Kakadu

Our opinion of Kakadu……. wonderful. Kakadu is the largest national park in Australia and has so much to discover. It is World Heritage listed for both its cultural and its natural values. The rangers and traditional owners do an amazing job at protecting the biodiversity of the park. We stayed in the township of Jabiru at Kakadu Lodge. It was such a nice change to have grass to step on when getting out of the camper and CLEAN amenities. We got to spend 4 nights here at met up with the kid’s cousins, which they enjoyed immensely.

Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls

The first day was a long day doing both Jim Jim falls and Twin Falls. It’s a long 4WD in to the start of the walk at Jim Jim. The walk up to falls isn’t so much as a walk, rather a scramble and climb over rocks and boulders. The end is so worth it though. The falls are more of a trickle in the dry season, but it is pretty spectacular all the same. The kids and Clayton had a quick dip in the ‘beach’ swimming hole. I enjoyed laying on a rock in the shade and marvelling at the amazing gorge walls.

Jim Jim Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twin Falls – another drive on a road only suitable for 4WDs with good clearance. You need to cross Jim Jim creek with approximately 80cm depth. It’s pretty easy to cross as they have created a stable bottom on the crossing. To get to Twin Falls, you need to take a small boat trip ($12.50 per adult) run by a park ranger. You then need to continue walking up the gorge, which requires some climbing on skinny rock ledges along the edge of the gorge. A little bit scary with the kids at times! It was mid afternoon when we started the walk and everyone was hot and tired by the time we got to the falls. The gorge and falls were very impressive. Needless to say – we were all pretty tired that night.

On the short boat trip to twin falls.

Ubirr (pronounced oo-beerr)

Before making our way to Ubirr, we stopped at Cahill’s crossing. A well known fishing and big croc hang-out. The fishermen are brave standing on the crossing or on the edge of the river with massive crocs hanging around in the water right in front of them.

At Ubirr we did the 1km circuit and admired the aboriginal rock art gallery. There is a painting of a thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) – they became extinct on the mainland of Australia 1500 – 2000 years ago. Some of the paintings were also painted at a similar time. Seeing the paintings and the view from the lookout were definitely some highlights of the trip so far.

Yellow Water Cruise

On the way to our cruise we stopped at most the sights along the way. We did the walk/climb up  to Nawurlandja look out.

We then did the Nourlangie (Burrunggui) where we saw some more amazing rock art and some lovely cool caves.

Our yellow water cruise departed at 2:45pm and obviously wasn’t one of the most popular tour times. The tour boat was pretty empty – which meant the kids could move around the boat to best view the wildlife. We saw heaps of amazing things – massive crocs lazing in the sun, a Jabiru catch and chop up a fish, sea eagles, egrets, etc etc. A Yellow Water cruise is definitely something not to be missed.