'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 20-06 Kakadu

Kakadu, 20,000 square K’s of national park, & we’re about to enter. At Mary River Roadhouse we paid our entry fee of $25.00 ea. Which allowed us 14 days stay in the park. There is only one main road through the park (Kakadu H’way from Mary River to Jabiru & Arnhem H’way to Darwin) & wanting to take it slowly & see everything the park has to offer we went down every side track or road there was, excluding 4WD tracks. We went along gravel roads that shook the van relentlessly, only averaging 15KPH. Each night we stayed at a different campground, some with showers, some only toilets. We even stayed at the resort at Cooinda. There are 7 main stopping points in the park & we visited them all. We climbed to lookouts, walked the tracks, went on boat trips around the billabongs. The only things we didn’t do was the 7 hour, 4WD safari to Jim Jim falls (often shown on TV with water pouring over the escarpment) as we were told that there may not be a lot of water there, & as we were also informed that 70% of the park is savannah, the helicopter flight. It has been very relaxing to stop each night after doing something each day, just listening to the birdlife, reading a book & having a cool drink. We only travel around 50 – 60K’s each day so not long on the road. We have heard much about the history of the aboriginals of the area, seen a few examples of rock art & learned that, as well as Arnhem Land (77,000 square K’s), Kakadu has also been returned to it’s original owners, with the N.T. government leasing some back. According to a couple of business owners, most of the N.T. has been returned to them but I think it’s only the best parts that have as all the main tourist areas are aboriginal owned & run.

Our 5 days here have been great & tomorrow we will take the Arnhem Highway out, checking the last stopping point on the way. To think we will have travelled around 280K’s in the park & seen less than 1% of what the park has to offer. Our only disappointment has been that a lot of the walking tracks were closed due to ‘seasonal conditions’ & that May to July is the burning off season so there has always been the smell of smoke in the air & that is why, we think, other than crocks & birds, we haven’t seen a single animal.

For our last night we stopped at a campground near the East Alligator River. The camp was set up in a large circle with toilets & showers in the middle & camp sites around the outside, as you drove around the one way street you picked a site that you liked & simply, in our case, backed into it. We were surrounded by Huge pandanus trees, cabbage leaf palms, gums & others of which I don’t know the names. Our neighbours were only metres away from us but only just visable through the trees. Another beautiful spot but, at dusk, thousands of mosquitos descended upon us. We survived anyway & this morning we finished our trip & proceeded to Darwin.