Day 23: More Kakadu

This morning, we’ll have a do-over for yesterday afternoon, but without the sunset. Oh yeah, we are about to embark on a boat again to watch wildlife. Yesterday evening, there were a large amount of waterbirds and only a few crocodiles, today it is the complete opposite. Loads and loads of crocodiles, but the birds are a little bit more camera shy.

Even though they are harder to see, we still have found a great number of species, and even some others than yesterday. Among those are for example the Crested Jacana (with a very young chick!), the Brolga and the Willy Wagtail. Great!

We only have a short drive on the menu for us today, as we stay inside the National Park but move to the only village inside the park, Jabiru. Along the way, there are quite a few places we’d like to visit, which means our day is already planned. And at 36 degrees, it is also promising to be a hot one!

This part of the park has a lot of sites where Aboriginal Rock Art can be found, some of which is dating back to about 20.000 years ago. Yes, that is twenty thousand, almost all of which is continuous. This means these parts of the country are the longest continually inhabited places in the world. This also shows in the art itself, as scientists are able to see the art itself progress in intricacy and beauty over time. The best sites are Nourlangie (Burrunggui) and Ubirr. The first one is situated about 35 km South of Jabiru, while the other is about 40 km North of the town. The latter is even a World Heritage Site, and one of the reasons the park is a National Park. They are great, and well worth a visit.

We have spent the rest of the afternoon in the (sun heated) swimming pool, which was a welcome way of escaping from the relentless sun. And tomorrow, it’ll be even hotter! We will be driving back to Darwin, and will catch a flight to Cairns late in the evening. Also, we have to give the Toyota Prado back. I’ll be sad to see it go!