Kakadu National Park is home to lots of aboriginal art sites. We visited one called Nourlangie, and it was pretty cool. The rock shelter here has been used for about 20,000 years! I've included some pictures of some of our favorite drawings.
I've included this in case you want to try making some rock art of your own!
This one shows traditional dancing.
This one is called Nabulwinjbulwinj. You say it like Nar-bull-win-bull-win. He's a dangerous spirit who eats females after striking them with a yam. Yikes!
This is the Anbangbang Gallery, and it includes Namarrgon (the Lightning Man), Barrginj (his wife), Ginga (the great saltwater crocodile), family groups on their way to a ceremony, and Guluibirr (the saratoga fish).
Here's another one of the Lightning Man. Namarrgon is an important Creation Ancestor who is said to be responsible for the violent lightning storms that occur every wet season. The band joining his head and ankles represents the lightning he creates. He's pretty cool looking. This was definitely some of the best (biggest, most detailed, most interesting) rock art I've seen in Australia so far.
And on our drive to our campsite, we saw a dingo. Poor guy-so skinny!
When you visit Kakadu National Park, you hear that two of the main attractions are Jim Jim and Twin Falls. However, you can't get there during the wet season because the roads are flooded, and no tours were visiting the area while we were there (the end of the dry season), because it was too hot. In order to drive on the road to the waterfalls yourself, you need 4WD along with a snorkel on your vehicle. We didn't have either. We heard that neither waterfall had a lot of water running over it anyway.
So we decided to do a day-long tour with Gagudju Adventure tours, because their 4WD vehicle would be able to take us to some other cool waterfall spots in the park. We met up with our driver and the other passengers in the morning, boarded the truck/bus thing, and were on our way. The first stop was Maguk, also known as Barramundi Gorge. You have to do a short hike to get to the waterfall, but the green plants everywhere and rock scrambles make it beautiful and fun.
After the hike, you reach Maguk Falls. It's not a huge waterfall, but the pool around it is great for a swim. We hung out here for awhile, just soaking in the pool, playing under the waterfall, and climbing the rocks.
After Maguk, we stopped on the side of the road and got out to take pictures with a large termite mound. You see these things everywhere in the park; some are really small and some are huge. I'll talk more about those when I get to my Litchfield post. But you can get an idea of the size by seeing how tall it is compared to me (I'm 5'8").
We had lunch at the park near Gunlom Falls. The Northern Territory is full of flies, and they buzz around your head and drive you crazy. We eventually invested in fly nets (you'll see those in later posts), but here's Zack using his cooling scarf as a makeshift fly swatter by creating a swinging arc to protect his head!
Gunlom Falls is where part of Crocodile Dundee was filmed. The scene where he spears the barramundi was shot on the banks of this plunge pool. We spent some more time swimming and hanging out here before heading back to Gagudju Lodge for a cold cider and beer. It was a pretty good day, though there was a lot of driving involved (Kakadu National Park is HUGE), and our guide didn't let us know that we could have hiked to the top of both waterfalls and had some good views and more plunge pools to enjoy. We probably should have just rented a 4WD vehicle and gone to these places ourselves, but oh well. I really can't complain when I spent my day swimming under waterfalls!
Okay, I promise this is the last post about our Yellow Water Cruise in Kakadu. There's so much more to tell about our trip, and I need to get on to those other posts! But I couldn't help myself when I looked through my pictures and remembered some of the other beautiful sights we witnessed. So here's a taste of the non-crocodile and non-bird sights from that evening.
The lotus lilies were like huge bowls.
And those combined with the lily pads reminded me of a Monet painting.
We saw a tree snake and some strange tree fruit.
And there were awesome landscapes and beautiful wild horses.
This video will give you a taste of the peaceful cruise.
Going at sunset was probably the best decision. The lighting was amazing, especially reflected off Yellow Water Billabong. If you ever find yourself in the Northern Territory, I'd recommend the Yellow Water Cruise at the top of your must-do list!
Other than the awesome crocodiles, we also saw lots of cool birds on our Yellow Water Cruise. Kakadu National Park is home to 1/3 of Australia's bird species, which means there are over 280 species. I've put pictures of some of them here and tried to label them according to what my Kakadu Birds iPhone app tells me. I might be wrong on some of them, so if there are any bird experts who'd like to correct me, feel free!
Green Pygmy-Geese (a type of duck)
White-Bellied Sea Eagle
Magpie Geese
There are over three million of these in Kakadu. The one on the right was going crazy in the water.
Brolga (probably my favorite)-this big guy's partner was hiding behind a bush. We saw her too.
Comb-Crested Jacana (also called a Lily Walker, Lotus Bird, or Jesus Bird)
Baby version of the bird above (so tiny).
Glossy Ibis and Purple Swamphens
Rufous Night-Heron
Little Pied Cormorant
Forest Kingfisher (so small-you have no idea)
Great Billed Heron
Azure Kingfisher (another super small one)
Great Egret
Another sea eagle with an annoying bird that kept pestering it.
Black-Necked Stork (Jabiru)
Another Great Egret (or maybe an Intermediate Egret)
Australian Darter
Another Sea Eagle eating a fish.
The birds of Kakadu National Park are beautiful (as are the sunsets!).
The Yellow Water Cruise in Kakadu National Park was by far one of the coolest things we've done in Australia. We both ranked it up there (but not quite equal to) our time at the Great Barrier Reef. We did the two hour sunset cruise, and the Yellow Water Billabong is an incredible place full of all sorts of plants and wildlife. The main reason we were there was to see the crocodiles, and the cruise did not disappoint!
About thirty minutes into the cruise, this big guy started swimming along next to our boat!
He was so close, I was able to get some great photographs. How cool are these creatures?
Here's a video of this dude swimming alongside us...
On our way back up the river, we ran into him again!
As the sun started to set, we began to see crocodiles everywhere! There was this little one...
And this yellowish one...
Yikes-check out those chompers on this close-up!
These two were quite close to each other. Friends, perhaps?
I just can't get over how prehistoric these things look...
Never smile at a crocodile...
This one was climbing up the bank. It was cool to see it move.
Apparently, crocodiles regulate their body temperature by keeping their mouths open like this. They don't have sweat glands, so they release heat through their mouths.
Zack was happy to finally fulfill his Australian dream of seeing a crocodile in the wild!
Two hot but happy crocodile hunters!
This cruise wasn't just about the crocodiles, though that was our favorite part. My next post will show you some of the other cool things we saw! I'll leave you with one more croc picture, just in case you didn't get enough...
This is the Anbangbang Gallery, and it includes Namarrgon (the Lightning Man), Barrginj (his wife), Ginga (the great saltwater crocodile), family groups on their way to a ceremony, and Guluibirr (the saratoga fish).
