5th-6th May - Kakadu NP part 1
On 5th we set off early from Katherine for our 300km drive north to Jabiru, with hardly any other traffic on the road the whole way. We stopped at the Mary River roadhouse for breakfast, but it was closed as was all access into the national park from here. Next we went to walk the short trail to the Bukbukluk lookout, but this was closed by rangers planning a burn-off of undergrowth, after we had driven to the parking area. They watched us put our boots on and then asked us to leave. We drove on to the Cooinda Lodge with a view to looking at the Yellow Water - but the road to Yellow Water was closed. We booked a cruise for the evening of the 7th and drove on. Purchased our park passes at the Bowali visitor centre and checked into the Aurora Kakadu Lodge, where we had a 1-bedroom cabin for 4 nights.
Kakadu NP is the largest national park in Australia. It includes the entire drainage of the large South Alligator river and the smaller East and West Alligator rivers - all of which were named after misidentification of the Saltwater Crocodiles that inhabit their waters.
Similarly Jabiru is a South American stork and the town of Jabiru is named for the Australian Black-necked Stork which was presumably misidentified as the same as the South American species - though most Australians still refer to it as a Jabiru - and it clearly has a green (not black) head and neck. On 6th we drove 30km west along the Arnhem Highway to the Mamukala Wetlands. We were pleased to find that the hide here was open, though the 3km wetlands walk was closed. We spent 3 hours in and around the hide and although bird life was by no means abundant we did see some nice things. I was particularly pleased to find White-browed Crake here.
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In the late afternoon we walked a circuit of Jabiru lake