Darwin to Kakadu 22nd July 2009

 

www.kakadu.com.au

 

We packed up and also took the opportunity to give the trailer a bit of wash down and get rid of some of the red dirt that it has been covered in, since our trip up to Cape York and the tip.

Only about 250 kms to drive but the day was a bit cooler (26 deg) and slightly overcast. Just another 10 kms south and then we headed off on the Arnhem Highway for another 220 kms to Jabiru where we intended to stay for the night. As we drove into the Wet Tropics of Australia the country side changed to being quite lush. Here in the wet season most of the area we were travelling through would be in water. The road had been extensively worked on since we were last here, having been built up so in most cases it would be above the floodway's and passable during some of the wet season. After all in Kakadu about 5ft of rain comes down in the wet season  from November to April which transforms the place into the wet lands along with its gushing waterfalls and wildlife. There is something like a thousand strikes of lightening that occur during these wild rain storms and they can be very threatening to humans and the wildlife.

Today we saw our first dingo by the roadside which just looked at us and then ran off across the road into the bush.

Plenty of birdlife to be seen with the usual Whistling hawks swooping across the skies and the wedge tail eagles

We arrived in Jabiru at about 2pm and after a first try at the Oasis we then found a place at the Kakadu Lodge caravan park. We set up and then headed off to visit the Bowali visitor centre where we watched a video in the cool of the air conditioned video room and then walked around the information displays of the wild life and how it all use to be thousands of years ago. We checked out what there was to see and where we could go tomorrow. Though we have been here before we wanted to have another look and also see what changes had occurred. We also drove out to the Ranger Uranium Mine where we were stunned by the rape of the land that was occurring with huge piles of mined rock piled in massive mounds around the place. It all a much protected area, however they do run mine tours for those people that are interested. We weren’t.

It was then back to the caravan park and a swim in the very cool lagoon swimming pool which was just what we needed along with a few cold beers and something to eat. Thankfully it was a bit cooler in the night and we were able to sleep quite well.