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Katherine to Cooinda (Kakadu)

It's not possible to book ahead in the Kakadu caravan parks so we were up early (awakened by the constant flip-flop of thongs as early risers walked past to the amenities block) and arrived at Cooinda shortly after 11. For the first time since leaving home we were conscious of the wind as we drove. We again saw large areas of recently burnt countryside. We spent a while setting up, with some extra time needed to fit the air conditioner in place, and did a load of washing. Each time Joy walked past the tree behind our van she heard what she thought was a small lizard moving. The 'small lizard' eventually decided to emerge, and out came a large goanna. It's noticeably much warmer and more humid here than where we've been. We cooled off in the park pool.

We decided to take the late afternoon Yellow Water cruise. This cruise, in flat bottomed boats, starts on the Yellow Water billabong, moves on to the South Alligator River and then to the wetlands area. We saw plenty of crocodiles, apparently the main reason that many take the cruise. Our guide pointed out the many different types of birds, showed us where birds were nesting, pointed out the crocodiles, explained the different vegetation, such as the water lilies and the paperbark trees, and described the different seasons. Some of the trees in the wetlands area showed signs of the water having been three metres higher in the previous, relatively dry, wet season. Clouds had developed during the afternoon, again a rare occurrence for us on this trip, so we had a beautiful sunset. We were very pleased to have our air conditioner this evening as the park is very warm, humid and still.

Kakadu

I thought this was supposed to be a holiday! We were up early again and out of the caravan park before sunrise. The reason? We wanted to attend a walk conducted by one of the rangers about 50 km down the road on 'Stone Country and Billabongs'. We first climbed the stone outcrop named Nawurlandja to the lookout. This gave a magnificent view of the nearby rock formation known as Nourlangie and the escarpment in the distance which forms the boundary between Kakadu and Arnhem Land. The ranger talked about some of the different types of plants we saw, and pointed out a fig tree that was growing on what appeared to be sheer rock, with a root system that extended well into the cave below. Down from the rock, we walked along the edge of the nearby billabong and again saw a variety of bird species, although most in small groups only.

Nourlangie is the largest of the rock outliers (away from the main escarpment). It has several overhangs that provided shelter for the aboriginal people in the past. The rocks are sedimentary, once part of the sea bed, but so long ago that they predate fossils. The shelters have been adorned with aboriginal paintings, some of which are very clear. The rocks are huge, and some of the overhangs are enormous. At Nourlangie we attended a talk on aboriginal lifestyle, past and present, with an emphasis on bush tucker, given at a lookout. From there we walked down past the rocks and looked at the aboriginal paintings in the shelters.

From Nourlangie we drove to Jabiru, then on past the South Alligator River (which really is a river) to the Aurora Kakadu Resort. From the 'large banyan fig tree' we took a 3.6 km walk through monsoon forest and past a lagoon. The monsoon rainforest was dry, but shady. It would be interesting to see it during the wet season. It contained a lot of butterflies, and some interesting spider webs — like flat plates with very fine bases. It gets quite warm in this part of the world. Joy is wearing her hair pulled back, Barrie just puts on his borrowed hat. Last night was the first night that we haven't had the doona on for some part of the night. We decided that that was enough walking for the day, and headed back to our air conditioned caravan.

Kakadu

We decided to have a quieter day today. We left the car park at 8:10 and drove a mere 24 km to the Mirrai Lookout. The description said 'a moderately difficult 3.6 km return walk ... It is a steep climb.' It was a steady, continuous climb up, much of it over rock and boulders, but not too strenuous. Joy now thinks that any walk will be easy compared with the Katherine Gorge walk. In some directions the view from the top was partly obscured by trees, despite the platform. In some ways the walk down was more difficult than the walk up.

We then drove along a little further and took the Bubba (Boop-bar) walk, 5 km according to the sign at the start. We started through trees, then walked around several billabongs. It was a very pleasant and pretty walk, although very warm. There were seats at various points around the walk where it was possible to sit and watch the billabong and the bird life.

In the afternoon we visited the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre, just a kilometre up the road. Warradjan is built in the shape of one of the turtles found in the area. The Centre describes the aboriginal beliefs about the area, and the way they managed the land and the food supplies. We came away with a realisation that the food gathering customs and social structure of aboriginal life was much more complex than we had previously understood. Barrie bought a hat in the gift store so he won't be advertising Dream World any more. To finish the day we went for a swim in the pool at the caravan park, although today is cloudy and less oppressive then the past couple of days have been.

Kakadu

Today we visited the East Alligator River area, on the edge of Arnhem Land and about 100 km from where we are staying. Ubirr (Oo-beer) is a popular spot for tourists, and there were more people there than we have been seeing at most of the spots we visit. It is supposedly spectacular at sunset, as seen from the top of a very large rock looking across a green flood plain. It's quite a steep climb up rocks to the top, but the views are worth the climb. Shortly after leaving the car park we arrived at the first rock art, the story of which Helen, our guide on the walk two days ago, was about to tell. The painting was of the Rainbow Serpent, and Helen told the story of creation as told by the aboriginal people. One important point that she did make was that the aboriginal stories told to non-aboriginal people are the simplified stories that are told to aboriginal children. At different stages in their lives these stories are expanded upon to the aboriginal people, and are not mere 'fairy tales' but illustrate a system of laws and beliefs for them. After climbing to the top of Ubirr, on the way back down we again listened to Helen talk about two illustrated stories, one painted over another. The aboriginals believe that they cannot restore someone else's work, but that it is okay to paint over another painting. In this area there are many paintings, some of which clearly have been superimposed over others at different times.

From Ubirr we drove a few kilometres south and took a 2.5 km walk described as one of the most interesting in Kakadu. This proved to be correct. It was an easy walk (apart from the temperature) through massive stone outliers then along the banks of the East Alligator River.

On the way back to our van we stopped at Bowali, the visitor information centre near Jabiru. In addition to providing visitor information, Bowali has displays similar to Warradjan which we visited yesterday. However, where Warradjan focuses on the people and their culture, Bowali focuses on the land and the wildlife.

The aboriginal people here want tourists to learn to feel the spiritual communication that exists for them in Kakadu. We feel that we have developed an appreciation of that spirituality.

Kakadu

A 'rest' day. We decided to stay at the caravan park all day and rest. Joy did two loads of washing, turned the mattress on the bed (not an easy task when the bed is almost half the size of the van), washed the Musso (very dusty), sorted papers that have been accumulating, wrote some postcards (if you're reading this there's not much to add via a postcard), found homes for various odds and ends and trimmed Barrie's hair. After washing the dishes and sweeping the floor, Barrie re-examined our planned itinerary and made some modifications, then continued with the apparently endless task of creating slide shows of our photos.

Kakadu to Howard Springs (Darwin)

Up early again, who can sleep in at a caravan park? At least everyone goes to bed early. We drove out of Kakadu past Jabiru, over the impressively large South Alligator River, which we saw the other day, then over the much smaller West Alligator River, both the East Branch and the West Branch. Most of the trip was through treed savannah, with a forest of pandanus and a brown flood plain at South Alligator, and an impressively green flood plain of the equally impressive Mary River. As we approached Darwin we saw some mango farms and a banana plantation. It is a long time since we have seen crops or orchards. Most of the mango trees looked young, possibly indicating that mango farming is a new enterprise in that area. We are staying at Howard Springs, some 30 km out of Darwin. After setting up the van we explored the area and did some food shopping at the large shopping centre at nearby Palmerston. We are exactly half way through our holiday in terms of time.

Darwin

We drove into Darwin and did the walking tour of the city. This incorporated both historic buildings and buildings of civic and cultural interest and took us about 3 1/2 hours. At least the paths were flat and smooth, but the temperature is in the low thirties and the humidity about 75%. If this is the 'dry' season we are definitely not returning in the 'wet'. This afternoon it is cloudy and looks like it's about to rain.

There is an emphasis everywhere on the two major events in Darwin's history — the WWII bombing and Cyclone Tracy. Many of the buildings had to be repaired or replaced after each of these events. The Anglican Cathedral has incorporated the remains of the pre-Tracy building into its replacement. We contrasted Darwin's Civic Square, which incorporates an ancient 'Tree of Knowledge' (banyan tree, seen over Barrie's right shoulder in the photo), with Melbourne's. The NT's Parliament House is an attractive building, both inside and out, Government House is a relic of an earlier time. Darwin's Chinese history is housed in a museum next to their beautiful temple. According to the visitor's book, the previous visitors were a couple from Geelong, and her name was Joy. We decided to have an 'experience with a difference' and toured the WWII oil storage tunnels under the city. These were constructed after the surface tanks were bombed in 1942, but were not used to store oil. They have been used more recently to store aviation fuel. They now house a display of WWII photos.

On the way back to our van we stopped to buy Barrie a drill for some van maintenance, and called in at the mango winery, the most northerly winery in Australia. We had planned to call in at the one in Pine Creek on our way south, but this was more convenient. Just as well we found it, as it used to be at Pine Creek, but has moved to Palmerston.

Darwin

Musso went in for a service this morning and came out with a clean bill of health. Barrie then used the new drill to repair a window lock. With the morning gone, we drove into Darwin. The humidity was only 24% today, and much more comfortable. Our first stop was the Botanic Gardens. The plants are enormous, towering trees and huge palms, over 400 varieties of them. Housed in the gardens is the NT's oldest church building. Sent to Darwin in numbered parts in 1897 to replace the previous building, destroyed by cyclone, it is constructed of metal with the roof supported by a steel frame not by the walls.

Our next stop was the Museum and Art Gallery. Smaller than we expected, the main exhibits were of Indonesian weaving, a Cyclone Tracey exhibit, an exhibit of plant and animal life relating to the NT, and an aboriginal art exhibit. Outside the building was a walkway beside a pool containing fish and rimmed by native plants.

Lastly, we visited Mindil Beach. There were a few sun worshippers on the beach, no swimmers in these waters. A market is held on the foreshore each Thursday evening. We arrived an hour before it was due to open, and wandered around with most of the stalls already set up and no crowds. There are a large number of food stalls representing over 20 cuisines, mostly Asian, in addition to the usual market stalls. With the sun still relatively high in an almost cloudless sky we decided not to wait for the sunset.

Darwin

We drove into Darwin to the Mangrove Boardwalk, which unfortunately was closed for maintenance. Next stop was Fanny Bay Gaol. The gaol was opened in 1883 and originally housed 31 prisoners in 16 cells. The cells were quite roomy, however as numbers increased additional beds were added. The doors into the cells were incredibly narrow. Eventually the prison boundary was extended and new sections of corrugated iron with wire mesh for the internal walls were added, These were more suited to the climate and preferred by the aboriginal prisoners. A permanent gallows was constructed in the infirmary for the last executions at the gaol in 1952. Two young Czech men were hanged for murdering a taxi driver. They were the first Europeans to be hanged at the gaol. Judging from the charge sheets, most of the inhabitants were aboriginal.

From the gaol we drove to the Charles Darwin National Park, which provides a view through trees to the city, and to the Holmes Jungle Nature Park. Both of these parks have extensive and attractive picnic areas.

Darwin

The weather is hot, but the humidity has dropped to 20%. A very quiet day, nothing to report. We did the usual housekeeping chores prior to moving on tomorrow.

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