SUNDAY 4th SEPTEMBER KAKADU

We have arrived in Kakadu, the drive although not long was boring with the scenery quite plain. So here's what has happened since last Thursday. FRIDAY.....We headed off early Friday out past Humpty Doo, to the Mary River Park, a large van park, we booked in and set up. Di & the Bewells had journeyed out for the day, whilst Tezza stood guard at home. After setting up, we walked down to the river with Terry and checked his yabbie pots (no luck), we saw one large croc, swimming across the river, Caz & I then went on a 45min walk beside the river, where bamboo is in its thousands lay along the edges. We then got back for some lunch and we then went for a short drive down to the boat ramp of Mary River and to the Bark Hut Inn. On getting back the others had returned and Di wasn't feeling to well with Verdigo, so she layed down for the rest of the arvo. Sand & John advised us to do the cruise (Corroboree Billabong) which they said was great (it turned out they were right), we booked the cruise for the next day, where they pick you up from Corroboree Park. After tea I made my way up to the restaurant/bar area, where I got to watch the game between  MANLY & storm. The owner Rob, turned the game on just as Manly were scoring their 1st try. Well it turned out to be a good nite, Manly won, had a great conversation with Rob & his wife Francis, and few cold ones. SATURDAY....

 Carol & I drove to Corroboree Park where we were picked up by Sean and he turned out to be the spit of David Holman (Maureen's son), his facial features, his mannerism, his actions, the way he did things, was exact duplicate of David. He was also a great guide. The cruise itself was fantastic and great value. We saw so much bird life, buffalo, crocs, plants, lillies etc, well worth it.

After being returned to Corroboree Park ,we met up with the Bewells and the four of us returned to the Billabong and hired a tinnie, we had a great time being out on the river for just on four hours, we stopped for lunch, anchoring just near a croc who was sunbaking on the mud. We tried trawling for Barra but without success, we think the same result was for every other fisherman out there. We saw some huge crocs coming up real close (Carol panicking telling me not to get too close & turn the boat around!!!)  one was even checking out the boat ramp, keeping an eye out for people standing in the water!!

We had a great afternoon seeing Sea Eagles, Jabirus, Crocs & the hugest water lillies. We then made our way back to the camp site where Diane had improved slightly from yesterday. The day had warmed up, but we didn't notice it too much due to moving on the water.

SUNDAY......Packed up we headed off to Kakadu, with advice from Sean to get off the main roads and do some 4wds, as you will appreciate the area more, well, we went to the Merl campground which is near Ubirr. We had our first testing experience with parking the vans, the area that was available to us, is really not suitable for big rigs, so it became a really really tight squeeze with Tezzas van, but with the use of jockey wheel, physical force, a saw, some blood and a few choice words, we set up camp, none of us within 40m of each other, the day was also one of our hottest so far with temps getting up to 37deg. The beers went down quick that arvo. We did go for a short drive to Ubirr, The Border Store and Cahills Crossing, where you go across the river into Arnhem Land, but it has to be around low tide otherwise its bye bye.

 You can watch from a platform up above the crossing, at people fishing and cars going across & crocs hanging around the crossing for Barra, we then returned for dinner, which we had to have in each of our own vans as the mossies are huge and hungry. The toilets were also not clean and by the time me and caz went for a showers there were no lights, so we had to shower together, but there was no time for scrubbing each others backs due to the mossies !! Terry at one stage came inside his van and he was covered in them, each one taking blood, Di had a field day killing each one. It was a hot nite, no breeze, high humitity. MONDAY.... John didn't have a good nites sleep as their fridge & freezer were playing up due to the high temps, so after breakie, the Bewells & Ransleys went to Ubirr for a self guided walk,

as we missed the tour by a couple of minutes, but it turned out to be good, there was lots of art works on rocks & caves, but the view from the top of the rock was fantastic, looking over the plains into Arnhem Land. We then returned to our site packed up quickly and got the hell out of Merl !!

 We stopped at Cahills Crossing on our way out as it was nearly top of the tide, there were 6-7 people fishing from the platform of the crossing, a couple either side of the crossing, 2 boats moored with people fishing and 3 crocs upstream with 3 downstream....all trying for that elusive barra. Two of the crocs even swam over the crossing and turned to be waiting right on the edge of the crossing waiting for barra. We watched this for 20mins or so and could have stayed longer, it was fascinating to see. We then went to the upper boat ramp but no action there, so we continued on into Jabiru, we ended up booking into the Kakadu Lodge & Van Park, which turned out to be a nice area with a huge swimming pool, as the temp have climbed here today to 37.5deg. We found 3 spots beside each other with enough trees to shade us in the arvo. It also gave John & us a chance to get the fridge/freezers working properly. In the arvo the girls & John went for a drive into town....they weren't long, whilst I went for a swim in the pool. There I met a bloke, John from Adelaide who had just been in Kunnurra and stayed at the same place Emma (Maureens daughter) works at. Later that arvo the girls went for a swim and I introduced them to Johns wife, Deana who remembers Emma and had nothing but kind words about her and they way she looked after them.

TUESDAY..... The Bewells and Ransley's headed off 6.30am on a full days touring with a local 4wd company, it turned out to a FANTASTIC day, as there was one other passenger (Sue) and the guide, Lisa Simons. We went out in a toyota landcrusier which was great, as the roads were rough and the river crossing was 600mm deep, so not suitable for our car. We headed from Jabiru to Cooinda and picked up, Sue and then went out to a place they don't normally go, its a short walk up the rocks to an area that looks over the escartment of Arnhem Land, here we sat and had morning tea with Apple Strudel looking over the plains and rocks, how good does it get!!!

We then drove into Twin Falls, this involved a short walk, then hop onto a boat for a short trip up the billabong, we then had another walk, over very slippery rocks (due to the sand) to where the falls are, with a white sandy beach with a pond area.... what a great sight. (once again no swimming ) We then made our way back to the car and then drove to Jim Jim Falls. Here we took our lunch with us into the falls, a walk off only 900m, which took us 45min.... yes 45min to get to, with lots of climbing and jumping over huge rocks . It was very hot as well, with us drinking well over 2lt of water. On arrival at the falls, not much water was falling but the pond area was huge and very inviting,( this one you can swim in ) but we decided to have lunch first, (supplied by the tour company) well, what a lunch, a nice meat & salad wrap, a juice drink, a sara lee muffin, an apple, lollies & snickers bar. Whilst the girls had a Gluten free lunch, which in Carols 11years of being ceoliac, was the best lunch she has been served by someone else. There was so much and everything was GF. After enjoying lunch John & I went for a swim, it was cold but enjoyable.

After drying off we headed back to the car ( another good 45 mins  !) we needed another swim by the time we arrived, but we did get a powerade which helped with the thirst ! we then made our way back, going over very very bumpy roads, with Caz in the back, giving it to Lisa on her driving skills, she had to stop at one stage, as she was laughing so much. On arriving back at Cooinda, we said bye to Lisa and was driven back to our van by David Darrington a bloke who came from Port Douglas and who new the girls cousin ,Billy & Merrynne. What a small world. As soon as we got back it was straight to the pool, it had been a 10hr day but it was sooo good. An easy tea and early nite as we were all tired. WEDNESDAY......Rans went for an early walk into town, stretch the old legs from yesterday, we then lazed around the site and pool before heading into Cooinda for a yellow water cruise.

    








We commenced our cruise at 4.30pm with 2 female crocs right next to the boat prior to us leaving. We then traveled up the Billabong into the East Alligator River. This river seperates Kakadu from Arnhem Land, with fantastic views of the wetlands. Our guide Lionel, is very knowledgable, showing us many species of birds & plant life, telling us things like when the natural bamboo flowers it means a enormous natural disaster occurs, usually every 30 yrs or so, the last time they flowered was just before Cyclone Tracey.

 We saw many crocs along the river as well as brumby horses, swamp bulls, buffalo (which are suppose to be eradicated from Kakadu) and 3 diff types of kingfishers, none being the kookaburra & a lot lot smaller. We also had a beatiful sunset over the river, looking onto the wetlands, the plains & the rock escarpment of Arnhem Land.

We also saw a Sea Eagle with a feed of tortise, and then as we pull up to re dock, a hugh male croc was eating left over buffaloor pig, it was awsome to see up so close cause you don't usually see them eat. There are also huge burn offs in Kakadu(controlled burns) with large dark smoke covering the sky, which looks awesome. We then made our way back to Jabiru, seeing wild pigs, dingoes and hitting a couple of slow moving birds. The nite is quite pleasant, not being too hot.

THURSDAY....  Rans is awake early, knees playing up, so he is out of bed at 4am. There are a few dingoes hanging around our sites, with them under ours & Sandy's van. We have an early breakie, then head out to the airport for a half hr flight over Arnhem Land & Kakadu. The flight was great, as its the only way to get a true picture of the area, with so many rockie hills, valleys, mountains, wetlands, swamps & rivers, as well as uranium mines & aboriginal outcamps.

 If you only travel on all the roads in Kakadu & Arnhem Land, you would only see 1% of the area. Rans really enjoyed the trip as he was up front next to the pilot and could see straight out or to his right. We then returned home for a pow wow about the next part of our trip, heading towards Western Aust.

FRIDAY..... After a very warm nite the Bewlls & Ransleys head out to Nourlangie walk, a nice walk looking straight up the escarpment to Arnhem Land, with us passing many caves, aboriginal rock artwork/paintings, along with a lookouts  showing the wetlands and escarpment.

We then went for a walk around Anbangbang Billabong, which has so much bird life, on and around the Billabong, it would be fantastic to see during the wet season. By then end of this 2nd walk we all were sweating a fair bit, so we returned to the van park and hit the cement pond !! again  The rest of the day was between the van and the pool.

Later that arvo Di & us 4 made our way over to Ubirr rock for sunset, stopping at Cahills  crossing for another look, Rans was going to attempt to cross but the clearance was not suitable for his car ( plus we didn't have a permit to enter Arnhemland !) and the water was raging through, we also saw 2 crocs close by.

 To see the sunset at Ubirr we needed to climb the escarpment, but it was well worth it was great (but all of them have been)( we also got checked by the ranger makeing sure we had Kakadu passes on us, they are $25 each & you have to carry them at all times or its $110 fine !!)  we then made our way back to site had some tea, a couple of drinks watched some footy and Caz spoke to Bronwyn. Her husband Michael was in foot race in the Kimberleys and has been badly burnt by a bushfire, along with a few other competitors,  hope he will be ok. It is another hot night here with fridges/feezers working overtime and its not even summer.

SATURDAY.... Wake up to the fridge freezer not working, looks like a problem with the fuse, so John bypasses it with another fuse line and it works, but still working overtime. Caz speaks with Bron and also gets in touch with Michael, it sounds like he is very lucky to be alive ( he and 2 girls caught in the fire and they had run through it to survive, both girls badly burnt) he has bad burns to the back of both legs and is being flown to Perth for specialist treatment, Bron is heading over and David & Karen will get her from the airport and take her straight to the hospital as well put her for as long as needed.     We have a lazy day as it is very warm so its pool...pool..pool....pool and more pool. A nice tea tonight we had prawn & mango salad..yummy & sticky date pudding.
SUNDAY....We received a photo of Michael from Bron and he has his arms bandaged fully along with his hands & legs. we also see him on the news. We had a big breakie for father's day, I got phone calls from my boys wishing me a Happpy Fathers Day, I miss them heaps. We did washing & cleaning prior to leaving tomorrow, but also gave the pool another workout. Caz has spoken again with Bron today and she wishes that she could be there to support Bron and Michael. We had a nice tea tonight Barra/Spanish Mack & home made chips. ITS STILL WARM  29deg at 8pm!!! WE  ARE CLOSING HERE AS WE ARE HEADING OFF IN THE MORNING TOWARDS MARY RIVER(STH) THEN ONTO KATHERINE, SO ALL BE SAFE, OUR THOUGHTS WITH HULLY & BRON & THE GIRLS..... LOVE RANS & CAZ.