Kakadu (more correctly, Gagudju - the name of one of the Aboriginal languages previously spoken there) was nothing like Litchfield, so I am saved from making comparisons (but you can see my ultimate personal judgement at the end of this blog). It was less accessible and didn't have lots of waterholes for swimming. In fact, there was hardly anywhere that you could swim, and it was very hot and humid - so thank goodness for the pool at the caravan park, which was more like a massive lagoon (although a bit fake-looking!). The one spot where you can swim in the Park is at Jim Jim Falls - and you've really got to want to: it's a 90 minute drive on really difficult 4wd sandy tracks, followed by a good half-hour walk, the last part of which is over massive boulders. No wonder there are no crocs there! We thought seriously about tackling this adventure: after all, we've only got a Territory (not a "real" 4wd) and it has to get us back to Adelaide yet......... Andrew was very keen, of course, to try some off-road driving (and to save $750 on a guided tour) and he persuaded me that we could make it. Not only to Jim Jim, but past that to Twin Falls - another half-hour of rough tracks plus a water crossing where the water was about 60cm deep (not to mention croc-infested!). It must be love - that's all I can say. Of course now that we've made it safely there and back again, I can tell everyone (including my parents) about it! The poor girls didn't enjoy the journey much, but were very good about it. Same goes for me! Actually the water crossing was a great thrill (afterwards!), and when we arrived at Twin Falls I had a soppy moment of pride in my "little" Territory, parked among all those great Landcruisers and Range Rovers with their pose-y snorkels. Twin Falls was a great adventure, because you have to catch a little ferry downstream to the falls (Andrew remembers having floated down there on an airbed, but that's been banned since 2002 because of the crocs) and it's all very scenic - although it's hard to stand in the heat and look at the beautiful pool at the bottom of the falls and not be able to go in, especially after Litchfield. We didn't stay long, anyway, but scooted back on the ferry and headed for Jim Jim (back through the water - no qualms this time - just a smugly sympathetic smile for the guy in the BMW X5 who'd blown up his engine attempting to cross). At Jim Jim (named after the local Aboriginal word for the ubiquitous water pandanus) we successfully conquered the massive boulder walk and were rewarded at the end with a lovely swim (Kendall complained it was too cold). Then back in the car for the 2-hour drive back to the caravan park, where we had to have a very early dinner and head out again for a "night cruise" in a nearby billabong - preceded by some education in Aboriginal cultural activities - cooking, basket-weaving, spear-throwing and didgeridoo playing. Kendall was quite good at spear-throwing, and Andrew showed some genuine aptitude fo the didg (in my humble opinion). I just kept spraying everyone with Aeroguard and rationing the water. The cruise was pretty good, although we didn't see much wildlife. A glimpse of crocodile was a bit of a thrill, but the best thing was the night sky overhead - truly spectacular. It was pitch dark by the time we got on the boat, and I've still got the bruise from bumping into a pole on the way down to the water.
I haven't mentioned that on the way through the National Park to our accommodation at Cooinda, we stopped at a place called Mamukala - an internationally recognised wetland area that was still beautiful (and wet) despite being almost at its driest point in the annual cycle. The scale of it was very hard to take in. We also stopped in Jabiru at the Bowali Visitor's Centre, which had an incredible interpretive display all about Kakadu - its geology, flora and fauna, management, cultural history etc. I went through reading all this fascinating stuff just wishing I would be able to remember it (but of course I can't). I have never seen a visitor's centre like it - it was more like a really good museum/science centre. Kakadu is really a massive floodplain, with lots of that "boring" woodland, bordered on the southern and eastern edges by this massive escarpment, which becomes Arnhem Land to the east. It's character is shaped by the escarpment and by the South and East Alligator River (both so called because whichever European explorer first documented it thought that the saltwater crocodiles he saw there were alligators).
We only had two days in Kakadu - it's amazing how much we saw. On the second full day (after our 4wd adventure on the first day) we visited Nourlangie Rock, where you follow a path around the rocky outcrop from the main escarpment and come across numerous examples of Aboriginal rock art; visited a nearby billabong, climbed another rock to a spectacular look-out, checked out the beautifully laid-out Aboriginal cultural centre - named after and shaped like the Warradjan (pig-nosed turtle) and then.....................
The highlight of Kakadu - for me at least - was without doubt the last activity on our agenda: a sunset "Yellow Water" cruise. This cost $300 for the five of us for a two-hour cruise, starting at 4.30pm and finishing just after sunset. After our previous night cruise, I thought we'd be lucky to see a few birds and maybe a croc somewhere, but for two hours we were treated to the most beautiful birds, fantastic scenery, and more crocodiles (all "ginga" - ie saltwater crocs) than you would care to poke a stick at. And the sunset! I'm going to let the photos do the talking for me (I took about 100). I am still on a high from this experience, which I am sure I will never forget. I'm not sure that the girls found it quite so enthralling, as it just involved watching (without a TV), but they did appreciate it. The crowning moment was right at the end, after sunset, when you thought it couldn't get any better and we were headed for home and a beer in the bistro, and then there was a jabiru standing by itself on the bank....... so graceful and glorious. Sadly my camera couldn't do it justice because the light was so dim by then, but I did get a couple of shots. Our guide, Adam, deserves a mention because his humour and charm made the cruise so entertaining - but really the scenery did the work. And so - ultimately - for me Kakadu wins over Litchfield for sheer spell-binding effect.
Captions for pictures
- The water we drove through (shame I couldn't get a picture of our car in action)
- Twin Falls gorge from the ferry
- Anbangbang billabong
- Nourlangie Rock seen from nearby Nawurlandja Rock
- Tahlia taking sun protection very seriously
- Nabulwinjbulwinj - a dangerous spirit who eats females after striking them with a yam. From now on: the family boogie-man!
- An Australian darter drying out his wings before going in for another dive
- Spot the croc
- Jabiru nest
- Can you see the croc in this one? (It's roughly dead centre of the picture)
- The sunset. See what I mean?
No comments:
Post a Comment