Today’s Kakadu adventures were all down in the Ngurrungurrudjba (known as Yellow River) region of the Park.
The first stop was the Warradjan Cultural Centre. I mentioned our visit to the Bowali Visitor Centre when we arrived here in Kakadu – that centre focuses on the flora and fauna of Kakadu, whereas the Warradjan Cultural Centre focuses on the local people and their culture and history. It was an amazing display of so much information – again, one of those moments where there’s so much information that it was almost overwhelming. We loved learning about the kinship laws – they had a great little wheel and set of steps to help you try and understand how it works and who they’re allowed to marry. It seems complicated and even “arranged” to us – but when you see the rules mapped out, you realise it’s actually quite logical and it’s a way to ensure no one intermarries with a relative. I loved that throughout the centre there are quotes from people of the local clans, sharing either their knowledge on foods or how they lived, or even their opinions on issued that affected the different clans. It was very clearly Bininj and Mungguy voices telling me their story – exactly as it should be. [There were probably a few photos I could’ve taken throughout the centre – but there were a lot of sections where they didn’t want photos taken. So in the end, I just decided not to take any photos.]
From there, we hoped to get a short walk in before our Yellow Water cruise. Unfortunately, the boardwalk that runs from the Yellow Water jetty around to the Cooinda Lodge Resort had still not opened for dry season. So we found a woodlands walk to do just down the road instead – the Kungardun walk. A short 2km loop through quite a dense bushland, but toward the end of the loop the scenery changed almost instantly as we got close to the Mardukal Billabong. We then headed back to Cooinda Lodge for a quick lunch at one of their restaurants – Debbie had her first NT Barramundi! (I’m saving mine for hopefully in Darwin, or when we get back to Daly Waters!)
We were picked up by the shuttle bus from the Cooinda Lodge to head across to the Yellow Water jetty – this was a cruise that we’d really been looking forward to! As we arrived, there was quite a lot of people getting on a boat and it unfortunately looked like it would be really packed. But that was all a tour group, and in the end we had a boat that only ended up being about one-third full! The Yellow Water billabong and the South Alligator river are just stunning – both the waterways, and the landscape surrounding them.
We didn’t have to go too fun until we saw our first saltwater croc at the side of Yellow Water before we’d even made it out into the river! And from there, our guide took us to a few different parts of the river where water was quite low-lying and there were quite a few crocs warming themselves in the sun. So many different sizes – but some were just enormous. Incredibly, the bird life all around them was huge! Apparently, crocs really don’t care for birds – they can’t digest the feathers and have to cough them up later, so they usually can’t be bothered wasting energy on them, especially when there are so many fish in the South Alligator river. We did get to see a few of the crocs moving around – and a couple of times taking a big swipe at possibly some fish in front of them. They’re magnificent creatures.
I don’t know that I necessarily had specific expectations of this cruise, but I think there was definitely a lot more sitting and watching than there was cruising along the river – but that was definitely ok with all of us, because there was so much happening.
The bird life around was wonderful to just sit and watch as well. A huge variety of different birds – most of which there’s no way I can remember. But there were quite a few egrets, and we even spotted a huge and beautiful Jabiru. Watching the birds all try and do their own fishing was amazing – a lot of them just sit and stare at the water, waiting for the right moment. But when one manages to score a fish, you watch them try and fly elsewhere nearby to eat before anyone else bigger tries to take it off them!
We finished off the afternoon with a bit of ice cream when we were dropped back to Cooinda Lodge. And then, with the temperature pushing 30º again this afternoon, the kids were keen for a swim when we got back to Jabiru.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in Kakadu – we’ll be heading further north into the East Alligator region.
