Warning – this blog is a long one so grab a coffee and make yourself comfortable !

 

Top End Australia

 

We picked up the vans….. Jackamy, Miss Tippy and Blue Magic road ralliers ready for our next adventure…..

 

The 200km drive to Kakadu National park was very boring with sparse scrubland for miles and miles. Huge termite mounds were the only dramatic mark on the endless landscape.

 

We stopped at the information centre at the entrance to the park but it was not manned and there were just a few guide brochures in a wooden box, we had already picked up the guide in Darwin.

 

So on to the Jabiru region which is the main township and the gateway to all parts of the park.

We found a site at Kakadu Lodge with a swimming pool, barbeques, a shower block and electricity and had a comfortable first night in the outback.

 

Next morning we did the bush walk to the Bowali Visitors centre which was very hot and the centre was quite uninspiring.

The centre was listed as one of the 7 top things to do in Kakadu so we were beginning to wonder what the other sites would offer !

 

The afternoon however was much more successful, we first took a walk through monsoon forest, following East Alligator River where we saw hundreds of black flying foxes hanging from the trees and causing quite a cackling commotion. They look like huge bats and climb about the trees like monkeys.  

 

Along the river banks we spotted a few crocodiles surfacing and then disappearing again. Two of them collided and for a moment we could see both heads out of the water snapping at each other.

 

We had a picnic along side the river and then motored on to Ubirr to see the rock art sites.

The area was beautiful with huge rocks that we climbed for fantastic views over the floodplains which are currently in dry season.

The aboriginal art was quite primitive but interesting. Apparently it is the act of painting rather than the painting itself that is most important.

 

That night we stopped in Muirella Park one of the park camps looked after by a local aboriginal family (well distantly related anyway).

We had collected lots of firewood on our way to camp ready for our evening barbeque and Freddy did a grand job of lighting the fire.

 

We set up the awnings together as it looked like rain and we were joined by Andy, the local guide, who was married to a part aboriginal lady and lived under canvas running the site. He certainly enjoyed having an audience and kept us very entertained with gory stories about tourists who had been taken by crocodiles in the nearby river.

 

The torrential rain came and the children had water fights by collecting the water cascading off the awnings.

 

The next day we explored the Nourlangie region, the huge Nourlangie rock was a fantastic site and there was more aboriginal art telling ancient legends. We climbed to the top for some great views and photographs before heading off for Litchfield National Park in search of some waterfalls and pools for swimming.

 

We arrived early evening at Litchfield and enjoyed another evening under the stars watching the wild kangaroos and wallabies hopping around in the adjoining field.

 

The following morning we headed for the magnetic termite mounds and read all about the termites on the information boards.

They are fascinating colonies, the termite mounds are built up in the air as they cannot burrow under the ground because the whole area floods in the wet season.

The mounds feel like rock and are built from a mixture of dirt and spit from the worker termites, some of them reaching over 10 feet high.

 

Most of the termite mounds are ‘Cathedral’ mounds that look very dramatic, like cathedral pillars, the magnetic mounds are flat and thin and look like grave headstones.

These mounds are all built facing the same way so that the eastern face warms up in the sun all day and keeps the inside a constant temperature so that  the termites can survive the dramatic changes in temperature outside.

 

At last a chance to cool off in the beautiful waterfalls and fresh water pools at Florence falls and then Wangi falls where we had a picnic lunch.

 

Our last night at Litchfield saw us arrive at the camp reception which consisted of a tent and rusty caravan surrounded by several tables full of junk, old fridges etc. and a metal portacabin across the way which contained the campsite shop !

 

Our first impressions were proved wrong as we stocked up with ice from the shop, plugged into generator power and made use of the gas barbeques and shower block. But the best part was yet to come….

 

At dusk the wallabies and kangaroos, many with young in their pouches, came close to graze all around us – what a sight !

 

The final trip home took us 40km along an unsealed road, which was like driving over a dry river bed complete with lots of undulations that shook us and the van about unrelentingly.

We had to stop several times to put things back together in the van, push the microwave back into position and pick up deck chairs that Miss tippy had lost out of their external storage locker !

 

We made an unexpected stop at Mick’s Whips where Freddie bought a yard whip to practise whip cracking. He had spotted the whips on the market the previous week and had been very industrious since, working on the rally boats to earn enough to buy one. We had missed the market so it was a stroke of luck to find Mick’s home where he welcomed us and sold Freddie his new whip.

 

A quick stop at Woolworths to provision for the next leg before returning the vans and getting back to our homes on water !