Day 63 . Saturday 25th August. Katherine

This morning we did a breakfast cruise of the Nitmulik Gorge at 8am that went into 2 of the 13 gorges, for about 2 hours. It was lovely cruising and taking in the magnificent views whilst having a cooked breakfast. Some of the gorges we passed were more than 25 million years old, just incredible. Some where pointed out to be famous ones from movies such as Jeddah's Leap. It was a good idea to get this done early as by the time we arrived back at 10.30am it had already reached 27deg.!!  Jason went into Katherine to get some supplies while Leanne and the girls cooled off in the pool. We pretty much chilled out around the pool for the rest of the day!!

Day 62 Friday 24th August. Kakadu - Katherine

Packed up and by the time we had finished at 9am it was already 27deg so we had a quick swim before we departed for Katherine. We arrived in Katherine at 12.30pm and got a few essentials and some groceries then headed out to our campsite at Nitmiluk Gorge (Katherine Gorge) https://www.nitmiluktours.com.au/accommodation/nitmiluk-chalets-and-campground/ Lovely refreshing swim followed by dinner. Jason and Leanne even fitted a swim in after dinner while we left the air conditioner on for the second night in a row! Looked at cruises for the morning, will probably do the 8am breakfast cruise.

Day 61 Thursday 23rd August. Kakadu

Today was a bit of a slow start, we had to do some chores as we were almost out of clothes and Jason needed to purchase some hiking boots online. Once all of that was completed and we had a short swim we left for Nourlangie lookout and art works. This was a 1.5km walk and was extremely hot. We had one water bottle as we underestimated the heat. They can trace some of these paintings back as far as possibly 20,000 years ago, with some more recent ones as well. This is very hard to comprehend and as for the girls to understand it is harder. This is why the question was raised by Ava "Were the Aboriginals here before  God"  With plenty of people around that heard the question all looked towards Leanne for the answer! Which she did well and was complemented by one of the many tourists listening! After a short break viewing some of the art works in a cave and Lucy retreating to the car to get some more water we were off again  to the lookout and this was defiantly the hottest we had been on the trip, no breeze and just blistering heat. The view was awesome as per the other locations we had visited. We then visited the Warradjan Cultural Centre which was a great experience in itself. It was also Airconditioned!!!! After this we walked along the board walk at Yellow River which was great as well. They have a cruise along here which is apparently fantastic but for approx $350 we could not justify the expense for a 1.5 hr boat trip. One thing about Kakadu is while it is fantastic to see, if you rely on tours to take you around you will be out of pocket $1000s of dollars as no tours are cheap except for the jumping croc which was $80 for the family. To go into Jim Jim and Twin Falls for the family we would have been out of pocket approx $900. The trip yesterday cost us about $100! Once the walk through the board walk was completed at Yellow Water we then headed back to Cooinda for a well earnt swim. After a few cool drinks and a swim and bangers and mash for dinner we were headed back to Ubirr Rock for the sunset. This was recommended to us by a few people and was just fantastic in itself and worth the drive, with probably about 60 other people taking it in as well!

Nourlangie

 Yellow Water

Ubirr Rock Sunset

Day 60 Wednesday 22nd August. Kakadu

Today we drove out to Twin Falls which was 68kms on  dirt road this involved 1 creek crossing over Jim Jim Creek, at the time the depth was 65cm deep. Once we arrived at the carpark we hiked along a track about 500metres then boarded a boat shuttle up the creek. On the boat shuttle the water depth varied to shallow over the rocks to extremely deep. All the time though we were able to see the bottom of the river bed. We noticed large Barumundi as well as a large turtle swimming in the water.  Once we disembarked we hiked a further 1km over sand, boulders and a boardwalk. At either end of the boardwalk was a unique  “ hose down shower” which was fed via suction from the crystal clear creek and allowed you to cool off before hiking back out. We thought this was a great idea as it stopped any temptation you may have to swim in the creek which is prohibited due to the risk of crocs. Once we made it to the bottom of twin falls we were amazed at the beauty of the waterfalls, cliff faces and crystal clear water. We had lunch then hiked out again. Next stop was Jim Jim Falls which was a similar distance in on a dirt track, but with no creek crossings other than the one we had passed on the way in (much to the girls dismay !!) The hiking track in was a bit more challenging, although it was 900meteres with approx 300 meters of large bolders which led to a sand beach just short of the falls, the last 200 meters we swam and then climbed some more bolders to then be at the base of the falls and a spectacular plunge pool, all this area including the boat ride through the Gorge which was surrounded by spectacular 250 meter high cliffs. The girls managed really well and we all enjoyed the swim at the end. After we hiked out and drove out of the area via the corrugated road we arrived back at camp very weary at 6pm after a full day of hiking in the extreme heat  (30deg) and swimming.

Twin Falls

 

The Boat trip to Twin Falls

The shower cool off. No wind and very hot sun!!!

Waiting for the boat to pick us up on the return trip, we admired how clear the water was. We could easily see the fish swimming.

Jim Jim Falls

The bolders were a challenge however the girls managed very well. 

Twin Falls, not much water was falling at this time, but you only can imagine what it is like in the wet season.

A look directly up at the cliffs.

Jim Jim River on the way to the car.

Day 59 Tuesday 21st August. Kakadu

Lazy morning at our campsite as we didn’t even unhitch the night before due to late arrival. We left at 10.30am and headed to the Bowali Visitor Centre in Jabiru to get some info and our National Park Permits. We headed off to the East Alligator River boat ramp ( near Merl camping ground)  where we spotted about 4 crocs making their way downstream to the nearby causeway!! The causeway separates Kakadu from neighbouring Arnhemland  (We had been told the causeway was a great spot to view crocs “surfing” over as they catch all the mullet coming across at high tide) We stood on the viewing platform and watched in absolute amazement with others as the crocs launched themselves over the causeway in quite shallow water (about  70cm) in order to catch the fish!!! Several boats came from downstream to view this also. After this we went to the basket weaving demonstration which was held at nearby Merl campgrounds by the ranger and two local Aboriginal women. We all tried to split the Pagdanus leaves which proved far more difficult than what it looked! Once the leaves were split they needed to be dried and then could be used for weaving. They showed us a basket that sells for over $400 as it takes them 100 hours to complete. We then headed to Ubirr Rock to walk around the amazing Indigenous Artwork on the rock faces, most dating back 2000 years ago. We climbed up to the top of Ubirr Rock and looked over the at the amazing 360 degree view of Kakadu. We arrived back at the caravan park and enjoyed a much needed swim.

 This gives an idea of the amount of crocs in a small area, top left of the picture you can see a one as well as bottom left. Was was on the bank as well just out of the picture. And plenty others in the water.

 One catching dinner.

 Girls attempting weaving

 Ubirr Rock

 From the top, we will view the sunset from here one night hopefully!!

Hard to believe some of these paintings are 2000 years old.

Day 58 Monday 20th August. Darwin – Kakadu (Cooinda)

Packed up our gear and did a few things at the shops in Palmerston before leaving Darwin at 1pm. We arrived at Adelaide river in time for the 3pm “Spectacular Jumping Crocs Cruise” at the Windows on Wetlands area. Before the boat left the girls enjoyed the snake handling, with Ava not hesitating when the handler asked for a volunteer to hold the water python around their neck!!! Olivia was next but the rest of the family were quite content with touching it only!! The cruise was in a small boat and well worth it, we saw about 8 different crocs jumping for meat which was held out on a stick. We left here and headed on to our campsite at Cooinda  http://www.gagudju-dreaming.com/Gagudju-Camping-Cooinda/Overview.aspx  , which we arrived at after dark.

 Ava was the first to hold the snake

 Olivia followed

 This was within arms reach of the boat!!!

 This was the big daddy, about 100YO so they say and about 6m long.

 At the end the birds swooped down to the boat, this was nearly as good as the crocs.

We enter Kakadu

Day 57. Sunday 19th August. Darwin

Up reasonably early and headed off to Litchfield National Park. We stopped at all the beautiful waterfalls and tourist spots, including: Bamboo Creek Tin Mine, Walker  Creek where we had hiked in and had lunch and a swim,  Wangi Falls for another swim, Tolmer Falls which was a short stroll to the viewing platform and Buley Rockhole for another swim!!   We arrived back at our park and after another quick swim in the pool we headed into Darwin to have a meal with Josie and Chris and their boys. We were originally going to go to the Mindil  Markets but discovered they were closed today.   

Bamboo creek Tin Mine

Walker Creek Camp # 3

 View near Tolmer Falls

Tolmer Falls

Buley Rockhole

Buley Rockhole

 Buley Rockhole

Buley Rockhole