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.