May 7, Kakadu

Up early this morning to do a few hikes. The first was to the Nawurlandja lookout over the escarpment. Close by was the walk to an Aboriginal rock shelter and lots of rock art at Nourlangie. There was the outline of a hand made thousands of years ago. The Aborigine put paint into his mouth, put his hand on the rock and blew paint onto his hand.

Then we drove to Yellow Water for a cruise on the South Alligator River. There aren't any alligators here, but the early explorers misnamed the rivers. They should be the 'Crocodile Rivers'.. We went out into the wetlands through buffalo grass. It grows in islands that float up and down with the water levels.

We went by fresh water mangroves, called 'itchy trees' by the Aborigines. When children were bad they were sent to sit under the trees. The trees are homes for caterpillars that can irritate and produce itching. We saw egrets and several kinds of ducks, kites, colorful honeyeaters and kingfishers. This is an area where birds from all over the world migrate. The guide pointed out some small brown Whistling Ducks that don't go into the water very much. She said that there will 3 million of them in the park during their migration.

And we were able to see a crocodile. He was just floating under the surface and when we came near he dove down. There was another one camouflaged in weeds near the edge of the water.

The walks and lookouts here are long distances apart and many of them are on 4 wheel drive roads, so we saw what we were able to. Then we drove out of the park.

We're back in Katherine. We need to have one of our tires replaced with the spare and we can get that done tomorrow. We'll be driving long distances for a while, south back to Threeways and then east into Queensland.

Pictures - Jeanne at Nawurlandja lookout ( I wasn't leaning, the trail was steep), Nawurlandja lookout, Samson on the trail, Iconic kangaroo drawing, Aboriginal hand, Namaragen the Lightning Man, Nabulwinjbulwinj (bad man who eats females after hitting them with a yam), South Alligator River wetlands, kookaburra, Jesus Birds ( because they appear to walk on water), Crocodile