Kakadu National Park

Friday 23rd October Kakadu National Park

Leave Darwin via the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs as instructed by the car hire person. Have to look for route 36 the Arnhem Highway. See signs for Alice Springs 1249 kilometres. The distances are mind boggling. Alice Springs is not even half way down Australia! Settle in for a 240km drive to my next hotel. I have spoken to the receptionist and she told me to look for South Alligator River and I can’t miss it. I’m sure I want to miss the river by the sounds of it. Route 36 not brilliantly signposted but I get on it. Need to explain to the uninitiated that a ‘highway’ in Northern Australia terms is really only a two lane road that snakes off into the horizon. I presume the scrubland on either side is ‘the bush’. As I move further from Darwin the cars etc get fewer. The roads are dominated by ‘road trains’ which are even more scary at night. Imagine an articulated lorry with a trailer attached. Then attach another trailer. Then another one. Big isn’t it? Even with these monsters bearing down on other traffic the roads get quieter and quieter. I drive for 15 minutes at one point without seeing another vehicle. And this is a main road! What the roads I will be travelling on tomorrow will be like is anyone’s guess. I see a sign for a Wetlands Observatory and stop for a while. It is very informative. Am captivated by the sign that says that one of the walkways to a nearby bridge is out of bounds because a large saltwater crocodile has been spotted ‘lurking’ in the area. Not bird-watching clearly. Helpfully they have provided a folder with details of ‘saltie’ fatal attacks – if you just lose a leg you don’t make the book! They are rare, but the posters and the signs make it clear that any contact is very high risk, and the advice is DON’T SWIM anywhere except the public swimming baths! Of course some visitors choose to swim in the rock pools and billabongs, and the park rangers do their best to see that the areas are safe. Fatal attacks occur mostly in the wet season – it is still the dry season now – when the rivers and creeks overflow and there are lots of places for croc to be. The folder recorded the last fatal attack in Australia as March 2009 when sadly an 11 year old girl was taken whilst swimming in a river with friends. The one before that was in 2008 when another child – this time a 5 year old following his dog into the river. I didn’t read the whole list which goes back some years, but tourists don’t feature heavily in the saltie’s diet. The reason? They don’t get complacent like the locals do. Both children lived adjacent to where the attacks took place. I think I got the message. As I left the observatory I heard a rustle in the bushes next to me. I was in my car before you could say ‘crocodile dundee’!

I ended up driving 40km past my hotel as it looked like an old gas station and I thought that can’t possibly be it! But it was so 80km later I was back and checking in. The gas station bit was only the front and the residences were not too bad. A bit log cabbinish but ok. Needless to say once I had checked in I had my now obligatory Oz afternoon snooze! At 5pm I headed for Ubirr, an aboriginal rock paintings site. I had been advised that it closed at sunset which was about 6.30 but that the sunset would be spectacular. Found it ok as the road off the main highway only went as far as the site. I got there in an hour so had some time to see the rock paintings before climbing with the 30 or so others to the viewing point. The sunset was on cue – very spectacular but a bit blurred by low clouds. Everybody was relatively quiet as this is an aboriginal religious site. Lots of photos taken. Spread out below lots of scrubland and wetlands in the distance. Someone said they could see kangaroos – but I couldn’t! Hardly seen any wildlife yet. A couple of cranes in a pool by the highway, some parakeets over the wetlands. Still, plenty of time for that. When the sun had set I was going to stay a while and just take in the view but a warden appeared and rushed us all off. I understood why by the time we reached the car park ten minutes later. It was getting rapidly dark and by the time I set off I had to use my lights to see the way. Journey home relatively uneventful – except I missed the ‘hotel’ again – but I did get my first ‘road kill’. Dammit, I thought, the road is empty for miles in either direction and this creature – a possum possibly – strolls out right into my path. I did try to miss it but I was not going to end up in a ditch. Sorry possum. Some other creature will have a meal of it no doubt.

Tomorrow I am off to Jim Jim Falls – this requires two hours driving on dirt roads there and back. That’ll test the four wheel drive! In the wet season the falls can only be reached by air!

PS
Some reflections on the Aussie male. It began with two stalls at the beach market. One was selling ‘stock whips’ – who the hell would want a stock whip unless you drove cattle? A hard Aussie that’s who. The other was called the ‘Roadkill Grill’ – motto ‘you kill it, we grill it’. Burgers to put hair on your chest mate! It continued with passing a sports bar. I had been warned by Eamonn that no bar will be without a TV, but this sports bar had wall to wall TVs, all with different sports channels on them! And then there’s the ‘ute’. Plenty of them in evidence on the roads today. So I wrote this fictional ‘male’ a poem.

Oh Sheila, oh Sheila, you know you’re a beaut
But you just can’t compete with my 4-wheel drive ute!
I love you, I love you, you know that it’s true
But you’ll have to excuse me, I have to meet Blue.
When we first met my darling, you liked the odd ‘stubby’
But four cans a day love have made you quite chubby
If you add that to having a liking for balti
You ‘re no wonder the size of a five metre saltie!

PPS
Rolf Harris featuring a lot as I drive along.


Saturday 24th October Kakadu National Park Day 2

Sleep glorious sleep! My first proper night’s sleep since I left the UK last Sunday. Made myself stay up to watch The Da Vinci Code – what an awful film! – so went to sleep around 12 and woke up at 8! Yahoo! Horrendous noise from white parakeets – they are like starlings around here – and some very strange geese which are the equivalent of our Canada Geese , but they do fly into trees when startled. Opened curtains to find an ibis feeding on the grass outside. Quick shower and breakfast as off to Jim Jim Falls. The Kakadu guide says that the Falls are only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicles and not at all in the wet season. It also says to allow two hours to the Falls and two hours back once you leave the main Kakadu Highway. I calculate the turning is an hour away so I will allow six hours for the round trip. I am both nervous and excited by the off road bit – but assured by the fact that Brother Frankilry survived the trip at the end of the wet season two years ago! I check my fuel and decide to go on a full tank so have to call at Jabiru on the way. Take a wrong turning at Jabiru and then am directed the wrong way again by this stupid Aussie bloke out walking. Lose fifteen minutes with this palaver. Fuel gauge stays reassuringly on full! Reach the turning for JIm Jim Falls ok and stop to consult the manual re the 4WD bit. It is easy to switch on but it does say that if the road gets sandy or muddy then to up the ante 4WD wise. Never having driven a 4WD this means nothing to me – but I am about to find out. The sign says Jim Jim Falls is 59km. the first half an hour or so of the road is red gravel and the road is wide enough to take two vehicles side by side. Clouds of red dust are thrown up as I follow the signs and stick to 60km. One vehicle comes from the opposite direction, and then shortly after another speeds past me in the direction of the Falls throwing up so much red dust I have to stop as I can’t see the road! I don’t see another vehicle for over half an hour. ‘Piece of cake this off road driving,’ I think. Half an hour later, just as I pass a sign for a camping ground, the red dirt road abruptly ceases and is replaced by a very narrow single width dirt track. By my calculations this was to be my ‘road’ for the next hour or so! I stop and engage the next level of 4WD. I soon realise I need it. The ‘track’ is a mixture of soft sand, red gravel and stones - sometimes all at once. The local Aboriginal council have very kindly installed speed bumps at regular intervals just to make the ride more interesting. Some bumps are considerably bigger than others! I hope the vehicle can stand it. I would not have got more than ten yards in my Mazda! My up and down journey is made more exciting by the regular ‘sand traps’ where the 4WD has to work especially hard. I keep saying the word ‘traction’ as I reach these in some vain hope that this will ‘magic’ me through. I keep telling myself that even if I get stuck there will be other vehicles passing – eventually. Almost by magic one appears – and I have to pull over to let it past. I don’t see another one for the next forty minutes! I do however see the council guys responsible for the speed bumps. They are very kindly installing a few more on what had once been a nice flat section.

Suffice it to say the 4WD got me there ok. I noted at various points that the road dipped into dry river beds and that next to the edge of the road were indicators for possible depth of water during the wet season I presumed. A little alarming to see that these topped out at 2 metres!

The car park at the Falls was moderately busy – about a dozen vehicles. It was mid-day so very very hot. I had got all the bits I needed and sprayed myself liberally with insect repellent as I could see coach loads of flies gathering for the feast! The first thing I came across was the sign saying that due to the temperatures the 6km walk to the top of the plateau was banned! Oh dear, just when I ….who am I kidding? In this heat! The next thing I saw was the now obligatory ‘croc’ sign. Danger – crocodiles inhabit this area. Attacks can cause injury or death. Keep away from the water’s edge. Do not enter the water. And then where does the path go – yes, right along the water’s edge! It’s very difficult to walk no tiptoes in hiking boots but I did. In case I might think it was all a fuss over nothing – which I assure you I didn’t – there was a crocodile trap set at the edge of the lagoon. Probably the length of Sal and Dave’s living room! A local paper yesterday had featured an article about the capture of a 4.5 metre ‘saltie’ in another part of the park – not the one at the wetlands centre. So they are about. The paper also featured what it called ‘idiots’ and showed a photo of a guy standing on a croc trap holding a beer can! A middle aged couple in front of me as I walked up towards the Falls asked me if I was going to swim in the rock pool at the bottom of the Falls. Not a chance I said, haven’t you seen the notices. They had also read the same newspaper. The woman cheerfully said that some trekkers had swum there earlier for 20 minutes and none of them had been eaten! Trouble with crocs I said – sounding like a veteran – is you can’t predict where they will be. I was keeping well away from the water. I left them to go on up the path. I will have a look in the paper tomorrow – see if they made it back.

The journey back to the main road was easier as I now knew what the 4WD could do. I passed the council men who very kindly let me are the first to drive over a new speed bump. I thought that if the water gets to 2m high they must have to redo most of the road each year never mind the speed bumps!

By way of contrast decide to visit Nourangie Rock, an aboriginal painting site on the way home. This was fascinating – still had a croc sign though – as the series of caves and overhangs had some of the paintings I had already seen in guide books and on post cards etc . People had actually lived here for thousands of years. It was very sheltered and cool so I could see why. The paintings are very striking and in a way humbling. Made me think about the importance of place in people’s lives. The observation point overlooked the vastness of the bush below. I could see for miles. I could also understand why the Aborigines regard these places as sacred.
Back on the main highway I see my first real wildlife – and manage not to kill it! Two dingos – Aussie wild dogs – are standing by the road observing the traffic. I could have sworn they waved as I sped by.

The Australians have what seems like a curious relationship with their wildlife. I suppose they cannot be blamed for initially thinking it was all there for the benefit to shoot, kill, skin etc (c/f USA and the Buffalo or us and the wolf) but very quickly certain species got to the edge of extinction – including the ‘saltie’ which made great handbags and shoes, but could not replace itself fast enough. Eventually they had to declare a number of species ‘off limits’ – including the ‘saltie’ – to let them recover. Some recovered faster than others – the ‘saltie’ in particular. They are now thriving and the Aussies are trying to balance the fact that it’s great to have them back with the fact that given half a chance they will have you for lunch!

Tomorrow it’s croc spotting from the safety of a big boat on the Yellow River, the off to Katherine to visit the Gorges.

Sunday 25th October Kakadu to Katherine

Croc spotting, Charlie Drake, electric cars, the café with no customers, termites, road kill, wallabies, wild horses, earthquake, aborigine health and welfare.

Early rise needed to catch 9am Yellow River Cruise. Not helped by earthquake at midnight! Woken up by movement of the bed. It went on for some time – 20 to 30 seconds – and it was as if someone was holding the end of the bed and shaking it. I lay there thinking is this the start of something or just a shock wave. When it stopped I fully expected it to start again. I remained awake for another two hours afterwards , watching yet another awful film, and doing calculations in my head about the distance we were inland vis- a-vis a possible tsunami! Mad? Not quite. At breakfast lots of talk about the tremors. The girl who serves said it was her second of the season – but as she was from Chile she was used to such things. Did the earth move for me? No jokes please cause it did! On the radio on the way to the cruise the news was that there had been an earthquake in Indonesia of 7.5 magnitude, and the Indonesian Government had thought it wise to issue a tsunami warning which they later withdrew. That’s the way! Panic the population then say –oops, sorry! Shock waves had been felt as far as Katherine where I was heading which is 250k from where I was. Who’s laughing now? As I left the Kakdu lodge I saw my first proper marsupial – a wallaby – which scampered round a bush near my jeep. I saw another one when I parked up for the cruise. Definitely not big enough to be kangaroos.
The Yellow River cruise turned out to start in the Yellow Billabong – think small lake – and entered the South Alligator River. I have mentioned this river before. It is a brute of a river made even more so by the presence of saltwater crocodiles. It was named by an early explorer – or rather renamed from what the Aborigines called it – who did not know his alligator from his elbow! History does not record if this was a fatal mistake or not. The tour was fabulous. Two hours on a slow cruise around the area with a very informative guide and some very co-operative wildlife, including Mr and Mrs Croc and the little crocs. Sea eagles, azure kingfishers, jabiru (a big stork), whistling ducks (not Colonel Bogey but clearly not a quack) and thousands of magpie geese – these are the ones that fly into trees. And of course crocs! Shed loads of crocs. No 5 metre males – these are the stuff of legend and nightmare. But plenty of 3 metre females and one solitary 4 metre male. When you get close, and I assure you we did get really close, you see why these things are so fearsome. Jaws like clamps, silent deadly movement. We would be looking at one and suddenly it would disappear. That’s what makes them so dangerous. You never know where they might pop up. We saw them in the water, on the sand banks, hiding in tree roots – and the guide said they frequently hide in the long grass – which is why the route to the boat’s on a raised walkway. We saw five gather in one place and two females have a standoff – the guide said they do sometimes fight and kill and even eat each other! Keep well clear! Respect! We all had to have a sit down in the café afterwards!

Remember! Never smile at a crocodile! You can’t get friendly with a crocodile!

A brief visit to the nearby Warradjan (pronounced Warradjan) Aboriginal Centre was followed by a 250km drive to Katherine. Getting radio stations is not easy so I have to listen to what I can. It breaks the monotony of the journey as the roads can be very empty. As it is Sunday it is serious talking – no Dale Winton here! I relax into the programme which is about the near destruction of Aboriginal health and welfare by the onset of colonisation – thanks Captain Cook they say. Aborigines are SEVEN times more likely to die of diabetes, respiratory and heart diseases and alcoholism than white Australians. They also suffer depression very much more easily. Reason? Loss of culture, purpose etc. the Oz government are trying hard to redress centuries of destructive oppression, but it seems like a losing battle. One Aboriginal interviewed said change is good but destruction is not. Parts of the Northern Territory are given over entirely to the Aboriginal clans and their traditional lifestyle. Visitors need a licence to go on to the land. Very few tourists do. The future doesn’t look orange!

Last night I was in the lounge bar having a bite to eat when an Aboriginal man came in. He asked the staff to serve him an alcoholic drink. The girl who served him politely refused as he was not a resident but said if he was thirsty she would be happy to serve him with a soft drink. He had a coke and then asked if he could sit at the outside tables to drink it. The girl said yes. When he left you could have cut the air with a knife. As an individual he was no trouble but he represented a huge problem which is Aborigines and alcohol. Big trouble. The Government have gone as far as to ban alcohol sales and drinking in public in certain areas. They have also brought in an alcohol-free fuel to stop the young men ‘sniffing’ fuel.
Long journeys with little change to the scenery and no other traffic to observe and few animals as they mostly lie low during the day have led to the onset of ‘Highway Madness’. I find myself talking in a stereotypical Aussie accent and singing songs I had long forgotten. The engine of my jeep sound like a didgeridoo, so it’s not long before I launch into ‘Sun-arise’ in a Rolf Harris type accent. This is quickly followed by ‘Waltzing Matilda’ whenever I see a billabong sign. Even more bizarrely I rake up from the dustbin of my memory an old Charlie Drake number (see below). It may be sectioning stuff back in the UK but here in the Outback it’s what keeps us going!

Crossing the Mary River and leaving Kakadu behind perhaps forever, I take a rest at the Mary River Roadhouse. It’s sign advertises all the services you could need but when I pull in it like something out of a Sergio Leone movie. I half expect to see Clint Eastwood and Jack Palance facing each other in front of the store. There is a Volkswagen van at the petrol pump and two girls sitting at an outside table. The sign on the door says ‘Shut – back at 10.30’. Seeing as it is 2pm I have a long wait! I try the toilet door and that is locked too. I am about to go when the girls say the café is open. Inside it is empty. A woman comes from the back and serves me with coffee and a biscuit. I need break but am not staying here long. I ask for the toilet key and the woman says it is open. Perhaps someone was inside. I look out to see the third occupant of the van walking with the girls to the van and it very quickly departs, leaving just me, the woman, Clint and Jack. I look up at the fan spinning above my head and try to imagine what this place must be like when it’s quiet!

A little later on the Stuart Highway to Katherine I think the ‘highway’ madness has given me mirages as I think I see a traffic jam in front of me. I count at least five vehicles. I haven’t seen as many since I left Warradjan (pronounced Warradjan). As I get nearer I see flashing lights and a sign on the back of the van in front which says ‘beware slow vehicles’. Of course! It’s the Darwin to Adelaide electric car race! I had seen a news item on it when I was in Darwin. The cars are only allowed to be solar powered, and teams from all over the world have entered. The UK is represented a by a team of scientists from Cambridge University. They are aiming not just to complete the race but to end up in the top ten. I find myself getting quite excited. Will I see the Cambridge car? I pass about four of them and their support vehicles over the next ten minutes or so – some of the cars can do 60KPH – I actually see one overtake a slow lorry! Then I pass the Cambridge car. I honk like mad and flash my lights. They probably think I am some Aussie clown complaining that they are slowing the traffic. When I reach Katherine some of the lead cars are already there being dismantled for an overnight stop. By my calculations the UK team are in fifth place! Go for it boys! Only 2700km to go!

I finish my day with a visit to the Katherine Gorge to watch the sunset. I climb a very steep path to a viewing platform. The sunset is stunning and I take lots of photos. No one else is around. A youth had passed earlier but did not stop. I follow the path he took which is the longer but easier route. A girl passes me going the other way. I think she is a ranger by her garb. I am conscious that it will get dark very quickly so I hurry. About three quarter of the way down I meet the youth who walks with me chatting. He is working for the season at the camp near the gorge. It gets darker as we come nearer the He produces a head torch which helps light the way. It takes us a good twenty minutes to reach the car park from where we met and by that time it is pitch black. I thank him for his company and get to my jeep. I am tired and a little bit irritated with myself for nearly having to come down at least part of the way in the dark. And then I realise, of course, he had waited for me! He and the girl were a team whose job it was to sweep up late comers like me. He was going one way, she the other. He hadn’t embarrassed me by letting me know that. For a moment I was reminded of the story ‘Footprints in the Sand’. But he was a real person. I know that because I shook his hand as I said ‘Thank You’.

Monday 26th Katherine

Charlie Drake! Charlie Drake! Now where did he come from? Those of you who have just said ‘Weybridge, Mr Pugh!’ are older than you think. Sometime slapstick comedian of the 1960s, he ventured into the recording business with limited success. Fill in the gaps where you can as I can’t remember all of it but one song began………..

In the bad, badlands of Australia, many years ago…..
(memory gap here)
I said my boy Jack what’s wrong with him?
My boomerang won’t come back!
Your boomerang won’t come back?
My boomerang won’t come back, my boomerang won’t come back
I’ve waved the thing all over the place, practised ‘till I was black in the face
I’m a big disgrace to the Aborigine race, my boomerang won’t come back!
Well I can ride a kangaroo (yeah, yeah)
Make kinkajou stew ( yeah , yeah)
(memory blank here – I bet you’re glad of that!)
It ends up with him consulting a tribal elder who tells him…
The thing you have to know is, to get your boomerang to come back,
Well first you have to throw it!
A not very PC song but then it was the 1960s!

Up very, very early – 5.30am – for a 2 hour breakfast cruise down the Katherine Gorge. We were promised sunrise over the gorge ( missed that), early morning mists (too hot for that), freshwater crocodiles ( we saw one – in a trap!). Apart from that the gorges are stunning and a reminder of the power of nature and water over time ( there’s an equation in there somewhere). Chatted over breakfast to a young couple who had lived in Edinburgh and were returning to Melbourne via most of Australia over the next four months – driving all the way! A retired couple originally from Sheffield heard my accent and were keen to tell me how great Oz was – they took advantage of cheap flights and were full of praise for Richard Branson who they said had broken the Quantas domination of Australian airways. We visited two of the thirteen gorges that form the Katherine complex. Our guide pointed out the levels to which the waters had risen during the great flood of 1998 – Katherine itself is 29km away and the whole town had been under six feet of water! It’s not a place for wusses to live. If the sun doesn’t get you the crocs will. And if they don’t get you the floods will. There was another flood in 2006 but not quite as bad.
Got really excited on the way to the Gorge as I thought I saw my first kangaroo – there are some Australians who have never seen a wild kangaroo. It was real enough and bounded across the road in front of me – at a safe distance I hasten to add given my road kill record. Turns out though that it was a wallaby. I saw another one in the car park drinking from a leaking tap and so was able to photograph it. More were hanging round the waiting area for the boat and it was there that I heard the guide tell someone that they were more likely to see wallabies than kangaroos and besides they would have no problem identifying them because they are so bloody big! Still time yet, I said hopefully. After the trip I passed a very lifelike model of a Kookaburra sitting on a post ..that is until it moved its head. I thought whether or not animatronics had reached Northern Territory yet, decide it hadn’t and got out my camera. Now normally birds scoot as soon as you even think of talking a photo, but this thing had the patience of Job and waited whilst I fumbled in my rucksack for the camera. It even turned its head and smiled when I said ‘Say Cheese’.
Back at my room at the hotel I had a sudden attack of the ‘sleeps’ thought I’d have ten minutes and woke up two hours later. It’s the heat. I decided then to have the rest of the day as a ‘lazy’ day – went into the pool for an hour, did a bit of shopping in Katherine, did this. The centre of Katherine is very small – there are about 11,000 people live here (it was 250 in the 1930s!). walking around the town you quickly become aware of groups of Aborigines of all ages (family groups?) sitting under trees and other shady places, wandering through the Mall, hanging around the drive-thru Bottle Shop ( off licence). They seem to be doing nothing most of the time. Other people in town seem to have a sense of purpose – even if that is only shopping. I’m left wondering if the gap between white Australian expectation and what the indigenous population can deliver is too wide to bridge.

Tomorrow I return to Darwin via the Litchfield National Park where once again I will be testing the 4WD capabilities.