Bloodthirsty mozzies, fishcakes and buffet breakfast

Next stop on our Kakadu adventure was Jabiru - the main town in the park. Bill had developed a nasty earache which he had Google-diagnosed as 'swimmers ear' for which he and Zara attended the Jabiru health clinic. In the meantime, Sash and Kate enjoyed a cold drink at a local cafe - Sash did mazes and wordsearches (latest passion) while Kate read the NT News - a dreadful tabloid newspaper filled with stories of croc attacks and such. The day's headline promised horrifying details of a fatal dog mauling - however when Kate poured over the morbid story it turned out to be a pet dog who was killed by another in a dog fight... Soon enough Bill and Zara appeared with some ear drops and we all decided to cool off and relax in the Jabiru library - an excellent place with a great Indigenous literature collection. Kate blogged and browsed, Bill read to Sash and downloaded, Zara read to herself and we were all as happy as pigs in a mudpit. Long live the airconditioned local library.

We didn't stay in Jabiru - just used the place for its amenities and then moved onto Ubir - famous for world-renowned rock art and for being the gateway to Arnhem Land. We set up and at nightfall we soon found ourselves surrounded by an army of massive mozzies grinning at us and waving their stingers hungrily. We managed to protect ourselves a bit the first night - slaughtering thousands of them by squashing them against the canvas of the trailer - leaving the roof littered with little bodies.

Next morning we visited the rock art site and saw some pretty amazing stuff. Rangers (some local and some white) gave talks about the stories behind the art which made it a lot more meaningful. We climbed past the art to a lookout and were gobsmacked at the view over the floodplains to Arnhem Land - it was gloriously green and open and unexpected. It made us wish we could visit Arnhem Land - but the only way is via a tour which are pretty pricey. Next time.

We had been told of a local secret: great Thai food at Borderstore - a little store near Ubir which happens to be owned by a Aussie guy and his Thai wife. They work like crazy during the dry season - 7 days a week from dawn until late at night, and then close up for the wet and go back to Thailand for rest and to bring back ingredients for the Thai food available in the evenings at the store. As passionate lovers of Thai food we were keen to try it - and we weren't disappointed as it was delicious and authentic. After dinner we drove up to Cahill's Crossing - the road over the river to Arnhem Land which is famous for its many salties. At high tide the crocs can be spotted standing on the roadway looking for fish. Unfortunately the tides weren't high enough and so we hadn't seen during the day, so we decided to go and look for glowing red eyes at night. Disappointingly we didn't see any but we did have an interesting chat to a fisherman who was standing precariously close to the river but who wasn't too fazed about the fact that one of the many crocs could jump up and grab him at any time... Kate was relieved when Bill decided he wouldn't chuck a line in! A drunk fisherman was actually taken at the spot a few years back - mind you he was swimming back and forth through the croc infested river so perhaps it wasn't so surprising...

That night we got massacred by the mozzies. Sash was by far the worst - he looked as though he had caught the chickenpox. We decided that we couldn't bear another night of having our children's blood sucked and so we packed up a day early. Before we left Ubir we wandered through a rainforest along the river. We were thrilled to spot heaps of salties in the water - nice and close to the path and hundreds of chattering flying foxes hanging from the trees. The walk took us towards a sacred women's site with a sign asking men to take a different path and to respect the cultural sensitivities of the area. We decided to all walk the alternative path but as we wandered along we noticed a couple emerging from the women's site. We tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they couldn't read the sign, but we weren't really convinced... Seriously, how hard is it to respect such a basic request.

Hot, sweaty and covered in mozzie bites, we decided to indulge in a night at the Gagadju Hotel in Jabiru. Anyone who knows Kakadu will know the massive green hotel that is indeed shaped like a crocodile - although this is most apparent from the air. It sounds pretty tacky but is actually kind of cool and seemed like the height of luxury to us. Really, for a family who was thrilled by a lino-floored cabin in the Sterling Ranges, a 5-star resort seemed ridiculously luxurious. We spent the afternoon by the pool where families subtly steered their children away from our son who looked highly contagious. Despite this, the kids managed to team up with a couple of friends and had a wonderful time splashing and playing. We ate dinner in the restaurant and watched Narnia in bed before going to sleep. But the highlight for all of us was indeed the buffet breakfast the next morning. The kids were practically jumping out of their skins with anticipation and we were almost as bad - just disguised it better! Something about long-term camping makes the bottomless plate of the buffet breakfast ridiculously appealing. An hour or so later we rolled out of the resort and back to reality. It was time to drive out of beautiful Kakadu and onto Darwin.

Three sleeping beauties

Looking over the plains to Arnhem Land

Rainforest walking in Ubir

Clever ants, creepy crocs and too much iced water

Gunlom was beautiful but the ants were tiny and very clever. They got into jars with screw-top lids, and snuck into supposedly sealed containers. We had to chuck out way too much food and it took ages to pick their little dead bodies out of the peanut butter. The extreme heat was running our batteries down and the fridges were in need of a power up so although we had planned more bush camping, we changed plans and camped at the Cooinda resort and caravan park for a couple of nights. It was actually a very nice place - lush and peaceful with sprinklers everywhere and the obligatory lovely pool.

Zara immediately made friends with a baby next door and spent many happy hours playing with 1yo Will and his patient parents. Although we were initially wary of a family flying the Aussie flag (never a positive sign as far as we are concerned) who were camped on the other side they turned out to be friendly and had good tips for Darwin where they have been living for a couple of years. He works for Defence which explains the flag I guess.

Next day, we jumped on our bikes for the first time in ages and rode a short way to the Warradjan Cultural Centre to learn a bit about the local peoples and their culture. It was a well presented place - very slick displays and stories told from the point of view of the local people, rather than just white historians as is often the case. The kids were particularly thrilled with a display on the spirit 'lightening man' which plays audio of lightening and thunder whenever a visitor walks past. Needless to say our entire visit was accompanied by the sounds of storms.

That evening we took a boat cruise up the spectacular Yellow River. Our guide was a young Aboriginal guy who told us a lot about the plants and birds and animals along the river. He certainly knew a lot but we had the feeling he had done the tour 1000 times before. But we saw heaps of crocs up close which was pretty amazing. Really we can't get enough of these incredible creatures and to be up close and personal with them on the river is a pretty thrilling experience. We also saw beautiful blue kingfishers, white bellied sea eagles and of course plenty Jabiru (or more precisely black-necked storks - although their necks are definitely dark green).  The lotus flowers were in full bloom and looked amazing stretching out over the billabong.

There is always iced water made available on these boat tours - a good idea in the heat except the kids are strangely fascinated by it and so spend way too much time pouring and drinking cups of water - and so need to use the on-board toilet at regular intervals. Particularly annoying on this trip as the toilet (for emergencies only...) was high enough that Sash actually had to be lifted onto it - which meant Bill and Kate were constantly being interrupted to accompany Sash to the toilet...

Next morning we took a quick dip in the luxury pool, said good bye to Hannah and Michael, Kate and Sam, and the baby next door, then headed to a nearby campsite, Mardagul, for one night. We were beginning to realise that the mozzies in Kakadu at this time of year are pretty full on. We decided to use the swag and dome tent but halfway through the night the mozzies were driving Bill bananas - buzzing around his head and biting his face so he squeezed into the dome tent with the kids and left Kate to be massacred on her own. Next morning we decided we wouldn't use the swag again until we are further south - away from the mozzies. We were all pretty covered in bites by this time,  but they were not as itchy as the sandflies so we were able to grin and bear them.

Kakadu - plunging into plunge pools and swimming in natural infinity pools

We were all excited at finally reaching Kakadu. Sash was so excited that he made up a handful of songs about Kakadu with which he entertained us for the entire drive. Most notably Ka-ka-du-du-du (to the tune of Agadoo for those of us at school in the early 80s...). We felt a bit nervous about entering this iconic part of Australia – nervous that it wouldn’t be as spectacular as we were expecting. Our first port of call was Gunlom, which is not far from the Pine Creek entrance to the park. We set up in a pleasant, shady campground and ate dinner quickly in order to go to a slideshow about Living on Country – a good general history of the area, introduction to the Jawoyn people, bush tucker and medicines.

In the morning, we hiked up to the top of the waterfall – a short, steep, rocky climb. And when we got to the top we were gobsmacked by the beauty of the place. A series of crystal clear rockpools, each with soft sandy bottoms in which you can relax whilst overlooking a very spectacular view over the waterfall. People say it is like an infinity pool. The pools are surrounded by lush foliage and trickling little waterfalls. Words could never really do this place justice. We all voted it one of the top spots of our whole trip. Lovely.

After lunch, we swam in the plunge pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It was also wonderful. Again the water was crystal clear and the just-running waterfall towered over us as we swam around the huge pool. Once we got over our slight nervousness of crocodiles, we had a great time. Of course there are salties everywhere in Kakadu, but a handful of crocodile-managed zones made some swimming safe. However, in true Australian risk-management style, the Parks folk have erected signs at the safe swimming spots telling visitors that it is possible that salties have moved into this area and that visitors are to enter the water at their own risk… So even though these areas are supposed to be safe, no one will guarentee that they really are safe… For crocodile-nervous southerners this makes for an element of fear everytime we enter the beautiful swimming spots of Kakadu. But enter we do, because it is so so hot that swimming seams almost as important as breathing! And the beautiful Gunlom swimming spots - what a start to our Kakadu adventure.

Next morning we decided to brave the extreme heat and attempt a walk at nearby Yurmikmik. We lathered up in sunscreen, jammed our hats onto our heads and walked towards a lookout. The view from the lookout was pretty spectacular, but the walking was really hot and exposed. Only early morning walks or late afternoon walks for us from now on.

Splashing at the top of Gunlom

Just another rough day at school

New friends, posh dinner cruises and birthday parties in Nitmiluk

The next morning, we packed up and, after a dip in the crusty spring-fed pool, drove a short while to Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge). The campsite there was lovely and shady – with agile wallabies hopping everywhere and staring at us from their pretty white faces (not so cute later when they had eaten all our un-cooked spaghetti, one of Sasha’s puzzles and 5 pages of Zara’s scrapbook, but for now we oooohed and ahhhhed over them). It was still hot hot hot (a steady 38 degrees) and we were a bit reluctant to do the long walks up on the escarpment to view the gorge – we were told it is around 10 degrees hotter on the escarpment!). Kate did a shorter walk early one morning and the view of the first gorge were pretty spectacular, but we would have needed to do a longer, hotter walk to see the rest of the gorges. We were also keen to do a canoe trip but kids had to be over 5 and Sash will tell anyone within hearing distance that he is 4 so we couldn’t risk pretending. A helicopter ride was out of the question, so we booked ourselves onto a dinner cruise up the gorge for the following evening. We felt a bit posh, but it turned out to be a good move. Not only was the scenery pretty amazing, the food was great and we ended up joining a lovely family from Tasmania whom we had met at the campground that day. First we cruised and saw birds, plants, ancient rock art, and the towering cliffs of the gorge. Out driver and guide was a local Jawoyn man who was able to tell us a lot about the history of the people in the area and something about their culture. After a spectacular top end sunset, it was dinner time!  Bill, Kate and our new friends, Astrid and Rohan, sat up on the adults table, sipping our wine and crocodile soup and ignoring the reigning chaos on the kids table next to us where Arlo (2), Raffy (5), Essie (7) joined Zara and Sash in leaning overboard, harassing the driver, drinking endless glasses of iced water, visiting the onboard toilet (and locking eachother in) and other general shenanigans. A lovely evening.

The rest of our Nitmilluk time was spent playing with our new friends, making masks, playing monopoly, visiting Katherine and spending endless hours in the campground pool. We was astonished to hear our first Stone Curlews at Nitmiluk - the funniest birds ever that run along with their heads pointed forwards and scream like angry children outside the tent at night. Most peculiar and slightly unnerving. Zara and Sash became extras in a funny video Astrid was making for her father’s birthday and so we all managed to wangle an invitation to a poolside party for a man we have never met. Happy Birthday Grandpa! Thanks for the great cake guys. Sad to say goodbye to Astrid, Rohan, Essie, Raffy and Arlo after only a few days but we look forward to seeing them again in Melbourne or Tassie.

Raffy

Essie, Astrid, Arlo, Raffy and Rohan - celebrating Astrid's dad's birthday...

Crusty Katherine campsite, Captain Pugwash and hot springs

Arriving in Katherine, we headed straight for Springvale Homestead Caravan Park – a place that had been enthusiastically recommended by a fellow camper in Kununurra. She had conjured visions of shady trees by a peaceful river, cute wallabies hopping up to us and nuzzling their soft heads against our legs, a crystal clear spring-fed pool – in short she described a heavenly campsite… The reality was that well… the place was cheap and crusty. In spite of our unappealing surroundings we rallied and hit the town for a big night of Chinese food and Madagascar 3 at the movies. Needless to say the kids loved the movie (and the choc-top), Bill thought it had some funny bits and Kate wondered whether she would ever watch a slow un-animated movie again…

Next day we headed for the local library – a place of air-conditioned comfort. Bill hooked into their wi-fi and was in download heaven, Zara grabbed a novel, curled up and disappeared from our world for an hour or two, and Sasha ran salivating to the children’s section and make Kate read 4 Captain Pugwash books in a row. We stayed at the library until they literally kicked us out and then headed for Katherine’s hot springs where we luxuriated for a couple of hours. The local kids were doing hair-raising jumps and bombs – making our itch to risk their own lives doing similar tricks.

Bill and Sash headed for the supermarket which gave Kate and Zara time to explore the Katherine Museum. Zara stayed glued to a video playing about the Katherine floods of 1986 whilst Kate checked out the other exhibits. Much of the information was interesting but the museum had a feel of one that hasn’t been updated in quite some time. For example, there was only a tiny display on the (incredibly rich and ancient) Aboriginal history of the Katherine region and the language and tone of the display was patronizing and disrespectful. Needs changing… Out the back we wandered through sheds of rusty old peanut picking machinery and the like. But the highlight for us was a sculpture made by a crazed local Russian who only ever ate tins of sardines – a rusty, abstract, space-based sculpture made entirely from – you guessed it – sardine tins…

Hot hot hot in the NT - and the march of the march flies

We headed back to Kununurra (which almost felt like home by now) to get the final problem with our car fixed – finally some peace for all with a newly patched muffler. Then we stocked up at the excellent Kununurra supermarket, mailed a pile of postcards and birthday presents back to Melbourne and said goodbye to Monty – a puppy in the local gallery with whom Zara had fallen head over heals in love. We also travelled out to Zebra Rock Gallery to try their famous mango smoothies (Yum) and feed the fish (swarming masses of weird looking catfish as well as some weird fish that spit jets of water at you as you look down on them...). We also saw heaps of long-necked turtles that stuck their prehistoric heads out of the water in an effort to get some of our bread, but who struggled against the swarms of creepy catfish who jumped on top of them to steal their snacks.

Next day we packed up in the heat then took our last dip in the lovely caravan park pool and ate cream-between icecreams before hitting the road to Keep River National Park. We were all excited when we crossed the border into the NT just before we turned off into the national Park. Was it our imagination or was it suddenly much hotter?? We lunched at Cockatoo Lagoon in the baking sun then chatted about crocs and fishing with the friendly ranger. We drove to Jarnem campground at the north end of the park and got out to set up in the afternoon sun. The ranger had warned us that there might be a few march flies around – and boy was he not joking. Swarms of the blasted things started tormenting us the moment we were out of the car. Heat, crocs, sandflies, snakes, spiders, endless packing up and setting up, quarrelling kids, mozzies – we had faced all of these with (relatively) good humour but we were finally broken by the march flies… We had set up a little dome tent for the kids and the swag for us and Kate ended up curled up in the foetal position in the kids tent moaning about the march flies. Probably not the best time to chose to start a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle we had bought at the Kununurra op shop… Kate rounded off a happy evening by stabbing herself in the thumb whilst chopping ingredients for veggie burgers. Burgers were good though.

We planned to get up early to do one of the hikes in the park before it got too hot. But of course we hadn’t banked on the time difference (NT is 1.5 hours ahead) so our usual 6am wake up time became 7.30am and by the time we had breakfasted, fiddled around and headed off it was 8.45am and really heating up. The first part of the walk was very exposed and so we were very hot by the time we reached the Bungle-Bungle like domes and found some shade at their base. We walked on until we got to an overhang with some rock painting – an emu and some other food related images. We were too hot to continue on the loop walk and so headed back to the campsite using sticks to unsuccessfully shoo away the gangs of march flies that followed us wherever we went. Back at the campsite we tried to set up the table with the mozzie net over the top in order to play monopoly and other games in the shade without the annoyance of the marchies. Kate attempted to relate to the march flies by naming them and adopting one particularly persistent one as a pet – the kids liked the idea of Maggie the march fly and it did somehow make them easier to bare. 

Late afternoon when the heat had started to die down, Kate and her gang of march flies decided to walk to the lookout with spectacular 360 degree views around the park. Sitting alone at the rocky lookout with a cool breeze blowing and the beautiful soft light and colours that the late afternoon brings in this part of the world, with not a march fly in sight (they were waiting patiently at the bottom of the lookout to accompany me safely back to the campsite), almost made me forget the heat and the annoyance of the flies and allowed me to appreciate this ancient landscape. But not enough to stay another day. So after a more comfortable night under the stars, we packed up early (before the flies had gotten out of bed) and headed to Katherine.

Kapok fruit

Sash and Zara squashed together in their tent

structure used for catching hawks in Keep River