Kakadu and Lichfield National Parks

Me with black hedead Python, near Lichfield National Park.
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Kakadu is a cultural landscape shaped by the spiritual ancestors of the Aboriginal people and adjoins Arnamland which is an Aboriginal homeland.

Kakadu itself covers some 20,000 squ klms and its famed not just for its shear natural beauty but for its examples of Arboriginal rock art. Kakadu is also listed as a World Heritage Area for its cultural and natural heritage and protects the most extensive and best examples of rock art anywhere in the world. The natural habitat within Kakadu also contains a diverse range of animal and plant species a number of which are both rare and endemic to Kakadu and are not found anywhere else in the world. Its is for these reasons that Kakadu received its status as a World Heritage Area.

Jumping Crocks,Mary River
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I had five days in total to explore both Kakadu, Lichfield and Katherine Gorge. I used a small adventure company 5 day 4wd as this fitted in perfectly with my time scale before going through the Kimberley. Although its doing rather a lot all at once It does mean I used my time as efficiently as I could, it would have been a shame to be hanging around and not make the effort to see such a beautiful area whilst so close.

En route to Ubirr in the north east of Kakadu we stopped at the Mary River Wetlands. This area contains a vast diversity of wildife and bosts what is probably the largest concentration of salties (saltwater crocodiles) on mainland Australia. On the Margaret River they do short boat trips and actually feed a few of these crocs for the tourists, impressive and about as close as you want to get to one of these 3 or 4 meter man eater's, but well worth the trip as these ARE wild and are only fed small amounts from time to time.

Jumping Crocks, Mary River
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So from here we headed to Warradjan Arboriginal Cultural Centre and the lookout . There are also fine examples for rock art here which are a must see, I think I would struggle here to explain from memory the different meanings of numerous paintings that are present in this location, its is however a fascinating insite into this ancient civilisation. After viewing all sorts of rockart we climbed the short distance up to the Norlangie rock lookout where you get great views out toward Arenham Land and across the wetlands of Kakadu (these areas are still full of water as the wet season has just ended and some the flood plains are yet to dry up). Remember that phone call in `Crocodile Dundee', well Paul Hogan made that call here somewhere.

Katherine Gorge.
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From here we made our way back to the troopie and headed for a camp at Burduba and a swim in the pool near Kakadu hostel (that was a nice surprise at the end of the day from Deno !) which is near the camp area.

Late May is the end of the wet season in the Northern Territory. Consequently some of the waterfalls are still not open this early such as Jim Jim Falls which is perhaps the best known waterfall in Kakadu, however, others which tend to dry up in the dry season are still flowing strongly.  Gunlom waterfall (also another filming spot for Crocodile Dundee) is one of these waterfalls which will shortly reduce in its ferocity and will not be such a spectacular site as the dry season progresses. This therefore was one of the waterfalls we visited as it was at its best when we where there. At the top of this waterfall are superb plunge pools for swimming which is lovely as it gets hot very quickly in the morning. These pools have a magnificent backdrop of distant mountains and a spectacular if rather dizzy view of the large pool below.

Deno with Frill Necked Lizard!
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After a couple of hours swim we made our way back down and took some pictures at the bottom of the waterfall before heading off to Kambolgie and the walks at Yurmikmik which are further along the South Aligator River. We also had another swim here at the falls which is a short distance into the bush, very refreshing I can asure you as it is certainly much needed as the day gets going. Its seemed to be hottest between about 1 and 4pm. From here we made our way to a camp on the edge of a creek just a short distance from Katerine Gorge.e.

Gunlom Falls, Kakadu National Park
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Included is a 2 hour trip up the gorge which is ok and gice an impression of the scale of the place, plus just how high the water got during the recent cyclones which came through about 1 month ago. From here we made our way briefly to Katherine for fuel etc before heading off to Edith Falls. Marco, myself and Martin headed off here to the top of the falls and headed for Springwood pool which is a 15 klm round walk into the bush which was great, we dicided not to swim as we where a little uncertain about the salties in this location.

Jabaru, Kakadu National Park
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On returning to the troppie we had just enough time for a quick refreshing dip in the pool at the bottom of Edith falls before heading for Lichfield National Park and camping en route at the old WW2 airstrip, strange place for a bush camp though but it was ok. Oh and the troopie got stuck in reverse which meant Deno had to sort this out, lucky he new some people caming just a bit further down the air strip cos they took him too Adelaide Creek to use the phone. (I was a little surprised the did not have sat phones so they can call up base if there are problems like this). Deno returned about 1 hour later complete with a 1.5m Black headed Python to show us, not poisnous but they can bite, by the time Deno got to us it had callmed down and we could handle it ok, so that was pretty cool.

View's out over Kakadu National Park
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A new vehicle arrived at 6am next morning and we where on our way to Lichfield. On route we vistd the huge Cathederal Termite mounds which are about 4.5m tall. It takes the Termites about 10 years to build a metre of the mound, so they where about 45 years old. We also visited other mounds which a re created by other species of Termite and are shaped rather like grave stones which is about the most accurate desription I can think of.

From here we made our way to Wangi falls, before going on to  the beautiful Bulry Rock Holes and a swim and lunch as well as a walk. This was the last stop en route back to Darwin where we arrived about 7pm. After a shower at the hostel and getting the washing done and gear packed for the 6am departure the next day with Kimberley Adventure Tours I met up with Marco, Marcia and Erica for a meal before heading back to the hostel not late as we where all rather tired but happy after our advenuture's with Deno and Kakadu Dreams.