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Week 5, Day 29
Total: 5589kms, Today: 175km
First trip today was to Fogg Dam. Fogg Dam was created on the Adelaide River flood plain in 1956 as a method to supply water to the experimental rice fields of Humpty Doo. Experts had concluded that the environment was ideal for rice growing. As it turned out, the only group who profited from the rice growing were the flocks of Magpie Geese and other water birds who decided newly-grown rice was a really good food.
The rice growing failed, but the dam remained and has flourished as a home for wetland animals and birds.
Be vewy, vewy quiet...
I'm stalking wabbits Wainbow Bee-Eaters
We took the boardwalk through the trees to find the main lagoon. Needless to say that when one is in a wetland, one is in the home of numerous insects who see you as sustenance.
Our chief bird-watcher in action, covered up and sprayed with repellent!
(Far Lt) Gorgeous Lotus flowers
(Middle) The main dam
(Above) A very vocal Dahl's Aquatic Frog - they were hopping all over the place but were only occasionally staying on the surface
(Above) A pair of Rainbow Bee-eaters
(Top Rt) Forest Kingfisher
(Bottom Rt) Best view of one of the locals as we got out of each other's way
(Far Lt) If it's famous enough to have its own sign, I'm surprised it doesn't have a name.
(Lt) Now Available! One room croc cage, low rent, great views, immediate occupancy, first meal on the house.
(Below) One of the numerous Whistling Kites looking for lunch.
Every Thursday and Sunday there is a bit of an institution called the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. These are held at (surprise!) Mindil Beach at (even more surprisingly) late afternoon and sunset. I don't know how many locals attend, but it's certainly full of tourists. In addition to the stalls selling touristy stuff, there is also a huge range of local and Asian food stalls. There's also free live entertainment. The custom seems to be that one wanders around, then takes in the sunset over the bay with a satay stick or two. All very chilled.
Notice that even though it's probably 28°C, there's not a soul in the water? A combination of potential crocs and marine stingers is the answer.
It seems my fame has already spread to Darwin...
Week 5, Day 30
Around Darwin
Total: 5524kms, Today: 35km
Every Ross Rambles worthy of note has to have the obligatory aviation component, and this one's no exception. At the southern side of the airport, there is the magnificent Australian Aviation Heritage Centre. Other than having a collection of historically significant Australian civil and military aircraft, it has the distinction of having one of only two Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses on display outside of the USA (the other is at Duxford in the UK).
The aircraft is so large that after they had flown it into Darwin airport, a new taxiway had to be built to take the weight while it was towed to the museum, and then the tail had to be temporarily removed to get it inside the hangar. The aircraft is named 'Darwin's Pride' and is on permanent loan from the USAF in gratitude for the efforts of the Australian forces in hosting military exercises in which the Guam-based B-52s participated. It was flown here when the remainder of the squadron returned to the US for retirement to the aircraft boneyard in Arizona.
There are two points of interest (at least as far as the Rosses are concerned) in this photo. The most obvious is the DC-3 (née C-47) VH-MMA. This was built in 1943 and has been owned and operated by the USAAF, RAAF, MacRobertson-Miller Airlines of WA, Ansett Airlines of PNG, Air Niugini, and another 6 or so charter operators. It is currently being restored to airworthy condition.
We have a closer association with the orange and white water tower on the left, though. This is the old WWII control tower (the windowed section under the water tower) where Chris' Dad ended the war as Flying Control Officer. It was shortened by one vertical section when it was moved from its original location to the museum, but is otherwise intact.
The rest of today was spent shopping in preparation for 8 days in Kakadu.
Week 5, Day 31
Darwin - Kakadu Nat Pk (Jabiru)
Total: 5774kms, Today: 230km
Off at last to our final major destination in the Top End - Kakadu Nat Pk.
Fire and the sight of blackened scrub is a feature of the Top End. We had come across it in Litchfield Nat Pk as well. The local Aboriginal tribes have been burning off their lands for thousands of years. This has a couple of reasons. The main one is that they have small, low temperature fires to keep the fuel load under control so that they don't have huge hot bushfires at the end of the dry season.
The small grass fires really don't get large enough to kill the trees, and the smaller vegetation seems to sprout back remarkably fast. Here is a young Pandanus Palm putting out new fronds. Note that the fire didn't get big enough to remove all the other trees' foliage.
We stopped in at the Window on the Wetlands Visitors Centre. It's on the top of Beatrice Hill and is the highest point on the Adelaide River flood plain. It had a great lookout as well as an interpretive display on the wetlands environment that we'd be going through on our way to Kakadu.
(Lt) The dots at centre right of the photo are water buffalo. These no longer run wild as they did up to 1980 and are now farmed for meat.
As feral animals, they caused huge damage. There are still some on the loose.
(Rt) OK. Hands up all those who knew that there were 72 different types of mosquito here?
This mural was in the Jabiru Civic Centre. It's magnificent and is a combination of old and new world art forms. The Mertens' Water Monitor was painted with spray cans by a Melbourne artist, while the surrounding plants and 'X-Ray' art was painted in traditional style by local Aboriginal artists. A more detailed description can be found here.
We believe that some of the mosquitoes are painted life size (or at least it seemed they were that big!).
From a photographic point of view, I am really impressed that I could get a shot of this quality out of my phone.
Week 5, Day 32
Kakadu Nat Pk (Jabiru) - Ubirr Rock Art Galleries
Total: 5927kms, Today: 153km
Now to explore Kakadu. Keep in mind that this park is about the size of Wales (or half the size of Switzerland) and you'll understand that we'll be travelling quite a bit to see all that it has to offer. To get around that, we've allocated ourselves 4 days at Jabiru in the north, and 4 days at Cooinda, about halfway to the southern entrance.
Today's trip is a trip to the Mamukala bird hide, a boat cruise on the East Alligator River, then a walk through the Ubirr rock art galleries followed by a short climb onto the escarpment to view the sunset over the wetlands.
(Far Lt) Not only were there the blue Lotus Lily flowers here at Mamukala, but there were also these lovely pink ones.
(Lt) One of the water birds that frequent these wetlands is the Comb-crested Jacana. Their huge foot size in relation to their weight means they can walk across the lily pads with ease.
Next on the day's agenda was a boat ride on the East Alligator River. Those familiar with large swimming reptiles will realise that alligators do not occur in Australia. We only have crocodiles. The rivers' names (there are 3 - East, South and West Alligator) were bestowed by an explorer (Lt King) who'd spent time in the Americas and was unaware of the differences.
Here you can see the erosion of the escarpment into fantastic shapes as well as the many tree trunks and branches brought down by the floods of the Wet.
(Top Lt) Juvenile Nankeen Night-heron
(Above) Not an Alligator
(Lt) White-faced Heron
(Below) If you look closely, you can see the only Jabiru of the trip
(Bottom Lt) White-bellied Sea Eagle
After a delightful (and very informative thanks to local guide, Roman) trip, we spent a few minutes watching folks cross the causeway at Cahill's Crossing. This is the one road into the town of Oenpelli and West Arnhem Land.
(Lt) A road train full of cattle going across the East Alligator River at Cahill's Crossing. Look in the water below the 3rd trailer to see what remains of a Land Cruiser that got washed off a few days earlier. Fortunately all were rescued, as just below the ford were ...
(Below) ... these slide and claw marks in the river bank. No prizes for guessing what made them.
On to the Ubirr Rock Art Galleries...
(Lt) A Long-necked Turtle.
(Rt) A hunter with dilly bag, spears, spear thrower (woomera) and fan.
A sign next to these paintings indicate that these are less than 2000 years old.
(Lower Lt) A typical rock art gallery under an overhang.
(Bottom) The left section of this painting depicts the laws to live by. Young boys are told this story by older men pointing spears at them.
After wandering around the various galleries, we climbed onto the escarpment to watch the sunset, along with about 50 others.
Week 5, Day 33
Kakadu Nat Pk (Jabiru) - Nourlangie Rock Art Galleries
Total: 6002kms, Today: 75km
Some more rock art today. One of the locals suggested that we look at this site after seeing Ubirr as he thought this one was better.
(Above Lt) Nourlangie Rock. Fortunately we didn't have to climb it to see the art
(Above Rt) What the well-dressed photographer is wearing these days
(Below Lt) Namarrgon the Lightning Man (rt) and Namarndjolg (lt) with a group of others going to a ceremony. I suspect these are not connected but are separate pictures.
(Below Rt) Narbulwinjbulwinj - this delightful chap is a dangerous spirit who eats females after striking them with a yam.
(Lt) What the well-dressed bird-watcher is wearing these days
(Rt) A juvenile Red-tailed Black Cockatoo begging food from an adult
After quite a lot of walking (and a bit of rock hopping) around the galleries, we decided to drive the short distance to Anbangbang Billabong for a bit of morning tea.
The billabong is one of the few places with picnic tables so we found one in the shade.
(Lt) Lovely shady spot with a delightful view over the billabong to the Anbangbang lookout.
(Below) Sharp-eyed Sue also saw something in the grass...
Even though the croc was obeying the sign that said, "Do not proceed beyond this point", we decided that morning tea would be far better consumed inside the car.
Week 5, Day 34
Kakadu Nat Pk (Jabiru) - Mamukala
Total: 6072kms, Today: 70km
A quietish day today. In the afternoon we returned to the bird hide at Mamukala wetlands late in the afternoon to see if we could find either a Jabiru or some Magpie Geese as both had been absent during our last visit. We knew the geese were there as you could hear them, but they had previously remained away in the distance and hidden in the reeds.
(Top Lt) Another Rainbow Bee-eater
(Lower Lt) A pair of juvenile Jacanas
(Top Rt) Sacred Kingfisher
(Lower Rt) Finally!! Some Magpie Geese
Week 5, Day 35
Kakadu Nat Pk (Jabiru) - Kakadu Nat Pk (Cooinda)
Total: 6132kms, Today: 60km
Only a short journey today, but the surroundings were quite different. Jabiru where we'd been for the last four days is mainly savannah woodland while Cooinda is set next to the floodplain and wetlands. We settled in and got ready to be at the pick-up point for the sunset cruise on Yellow Water. Yellow Water is part of the wetlands and the trip comprises part on the billabong and part on the South Alligator River. Because we were early in the season, there was still a lot of the grasslands that were covered in water. While a lot of Kakadu dries out during the Dry, Yellow Water never dries up completely.
(Above) 1st croc of the day patrolling the edge of the billabong. About 2.3m/7'6"
(Below) An Australian Darter drying its wings
(Above) A tree full of Little Corellas is the avian equivalent of a barrel of monkeys
(Below) A male Comb-crested Jacana with 3 of his 4 chicks. When danger threatens, the chicks climb under his wing feathers for protection
(Lt) Camouflage is a wonderful thing in nature. Find the Rainbow Bee-eater. It can't be hard - it's blue, green, yellow and brown. Hint: See below.
(Above) Trying to pretend you're a lily pad isn't going to work (Croc # 4 for the day)
(Lt) A Whistling Duck family dispute
"Should I go over and see if he's OK? ... Probably not."
(Above) An adult Nankeen Night-heron
(Rt) A family of Plumed Whistling Ducks
(Below) What we came out here for - sunset over Yellow Water. The guide shut down the engines and we just drifted. It was so peaceful.
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