Kakadu - Jabiru

Sat (17/8) to Tue (20/8) We headed 60km north to Jabiru, which is a town specifically built for the Ranger uranium mine. There are large deposits of high grade uranium under Kakadu, but the original owners have managed to block all mining except for Ranger. So far at least. It is very political and there is lots of money involved, so the aboriginal community is divided on the issue. Let's hope nature wins out over big business!

Here's Ranger mine from the air, taken during our scenic flight (read on..)

There are 2 caravan parks in Jabiru, 1 with a pool, 1 without. Guess where we are! Yes the pool is lovely. This is an interesting park, ruled by the nazi groundsman. Thou shalt not choose a site with the sprinkler on or a sign saying "I'm tired and need a rest". The only problem is that almost all the good shady spots fall into this category. Anyway, a good spot was finally spotted. This is how I do my blogs.....

The park is arranged in 3 concentric circles around the pool and from lunch time on you can watch the "new" vans circling trying to spot their shady spots. Here is the biggest rig we've seen yet.....

We are basing ourselves here for a few days and doing day trips. Some of the highlights...

Nourlangie Art Site.....

Just south of Jabiru. Lots of rock art. We went to three 15min ranger talks at different parts of the track. I really learnt a lot about the richness of aboriginal language and oral history and the complexities of kinship. The ranger talks definitely enhance the whole experience.

Scenic flight.....

We did a 1 hour flight in a little Cessna over Arnhem Land, the South Alligator River and the rock country. It was great to see it all from the air to get the "big picture", but we were a bit underwhelmed with the commentary and the fact that the pilot flew right above the most interesting stuff instead of a little off to one side so that both sides of the plane could see it. I'm sure Brett would do a better job.

Bardedjilidji guided walk.....

North of Jabiru near Ubirr. A very interesting 2.5 hours to cover 2.5km seeing more rock art, beautiful rock country, billabongs and the South Alligator River. Once again learned lots more about the nature and culture of the area. Annie was a great guide.

Cahill's Crossing.....

This is the crossing of the South Alligator River into Arnhem Land. We were there at high tide to watch all the crocs. And there were heaps of them. One perched himself in the middle of the crossing and a car that went to cross had to stop in the middle, rev his engine and sound his horn to move him out of the way. We went back at night and used torches to spotlight them. All you see is the eyes shining when the light hits them. Very eerie!

This one had a rock on it's back!

Ubirr at sunset.....

This is iconic Kakadu. Ubirr is about 50km north of Jabiru. You climb to the Nadab lookout, which is a rock that has a 360 degree outlook, and watch the sun set - with masses of other tourists.

We are 2 days off full moon so we also got to see the moon rise.

 We waited till the very end when the sun was gone and it was getting dark. Everyone else scarpers off as soon as the sun goes to get down before dark and mosquitoes set in. We were the last ones off the rock and walked down with the 2 rangers. A bit like skiing down the last run in the evening with the ski patrol sweep!

Red Lilly Billabong 4WD track.....

This is a 50km track that takes you past several billabongs and lagoons and through a wide variety of different country. The track itself was fine - a bit rutted with a few dodgy creek crossings, but Mike is quite good at that stuff. We desperately wanted to site a buffalo, but all we managed was a few crocodiles, some wallabies, 2 emus, a jabiru, a flock of magpie geese and some other birds. The track meets up with the old Jim Jim road. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. 

 We followed it up with another spectacular sunset and moonrise at Nourlangie.