Magical Kakadu!

Kakadu Thursday 19^th July -21st

Finally after all these years I am on my way Kakadu with my three most loved people in the world….if only Tom could be here too. We travel to the Pine Creek turn off (and stop here at the Lazy Lizard Tavern to get some home made cherry ripe icecream) and then journey onto the Goymarr Interpretive centre to get our Kakadu passes.  A little further down the road is the Ranger station where we meet up with Steve after work and we all head to his house a little way down the road. 

The view from Steve's wall-less living room - our tent with the same view in the foreground.  

The view that greeted us there took my breath away.  The view from his uniquely Darwin design house was incredible.  It is straight out over the Kakadu bushland, nestled along the edge of the escarpment, overlooking the Mary River region. Wow.  How lucky are we!  

I still couldn’t believe our luck at the first hand look at Kakadu we were receiving (thanks be to Moragh and our fortuitous meeting in Katherine).  Steves’ house is ace.  It has no walls, just fly wire and is designed to suit the elements.  However, it has been positioned to suit the view, not the torrential rain they experience in the wet.  So on these days Steve needs to drag all the furniture to the back wall to stop them getting wet.  

As we sat eating dinner that night Steve informed the kids to watch where they put their feet as he gets the odd Death Adder around his house.  On seeing the blood drain from the kids faces and their mouths drop open he tried to reassure them they would only attack them out of defense.  That really they sat in waiting, under a pile of leaves,  for the animal attracted by the snakes jiggling tail and then they POUNCE.  But they would only attack the kids if they stood on them.  It didn’t really help the kids confidence.   But outside we went after a few reassuring squeezes from me.

 

Toli and I slept under the stars that night.  We slept in our kitchen tent with all the walls tied up.  So it really was a 360 degree, floor to ceiling view of the stars and trees.  I truly almost started crying at where I found myself.  Later in the night we, well I, as Toli was sound asleep, heard the sound of crunching and cracking bones…I remembered that Steve had put the chicken bones out from dinner for the old dingo that lives around here.  So I shook Toli awake and watched as the old girl munched away gingerly.  Toli then instructed me to “Lie back down and go to sleep, it’s late Mum”.  Then I realized why as he hooked his arms over me and whispered “I’m really scared Mum”. I guess the sound of crunching and cracking bones by a dingo as you lie in a tent (of sorts) with four walls of exposed fly wire could unnerve someone.  It doesn’t help that at the start of the trip the Chamberlain case was front page news up here due to another court proceeding, so comments have been flying around about dingoes and whether or not they could take a baby.  I cuddled Toli and assured him the old dingo was more scared of him then he was of her….the crunching did sound pretty close I have to say.

The next morning we woke before dawn to the still breathtaking site of the Kakadu landscape and the morning calls of birds.  We were treated to a show of Sulpher Crested Cockatoos protecting their nest from an angry Crow…..noisy buggers. 

That morning Steve left for work with the hope that he may get the afternoon off to show us a few sights – what a legend! We had a very, very slow morning….porridge, coffees, didj playing, knitting and me, buried in ‘50 Shades of Grey’.  A lovely lass at Leliyn Falls gave me her copy….she wouldn’t even take money for it. It seems I may be the last person on the planet to have read this book…..I NEED to get my hands on the second book. 

Steve returned in the afternoon and to our joy he had the arvo off.  Steve, the kids and I all piled into his 4WD and headed for the Top Rock Hole.  Unfortunately, access is too rough for Mum to come…..lucky the view from Steve’s house is one of the best in Kakadu so Mum was happy to read and just sit and enjoy the view.  This rock hole was just sublime……Kakadu was living up to everything I had dreamed it be.  How can we have met so many ‘Kaka-don’t’s’ along our trip?  This country is amazing…I am in love!  We had the most incredible swim in such crystal clear water.  You can just swim along with your mouth open and drink it in!  

Bells filling up the drink bottle with the most delicious spring water EVER!

 Same two photos - different shutter speeds...water is so cool to photograph!

Steve filling up his water bottle with Toli shadowing his every move...he loved 'Steve the Ranger'.

After we explored the lower parts of the cascading spring we sat with our feet in the water and were treated to an exfoliation by the Cheribin (fresh water yabbies’).  It was an unusual but kind of enjoyable feeling.  

On our walk back through the Kakadu bush towards the car we stopped and looked at different plants and birds.  How lucky are we to have our own personal, friendly ranger on hand to bring the park to life.  We stopped at a stone scatter site – pretty damn sacred – and Steve taught us how to identify shavings and old spear heads.  It felt so incredible to be looking at old  weapons and shavings from hundreds of years ago.  There was a strange feeling that went along with that to just be leaving them there and not picking them up for a museum or something similar.  As Steve said though, it’s essential to leave them where they are as their location adds much detail when scientist and other researchers venture here.

On return to the car the kids and I were buzzing from our swim and explore.  Instead of heading back to Steve’s house he continued on and took us to a ‘secret’ place.  No joke.  I can not write the name or location of this place as presently it is only frequented by locals…no tourists…and everyone wants to keep it that way.  I can now say that I have been to my favourite place in the entire Northern Territory.  This mystical place took my breath away.  Buried deep in Kakadu land hides this incredible jewel.  I felt so lucky to be sharing it with my kiddlets.  It is something we will NEVER forget.  I am so thankful to Steve for sharing this with us.  

The last orchid for the season.

Such fresh drinkable water!

 

We swam until dark here.  Snorkelling and simply floating in this pristine water….we were in heaven.  The vegetation, the rocks, the birds, the aquatic life…..everything I thought would be in Kakadu but thought I would be sharing with hundreds of other people….we were the only ones there. 

  

We arrived back to Steve’s house and knocked up a quick dinner.  We met a little dingo on the road that followed us back to Steve’s house….quick little fella.  This time it was Bells turn to sleep with me in the tent under the stars.  We were treated to the same incredible show that Steve sees 365 days of the year.  I didn’t want to go to sleep as I didn’t want to stop looking at the stars and trees blowing in the moonlight….but my eyes we heavy and I joined Bells in sleepland.  We both woke wayyy before dawn and watched as the sun coloured our incredible landscape from purples all the way through to reds.  This morning it was Red Tailed Black Cockatoos providing our morning show - a lot more easier on the ear then their Sulpher Crested brothers. 

Ummm Bells self portrait with my first ever knitting.....

Another slow morning and then we sadly packed up Big Betty and left Steve’s. We all could have stayed here for a week but there is so much of Kakadu to see and we have only 6 days left! Before we left the southern part, Mary River Region of Kakadu we went to the Bottom Rock Pool.  We all made a guesstimate on how rocky the walk in would be and determined Mum could make it.  I am glad she came and saw yet another incredible Kakadu sight.  This was the bottom part of the springs we swam in yesterday so it held all the beauty and incredible freshness of water that the Top Rock Hole did. It was a bit fresh this morning and we were on a bit of a time restriction so it was a quick swim in, a sit and admire of our surroundings and then the hike out. 

 

We then drove onto the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre.  This was very well presented with all displays laid out in the shape of a Rainbow Serpent.  The kids explored the centre on their own and could be found reading the displays to each other.  This centre allowed you to be lost in the wonder and magic of Aboriginal dream time and looked at things from a different perspectives.  They displayed the practical purposes for a lot of the use of plants, animals and locations in a way that the kids could easily understand. What an exciting world Aboriginal Dreamtime is! Then it was on to Cooinda to set up camp…and do some more homework.

We saw Donkeys on the way...well, we had to stop until they were ready to get off the road.  I know they are feral and I dread to think how much damage they are doing but damn, they are cute!