Kakadu National Park

Roy took a day off of work and we were out-the-door on a 3 day 4WD Camping Tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. Yes, me camping in Australia!  I am a long time camping girl but not a big fan of sleeping on the ground anymore especially with venomous snakes around...... stay tuned.

Our ride

my great seat due to car sick issues, which thankfully never materialized.

On our drive South, we stopped for a short cruise on the beautiful Corroboree Billabong or Wetland.  

are you wondering if Roy is ever without his binoculars?  Not much.  not with 280 new birds to see in the Park

I cannot remember the proper name of this little guy but it is sometimes called the Jesus Bird because it appears to walk on water, thanks to his big feet

 Kakadu National Park is about a 2 hour drive southeast of Darwin and is huge; say,  size of half of Switzerland.

 Our first stop was an Aboriginal Rock site; Ubirr. 
I'm going to borrow from Wikipedia because they explain things much better than I can.

Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40 000 years. Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20 000 and possibly up to 40 000 years.

Approximately half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and most of the remaining land is currently under claim by Aboriginal people. The areas of the Park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. 
About 500 Aboriginal people live in the Park; many of them are traditional owners. 






Beautiful, spectacular view.  Below is my attempt at a panoramic shot.

right

center

left

The "Top End" of Australia has two seasons.  WET (summer) and dry (winter). Since Auz is in the Southern Hemisphere, their seasons are opposite of ours here.
We were told that this view will mostly be a lake in the Wet. 

Remember the camping part?  These little cabins were a welcome sight especially the FLOORS!

  We had a great group.  A family from France with 2 older teenager daughters, 2 retired teachers from Canada and 2 young women (mid 20's) one, German and one Mexican/Canadian, traveling and working around Australia. Our driver fried us some marinated kangaroo chunks (a little tough) and water buffalo burgers (YUM!!) for dinner.  We all pitched in to help with the salad and clean-up.  Our driver was a super nice red-headed young Aussie and I cannot believe I've already forgot his name! 

Our 4WD truck came in handy the next morning as we crossed this river. About a meter deep.  Yes, we kept our eyes very open for crocs!

Today was hike day.  First stop: Twin Falls Gorge.  We took a short boat ride up the beautiful Gorge.

this little adventure was made all that more exciting by the croc trap we had just passed down river a ways.  No, I am not kidding. 

Twin Falls.

 After a hour drive, it was time for a longer hike to the largest waterfall in the Park: Jim Jim Falls ~ 7K (4 miles) each way. Since it was winter and getting very dry, we were lucky to see it with water coming over the top.
It was a tough hike in places; rock hopping/climbing isn't exactly easy at our age!   Needless to say, our knees were sore that night. 

can you barely see the falls?  sorry, the sun was just in the wrong place

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Roy. You can barely see me in the above picture. 

Now I know you are thinking, wait a stinking minute here!  After all my talk about staying out of all water in Auz, here we are swimming.  What the heck!?!  Let me explain that saltwater crocs like and need warm water, give or take a few degrees around 85*F.  Anything less than 80*F and no crocs.  You will just have to take my word for it, but this water was much COLDER than that!  It was a hot day though and felt very refreshing.  At least after I dove in and came up yelling! 





















Spent the night here in more nice little cabins.  Very colorful Outback Aussie Pub nearby.

True or False; are there water buffalo in Australia?
      True.  Actually quite a few in the Top End as they handle the tropical heat and humidity well.
  The buffalo-hunting industry became an important employer of Aboriginal people during the dry-season months.