Australia, day 12 & 13: Kakadu

Day 12

The plan for the day was to visit Ubirr but rangers at Bowali Center (stopped there on the way to Jabiru the day before) were not sure if the road would be open. We saw smoke in this area previous afternoon.  It turned out the park closed the road at 10.30 am. We decided to join Burrungkuy ( Nurlangie) ranger walk & talk (recommended) at 9-11 am, and try our luck with Ubirr the following day. We started the day on short hike to Nawurlandja Lookout and quick look at Anbangbang Billabong on our own. The ranger walk was very  good, disciplined and informative. We liked rock art accompanied by interesting stories about Aboriginal history and life. Barrk Bushwalk was closed (seasonal). We drove to different parking lot and were back on Anbangbang Billabong loop with panoramic views from Nawurlandja Lookout to Burrungkuy Rock.

Anbangbang Billabong

Temp crossed 40℃ mark at noon. Another short drive and we were on Bubba walk. We had to turn back half-way around the wetland when trail (not well marked at this point) hit a patch of just burnt down bush (still smoldering in a couple of places). Passable, but not fun to walk in such heat. We stopped for photo op at Djarradjin Billabong. Water level was low in billabongs but bird-watching was great.  We then looked for a “mountain” to “climb” and ended up on a short walk to Mirrai Lookout. Woodland savanna to the horizon. It was only then, around 5 pm, that temp dropped to 36-37℃. Tough going in full-sun and high temp started to wear us down. We cooked dinner at our lodge and Joanna went for a swim in the pool.

AC in our car brought some needed relief even if we only used it for short time driving between local destinations. We had AC in our room too, but outside temps at night were quite comfortable mid-twenties.

Day 13

On good tip from our lodge staff we decided to go to Cahills Crossing (recommended) to watch crocodiles. No Ubirr – at some point we actually went to check the gate, but no luck. We needed alternative program. We arrived at the Crossing shortly after 9 am when tide was low and water was flowing downstream.We saw first crocodiles along river banks as we checked-out downstream boat ramp and the crossing, stopped at Border Store for info. On another good tip from the staff, we decided to go on 11 am Guluyambi Cruise with ☞ Kakadu Cultural Tours, 4 km from upstream boat ramp up East Alligator River. It was nice and relaxing, many crocodiles were floating just a few meters from the boat.Local guide was good, sometimes hard to hear at high motor revs but we had best seats in front row. We made short landing to walk around a bit, water hole and high rocky river bank.

Cahills Crossing

Cahills Crossing

East Alligator River

East Alligator River

 
We came back at 12:45 pm and immediately started Bardedjilidji Walk (recommended). We considered two other walks, but both were closed: Manngarre (bush fire) and Sandstone River Walk (seasonal). We liked Bardedjilidji, some views on the river and the rest on/around interesting rock formation with some rock art. Fun place to explore and perhaps have lunch-break, but not when we were there: mid-day with 42-43℃ hiking temps in full-sun.

Bardedjilidji Walk

Click on wikiloc logo for more info

 
We returned to Cahills Crossing at 2:30 pm when the tidal wave was nearing its high – best time to watch crocodiles fishing when sea water pours in. Timing is important (☞ Tidal predictions for Cahills Crossing). Piotr counted more than 30 crocodiles at one time!

East Alligator River upsteram of Cahills Crossing

We ate late lunch at Border Store (prawns with yellow curry and tom kha chicken soup), stopped one more time at the crossing – at 4:30 pm the tide reversed, crocodiles were fed and quietly fading away. Altogether we spent three hours watching them. After returning to Jabiru, we walked short loop to Jabiru Lake just to see what the small town is about.

Australia, day 10 & 11: Darwin to Jabiru/Kakadu NP

Day 10

At 9:30 am we were on 2.5-hour (somewhat delayed) Jetstar flight to Darwin where we picked-up (near the airport) our next rental (Nissan 2WD Standard SUV) from ☞ Bargain Car. Everything went quite smooth, but now we were in a hurry to make it to ☞ Corroboree Tavern  (in Marrakai) by 4 pm to catch shuttle for sunset Corroboree Billabong ☞ Wetland Cruise  (recommended) and still stop in Humpty Doo to pick-up supplies at Woolworth and for cup of coffee at the Tavern. The cruise was confirmed only the day before when enough people signed-on. We had enough time to check-in at Corroboree Tavern, conveniently located crossroads-type accommodation and busy restaurant (we had beef curry for dinner after the cruise). Two-hour  cruise (ending just after sunset) on billabong near Mary River (outside Kakadu NP) was worth to do thanks to abundant wildlife (mostly birds, but also a few small crocodiles and turtles) and very good involved guide.

Corroboree bilabong

Day 11

We drove (all day) from Marrakai to Jabiru on Arnhem Hwy stopping along the way. First stop was at Mary River Wilderness Retreat, just off the highway, for very slow 1:45 hr river-bamboo-billabong walk. $5 pp day-use fee was well worth it. We got good advice where to go, cold drinking water. We also used swimming pool and shower after the walk. Hiking temp reached 37℃. Nice view on Mary River.

Mary River

 
Next, we stoped briefly at South Alligator River boat ramp (plus 15-min anty-sleep nap for driver) and Kakadu NP info board (lunch). We spent 1:45 hr at Mamukala Wetlands (recommended) observation deck and walk, great bird-watching experience. From small Paperbark flycatcher to large Magpie goose flock and many others in between.Temp reached 39℃, 40℃ was recorded in Kakadu – couple degrees higher than average for the day. We checked-in at ☞ Kakadu Lodge in Jabiru around 5 pm.

Mamukala Wetlands

Paperbark flycatcher, Magpie goose flock

Paperbark flycatcher at Mamukala Wetlands

Magpie goose flock at Mamukala Wetlands

 

Australia, day 9: Cairns

Snorkeling take two. This time we decided to go on all-day (9-hour, with buffet lunch) tour with  ☞ Seastar Cruises  to Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reefs (recommended) located 50 km NE of Cairns. Very good professional organization. Because of the distance to the outer reef, we travelled on a larger/faster boat. Seastar provided snorkeling equipment (we brought our own RX masks and snorkels) and offered introductory dives, which we decided not to take, as for first-time divers like us, it would be too much distraction on first visit to the Great Barrier Reef. The weather was good and sunny. The coral reefs were very alive and colorful, with more fish, larger and in larger schools, comparing to Mackay Reef (day 5). Each reef was visually different. At Michaelmas we landed on sand bar and snorkeled from there. Movement on the beach is very restricted as most of it is reserved for protected seabird sanctuary. At Hastings we jumped off the main boat and navigated through channels between sometimes quite shallow reef. We had close to 90 mins of snorkeling at each location – Joanna was always one of the last people getting back on board. Her persistence paid off as she was the only one to spot epaulette shark, a rare sighting on the reef. Overall very exciting and relaxing experience. Seastar crew took pictures, now  downloadable for free from their fb page (we are re-posting some here with acknowledgement).

We arrived back at Cairns marina shortly after 4 pm, walked along waterfront esplanade and checked on Cairns City Library Bats, spectacled flying foxes or fruit bats, hanging at this time of day on large trees (along Alpin St between Lake and Abbott). After short stop at our hostel (shower and laundry) we headed back for dinner at Prawn Star Restaurant (recommended) on three boats docked at the marina: large platter of deliciously fresh bugs, tigers and mixed prawns. We visited the bats again on the way to the restaurant, now at dusk buzzing around like crazy. Slow stroll back to the hostel completed our visit to Queensland.

Cairns City Library Bats – flying foxes

Australia, day 7 & 8: Atherton Tableland to Cairns

Day 7  

We first stopped in Mareeba for grocery shopping at Coles and cup of coffee at ☞ Coffee Works. The cafe has small museum devoted to coffee which looked worth visiting, but we did not have enough time to do so. We started driving towards Yungaburra, paid visit to giant Curtain Fig tree in Curtain Fig NP and spent couple of hours looking for platypus in Peterson Creek along Wildlife & Botanical Walking Track (recommended).  We could not see any for a while, but then several appeared in different parts of the stream. It was great fun to spot and watch them between dives.

Platypus watching at Peterson Creek

We stopped only briefly in Yungaburra town and continued to Crater Lakes NP, to walk around Lake Echam with refreshing swim at the end, and to  visit  Lake Barrine and check out giant Kauri Pines standing by the lake. We arrived at ☞ Genazzano Campground at dusk.

Day 8

We had half a day to find tree kangaroos. Malanda Falls were disappointing, but we went for nice short walk in Malanda Falls Conservation Park. Tree kangaroos live there, but they are dispersed and hard to find (no reports of recent sighting). We were advised to go to ☞ Nerada Tea Plantation where restoration area is very small and kangaroos have only small number of trees to hang on to. In short time we were drinking local tea and going in and out of the tea room to check on two tree kangaroos on one of the big trees. Nobody could tell us how many kangaroos live in the area (a dozen?), but another visitor apparently spotted one or two more jumping earlier between trees. We brought black with Australian lemon myrtle tee to Chicago. We quickly aborted visit to Millaa Millaa Falls, as we had to return our campervan before 4 pm – return process at Apollo Cairns was fast and efficient. We already dropped off our stuff at our hostel (☞ Dreamtime Travellers Rest). We spent the rest of the afternoon at quite impressive Cairns Botanic Gardens, located across Captain Cook Hwy from Apollo rental near the airport (we just walked over). Bus 131 connects the gardens with Cairns Central, with our hostel just a short walk away.

Driving our Mercedes-Benz Vito-based campervan was easier than anticipated, despite larger size. We made 506 km. Driving on the left side of the road was also not a problem, Australian open roads are wide and with flat hardened shoulders most of the time (not like Scotland). Drivers are quite careful.

Australia, day 6: Daintree

We started the day with short walk on Noah Beach (100 m from our campsite) and good breakfast. We then drove towards Lower Daintree stopping for Madja Botanical Walk, ice cream at  ☞ Daintree Ice Cream Company (recommended), Jindalba Boardwalk and panoramic view of Daintree River mouth from Mount Alexandra Lookout. The ice cream was very good, they use tropical fruit grown in their own orchard. We crossed Daintree River and spent some time in Mossman Gorge walking Rainforest Circuit and to Wurrmbu Creek. Mossman was a bit of disappointment, nice well organized water park everybody was enjoying, but not necessarily what we associate with National Parks. The circuit trail was nice, easy and relaxing, part further away from the river not too crowded. We parked for the night at ☞ Tableland Van Park in Julatten, not touristy, laid-back with local flavor. 

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