AUGUST 2012
We arrived in Kakadu from Pine
creek via the southern access road , this tracks north east about 250
Kms up to Jabiru and the Ranger uranium mine.
From Jabiru it tracks back to
the west 250Kms meeting the Stuart highway again just south of Darwin.
We had meet some people on the
road who, having been out here, were very disparaging and referred to
the place as Kakadon't , despite the fact they had a snazzy little
camper trailer and talked the bush talk, I guess they just didn't see
the place as we do. We've been in here now for almost two weeks and
have enjoyed it all. There is abundant wild life and six different
types of land scape, savanna woodland, flood plains and
billabongs, stone country, monsoon forests, southern hills and ridges,
tidal flats and coastal region.
There are a number of places
where resort style accommodation is provided, and usually, not
far away from these, National parks provide bush camp
settings with basic toilet and shower facilities at reasonable
cost. There are also plenty of places accessible to 4wd
thrill seekers (not caravans) with no amenities but spectacular
scenery, fishing and wild life.
At each of the major locations
there are commercial river cruises, scenic flights and other organized
and usually expensive activities available, there are also plenty of
free guided interpretive walks provided by national parks rangers ,
these are generally excellent and we have been on as many as we can fit
in.
Wendy has developed a penchant
for observing and photographing the flora and fauna digesting all the
information available from rangers, strangers and written material,
must be the new hat.
Here
is our first Kakadu Camp at Mardigal just a stones throw from the
resort at Cooinda. We stayed here for 5 days to catch our breath and
take in the area.
This is a pig we came across
while walking off the beaten track, They are incredibly
destructive, this one had been feeding on water lilly bulbs at the edge
of the billabong, they also eat the turtles that bury themselves in the
mud as the billabongs dry up. There is an eradication program in place
and I thought the ranger might like to know about this one so close to
his patch.The rangers take quite a dime view of idiots walking in the
bush off the marked tracks and we were told that fines are levied
for walking outside the marked walkways, such is life. The pig lives on.
After 5 days in Mardigal we
ventured further up the road to the point where the northern and
southern access roads meet at Jabiru.
In this general area is Cahills
crossing over the East Alligator river which forms the eastern boundary
of Kakadu national park, once over the crossing you are in Arnham land
which is aboriginal land and not accessible by mere mortals.
Ubir rock is the site where
there is a lot of aboriginal rock art, lots of free guided tours and
lookouts.
We parked up at a national
parks site called Merl, similar facilities to those at Mardigal but
noticeably cooler.
Here
are some pictures taken in the Merl/Ubir rock/ Cahills crossing area.
Looking back to the escarpment from Ubir
Croc at Cahills crossing
Rock art at Ubir
Sunset from Ubir 
One of the guided walks in Ubir 
From Merl we headed west towards the Stuart highway and Darwin.
We stopped at a place called Aurora, 200 Kms from the Stuart highway,
where there is a very nice and reasonable priced camping area, It
has a resort attached used by different bus tour companies, the grounds
are well maintained, a green oasis in an otherwise dry area.
We have been here for five days, taken some walks and generally kicking
back.
