We had a slower morning today – Debbie headed off to Lifeblood to donate some plasma, and the kids and I enjoyed our bacon & eggs breakfast that the place we’re staying in had generously left for us. Mid morning, we headed down to Pudakul, a beautiful Aboriginal family business who operate cultural tours and a bunch of other experiences of their land and community, just down the road from Humpty Doo. On a whim, we saw a brochure yesterday…

We’re settling into a really comfortable unit on Larrakia country, now known as Darwin. We pay our respects to the Larrakia people, who are the traditional owners of this land, and acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. We headed off from Kakadu around 9am – not really in any great rush, because the drive from Jabiru up to Darwin is only a short 250km. Our first stop was at the Wetland View Top visitor and information centre (used to…

So don’t hear me wrong, Kakadu has been incredible to visit, and we’ve seen some amazing things, and learnt so much – but today was the first day on this trip that we felt we might’ve stayed one day too long somewhere. That’s essentially because we ran out of things to do and see. We have worked out that Kakadu’s peak dry season really doesn’t kick in until at least July, and gets going from there to October. There’s just…

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…

A day of exploring some of the incredible rock art around Kakadu today – and really, only a tiny portion. We spent the day in the Burrungkuy region of Kakadu – made it to a few sites, and a few lookouts. First stop was the main Burrungkuy site, where there are a few different locations of rock art in what’s known as the Anbangbang gallery. It’s was a really easy walking loop to start the day off, with only few…

We’re currently in a beautiful little cabin in Jabiru town. Kakadu is the land of the Bininj people in the north of the park and Mungguy people in the south. We acknowledge that this is their land, and we acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. On paper, it’s only just over 3 hours to get to Jabiru from Katherine – but it’s 5pm, and we’ve just rolled into our accomodation! We did a couple of decent stops along the…

The day started super early today, as we headed for a 7am dawn cruise through Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge – the lands of the Jaowyn people. The sun had just started to come up when we made our way down to the jetty and hopped on the boat. Just a simple barge-style boat – but that made it so easy to see everything as we cruised through the Gorge. The sun peaking over the top of the edges of the Gorge…

Today started with a bit of a long drive up in to Nitmiluk National Park – the traditional lands of the Jawoyn people. We headed to the western side of the Nitmiluk, to the absolutely stunning Leliyn (Edith Falls). These falls defy the idea of a hot, dry desert in the Northern Territory – everything around here is lush and green, and the waterfalls are flowing fast. The two waterholes you can swim in are just huge! We started with…

Tonight we’ve arrived in Katherine. It seems to be tricky to find absolute clarity on the traditional owners of the lands we’re on tonight – but what seems to be clear is that Katherine has been the place that the Jawoyn, Dagoman, and Wardaman Aboriginal peoples converge, and so it has been an important meeting point for tens of thousands of years. You’re getting the last two days in one helping, as last night we stayed on a beautifully remote…

The morning started with a quick check up for Debbie at the chiro again – and things were seeming much better, which was great to hear! We headed out to the Alice Springs Desert Park, planning to spend most (all) of the morning there. We knew there was just so much to see, and we also know how much the kids like the Reptile Park back home. We made it there in time for the 10am bird show, which was…