We waved goodbye to Uncle Phil and the comforts of a house after a slow pack up, ensuring we hadn’t left anything behind, and piled into the car headed for Kakadu.
We didn’t know what to expect from Kakadu. The people I have met along the way who seem to have similar interests, values etc to me have gone so far as to say that Kakadu is their most favourite national park in the country. People who have been recently say that it was difficult to see, especially in the south, because much is yet to open. So I’m not sure what my response will be. I’m intrigued more than excited at the moment.
We stopped in at South Alligator River for a bit of a look. What a treat! We saw both a brolga and a jabiru, albeit way in the distance. We saw a couple of crocodiles, lots of kites/eagles and a big goanna. Malachi slipped in the stinky mud and covered his slides, which we washed off at the car before continue on to the information centre. We also saw more crocs as we drove across the river.
After a brief stop in at the visitors centre to get the latest on what’s open and what’s not, and learning that the iconic falls/walks of the south are still closed as are all safe swimming spots in the park. So that was disappointing but we adjusted our plans to accommodate. It was hot, so the no swimming is a bummer.
We made it to Merl campground, found a large site just for us, set up camp and had an afternoon platter to tide us over to dinner after skipping lunch. We then jumped back into the car to head to Ubirr to see the rock art and to lookout over the Nadal floodplain. There are multiple rock art sites here, filled with so much art. Incredible delicate ancient art. History documented on these walls in the most amazing away. I thought the rock art at Little Mertens and on the Mitchell Falls walk was impressive, this was magnificent. We took our time with the art as the longer you looked at a wall or a rock the more detail detail you became aware of.
Along the walk we heard the familiar dropping of pandanus leaves in the bush. But this was too frequent. We looked around and noticed the leaves were falling from a single tree and they were green. On closer inspection, there was a cockatoo chewing the leaves off, methodically, one by one, we think in an attempt to access the pandanus nut to enjoy its goodness. We could have watched this bird for hours. But they didn’t enjoy being watched. They paused the mission to stare back at us until we continued on.
The mozzies are bad and I am desperate to get out of the thick bush that enclosed the walled track.
We made the walk up the rocky platform to the lookout over the wetlands. It reminded me of what you might see in a movie set in Africa or something. It seemed that should you see a hippo strolling by it wouldn’t be out of place. It was beautiful just looking out over the land, It was a little frustrating to have mistimed the sunset and therefore had longer than expected up at the lookout without any snacks or drinks. Joey was ‘literally dying of thirst.’ Literally? Yes. He couldn’t believe we could be so irresponsible to not being any water.
The view was incredible. Vast lush green land, bright blue sky, lights whisps of cloud, and various large rock and mountain protruding from the land depending on which direction you looked. We were there before the crowd which was nice, but over the next hour or so that we waited for the sun to set, the large look out became more and more populated. In these moments I am easily frustrated by inconsiderate behaviour. It’s so easy to be considerate in these moments, but selfishness and entitlement are far too frequent. These people are the minority, but it is hard not to let them have an impact.
We returned home to a camp overrun with mosquitos, and hungry and tired kids. We had noodles for dinner and got them to bed as soon as possible, but bedtime tonight was the most ridiculous ordeal. Sleeping arrangements are becoming as challenging as car seating arrangements! Where have my little agreeable children gone?
Only spending one night at Merl, we had breakfast and packed up. The mosquitos were still rife in the AM, and Malachi was back in a funk – again.
We headed to Cahill’s Crossing in the hope of seeing some big crocodiles and watching some interesting creek crossings. It’s a cool place to croc and people watch. The crossing itself isn’t anything particularly special, but watching people drive across a river that’s got such a high crocodile population is fun in itself. We saw some big crocs which we really enjoyed. We enjoyed watching them swim, stalk the boats, dive deep and resurface. They are stealthy creatures that’s for sure. We also watched a couple of men fishing… standing in the water at the crossing! Meters from the sign that alerts you to the danger of the crocodiles and that fatalities have occurred here, and only meters from where large saltwater crocodiles were swimming only minutes before. Insane.
For the fourth time Malachi drones, ‘can we go?’ So we decide we’ve seen enough crocs and reckless behaviour for the morning and head south through Kakadu.
We stopped in at Jabiru to refuel and headed to Nourlangie for more rock art and another lookout. It was hot when we arrived so we prepared for the walk, eating ham and salad wraps in the shade of the camper, covering to be totally suns safe, and stocked up with water.
This walk took us on a tour of some more amazing rock art, really well signed with likely meanings behind the art. However; also clearly articulating that if you weren’t present at the time of creating the art, you can never know its whole, true and intended meaning. It was interesting the Theodore said the rock art made him feel ‘really uncomfortable and funny in the stomach.’ He was okay as long as he was by my side, hand in hand. We viewed all the art sites and continued to the lookout which wasn’t as spectacular as the Ubirr lookout but it was interesting, also with ancient stories attached.
We made the walk back to the car and arrived at Mardugal campground to set up. Malachi’s positive mood had returned and both he and Joey were an amazing help at setting up.
After the trailer was sorted we headed to the nearby Jim Jim creek jetty to check it out, and packed a picnic for the afternoon. Leon is ecstatic that he can fish from this jetty! Meanwhile, Theodore is nervous about running into water buffalo as there are warning signs around.
There are birds galore. So many different birds enjoying the creek and the wetlands. We spotted some baby barra jumping for insects, as well as a baby croc! We didn’t realise that’s what it was until we replayed a video we’d taken. We also spotted some big stealthy crocs cruising down the river on the hunt.
We had three rods in at any given time, with significant bites every now and then, but other than that not much action.
Until!…
Malachi’s rod delivered that coveted sound of line peeling of the reel at speed against the drag. He was beside himself. Leon and I both giving our two cents of advice without taking over and allowing Mali to do the work. After a bit of reeling in the fish surfaced a little and Malachi can’t handle it, he is busting with excitement; ‘It’s a barra, it’s a massive barra, oh my gosh. This is like winning a game of Fortnight.’ It jumped again and Joey this time, ‘It is massive! It is Mass-Ive!’
Leon helps Malachi get it close to the jetty (mindful of the big crocs and not really wanting to reach over edge, and we don’t have a net), and Malachi squeals ‘You have got to be kidding me, it’s huge!’ The fish is literally out of the water, centimetres from being lifted over the barricade – Snap! The 10lb leader didn’t cut it. Devastation permeated the jetty. Malachi, head hanging back, eyes to the sky but shut and covered by his hand, before buckling over.
Despite not getting the fish all the way home, it was without question the highlight of the day. A close second was the mind blowing sunset with impressive reflections in the creek, enhance by the sounds of the birds at dusk and presence of the ancient reptiles, which a fair few people joined us on the jetty to watch.
It was pitch black when we left the jetty. The mosquitos were back and I was mindful that there might be buffalo around. Not to mention we were still only 5-10 meters from the water edge. I told Joey to stay on the path and for whatever reason that sent him spiralling into the depth of intense emotion.
Once we had made it back to camp, had covered up to be mosquito safe, we’re lathered in all the repellent we had, and had started a fire, Joey had calmed and apologised.
We all went to bed, having made the decision not to do the yellow water cruise and again to spend tomorrow hanging out in the place we enjoyed so much this afternoon.
We were woken at 7am by the camp managers collecting fees so that’s when our day started. We had a bit of a morning fish without any luck. Ted and I walked the wetlands viewing platform which which was cool with Teddy laying down at the end to relax and watch the birds.
We returned to the jetty to collect the others and headed back to camp to spend the heat of the day relaxing with some games at home. 7s with the ping pong ball was the game of choice today.
We had afternoon showers and tried to prepare early for the mozzies. We prepared dinner and headed back to the jetty for some more fishing, bird and croc watching and another memorable sunset.
Teddy is hilarious with his bird identification. A number of birds flew over and he casually states, ‘that’s a plumbed whistling duck I think.’ He does this with black shouldered kites, wedgies, red winged budgies, you name it. He’s all over the birds.
Leon hooked something big that we hoped was a barra despite Leon knowing it wasn’t behaving like one. Rather it was the biggest most impressive catfish I’ve ever seen. This thing was a beast. But disappointing nonetheless.
This afternoon we got to witness a croc fight from a distance, and another stunning sunset. Leon did hook a barra in the end, but it was a short lived fight before it got away. It was difficult to peel Leon and Mal from the jetty today, but eventually we made the eerie walk back to the car and returned to camp for dinner followed by roasted marshmallows.
The mozzies are seriously not good for my mental health. I am so incredibly itchy it’s driving me insane. I’ve lost all resolve and wake in the middle of the night violently scratching my legs so much so that I’ve bruised them.
In the morning Malachi and Leon went for an early morning fish while me and the little two slept in. When they returned we packed up to leave Kakadu. Malachi was so eager to help with the pack up and did a phenomenal job doing so.
The drive to Mataranka wasn’t too long, perhaps four hours, with the addition of a refuel in Katherine. We chose to stay at Mataranka Homestead as opposed to the Bitter Springs campground because of the stellar reviews of the whip cracking show, despite the camping area itself having less than ideal reviews in comparison with Bitter Spings. We arrived, knowing we would only be here one night, and decided to only visit the Mataranka springs and not see Bitter Springs as well.
The walk into the springs evokes some childhood memories for me, but not the springs themselves. I’m not sure if it’s the haziness of the memory that’s over thirty years old, or if the environment itself has changed. It’s had pretty significant human intervention, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
You can’t swim in rainbow springs, but it was mesmerising to watch the water bubbling up from beneath the ground. We read that these are not true hot springs as there isn’t an underwater heating source, rather the water is the natural temperature of the ground between 30 and 100m below the surface where the water is coming from. This being about 34 degrees.
We had a great time relaxing and swimming in the deliciously warm water in the afternoon. While in the water the air temperature outside dropped noticeably, so getting out was not the most comfortable.
I had another call from home tonight that had me realise just how far away I am from so many people I love, despite heading in the direction of home.
We had dinner and headed over to watch the skill of Nathan ‘Whippy’ Griggs. This show has some of the best reviews I’ve read and heard. The man camped beside us claimed it was one of the best things he’s ever seen. So we had high expectations. And he delivered. He was funny, somewhat inappropriately but delivered in a way it went over the kids’ heads. His skill was incredible, and his engagement of the crowd exceptional. I actually can’t believe my attention and interest were captured for a whole hour by a guy literally doing nothing but cracking whips. Google him. It’s not as good as seeing him live, but it’ll give you a taste.
We considered buying one of his whips for the family as the kids are now obsessed, but a quick check of the bank account and reality hit me in the face like a brick wall. Paying two mortgages that keep being slammed by repeat interest rate rises are really taking a toll. It was difficult to not let this out a dampener on the evening, and just be grateful for the amazingnes that this holiday has gifted us.
I’m the morning, after breakfast, Malachi was again keen to help with the pack up. Is he back? Are the moods wings done for the moment? Leon took Joey and Teddy to the springs for a morning swim and Malachi and I packed the camper up on our own. It’s great to know that we can do it without Leon. I did need to call on a passer-by to give me a lift with the boat rack as that was asking a bit much of Mal, but I think we probably could have got there if we persevered.
Leon and the little boys arrived back just as we were filling the water tanks, and before we knew it were were embarking on the second of our five consecutive big days of driving to hit the east coast and be able to cruise on down without rushing to be home. I am committed to holidaying right up until get home, and I am committed to arriving home relaxed.
Quarts And All 
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