In our forced slowdown, and while it’s fairly hot, we’re spending more time relaxing around the caravan park, mostly in the pool [Anna: Love a good caravan park pool]. 

So today we laze and read, our only plan is to watch sunset from the Nawurlandja lookout, overlooking our favourite Anbangbang billabong. 

It’s a short walk up a rocky slope, like a shallower Elephant’s Hide in the Grampians. As the light dims, shadows bring out the details of the Burrungkuy cliff face. We remain until night descends.

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Very slow day today, a bouncy drive down to Maguk waterfall for a swim. Superb water and full of baby barramundi, but bushfires all around kept us on our toes a little. 

Last night we found out that Darwin and Katherine have been locked down for three days as a precaution after a COVID case visited so we have extended our stay in Kakadu. Some people have rushed off to the WA border, but we’re not really in the mood and we have things to do in Darwin. So we hope to ride it all out. 

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In the morning we pack up our camp and head to Anbangbang Billabong. In a sense the billabong doesn’t look like much: marshy pool with low bush all around. From some angles there are cliffs behind to add to the view [Anna: I dispute this, the billabong was lush AF. It also had water lilies]. But in the billabong there are hundreds of birds, they are calling, dancing, flying in flocks and stalking through the water. 

What makes the view amazing for me is Anna. Her joy and excitement as she points out each bird, describing what it’s features are, its personality, when she first read about it (or had poster of it or jointly discovered it with childhood friend) [Anna: yeah, I was absolutely frothin’]. 

In our rush to leave we left Anna’s binoculars at home, so I take steady photos and we zoom in to check things like ‘does it have a bump on its head?’ or ‘are there white feathers sticking up from its wings?’ Anna’s joy brings me joy; her enthusiasm, excitement and glee. She exclaims as new birds fly over and strains to find details on distant birds before they spook. It might sound silly, but this peaks my love for her, it’s so fun seeing her passion and elation [Anna: Nawww]. 

(Bird spotting will become a theme for our holiday and a shared interest with many of our camp neighbours [Anna: Except for Neil, who was not ashamed to admit he didn’t know the town was named after a bird])

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After the billabong we walk up Burrungkuy, stopping to look at the art (and two playful black cockatoos) on our way. There are sheltered places in amongst the rocks, the floors have been excavated down to a metre in places revealing signs of ancient occupation.

Then we head to Cooinda, where we find a shady camp at the site and then head out for a sunset cruise at Yellow Water. It seems today is a bird-themed day, although some people are exited to see their first crocodile (and the guide is happy to indulge), there’s enough enthusiasm from the boat for birds that we have plenty of time to see who is about today [Anna: Everybody. Everybody was about]. 

The waters are sprawling rivers over a large expanse. Smaller bushes provide shade for some ducks, tall trees home to larger birds. There are denser woods too with birds at the edge of the water and the biggest crocodile I’ve seen stretched out deeper in. 

Wild horses are grazing in a plain, and later at dusk we come across buffalo asleep by the water. 

The number and variety of birds is awesome. An incomplete list gives a sense:

• Jabirus
• Nankeen night herons (juvenile and adult)
• Comb-crested jacanas (big feet) [Anna: Ahem, largest foot to body ratio in the bird kingdom]
• Royal spoonbills
• Whistling ducks [Anna: plumed AND wandering]
• Azure kingfishers
• Magpie geese
• Grebes
• Rainbow bee-eaters
• Australian pratincole
• Variations herons, egrets, cormorants and darters
• [Anna: No f***in brolgas though :(]

One of the funnier sites was a jabiru sitting down with its legs out in front, it really couldn’t look sillier. 

Sunset came quickly, we stopped the boat and sat in silence for a few minutes. Peace and tranquillity enveloped us, time stood still. 

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East Alligator River again today, this time in a boat, with the very excellent Guluyambi Cruises, owned and managed by the traditional owners of the various clan estates in Kakadu. Anna goes straight for the river-side seat before remembering the abundance of crocodiles [Anna: I made a huge mistake…so vulnerable]. 

Our guide takes us along the river, stopping to explain uses of plants, for a closer look at crocodiles [Anna: so, SO many crocodiles], pointing out some locations Aboriginal people once lived by the river and eventually to walk up to a view over the river. The guide is funny, quite sarcastic about the government’s inability to recognise that there’s a people here who have figured out how to survive 60,000 or so years and fail to ask for or heed their advice. I feel pretty sympathetic to his opinion, though I do hold out a little more hope than him. (He reminded me of my high school art teacher, Mr Mac, who was the main reason I survived school at all.)

After the cruise we head back to Ubirr to get a better look at the art. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, quite special. 

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We leave Edith Falls and drive up to Jabiru in Kakadu.  We’ve heard that some people complain that Kakadu is just scrubby bush and therefore uninspiring [Anna: Spoiler alert, some people are wrong, but I concede Kakadu is a difficult park to plan/navigate]. The main road through is fairly long (it’s 2 hours from Pine Creek to Jabiru) and the bush is scrubby, so I can see where they impression comes from, but there are big rivers and huge rocky formations along the way – all hinting that there’s plenty to find in the park. 

The extremely helpful visitor centre helps us plan what to do (given some of the tracks are 4wd only) and we make camp. 

There is a crossing over the East Alligator River which attracts crocodiles at high tide. They wait to catch fish as they swim across the ford. Once we’re settled at the camp we head to Cahills Crossing. 

A viewing platform overlooks the crossing and we join some others to watch. Something like ten or twelve crocs lie in wait [Anna: and a couple more below the surface for every visible croc]. They hold their arms up to stay in place, they’re hands look like black stars pointing out of the water. Sometimes one will surface out of the murky water, but really watching them disappear is more unnerving because of how quickly and how completely they’re hidden [Anna: In a particularly terrifying moment, a big croc from the middle of the river disappeared completely only to reappear underneath the viewing platform, clearly sizing us up]. 

Mostly they float in absolute stillness. Then in a sudden splash one will grab a fish from the water, tossing it back into its mouth. 

When a bird flies too close, a croc launches into the air, narrowly missing the bird (met by excited gasps from onlookers). 

Now and again a 4wd will drive over the crossing, crocodiles reluctantly giving way. The local drivers know the path to avoid two big holes, but the visitors reliably drop into both, sending waves over the nearby crocodiles. Two times Commodores make the crossing, really drawing the onlooker’s attention. It looks incredibly sketchy. 

Our fear of the resident reptiles stoked, we head to a sunset spot. 

Ubirr is a formation of rocks overlooking the Nadab floodplain in Arnhem Land, which are great to watch the sunset from. There is also some amazing rock art, lots of paintings of the local food from the past few thousand years, one is almost like a menu [Anna: There was also an awesome painting of a Thylacine, which a lady who doesn’t understand the concept of geological time, continental drift/sea level change or human-induced extinction believed was fake because “Tasmanian Tigers only lived in Tasmania”]. 

On the walk to the top we stop into the different art sites, some are hard to see with the low sun directly on them – we’ll come back tomorrow to get a better look. But even this half look is incredible, the X-ray style used often here is so detailed! It’s quite stunning. 

Higher up on the rocks we start to get a view of the surrounding countryside. In front of us a big floodplain made patchy with shadows by the clouds overhead. Around to our left there are green tree-covered hill and rocky outcrops with taller mountains in the distance behind. On our right is the lower parts of Ubirr and two great rock faces in the distance, separated by Nadab’s green plain. Finally, behind us is a long wide section of low green bushland stretching into the distance, from which small fires trail pale smoke into the evening air. 

The spinifex around us starts to catch rays of golden light, as does the Ubirr rock face. 

As the sun approaches the horizon the clouds overhead begin to colour, and a tiny rain shower drops over us. In the distance the rain sparkles yellow and orange [Anna: Note that rains this early are not normal and an indication of climate change… but thank you to climate change for our wonderful sunset!]. 

Behind us the last remaining rays pick up the rocks in the distance and even the green trees succumb to the orange light. 

When the sun at last disappears the whole sky lights up bright pink and burnt orange. Magnificent.

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