the views were just fantastic, lots of birds, big salt water crocodiles and the flora was amazing came back to camp had a shower and after breakfast we headed to Gunlom Falls; a 2 km steep climb took us to the top of the waterfalls and a lookout with great views over southern Kakadu.
The next day we visited Jim Jim and Twin Falls, it was just spectacular, they did not have too much water due to the dry season however the natural setting with massive escarpment cliffs, gorges plunge pool and the beautiful walking tracks were overwhelming.
By night we went to an Aboriginal Culture and Night wildlife boat cruise. The cruise was on the “Djarradjin Billabong” where we spotted some of the Kakadu wildlife that comes alive after dark. Obviously found lots of crocs, birds and the night sky were just awesome. Our guides were aboriginal people; they provided demonstrations on bush tucker (food from the bush), traditional medicine and plant use. We also had the opportunity to learn how to throw the spear (used by the aborigines for hunting) and tried to play the didgeridoo.
The following day we headed North of Cooinda, we stopped at Nourlangie Region where we had a nice walk and sighted some Aboriginal rock art, continued and stopped at the township of Jabiru, this place is the service hub of Kakadu with a Holiday Inn Hotel, (the building is shaped as a crocodile) there are two caravan parks, a petrol station, bakery, swimming pool, banks, golf club and a social club and to finish our day we went on another cruise tour, this time on the East Alligator River, which forms the boundary between Kakadu and Arnhem Land , our tour guide was Aborigine; he explained aspects of local Aboriginal culture; showed us some medicinal plants, bush tucker plants and went across to Arnhem Land (note to visit this land you need a special permit, which can take from 6 weeks to 12 months to be processed and cost some $$$), during the quick visit to this land we saw a billabong where no men were allowed, it is a sacred place for women. The tour guide demonstrated how is a fishing spear thrown; he threw them more than 100 metres away without any effort, at the end of the tour we have had counted 28 big salt water crocodiles.


The following day we went back North of Cooinda, we visited Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre, the display provides detailed information about local Aboriginal culture and traditions, which helps to understand the connection that they have with the land, this place was very interesting to see, the we headed to Cahills crossing because we were told that at high tide the fish came upstream on the river and the crocs patiently wait for the take away food delivery, it is amazing to observe how the crocodiles have their own hierarchy where the biggest Ginga (crocodile in Aboriginal language) is like “the boss” then the others behind him according to their size and they are not allowed to interfere in the big bosses domain, beside the warning signs found everywhere; we could not believe the amount of people with small children taking the risk and standing very close to the water’s edge, where a crocodiles can just come out of the water a have a human feast. After this experience we headed to it was Ubirr, and saw lots of fascinating Aboriginal rock art sites and some rock shelters used by the Aborigines; also we enjoyed the rocky lookout that offers nice views of the Nadab floodplain and had the opportunity to watch the sunset on top of this rock which has 360 degree views.
Kakadu is a very special place that offers the opportunity to experience the influence of remote and very old culture and feel nature as its best, this place is worth to visit as many times as possible.
Boh Boh (good bye in Aboriginal language).

KAKADU NATIONAL PARK

Katherine, Northern Territory

We stopped at The Lost City, with spectacular rock columns forming a look like city, spent a little bit of time in the area and started a very loooong driving day, we don’t know how many millions of corrugations we passed but definitely we were shacked, the fuel started to get lower and lower and the nearest fuel station was Roper Bar, suddenly the light on the dashboard came on, we were running out of diesel, the jerry can with fuel finally came handy, stopped on the road and poured the 20 litres of diesel into the vehicle and continued until we got to Roper Bar and decided to keep on going all the way to Katherine.

We finally reached bitumen in Mataranka; we couldn’t believe the speed limit signs 130 Km/Hr!!!!!! Gabriel just loved it, as soon as we arrived to Katherine we washed the off road granny flat because it was just filthy, covered in red dust and lots of mud, it was so dirty we were afraid they didn’t want to let us in the caravan park.
The next day after getting all the information about the place and surroundings we went to Edith Falls (sorry please don’t try to look at the photos because we don’t know what happened but we lost them), what a beautiful place, we walked through steep and very rocky terrain but it was worth it.

The next day up to Katherine Gorge, we went on the three gorge tour, it was very different because you had to walk from one gorge to the other, this place was amazing and worth the visit. During the tour we saw a crocodile trap......the ranger said "well just in case".

We also visited the School of Air, back in the days when we use to watch the Skippy show on TV, we were amazed how Sunny had to do his schooling by radio. The school of the air broadcast to an area of 800,000 square kilometres, which takes half of the Northern Territory, also they have students travelling around Australia and or living overseas such as Bali, Papua New Guinea, Africa and the Philippines, in addition they cater for children living in cattle stations. Whilst in this place suddenly we were in the middle of a lesson, all runs on the broadband system via satellite with one way visual (teacher to student) and a two way audio system (no more radio communications). It was a great experience.

We also went to Katherine Museum; we really liked it because it had very good information from World War II, Katherine first migrants and the floods which affected the area.

At Katherine we also went to have a nice swim at the hot springs, the temperature of the water was just superb, which it was very pleasant.

We also saw a lot of road trains; they are huge.

Katherine, NT

Katherine gorge, NT