Not such a highlight 18/07/15
As a highlight for our trip we booked a scenic flight over Kakadu National Park. 5PM. To get the good light for photos and a sunset.
It was a small plane, 7 passengers (and Sarah) and the pilot. After a short drive from Cooinda to the little airstrip we got seated in the plane according to our weight. Sarah sat on mummy’s lap on the right and I, with the camera in hand sat on the left. I soon figured out that my window was badly scratched and with the setting sun on my side all the pictures (and the view) turned out to be blurred and hazy. On Regine’s side the landscape looked spectacular. Unfortunately Regine was counting the minutes until landing as she got very airsick and missed out on the great view on her side.
Nevertheless it was a spectacular flight with the escarpment to Arnhem Land and a lot of Stone Country on one side and then fantastic flood plains and river landscape on the other.
Sarah loved the flight and enjoyed it, however she had to hold on tight to mummy each time we had some small turbulences.
Nourlangie 19/07/15
After moving to another campsite in the morning we had a look at what is known as ‘Nourlangie Rock’. There was a nice walk to some Aboriginal rock-art and Sarah enjoyed the hiking to those sites as it involved her favorite way of moving: rock climbing. But best of all was the fabulous views onto the Arnhem Land escarpment. Wow! This is what we’ve expected from Kakadu.
Cahill’s Crossing & Ubirr 20/07/15
Cahills Crossing - how many crocs can you see?
After packing up our Caravan, which took somehow forever, we drove off to the main visitor center near Jabiru to have a cup of coffee and some cake. They had a nice display about the park and Sarah had fun pushing buttons, which then played different animal sounds. We find the visitor centers here in the Territory a bit strange. There are a lot of tours and other sightseeing sites advertised, but for Kakadu NP there seems to be only one mud map and a small booklet, which gives a rough idea about certain sites. Not having Internet access in most of the park makes deciding on where to go very hard – at least for us. We often don’t know what awaits us at a site...
We drove off to the most eastern part of the National Park. There is a river-crossing into Arnhem Land (Aboriginal Land, Permit required) known as Cahill’s Crossing. There is even a viewing platform to watch the cars crossing the East Alligator River and navigating around some big crocodiles.
At our campsite (Merl, just before Ubirr) we attended an aboriginal drawing demonstration and Sarah tried her own little painting. As she has seen it, she started with the background in red and yellow. After letting it dry for a couple of minutes she added the black and white colours. She enjoyed painting with colour and water a lot!
On we went to Ubirr rock. This is a very important rock in Aboriginal culture as it marks the end of the stone country and the beginning of the vast flood plains of the rivers. Ubirr is richly decorated with rock paintings, but the highlight for us all was the climb up to the top and the most spectacular views we have seen so far on our travels. On one side you have the dry Stone Country and the cliffs into Arnhem Land, on the other you see nothing but green from the rivers and flood plains and on the third side there is vast Savannah country with lots of trees and shrubs. The view was so breathtaking that we didn’t want to leave and I even got back for sunset to take some more pictures!
Bark Hut – 21/7/15
After a disappointing coffee in The Bakery in Jabiru we drove direction Darwin on the Arnhem Highway. There’s a couple more small Nationalparks on the 210 km stretch to Darwin. We stopped in Bark Hut because we needed some internet connection for Martin to work. It was a lovely little campground ($15 for an unpowered site) with a big pub. There was also a cool pool, two water buffalos, two emus, a turtle and two snakes. Enough for Sarah and with a good, fresh meal and a cold beer also enough for us to be happy.
After a bit of driving the next morning we stopped at the “Window to the Wetland”. This is a beautiful, child friendly display of the animal figures and landscape of the area, a great movie about The Wet and The Dry and a lookout over the area. Very enjoyable.
Another hour in the car and we reached the outer suburbs of Darwin. After some shopping (fresh fruits and veg and BWS had a 30% off in any 6 bottles :-) we finally arrived at Doreen & Daves home where we can stay in their driveway for a couple of days. Sarah wanted to go to the Darwin Show straight away. Unfortunately for her, it only starts tomorrow. We had a relaxed afternoon, Sarah could use the little pool and we opened the many letters and parcels that Doreen and Dave keep for us. Feels like home – thanks for all the great presents and cards!!