Kakadu- Part One

When planning this trip, I was trying  to work out where to go and what to see. To be honest, the photos of Kakadu didn’t really grab me. Distances between sites seemed large and I wasn’t really sure if it was the place for us- the whole Kakadu or Kaka-don't thing. But being a World Heritage Area and one of the most well known National Parks I thought it would be silly to come all the way to NT and not go there- well thank goodness we made that choice as it’s been one of the highlights of our trip so far. It is a spectacular place with a  lot of history and ancient culture and the scenery is amazing. We had planned to stay at one of the many National Park campgrounds but most of them are a long way from the highway and also alcohol free. No big deal usually but at 37 C degrees we really felt like a cold beer at the end of the day! Also, there is no swimming in most waterholes so we thought somewhere with a pool would be essential. So we stayed at Gagadju Lodge Cooinda which was a great place to camp. Large shaded sites, a large resort pool and a bar restaurant that would be showing the Bledisloe Cup- enough reason for us to check in and relax. Our Melbourne friends were also there which meant friends for the girls and good company for us too. What was originally going to be a short stop dragged into 4 days as the lure of 'stay 4, pay 3' won us over! 

The day after we arrived we went on another cruise- this time Yellow Water cruise on the floodplains and wetlands of Kakadu. It was a sunrise cruise so a very early start but well worth the wake-up call. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…..



The very first photo of the day- first saltwater croc. A sign of things to come.



The mist on the water before the sunrise

 

We were on a boat like this one

 

Magic sunrise

 

 

The sun is up and new day dawns

 

'What you lookin at'

 

This is Big Kev. He's the only adult male in this stretch of water as they are territorial and he rules this part of the river. He's over 4 metres long and was seen last week eating a wallaby....

 

Sophia and Big Kev

 

A female croc- small by comparison but still up to 3 metres.

So that was our Yellow Water cruise. One of the highlights for sure. It was also followed by a buffet breakfast- who doesn't love a buffet breakfast! Part 2 of Kakadu coming up soon.