Tuesday 8th July

Today, we left the Cooinda Lodge and an unpowered site that we had, but not before we went on a boat cruise on the Yellow Water billabong and then into the East Alligator River that joins the billabong. Unbeknown to us, we were in for a very cultural and beautiful day.

To ensure some of our overseas friends are not confused, there are no alligators in Australia only crocodiles of either the saltwater or freshwater variety. This name came about when there were early explorers in this area that had recently come from America and the name went onto an early map and will never be changed.

We boarded our boat for a cruise at 0900 along with about 51 on board. There were people from everywhere. Our guide and skipper, Trisha who is half aboriginal and half Swedish, gave us a wonderful and hilarious at times, commentary. She explained the area and the aboriginal history and beliefs that she learnt from her grandparents and mother. It was amazing to listen to her explaining things like how to handle some of the bush food and where to find it.

We were on the cruise for just on 2 hours and not only learnt so much but also saw so many creatures. Trisha gave us wonderful explanations about the various things we saw.

There were numerous crocodiles, ranging in length from smaller than a metre up to about 4 metres. The big crocodile came right alongside our boat attracted by the sound of the twin outboard motors. Trisha had to move the boat back so the croc’ could not get to the motors. While out seeing the crocodiles, we saw numerous bird species from Jabiru to tiny birds like willy-wagtails. Also, we saw some brumbies (wild horses) that were remnants of days gone by and are now accepted by the aboriginal elders as part of their past. Wild pigs are also there and a menace but also a source of food for the aboriginals. Eventually, the cruise came to an end and we really recommend it to you.

Before we left Cooinda, we had a coffee in the resort Bistro. Then we moved onto Jabiru which was only about 40 kms along the road. Jabiru is a service centre for the region and also for the Ranger Uranium Mine. It has a Holiday Inn that looks nice and has some wonderful aboriginal paintings for sale. The service was a disgrace and we walked out. Maybe we looked too much like ‘grey nomads’! We had our lunch in a nice park near a manmade lake in the town.

We drove on to a small location Ubirr (pronounced oo beer). Before we actually went there we dropped our Karavan in the unpowered site at Merl. Then we drove the 4 kms to the Ubirr Park. On our way stopping at the Border Store, so called as it is beside the border to Arnhem Land, which we did not enter as permits are required.

We went into the Ubirr Park and saw the most memorable rock paintings. They are probably the best we have ever seen. While in there we listened to 3 talks by a part aboriginal ranger. He was so informative especially telling us about the family structure of aboriginal families, history of the rock art in the area and also the wetlands in the area.

The most informative day ended with us joining with several other couples for dinner in the bush park and around a fire, joined by the worst mosquitoes we have encountered. Enough to say that we all did not stay outside too long even though the insect spray was applied everywhere exposed.

The weather has been really nice and warm with daytime temperatures ranging from about 28 to 31 degrees with the evening getting down to 15 degrees in some locations.

Another very obvious observation from our visit to Kakadu National Park is the absence of aboriginal people especially working in any resort or business. They own the National Park and have leased the land to the Government who in turn allow business to set up in the Park. They are very obvious in the regional centres but not in their traditional land.