Kakadu (19.07.2012): Well I survived my shower trip with only a few mosquitoes for company. There are so many here - more than anywhere we have been. We are covered in bites. On the plus it is not quite as hot. It is around 30 degrees. It feels very different as it is a dry heat. I don't miss the humidity. The sky always seems to be lovely and clear, making the sun very strong. I am still sporting my factor 50 sunscreen but am fairly tanned (for me anyway).

This morning we headed first of all to the Bowali Visitor Centre to find out more about the park. Armed with many leaflets we then headed to the Jabirum to refuel before heading to Nourlangie. At Nourlangie we took a 1.5 km walk past an aboriginal shelter and some spectacular examples of rock art. We then took a hike up to yet another view point over the Kakadu Escarpment, the background of the red rocks was amazing. After spending a lot of time in cities visiting museums, temples etc.. it is really nice to do all this outdoorsy nature stuff.

Next stop was a drive to Yellow Water where we finally saw the elusive crocodile! We actually got too close for my liking. They are pretty amazing though. We stood watching one for ages and managed to catch it jumping out of the water trying (failing) to catch a bird. An amazing sight - we decided not to pay for the commercial, overpriced crocodile cruises (where they dangle bits of pork off the side of a boat for you to see the crocs) which were advertised all the way from Darwin. It was I feel much nicer to see them in a less contrived manner.

Typically since our first sighting we have now seem a few - I am much too scared to go too close to the water now. On the way back to the van at Yellow Water we also managed to see some of the wild pigs. It seems we are getting better at spotting things now.

After Yellow Water we headed for a short 3km walk at Mardugal around the woodlands before making a 50km trip to Gungurul our rest place for the evening. We have been on another walk here - health health health - and have now pulled out our camping chairs for a cold beer under the stars. It's a shame we have to have beans again!