Happy Fathers Day … from Kakadu.

We survived the night, despite the efforts of the land and the residents.  We had some visitors to the campground in the wee hours that let off a few fireworks and then buggered off.  Nothing too serious, but its a bit far off the beaten track to be disturbed by twits…

Socks and Jocks day was to be something a bit different this year.  The kids had been a little bit limited in their opportunities for purchases, but managed to sneak off and get a couple of things.  They got me a fly net (for the hat) … I think Kellie really wants to use that.  They also got me a pack of logic puzzles … I think Hannah really wants to play with those.  I may swap her for her Nintendo.

After brekky in bed, of bacon and eggs cooked by the kids, we packed up to move a bit deeper into Kakadu.  The heat here is taking its toll.  It saps the life out of you and everything is ‘just too hard’.  In that spirit, we sought somewhere that we could setup for 2 nights and do day trips from.

Cooinda fitted the bill perfectly.  Kakadu’s delights are mainly in the Southern section of the park and Cooinda is right in the middle of that road.  Most importantly they had a pool, shade, power and water, in that order.  I think the van aircon was turned on even before the roof got popped and the beds were out.

We took a look around the nearby cultural centre and got the obligatory souvenirs.  Next stop was Jim Jim Billabong, for a look.  We could have free camped here instead of Cooinda and its right next door.  Not much to offer in comparison to Cooinda.

There’s plenty of water and plenty of ‘Crocs here mate, no swimming!’ signs too.  A bit too much torture compared to Cooinda’s pools and aircon.  There are some walks around here that we tackled.  A 500m return one through the woodland to a picnic bench was about all we could really handle in the heat.  That walk saw us drain a 750ml water bottle between us.

Most of the other attractions here were a bit far, since we had a cruise booked for the afternoon.  The main one that I wanted to do was Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls.  If we had an extra day here that would have been tackled.  That trip involves a 60km, 2 hour 4wd, with 800mm river crossing (twice) followed by a 1 hour walk to see a waterfall that is dry at this time of year and a plunge pool that you can’t swim in now either.  I know its spectacular and all that, but it was just too much time to commit when we’ve not got much time.

There’s a walk between Cooinda and Yellow Water that looked like a better choice.  We went back to the van and kitted up properly for the walk.  Backpacks, water bottles, etc, etc … then we headed off to find the start of the walk about 500m away … only to find that it was closed due to crocs being spotted too close to the track.  By this stage we were already hot, bothered and short of temper and retreated to the pool instead.

Blake, in particular, was thriving on the hot and botheredness of his sister and took every opportunity to poke her (and Mum & Dad) with a stick … constantly.  This behavior saw him get banned from everything but breathing for the rest of the trip, evicted from the van and ultimately bought him a one-way ticket back to Melbourne.  Ahh yes, did I mention we were all hot and bothered and sleep deprived … despite the cooling effect of the pool. (After trip note: Blake’s now 15 and has yet to tic me off again quite as much as he did this day!)

The sunset cruise around the South Alligator River and Yellow Water wetlands was just the opportunity Kel & I had been waiting for.  We may not only be able to see a few crocs and other wildlife, but we might even see a croc big enough that we could get rid of Blake too … surely nobody would notice if we pushed him off the boat?

Not quite big enough at 3.5m

Tourists ... preferred food of discerning crocs everywhere

Hello ... Breakfast !!!

The calming effect of the cruise across this spectacular wetland area along with copious amounts of cold water (mostly) made us forget about offloading Blake.

We’d seen plenty of crocs, but the birdlife is just as interesting.  There’s plenty of rare birdies in here.

Camouflage is king

Oh COME ON!!! Just chuck in the boy already!!

Prado Kakadu in her natural habitat

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