Kakadu deserves its reputation as one of the most unique places in Australia.  Its rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, its human history spanning more than 40,000 years, its unique relationship between the weather, plants and animals and its stunning geographic features makes it truly special.  We tried to absorb as much as possible but three features really stood out for us – the stunning rock art in three unforgettable locations, crocodiles (or the fear of crocodiles) everywhere and the zillion mosquitos that can make or break you.

It is said there are over 5,000 sites with Aboriginal rock art in Kakadu with paintings dating back as long as 40,000 years and as recent as ten years.  Most of these sites are off-limits to visitors but three major sites allow everyone to experience the history and splendour of the land’s original inhabitants.

We first visited Nourlangie, probably the largest and most accessible of the sites in Kakadu.  The drawings are at the base of an outcrop of red rocks that protected the people from the soggy wet season.  The drawings are spectacular in their vivid colours, clarity and story telling of ancient mythological figures, animals and people.  We love the whole rock art scene and this was a great site to walk amongst the huge rocks, admire the drawings and try to imagine what it must have been like to live there 6,000 years ago.

 

We camped that night at a place called Sandy Billabong, had the whole beautiful place to ourselves and enjoyed a walk down to the edge of the water at sunset and sunrise to see the wide range of birds and the beautiful play of light across the water.  Later we were told a German tourist was eaten by a crocodile in this billabong a few years ago.

The next day we drove north and walked into the least visited of the allowed rock art sites, a place called Nanguluwur, which involved a four klm walk and some perseverance in the morning heat.  But the reward was amazing paintings, including some as recent as 100 years ago depicting scenes the artists had seen after encountering their first Europeans. The image of a large multi-masted sailing ship drawn by an astounded artist on a rock cliff is something to behold.

We headed further north to the mining town of Jabiru, the largest community in the park and in existence primarily to support the huge Ranger Uranium mining operation nearby. Jabiru was a fairly small and basic place creating no desire to linger and we moved further north to Ubirr, the most northern point accessible in the park right on the East Alligator River.  But the crowds that came to Ubirr were not there for the attack mosquitos that dominated the campsite, they were there to see the famous rock art on rocky cliffs overlooking the valley below.  We loved wandering amongst the rock art, our favourite drawing on a long list probably the Tasmanian Tiger (now long extinct) and then climbed the highest point to watch the dazzling sunset across the vast wetlands below us.

Having barely survived the mozzies that night – primarily because we ate inside the truck for the first time – we walked along the East Alligator River and saw crocs swimming and lazing about on the muddy banks.  It is one thing to find these amazing creatures on boat trips designed to see them but it is another matter to see them in the wild as we explored the banks and interesting rock formations nearby.

We headed south and west on the Arnhem Highway but turned off at the first chance to follow a 4WD dirt track to a series of billabongs where we hoped to find a place to camp for the night.  This was a remote area in the forgotten heart of Kakadu and we were virtually the only people seen all afternoon.  We followed the track for many kilometres, weaving our way through the melaleucas and pandanus, admiring the termite mounds and stopped at the various billabongs to scout for birds.  It was a beautiful drive and after checking out various sites along the way we stumbled across a beautiful place to camp in a bend of the large Alligator Billabong, quiet and peaceful, beautiful calm water and…wait a minute…isn’t that croc on the other bank?  Yes, it is, we have neighbours for the night after all.

Fast becoming croc experts as we were, we calculated our neighbour would not climb this bank and join our camp, especially if the fire was ablaze, which it was surprisingly quickly. We were safe around the fire and then up in our tent but the next morning over coffee and cereal there he was again, as plain as day, trolling the shoreline, perhaps hoping we would want to collect water or dip our toes.  Being croc experts as we were, he must have been disappointed when we left.  We rated the campsite a ten.

With some regret the next morning we found ourselves leaving Kakadu National Park and heading for our next spot, Mary River National Park.  Mary River is an amazing area, a huge water catchment area that floods in the wet season, apparently home to the largest concentration of crocodiles in Australia (and the world?).  We travelled up and around some of the wetlands, visited various water crossings and remote fishing camps, eventually deciding to do a two hour sunset boat trip with a small local operator who took us up a large billabong to see a wide range of birds, wallabies grazing in the grass nearby and of course crocodiles.

This was a great little boat trip, very local, personal and casual, no concern about safety standards or fears of getting too close to these huge crocs, some of which sat quietly on the muddy banks, the kings of their castle.  The crocs need the sun to warm themselves so they are happy to sit there most of the day unless they get hungry.  If that happens they will eat anything, from birds, fish, animals, people, even other crocs.  They have survived for millions of years because they have no predators and they are very good at prospering in these harsh conditions.  Ya gotta love crocs.

We camped that night at a place near the billabong and were absolutely terrorised by mosquitos.  This was all out warfare, hand to hand combat where only the strongest survives.  We had the most technologically advanced weaponry and we left nothing in the bag but soon retreated to the truck as if attacked by zombies.  It was a tough night but luckily we survived thanks to the safety provided by the mighty Cruiser.

The next day we did what all tourists do when visiting the Mary River area, we went on another crocodile boat trip.  But this was a trip with a difference because these are not ordinary crocs, these are jumping crocs.  Yes, the idea here is that we all get on a crowded little boat run by two young girls, one drives the boat down the mighty Adelaide River and the other holds frozen chunks of buffalo dangling over the water from a string on a long pole.  That sounds normal.

Huge 500 kg crocs hear the boat coming and are prepared to spectacularly jump out of the water to grab the buffalo meat, to the delight if the snap-happy tourists.  Yes, it was a bit touristy and contrived and maybe a bit dangerous but we loved it and at times were so close to crocs by the side of our little boat we could have reached over and touched them.  But being crocodile experts we resisted.

That afternoon we drove up to Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, for a bit of civilisation and no signs of spectacular Aboriginal rock art, crocodiles or mosquitos. But we loved Kakadu and the surrounding area, it’s without a doubt a magical place, and we’re already trying to figure out how or when we can come back.