Day 28 - Kakadu Gungurul to Merl Campground (177km / 3hrs)

We left our campsite at Gungurul at 8:15am and our first stop was Anbangbang Billabong but unfortunately I got Rog lost. I thought we missed the turn off so we continued driving until we could turn around. We then turned around and realised we were supposed to turn off where we turned around - ops!

As we drove over the Nourlangie Creek we saw our first saltwater crocodile in the wild.

We finally arrived at Anbangbang Billabong and I got in Brendan’s car while Rog & Bronte continued to Merl Campsite.

The billabong is very pretty and we spotted lots of birds and Jabiru. Six years ago we were lucky to see some crocs sunning themselves but not today. We spoke to a French & German backpacker and then continued our drive.

Next stop was the Bowali Visitor Centre so I could buy our Kakadu Park Pass.

We arrived at Merl around 11am. We set-up, had lunch and then went to Cahills Crossing to check out the saltwater crocs. The best time to be there is the change of tides when the fish are jumping from one side of the crossing to the other and the crocs have a big feeding frenzy. Unfortunately we are here at the wrong time and not too many crocs.

We were still lucky to see several and they are very interesting to watch. There was a big one sunning itself on the bank and others would appear and disappear just as quickly. They were swimming downstream and then upstream - it was great.

We then walked the Manngarre track which is a rainforest walk along the East Alligator River. We spotted more crocs and a croc nest.

We then went back to Cahill’s Crossing so Rog & Bren could fish. Josh and I enjoyed watching the fishing and croc spotting while Bronte watched a DVD!

The man fishing next to Rog hooked a 1.5 metre barramundi but due to all the splashing around the big croc sunning himself on the bank quickly slid into the water and before you knew it he had the Barra in his mouth. He swam up onto the bank near us and you could hear him slamming his jaw together and lots of other crocs were swimming over to him too. He then went back into the water and over to the other bank and again he was slamming his jaw together and then he finally started eating it. In total it probably took the croc an hour to eat it from when he snatched it off the fisherman’s line. It was so amazing to watch and although we felt sorry for the fisherman not landing such a huge fish watching the croc eating it was amazing.

Not long after, Rog very excitedly hooked his first barramundi and just as I was getting my video out his line snapped so there went his barra and lure.

It was starting to get late so we headed back to the caravan for dinner. After dinner we quickly drove back to Cahills Crossing to see what the high tide looked like but unfortunately it was only a ‘mini’ tide. We saw a few crocs with our spotlight then left quickly as there were too many mozzies.