Friday, 1 May 2016
Ugh, up early this morning for our dawn Yellow Water Cruise. We were out opposite reception at 6.20am to meet the bus for the short ride to the dock. At the moment this involves the bus being driven through water that remains over the road. And the mosquitoes at this hour of the day – horrendous!
Out at the dock, we boarded the boat while our bus driver made a quick return journey to the Cooinda Lodge to pick up a couple more passengers. It turned out that our bus driver was also our boat driver. On his return, Greg, aka Gecko, introduced himself, saying that there used to be two Gregs, hence his nickname. After a short, very short, safety briefing, we were on our way out into the Yellow Water Billabong.
We cruised through the billabong and then motored downriver on the South Alligator River spotting crocodiles, water buffalo and many different birds. Greg told us that the buffaloes are ‘environmentally cleansed’ because, of course, they are an introduced species and, being hoofed, the wreak havoc in the park.
After our cruise downstream we did a U-turn and motored upriver for a while. It was amazing how much variation there was in the vegetation over a relatively short distance. All the while, Greg kept up an informative commentary about the flora, the fauna and the importance of this place to the traditional owners.
After two hours and literally thousands of photographs, particularly of the kingfishers and white-bellied sea eagles, we returned to the dock then transferred back to the bus, for the short drive back to Cooinda Lodge. We had only eaten a bit of fruit before we headed out, so we returned to our room to finish our breakfast.
With the day heating up rapidly, we headed to the truck to drive up to Jabiru. We stopped in at the Bowali Visitor Centre to find out what roads/sites are open and which ones remain closed after this year’s Big Wet. Quite a bit of the park remains inaccessible but the ranger recommended some short walks that we can undertake while we are in this northern part of the park and gave us some information about the Yurmikmik Walks, that are in the south of the park, that we can attempt tomorrow.
We drove the rest of the way into Jabiru to look for sandwiches. Hmmn, driving into Jabiru it looked very tired and not just in a recovering from the rainy season sort of a way. We felt very glad that we are staying down at Cooinda. Jabiru might have the novelty of the Crocodile Hotel, built in the shape of a crocodile, but not much else about it is appealing. Bernie parked in the shade of a tree BUT said tree is obviously a popular roosting spot because, when I slid out of the truck, it smelled like a bird’s toilet. Gag!
We found the supermarket and purchased our packaged sandwiches from the fridge at the back of the store. Never before have we eaten so many white bread sandwiches. We probably have healthier stuff in our pantry box but assembling food in a cloud of flies is a hassle. Before we left Jabiru, Bernie checked Petrol Spy and learnt that diesel is twenty cents/litre cheaper than it is at Cooinda, so the truck’s tank was topped up. OK, Jabiru does have that in its favour then.
From Jabiru we drove back to the Nourlangie Road turn off, to make our way into Burrungkuy. Before starting the 1.5km circular walk, we ate our sandwiches and some chocolate. After our early start, to say nothing of the heat and humidity, I was flagging a bit and needed sugar to fuel this short hike, ha, ha. The walk took us past an ancient Aboriginal shelter and several rock art sites.
We then had the option to return to the car park or undertake a moderately steep climb to Kunwarddewardde Lookout. Fortunately, at least some of the walk was in the shade and the cloud cover was increasing, which dropped the temperature a couple of degrees, so we managed the climb to the lookout for impressive views of Kakadu’s escarpment and extensive savannah woodlands. Then it was all downhill back to the car park.
On our way back out to the Kakadu Highway we stopped in at the Nawurlundja Lookout Walk. This proved to be a 300 metre climb up (another) moderately steep slope! Although it was a bit of a slog, the view looking back towards Burrangkay over the Anbangbang Billabong was worth it.
Now completely exhausted (me anyway, Bernie not so much) we drove back to Cooinda, thinking all the way about the Splices in the freezer at the shop. The rest of the afternoon much the same as yesterday. We ate our ice-creams and then wandered over to the Main Pool for a swim. The Main Pool was a much better option than the Lagoon Pool. I wouldn’t say it was mosquito free but, definitely fewer mosquitoes than we encountered yesterday afternoon in the resort’s second pool. But then there were the ants! No lounging on the sun beds after our swim like we enjoyed at Kings Canyon, it was straight out of the pool to beat a hasty retreat to our room, or risk being bitten and stung by all the insects!!
After a refreshing shower, the day was concluded with another meal at the Barra Bar & Bistro, where we both opted for the fish and chips with salad, featuring the bar’s namesake barramundi as the fish.
Steps: 9,722 (5.96kms)
