After a great few days in Darwin we headed for Kakadu National Park along the Arnhem Highway.
After passing the Jumping Croc cruises on the Adelaide River it wasn't much further before we reached the gates of the park.
Then crossed the huge South Alligator River.
At the end of the Arnhem Highway we reached Jabiru which is a town that seems to mostly service the Ranger Uranium mine which is close by. Not much to see there so he headed north east to 'Ubirr'.
Close by Ubirr is Cahills Crossing which is the causeway over the East Alligator River. The eastern side is Arnhem Land which requires a permit.
A quick drive across just for something to do.
A quick fish as other guys had apparently caught a few Barra that morning.
No luck with the fish but 4 resident crocs made it a bit sketchy!!
The tides here were crazy too. Within 2 minutes it went from flowing out to 1 foot over the causeway flowing in the opposite direction.
Around 4pm we headed for the Ubirr Art site.
Then climbed the escarpment to watch the sunset over the flood plains.
Awesome spot!!!!!
That night we camped at Merl Campground, just down the road from Ubirr Rock. It was probably one of the worst, if not the worst campsite we have stayed at the entire trip. Before heading to Kakadu we had been warned about how bad the mozzies were, especially at Merl, but with nowhere else near by to camp we had no choice but to brave the mozzies. 'Surely they can't be that bad' we thought. Boy were we wrong. We had never seen so many mozzies in our life. Kristy, who usually gets eaten alive by mozzies and midges was rugged up from head to toe (and sweating her arse off) trying to keep the mozzies away while we cooked dinner. The mozzies were so bad we couldn't even eat dinner, each time we tried to shovel in a mouthful of food there were about 100 mozzies swarming over the fork. It was so ridiculous. Quickly we raced for the car to try and get away, but that was no good either as it too was full of mozzies. Arrhhh!!! We ended up having to sit in the front seats of the car with the air con blasting just to blow the mozzies away. Luckily we were in good spirits and able to laugh at how crazy the whole situation was and how ridiculous we must of looked to passers by. We must have looked like a pair of crazy stoners! Lol
The next morning we were up and out of there as fast as we could. Before we left the area though, we thought we'd give Cahills crossing another go. But yet again no luck, only a bunch of saltwater crocs sunning themselves.
Kristy was unknowingly fishing a few metres away from this guy (below), luckily he wasn't looking for a meal.
From Cahill Crossing we headed south along the Kakadu Highway to Nourlangie Rock for a quick look, then we had planned to make our way to Jim Jim Falls.
A billabong at the base of Nouralangie Rock.
Bugger!!! Jim Jim falls was closed. Sadly a man had drowned at the falls a few days earlier and there was a police investigation taking place. We later found out that the falls would be closed for the next week as the Aboriginal Elders and tradition owners of the land believe the area needed to be isolated to allow the mans spirits to leave the area.
So we headed to Yellow Waters instead and camped for 2 nights.
While there we did a boat cruise through the Yellow Water Wetlands which is the most famous wetlands in Kakadu. It was a little over priced but teaming with wildlife including heaps of huge crocs.
This guy was absolutely massive at nearly 4 metres long. He looked like he was digesting a whole cow. Lol
And then there was this little fellow (below), a baby salty. Roughly 3 months old just chilled on a tree branch trying not to be eaten. A female saltwater croc will usually lay around 100 eggs, and out of that, only a few will survive.
After 2 nights in the Yellow Waters area of Kakadu, we continue south. On the way we stopped off at Maguk. The brochures didn't really say too much about this place, apart from being a plunge pool about a km or so from the car park. We were very surprised when we walked into this enormous swimming hole. Another short walk to the top of the falls took us to some amazing plunge pools and and canyons.
After a very refreshing few hours of swimming we head to Gunlom at the southern end of the park.
Camping beside the escarpment.
Gunlom consists of a huge plunge pool at the bottom of a tall waterfall (woops no photo). A short 500m walk to the top and you find some amazing infinity pools with water flowing out of a narrow gorge, down a 3 tier water fall, through the infinity pool and over the main waterfall. Photos simply can't do this place justice. Stunning!
After a great 2 days swimming and exploring the canyons we headed further south to Nitmiluk (Katherine) National Park where we planned to meet up with Mum and Dad before travelling with them through the Kimberley for the next month.
Right on time, we all arrive at the camping area right beside the entrance to the gorge. Mum and Dad had been travelling for a week to meet up with us and we were all glad to be here.
The next day we did a short walk to the top of the gorge and relaxed for the rest of the day.
The following day we did the 2 gorge boat tour. Katherine is a stunning gorge and another example of mother natures finest.
After another great day we kicked back with a few beers and planned the next few days which would take us over the WA border and into the East Kimberley!
Oh and Kristy finished a very cool blanket for Jessie (her cat). Lol
