From one piece of paradise to the next. Arrived relatively early at the Kakadu Resort after a long 160 km drive. Picked out two lush green sites close to the amenities and the pool/bar, this is camping heaven. Pottered around, swam in the pool and generally destressed. A big decision was made to take the 4:30 tour at Yellow Water Billabong. The tour boats were large but sat you close to the water to give you an uncertain feeling of your personal safety. As we backed out of the dock a crocodile was there to greet us, we must have looked like a tin of sardines. After 20 minutes we must have seen a dozen crocs, each one eyeing us off as a late afternoon snack. The tour guide took great pleasure in explaining what would happen if the boat was to sink, crocodiles would come from a kilometre away to help us out of the water. They can't chew in the water. After a while people stopped saying "there’s a crocodile" because the crocs were everywhere.

We learned that the tour guide had a passion for cormorants. Every cormorant perched by the water would require a five minute stop over while the tour guide explained the finer aspect of the birds plumage, where it was born and how many chicks it has had in its lifetime. He would also play a cormorant bird call to prompt the bird to call back. After several of these stop overs I heard Joe say “****, not another shag”.

The tour guide rambled on and on as all good tour guides should. In his ramblings he mentioned how the buffalo had been eradicated from the park. Ten minutes later we rounded a bend in the river and there stood a magnificent specimen of a fully grown bull buffalo standing in the water cooling itself. There were a number of 3 to 4 meter crocs cruising passed too timid to have a crack at him. The tour continued, more crocodiles, more birds and most entertaining of all, an over enthusiastic gentleman sitting beside Joe who almost leapt from the boat with excitement on each siting of a sea eagle. As the tour drew to a close there was the must see sunset over the swamp, of course it was the best ever. Back to camp to settle down for a good night’s sleep dreaming of tomorrows adventures.

Jabiru day 2

Another beautiful warm sunny day, ho hum. Off to Ubirr to see some indigenous graffiti. Very interesting to see this very old art. Next stop was the Cahill Crossing on the East Alligator River. Our expectation was that we would see a concrete causeway with water flowing over it, instead we were distracted by a crocodile feeding frenzy. Ten to twenty crocodiles sat in waiting on the downstream side of the causeway as mullet attempted to swim past them. This entertained us for an hour or more. Back to camp to check on the pool temperature and soak up a bit more of this warmth. The afternoon brought "Happy Hour", which ran from 4 to 6 pm, but the measly $1 off a $7.50 drink wasn't bringing much joy. You have to buy 7 can of beer so that you save enough to buy another drink, unhappy hour.