We still had plenty of time, so we also decided to visit Kakadu National Park. Most national parks in the Northern Territory are free, except this gem. We each paid 40 dollars but were allowed to stay in the park for a week. Of course, we still had to pay for campsites. From Darwin, we had to drive at least 250 kilometers to the information center in Kakadu. We quickly went to the store and had breakfast at the delicious coffee shop, Laneway. Timing after about ten months is sometimes tricky for us, and it quickly became afternoon before we actually left 😀
Kakadu is the largest national park in Australia, the size of half of Switzerland, and it is listed twice on the heritage list, both because of its nature and Aboriginal Art. They lived there about 65,000 years ago. There are still many Aboriginals living in the park. They live in a closed community, and you need a permit to enter the domain. In the rainy season, the park is closed because many roads are flooded. This is where all the crocodiles live. Both freshwater (these are only here in Australia and do not attack people, but you would rather not have them nearby) and saltwater (these are very dangerous!). During the rainy season, all rivers overflow up to two meters, flooding all the banks. This gives all crocodiles free rein, and they can swim to other rivers and lakes. So it is a big job for the rangers to get the fun swimming spots at the waterfalls crocodile-free.
We drove over the Adelaide River and saw two super large crocodiles sunbathing on the banks. That promised for Kakadu. We passed a lot of small forest fires. These forest fires are very characteristic of Australia. This dates back to the time of the Aboriginals. They came up with this clever technique. A system is made for these controlled forest fires. These are ‘cold fires’ that prevent large forest fires from occurring due to drought. All dry vegetation on the ground is burned away. The larger plants and trees survive this. Moreover, this is also beneficial for the soil. It receives new nutrients so everything can continue to grow beautifully. Quite impressive to drive past. Arriving in Jabiru, the heart of Kakadu, we visited the information center and booked our campsite. There were still a lot of roads closed because the rainy season officially only ends in early June. So too many roads are flooded, and not all crocodiles have been removed. It was already late afternoon, and we decided to take a refreshing dip in the pool, accompanied by a nice drink and a game.
The next morning it was serious. We got up on time and were ready to discover Kakadu. We took a beautiful walk along millions of years old ‘sandstones.’ Unfortunately, part of the walk was still closed. Afterward, we visited Cahills Crossing. This famous crossing is an important connection road to go to an Aboriginal community. You can only cross this road at low tide. Otherwise, there is too much current, and the water is too high. This river can be two meters higher than normal during the rainy season. This river is full of crocodiles. We saw a large one lying on the banks. In 2017 a man died when he tried to cross the river on foot. Just because you can’t see the crocodiles doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Very foolish! We visited a few more lookouts over the stunning wetlands and took another walk along very old Aboriginal art. Ultimately, we were treated to a beautiful view of the park.
The next morning we drove to Cahills Crossing on time. We had looked up when it was high tide, and then there would be a lot of crocodiles to see. Unfortunately, not a single crocodile out of the 10,000 in Kakadu was to be spotted. How unlucky can you be? Apparently it was still too hot for them, and they preferred to stay low in the cooler water. We saw a crocodile coming up in the distance, but it decided to turn around and did not come in our direction. After waiting for more than an hour, we gave up. We had visited just about everything in this area and drove further down. We drove via an unsealed road to a hike. Officially it was not yet open, but we were not the only ones with the same idea. To do the hike, we had to cross a small river on foot. It was clear that it was still not safe with the crocodiles. We quickly turned around!
When we arrived at Gunlom Falls, it was already quite late in the afternoon, and we booked ourselves a spot at a bush camp. We were tired of sitting in the car for so long, so we decided to hike to the top. The first pool at the bottom was beautiful, but the most impressive one would be at the top. And they were right. What a beautiful gem! Here we took a refreshing dip and thoroughly enjoyed the breathtaking view.
Kakadu was wonderful, but to be fair, other national parks have blown our socks off more.
X Inez & Ely
Hele mooie blog ( weeral ) foto’s zijn voor thuis. Weeral prachtige herinneringen!Veel liefs
Zichten en panorama’s die je nergens anders ziet. Toch niet in onze streken. Maar de lichtjes van de Schelde zie je ook nergens anders ter wereld. Grapje. Echt mooi
Padré