Deeper into Kakadu
An early start today so that we can see
a couple of places in Kakadu. First we stopped at the Ranger station to buy the
park pass you’re required to have, just to discover that the station was
unattended and we should go to Cooinda to get the pass… at least we finally got
a more detailed map about the different areas in Kakadu which helped to figure
out which places and walks we can do with Sarah. Most of them are too long.
The next stop was 8 km down the road, the Bukbukluk lookout. At the end of a 100m walk (even Sarah managed that after some encouragement ;-) you have a nice view of the old Goodparla Station – I just saw endless green land!
Maguk
We drove a further 32 km and then got onto our good old friend, the corrugated gravel road to Maguk. 12 km with a lot of low hanging trees drove Martin crazy but the hike through monsoon forest and along a sandy and rocky creek was well worth the effort. Sarah loved the 2 km hike, running, climbing over rocks and having a swim in the creek on the way back. We even saw a water snake – if you can’t swim with the crocs then a snake will do… seriously, the water was crystal clear and we were on the watch while Sarah was in the water. The only drawback of the tour: too many tourists. About 20 of them accumulated at the small waterfall and plunge pool at the end of the hike (but it increases the chances that you’re not the one being eaten by a crocodile ;-)
Mardugal
A further 50 km bitumen road brought us to our campsite for the next 2 nights: Mardugal. It's a big NP campsite with a short walk to the Madrigal Billabong and the 2km circular Gungardun walk through woodlands (which we haven't done - Sarah preferred to watch the boys next door playing cricket).
Yellow River / Cooinda
Next morning we drove a few km to Cooinda to do the 2.6km boardwalk. Unfortunately that one was closed. Instead we walked to the Traditional Art Centre to have a look at the exhibition. After that we went on a boat tour on the Yellow River. The tour guide was very good at spotting the wildlife and we saw heaps of saltwater crocodiles on the river bank and got really close to them. We also saw a lot of pretty birds, ducks, a couple of Jabirus (black stork), a white belly Sea Eagle, Brolgas and brumbies (wild horses). A great trip!
