Day 77 Lichfield National Park to Kakadu National Park

 Departed Lichfield today for a 350km drive to the camping ground we were staying in, There are a number of options in Kakadu including caravan parks but also a number of camping areas. You have to stop and consider if you wish to have a drink as most of the campgrounds are alcohol free as Kakadu itself is an alcohol free zone. As we had stayed at Lichfield , we went in the southern entrance to the park . The park is 20,000 sq km so it is huge and there can be lots of driving involved to have a look at things. We stayed at Mardugal campground which is the only one that allows alcohol. Good facilities with showers and toilets but no power. The other we choose this one was that it was only a couple of km's from Cooinda Resort where the Yellow River cruises depart. 

Home sweet home

After setting up camp , we headed around to Cooinda which is where our river cruise started the next morning and stopped at the Warradjan Cultural Centre  for some local history then  north to look check out Jabiru and beyond to a place called Ubirr. Ubirr is on the border between Kakadu and Arnhem Land and is also where the infamous Cahills Crossing resides. Cahill's is supposed to be the place where you will see a lot of salt water crocodiles but at the moment they are doing significant upgrades to the viewing area. I think there were more people than anything else so if there was a crocodile around, he would have had a real buffet to choose from. They were fishing and Russ saw a fellow catch a barramundi but the line broke just as he was about to land it.

Cahills Crossing

Ubirr

View from the top

Ubirr is a place of significant rock art for the local people so I hope the pictures do it justice. They range in age from 10-20,000 years old and when you climb to the top of the plateau it gives you a sneak peak of how wet it must be during the wet season. While we were there , I did a spot of politician spotting as Tanya Plibersek walked past us as we left. Wasn't sure but our guide on the river tour mentioned that he had someone on the cruise - "thought her name started with T or something like that."

On the way back saw something a bit unusual - a small sedan was coming the other way and I thought it had some wood on the roof but when it got closer , they had a small dead kangaroo tied on top - not something you see everyday!

The next morning we headed off bright and early for our 6.45am river cruise. It was just coming light as we boarded so it was magnificent to see the wetlands waking up with some many birds including thousands and thousands of ducks, plenty of crocodiles, buffalo, horses, donkeys and the biggest fattest wild pigs we have ever seen - make good croc bait apparently. Our guide was a local indigenous called Travis and he was fantastic and gave you all sorts of insights about life in Kakadu. At one stage , he picked a lotus lily flower for us all to have a look at. At the end of the tour , one of the ladies asked if she could keep it but no its a $1500 fine if they catch you with any native flora or fauna. 

We finished off the morning with a delicious cooked breakfast at Cooinda Lodge - you can add as an option when you book - take the option!!! Yum,

Later that day , took off for Nourlangie Rock - again this was an area where there was a lot of rock art but also showed you the areas where the local clans lived and sheltered against the elements for centuries. It does help if you've been to the cultural centre to understand some of the paintings but there seems to be a lot they don't tell . Still an amazing place to visit. We certainly didn't see everything but Russ did manage to have a fish in the Alligator River. You are only allowed to use lures in the park so it makes it challenging as they like the live stuff better. 

We did see a couple of dingoes - one wandered through the camp area usually either early morning or on dusk . The other we saw on the road out . Kakadu is huge so there was still a lot of the park we didn't cover including Jim Jim Falls as it wasn't open yet. 

We begin to head south tomorrow and the temperature will start to fall - not looking forward to that.