Day 384 Richmond

Kronosaurus Korner is a must see if you are ever in this area. The map above shows how the land mass and the water (seas) retreat have left ideal situations for fossilization. 
The display here is very comprehensive (with an audio guided tour of all the exhibits), and considering that the majority of the exhibits have been found in the very local area it is fascinating.
So much so that Stephen and I went out to the Public Fossicking area just outside of town and we found something..well a fossil anyway...but we have no idea what it is!!!
The picture within a picture...Stephen up to his normal tricks.
This place is primarily dedicated to displaying marine reptiles and is the home of the Richmond Pliosaur (above) and also Minmi, both of which have been dated over 100 million years old...now that's old.

Day 383-384 Onwards to Richmond

Having had the lecture about the fossils, Stephen decided that we would head for Richmond before doubling back on ourselves to Cloncurry to met up with A & A. It was a long and sometimes hazardous journey, with some of the worst roads with black stuff on it that we have encountered. I must say that we have been pleasantly surprised, with the caravan park overlooking the lake, and some lovely history to visit. This is an reproduction homestead done out with all the old kitchen and dairy utensils...
and the shed housed the stable and the old Cobb & Co carriage......
The other place of interest was Kronosaurus Korner Fossil Centre, which I will cover in a separate blog. This is a picture of yours truly, with a relatively accurate sized Kronosaurus...humungous!!!!

Day 379 -383 Mount Isa

Not the most appealing of places, but we had to stay for 4 days as we had had the news that the ceiling had fallen in at home and the tenants want to move out.... we contacted the insurance company but to no avail as they say it is just age..and the whole ceiling now needs replacing. We did a couple of things including the Town Lookout...at this point we were thinking that we were going to have to do the 2650 km home.....
We also went, as we were leaving, to Outback at Isa and went to the Riversleigh Fossil Display which was fantastic. We had an hour long talk given by Dr John Scanlon, the resident Paleontologist, as this is a working research centre.

I know it is a mining town and it does sprawl a lot but we could not get into this place.... onwards we go.

Day 374 On the road to King Ash Bay

We left Materanka and headed South to Daly Waters, originally to stay the night but after Barra Bites for lunch, Stephen had some more driving in him so we headed East towards Cape Crawford, King Ash Bay......we did not quite make it but found a free camp at Goanna Creek which until after dark we had all to our selves...birds galore... 
a sunset that was classic and a night sky that was diamond encrusted and the picture above which is the sunrise!!!! Ah the serenity!!
It was a long trip so we were delighted when we came across this large flock of Beautitfuls (Red Tailed Black Cockatoos) on the Carpentaria Highway, just outside of Borroloola.We did get out to King Ash Bay the following day and checked out the fishing, which was why we had gone there.... no fish...to cold....so we decided that it was a waste of time and headed back to Cape Crawford. We had had breakfast there the day before and found it to be a delight... so stopped for a night before heading down to Barkly Homestead on the Barkly Highway.
For an area that is flat as...there is very little to see...then you come across pictures like this.
And then Brolgas on the side of the Tablelands Highway...magnificent birds...

Day 371 Back to Bitter Springs

Barra feeding at Materanka, we had been once before but we came for another look while staying at this caravan park, as we could not get into the one near Bitter Springs.
They had Peacocks, which while being quite beautiful, make alot of noise...it is also that time of year and the displays that we saw were spectacular.
Love the hair do...so much product!!!!!!!!
We went back to Bitter Springs for the float down the stream...it still annoys Stephen that I do not need the Noodle. It was lovely and warm (32 degrees) and amazingly clear until you get the hoons doing bombies.....don't you just love it!!!!

Day 369 The Kakadu Experience

After the cruise we followed on down the road to a place called Jim Jim Falls, this was a walk not to be undertaken by the faint hearted... the boulders and rocks did my hip in so this picture was taken by Stephen after he left me with only about 100 meters to go!
Stephen also went on a outing to get a shot of the sunset through the trees with the water behind. This shot has been renamed Death by Mosquitoes, as they just about carried him away!!!!
Now I have just selected a couple of the photo's that I feel are distinctive of our stay on the Kakadu National Park... This window on to the flood plain...
and of course the Jabiru standing on his rock......

Day 369 Yellow River Cruise

Another must do on our check list is the dawn Yellow Water Cruise...left our site at 5.30 am and pulled away from the jetty by 6.45...then we watched the sun come up and the birds coming to life....
With the early chill in the air the mist on the water with the dawn made an awesome sight, notice the moon in this shot..speckie!!
The fishermen were out trying to out fish the birds...this shot in the dawn colours is great.
We also took this short video of a Salty that was just waking up, he followed the boat with the slightest of flicks of his tail...check it out!

Day 368 Kakadu Part 2

That same day we went out to the sites at Ubirr. There the rock art was more on the hunting and gathering, which would make sense as we were looking over the main Flood Plains of the area...this was also the northern most point that we got to in Kakadu. You can clearly see the art form of the Barramundi..in more recent art work the stick figures of the first whites in the area can be seen....some even show the rifle in the art....these walls though are used over and over agian, so you have layers of art on top of earlier art...going back many years..how many you ask...no body could answer that!
We walked up to the Lookout, talking of lookouts, this Jabiru was sitting on his rock surveying the scene..(Blow it up for detail).
One of the rangers gave a talk on the Flood Plains, the history of the local people and the management of the Park in this day and age...very interesting.
Then we watched the sun go down, I know you have seen them before...but this was another special..with this vast Country in all it's glory. This has been described as "The most beautiful sunset in the Universe."

Day 368 Kakadu Rock Art

Kakadu was next on the list and we were not disappointed, the terrain, wildlife, billabongs, falls and rock art , to name a few, have to be some of the best you can ever see. Our first outing from main camp at Jabiru, was the Nourlangie Region. Here the rock art is well shown and write up on their meanings normally accompany the art. The picture above is of a camp site that they can date back 20,000 years!!!!!!
This I would think is one of the most famous rock arts, still very clear and distinct.
and none of those horrible fences and cages, as we had experienced before.
Blow these up for and interesting read of the Rock Art below.
More to follow....

Day 366 Berry Springs Part Three

This park was full of other interesting things to...these turtles sitting on the logs and rocks...these are the same turtles that we saw while swimming in Bitter Springs.
Not only had I seen these rare Gouldian Finches in the Lee Point Caravan Park of all places but we got to photograph them here.
This Bush Stone-Curlew comes out to play in the early evening, we had had his cousin the Beach Stone-Curlew visit our site at Lee Point.
The wildlife abounds.. this poor little Freshie was surrounded by Pelicans.
They also has one of those walk under water tunnels with Saw Bill Rays (I think that was what it was called), and in a side tank this 4 meter Salty...just sitting around on the bottom and coming to the surface every 20 mins or so!!

Day 366 Berry Springs Part 2

See what I mean about up close and personal...this Peregrine Falcon was all ears to Stephen talking to him.
The Pacific Baza  close up..just look at that eye, one of the few birds with eyes on the side and not to the front..
This Wedge Tail is in fact the mascot for the local army, very proud and dignified. 
The Rufous Owl, so cute and even let us have a stroke..
Then the winner for Stephen, all the other people had gone so he scammed a hold of a beautiful (as we call them), a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo called Bill...made Stephen's day.

Day 366 Berry Springs Part 0ne

This area of Berry Springs is the home of the Northern Territory Wilderness Park...sister to the Desert Park in Alice Springs it was full of wonderful things...so it is in 3 parts as we could not choose just 5 photo's in fact it was hard enough to choose 15!!!!Berry Springs is another water way to go swimming in...not as good as Wangi or Bitter Springs though...it is also home to the Northern Territory Wilderness Park. This park is a sister to the Desert Park in Alice Springs...and yet again we were blown away with the things to see and do... above is a Whip Ray, which some people got the opportunity to hand feed.
The vegatation is not bad either..this Grevillia was in full bloom and pretty as a picture.
They also had a Raptors show....this is a Pacific Baza, which we had seen in Katherine Gorge but not this close...
The famous Jabiru, or Black Necked Stork..yeah right, that neck looks more metallic blue..
This owl had a barking competition with Stephen...yep thats right it is the Barking Owl. This park had a raptors show as the one in Desert Park did but after it was over they brought out birds for you to see close up...fabulous!!!!