Can't believe we had to set the alarm to get us up. It is now day 5 of our Kakadu adventures. We had to get up and going this morning as we had booked in to do the Yellow Water Boat Cruise at 9 o'clock. Doesn't sound too early but we had to be ready and gone from camp by 8 o'clock at the latest.
Anyway, got there a little before nine and boarded the boat. Marty and l were very excited as we had done this cruise before abd was a highlight for us ten years ago. As we headed off it wasn't long before we saw our first big boy croc sunbaking on the banks of the river. From then on it was constant viewing of crocs, birds and fauna. Was so beautiful and was exactly as l remember it ten years ago, which is a fantastic achievement for them to keep nature as its meant to be. The tour guide bloke was very informative snd easy going, typical northerner, which was fantastic. One of my favorite parts of the cruise was seeing all the water lilly's with it's huge bright pink flower out in bloom. Loved seeing it with the floidpkdins in Thr background, spectacular. One of the most amazing things about Kakadu is the amount of bird life you see around. I know, sounds boring, but the birds are so bright and colorful and magical to watch doing their thing, like feeding and flying and building their nests. We also saw a yellow tree snake or two sunning themselves on a branch. All the reptiles snd wildlife are so good at camouflaging themselves, hate to think how many times we've walked past something deadly and not known about it. Anyway, we were half way through the cruise and Marty and l were having a great time, the girls however, had had enough and were getting a bit bored. So the last half of the cruise, whilst trying to listen to the tour bloke and take in the spectacular surrounds, was also spent trying to keep the girls from being too noisy and disruptive for the rest of people on board. Not as much as it sounds, lol.....
After the cruise we headed back to camp for lunch and a chill out. It seems to be the way we run our days up here. We get out and do stuff till 11am, then chill out till about 2pm then go do something else. It's a real killer between 11-2pm, the suns out in force at it worst at this time. Around 2pm we headed off to explore Nourlangie region, first stop Anbangbang Billabong. The girls weren't really in the mood for a walk, so we had to coax them a bit. As we set off on the walk along the billabong we passed a sign warning us of close croc encounters and to keep our eyes open!! We passed a couple that told us they spotted a croc cruising up three billabong and that they saw it jump up and eat a bird!! You'd think that would be enough to excite the girls hey? Wrong. It did excite Marty and l though. We found a shady spot with a bench seat that the girls could relax on whilst Marty and l started combing the water for the croc. It took good eyes and only five minutes and we saw this croc wading gently up the middle of the billabong. If we weren't told we wouldn't have seem him, they are so good at being camouflaged and discreet. It only had its head and the spikes of its tail out of the water. Took a bit to point it out for Boo to see, but eventually she saw him. We watched him for about 20 mins cruising through the water praying on the birds, funny really as the birds were always aware of where he was, as soon as he got within a few meters to them they flew five meters away. This went on for a while, we lost sight of him a few times when he went under the water. Eventually we list sight of him for about ten minutes so we went back to the car and arrived at Nourlangie. We saw that a free ranger talk was about to start so we tacked onto the group. Emily was the ranger that lead this talk, she ended up being very informative and a great story teller for the girls. First stop was a short walk to Anbangbang Shelter. We learnt that it has been proven that aboriginal people have been coming home to this shelter for the last 6,000 years with occassional dates further back to 20,000 years! Archeological digs have uncovered objects proving these dates, quite fascinating. There was also some aboriginal rock art to prove the dates through their story art. We found out that the Gun-djeihmi people describe the higher parts of Nourlangie as 'Burrunggui' and the lower parts as Anbangbang. Hence, the shelters abd billabongs name seeing their the lower parts. The language is fascinating and sometimes cobfisibg as it almost always doesn't pronounce as its sounded out. For example, Anbangbang is pronounced as Arn-barng-barng. Anyway, getting back to our walk, we saw some rock art in the Anbangbang Gallery. A bloke named Nayombolmi, or Barramundi Charlie as the locals call him (he worked for balanda people (white people) for many years and was good at catching barramundi, hence his nickname. Anyway, he returned back in 1964 to reprint over the originals as they were fading from natures rain and winds and also were the water buffalo had rubbed their backs in the paintings. He wanted to make sure his message wasn't lost. His story was about Namarrgon, who's the lightening man. He watches for the first wet season storms and crashes rocks together in his hands to make thunder. The stories are fascinating and send messages to the aboriginals, which form their beliefs and cultural practices. Amazing! We then headed up to the Nourlangie lookout where connections between people and landscape was explained. Another story about part of the rock that sybolises a feather from a mythical man to remind the people about not forming bad relationships and to keep to there relationship rules. Very complex subject, way too much to explain. The lookout was brilliant, could see the escarpment and Nourlangie rock, awesome.
After another long day, we got back to camp late and heated up some left overs. These late days ate getting a bit wearing, starting to tire l think. Another big day, but brilliant and learning so much about our awesome country!
Bell Xxx