Birds of Yellow Water Billabong

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!).

Crocodile Rock

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...

Croc Clues

Guess what tomorrow's blog post will be about?!

Yup, the crocs are coming!

Window on the Wetlands

Several huge dragonflies were flitting about above the lookout deck!

On our drive to Kakadu National Park from Darwin, we stopped at Window on the Wetlands. The building's viewing area overlooked a large wetland with tons of different types of birds. We drove down closer to the water to get a closer look, where Zack encouraged me to get out of the car for a picture. This was probably a stupid idea in hindsight, considering that saltwater crocodiles inhabit the area. Luckily, I'm obviously still alive!

When we arrived at Kakadu National Park, one of the first stopping points was another wetland display. This one had even more types of birds, and we enjoyed watching them fly and strut around for awhile. Here are some pictures from this peaceful area of Kakadu:

This guy is much littler than I can describe-this was taken with my zoom lens!

I'm not typically a big "bird person," but it was actually pretty cool to see so many different types in one place, especially ones that I've never seen before. I even found a free app for my phone called "Kakadu Birds," so I can find out which ones we saw. Watching the birds was a nice, relaxing start to our Northern Territory vacation.

City to Sea Sunday

We interrupt your regularly scheduled posts about our Northern Territory trip to bring you an update on today's City2Sea race. Zack ran this 14km race this morning, as did our friend Emily. It started near the Arts Centre and ended in St Kilda. Here's Zack stretching before the race.

Today is Remembrance Day in Australia, which is basically like their Veterans Day. Here's a guy playing a trumpet as part of the commemoration before the run started.

And he's off! This is Zack at the starting line. I found Emily before she started as well!

Adam and I rode our bikes and met up with our spouses at the finishing line. They both ran a sub-9 minute mile pace! Zack was pleased with his 1:17 finishing time, considering he barely trained at all and hasn't even run in a couple of weeks!

Zack's company sponsored a swanky post-race party complete with catered food (including a full BBQ), unlimited drinks, and a jazz band. We sat in the sunshine outside the tent for awhile enjoying the free food. What a beautiful spring day for a race-nice job Zack and Emily!

P.S. As of about an hour ago, Notre Dame is now 10-0 for the season. Go Irish!!!

Down Under in Darwin

We started our long weekend in the Northern Territory by flying into Darwin on Thursday night. I knew it would be a smaller city than Melbourne, but it's actually very small. You can't swim at the beaches there because of the threat of crocodiles and jellyfish, so they've created this lagoon down by the wharf. It seemed to be a pretty popular place to hang out, and there are several restaurants in the area.

We had dinner and watched the sunset at The Jetty Restaurant, which had a seafood buffet. It was nice to finally be in some warm weather and sitting by the water while we had dinner.

Darwin (and the whole Northern Territory) is so different from Melbourne in so many ways. News is dominated by crocodiles, most people seem to work in the mining or construction industries, the Aboriginal population is huge, and the weather is always warm and humid. It really felt like the Australia most Americans probably picture when they think of this country; it's certainly more similar to what we expected upon moving here.

I got a kick out of seeing road trains. These triple-trailer semi trucks go on forever...up to 50 meters long! It's especially scary when you have to pass one; they say to leave a full kilometer of passing room.

Yes, there is a third part to this truck that you can't see in the picture!

We spent the night at the Travelodge, where they had a really nice pool with a waterfall that we enjoyed in the evening. The next morning, we got some groceries and picked up our station wagon (camping and cooking equipment included) and started our drive to Kakadu National Park. More to come soon...