The flight to Darwin (located in the Northern Territory) was long and filled with turbulence which means I didn't get very much sleep. The plane landed around 1 am ( 2.5 hour time difference from Melbourne) and I grabbed a shuttle to my hostel. I didn't get to bed till after 2 and for some unknown reason everyone in my room got up at 5 am to prepare for a tour leaving at 6:20??? Why!? Anyway our guide picked me and a few other folks up outside of the hostel at about 6:30 and after a few more stops we were on our way out of Darwin and into the wilderness. It was a full bus, 15 people and the driver. The weather was extremely hot and humid (think 90s and 85% humidity). Our guide was named Dendrum ( I think - it was hard to pronounce... ) and a native to New Zealand. Not necessarily a bad guide but almost too laid back to be interesting and not very environmentally conscientious. We stopped at a roadhouse for petrol and snacks and then made our way on to Mary River where we boarded a boat for our river cruise. The cruise was excellent and I really enjoyed the guide. I saw a ton of new birds and both species of Crocodiles (finally!). It's the beginning of the wet season in the Top End so the park was looking fresh and green. Anyway after the boat tour we grabbed some lunch (included in the tour price but consisted of one hot dog with toppings - err) and then headed to our campsite to drop off some bags. It was sweltering so we voted to swim in the pool (the campsites were a little less than roughing it) before heading on to our evening activities. After a refreshing dip we headed to Ubirr to look at some Aboriginal rock paintings and watch the sun set. It was very relaxing and there was a cool breeze on the lookout. We could see the lightening on the way home to the campsite. I also saw a billion Cane Toads crossing the road and Dendrum hit a bat ( I had the front seat). We had a pretty late dinner and I went to bed straight after in attempts to make up the sleep from the night before. A huge storm hit and the thunder and lightening were pretty amazing and the rain brought cooler weather for the night.
A White-bellied Sea Eagle
Lotus Flowers
Mary River (proposed National Park) - not part of Kakadu
Jabiru or Black-necked Stork with a Magpie Goose
"Saltie" or Salt water Croc - Can grow up to 8 meters in length (pretty huge) and kill about 1.6 people a year in Australia. This one was only about 2 meters.
Magpie Geese
A 'freshie' - Freshwater Crocodile not normally harmful to humans...
Just a little blurb on the art. The art has varied age but some is estimated to be over 20,000 years old! Aboriginals used art for many reasons but many of these pictures were used to tell stories (or pass on knowledge) to upcoming generations. It is frowned upon to 'touch up' or correct paintings so they are painted over and over again on the same areas. In Aboriginal culture, only certain members of the society are entitled to learning to the details of the story while children and outsiders are allowed to know the simple version, which is why they are described so simply on the signs.
More information can be found at http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/culture-history/art/rock-art.html
Some rock art depicting Mimi Spirits referenced in the sign below...
If you click on the picture it should get bigger and hopefully you can read it
The Mimi spirits painting is located on this roof (about 9 meters from the ground)
Turtle! ( a food painting)
A lesson on stealing
Hand prints are the artist signature but you need special rights to use them
Water Buffalo (non-natives but apparently they at one time ran wild through the park until the Park service culled a large portion of the herd) They also apparently charged some woman and paralyzed her!
Nadab Lookout
Another View
The floodplains
I think this is a Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko
The sunset over Kakadu
Pretty
I went Gecko hunting after dark in the rain - of course they were all in the bathroom, I believe this is a Top-end Dtella but I could easily be wrong
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