On our way to Kakadu, we stopped at the Adelaide River where big advertising billboards and a croc standing on one leg (see photos) enticed us to go on a 'Jumping Crocodile' cruise. We weren't going to do it, thinking it was a bit of a touristy gimmick but took the plunge and so glad we did. We hopped on board a two story cruise boat, and as we cruised along, you could see the big salt water crocodiles(the real man eaters) floating along the surface. As the crocs approached the boat the guides slowed the boat down and got the bait ready. They put big meat off cuts on the end of a long rope attached to a long pole, and splashed the meat on the water, baiting the crocs. As the crocs lunged out of the water they lifted the meat up just high enough so the crocs couldn't grasp it causing the crocs to leap higher out of the water with the smaller ones even getting their back legs in the air. On the second or third jump they would let the crocs grab the meat and move off down river to the next awaiting croc. Amazingly the guides said that the crocs get to know their voices and they associate the tour guides voice with food. He said that even when he is fishing on the river in his tinny, he can't talk out loud because the crocs come in real close to his boat expecting a feed. In fact the week before we were there, he had a 3m croc try to drag him out of his tinny, scary stuff. On our return trip back to the jetty, we just missed out on seeing a tussle between the local 'king of the river', a 5.5m male croc and a smaller 4m one. They had just gone under as we approached. We got some great photos here and the kids thought seeing the big salties was awesome.
The infamous Kakadu awaited us. We had heard stories from others who basically bagged it, dubbing it 'Kaka-don't' as it was not what they had expected it to be, but by this stage of our trip we had learnt to not take any fellow travellers 'negative advice' too seriously and that we would see it and make an opinion for ourselves. Well we loved it. It can't be compared to anything else, not to Litchfield NP, or any other National Park we have seen so far on our trip. It is like comparing Heavy Metal, to Rock and Roll, to Country music, each one is so different and has its own attributes. How can I explain it… it is a place of extreme diversity, it has savanna woodlands that make up approx. 80% of the park, monsoon forests, hills and ridges, dominating escarpments, floodplains and billabongs and one of the most extensive collections of aboriginal rock art. It is a place where you can truly feel the aboriginal spirit in the land. The Bowali Visitor centre and Wardaman Aboriginal Cultural centre are must see's. They both contain a wealth of information about Kakadu, we watched movies on the animal life and seasons of Kakadu, and learnt so much about the aboriginal culture. We visited Ubirr (pronounced Oo beer) ( where you might remember in Crocodile Dundee he took Linda Kozlowski to see the view, calling it Jabawonga!) and saw an amazing sunset, and brilliant aboriginal art; Nourlangie Rock where the art was more recent (like only 2,000+ years old); Mamukala (Mar-moo-car-lar) Wetlands where the mozzies were big and the scenery breathtaking; we spent 2 nights camping out where the dingoes howled (such a spooky noise); tried to run over cane toads on the road and we managed to lose our T-piece pin that connects Trakkie to Prado. Now that was fun! Searching on the road in the black of night, dingoes howling around us, (the kids terrified one of the dingoes were going to jump out and gobble them up) and avoiding stepping on big squashed cane toads on the road. The next morning after no luck in finding it, Mark found a good fat stocky stick and wedged it down where the T-piece would go, and wrapped it in '100 mile per hour' tape. More about that next blog! (Let me just say it held up till Katherine and then came crashing down!!)
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