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!!!!

Day 365 Litchfield National Park

This day marked our Anniversary...one year one the road....I would not have believed that Stephen and I could have done that if it was not for the fact that I was there all of the time!!!! During the day we went out to the old Blyth Homestead. This old homestead was an outpost for the Sargent family...which consisted of 14 children. Their home was Stapleton Station, situated 40 k's away near Adelaide River township, which Harry Sargent bought and then started buying up the surrounding stations...
Each of the children have their own story of their lives and up bringing....the one that stuck in our minds was the story of the 9 year old boy, Max, who found himself tin mining at that age and away from his parents.. that's doing it tough.
They have left the inside of this homestead pretty much as it was...the family continued to use this property right into the late 60's and early 70's..The Blyth Homestead was incorporated in a land parcel that eventually became Litchfield National Park in 1986 and in 1997 it was declared a heritage site as one of the best examples of Top End bushcraft architecture.
Onwards to Tjaynera Falls (Sandy Creek)...hard walk but a lovely swim at the end..
Also on the drive was afield of these Magnetic Termite mounds, all line up North South to take advantage of the sun.... then home again for the Bower Bird Bertie and a bottle of bubbly!!!!

Day 363 Litchfield National Park Bertie Bower Bird

                                                                                              Have a look and a listen to this... we loved every moment of this Bower Birds antics...

Day 363 Litchfield National Park

After moving on from our long visit to Darwin we headed for the area of Litchfield National Park. We had passed this area on the way up but had left a few gems for our return down south before we turn left and head to the East Coast. This has to be one of the best places so far...we managed to secure a fabulous site at Wangi Falls (see above) and had a fantastic view from our Turtles door but that is another story (see next blog). We swam each day and travelled around looking at all the creeks, falls and more...
Florence falls was a little out of my league with the hip but great to see.
So we went round to Buley Pool..which was a cascade of crystal clear water and a great shoulder massage was had by Stephen.
This is the Lost City of Litchfield. We think we are not going to be able to get to the one from Cape Crawford so did this one....incredible erosion and stone formations have left these pillars.
These are Tolmer Falls and was the last on the list for that day and was a no swim area...so back to Wangi Falls for another dip....so cool...the only negative of this area was the mosquitoes!!!!!