Jabiru to Cooinda

Mon 20 April…….After last nights little moment of luxury, we expect to go back to our normal as we are moving on, on our tour of Kakadu. We don’t intend to move far but there are things to see on the way. We need to do a bit of shopping in Jabiru mostly to do with insects and how to kill them, and stop them biting us! Having got tooled up with industrial strength mossie killer we then learn that there isn’t a Bottle-o in Jabiru, this could be critical, ie, we can’t buy any beer to take away.
We are on our way to visit an Aboriginal rock art site at Nourlangie Rock. It is a fascinating place and even in this searing heat we scramble the 1 kilometre track not wanting to miss anything. The rock paintings are over 1000 yrs old and depict Aboriginal stories and traditions. We climb the last 250 m to Gunwarddehwardde lookout and even if we can’t say it the views are spectacular. We have been a bit sceptical of Aboriginal culture but we are warming to it ( in 36 degree, not n=much choice.) Their knowledge of wildlife and hunting have impressed us, they know how to manage the bush. There was also a rock shelter, not really a cave, but a big space under an enormous rock, where they went in the wet season for hundreds of years. There was lots of bush tucker on their doorstep. It was quite cool in this shelter you could feel the drop in temperature when you went in.
Onto Cooinda where we are staying tonight . We immediately book onto the Yellow Water boat cruise going at 4 30 so then we spend a lovely hour in the camp swimming pool. The Yellow Water wetland is part of the South Alligator flood plain and is a haven for bird life, snakes and crocodiles. We are picked up and taken to our big tinnie. After plastering ourselves in insect repellent we set off upstream in blazing sunshine. Our first major spot was a Jabiru, otherwise known as a black necked stork. It stands a metre tall, on bright red legs. with iridescent feathers on his neck. Peter prefers the name Jabiru ( like the town) however it is a very spectacular bird. It had an enormous nest, pile of twigs, in the top of a tree. We saw many species of birds, some only to be found in Northern Territory. So many types of geese in huge numbers it made this Mull Boy twitchy! We also saw at least a dozen crocs, mostly 1 and a half metres to 2 metre long but one really big one at 3 and a half metres. We are getting a bit blasé about crocs now as they are ten a penny! Still dangerous though. Back at camp we have a coupe of beers and something to eat in the Bistro, then we shut ourselves behind our door to keep the plague of mossies out! What a marvellous day!