Day 154
Wednesday
31 May 2017 – Started Before
I Met You by Lisa Jewell. I picked this up at a caravan park and thought it
looked reasonable. Guess I will find out.
Darwin – Jabiru – Bowali Visitor Centre – Cooinda
On the move again. We have been standing still for so long I
have forgotten what it feels like to be on the road. It does start early, breakfast and shower
then the mad dash to put everything away in its travelling place.
Paul moved the car outside and then the van. I dropped in to
reception to check if our parcel had arrived, no. Bugger! I asked the reception
staff to hold it and await instructions for forwarding. Lets hope it gets to us eventually.
Paul was busy loading the car at the end of the cul-de-sac,
where it was level, straight and out of the way.
Once everything was on, we set the GPS for Jabiru and began
the three hour journey along the Arnhem Highway. The first half, we travelled
over the same route taken to get out to the Corroboree Billabong and then it
was new road to travel. There wasn’t a lot to see, the occasional large puddle
with water lilies and probably countless unseen crocs, a few creek crossings
with signs saying crocs live here and a very large (in length and girth) dead
snake, along the numerous birds of prey cleaning up the carnage.
We made our way to Jabiru for 12.30, stopping to fuel up for
the second time today and then moved to a car park where we stopped to eat our
lunch. Mum jagged calling, so we had a quick chat and gave her our plans. We then continued on, passing the infamous
crocodile shaped hotel.
We left Jabiru, back tracking slightly before turning onto
Kakadu Highway and making our way to our next destination, the Bowali Visitor
Centre. Here we could pick up our 7 day park pass, $40 pp. Yikes. Hopefully we
can on sell this.
We walked through the interpretive centre, reading up on the
landscape and the animals we could encounter while in Kakadu and then we
returned to the car and drove on to Cooinda, a small stop in the heart of
Yellow Water, an icon of Kakadu.
We drove into Cooinda Resort, checked in at reception and
then made our way to the space specified, choosing our own site to set up at.
We chose the one right at the end and facing on to the bush this allowed us to
feel like we were the only ones there.
Once the set up was complete, I returned to the office to
let them know the site number and to book in for a fishing charter, $150pp for
3 hours and it will be an early one as they pick up at 6.25am for Friday. I am
going along to take photos but will also give the fishing a go. I want to catch
the barra before Paul! The competition will be on.
I returned to the van and we donned the bathers and went for
a walk to the large lagoon pool. It was quite cool in, but refreshing after a
while. We then did a quick explore of
the complex, checking the bar and restaurant and coming across a smaller and
less patronised pool, think that will be our spot next time.
We made our way back to the van, sitting outside, after
dowsing ourselves in Aeroguard. From here you could here the calls of different
birds and the unmistakeable thumping of a kangaroo or wallaby as it passed by
in the bush. It was so peaceful.
I had noticed there was a boardwalk walk with in the park, so
we set off to find it. We found the jetty at the Home Billabong, walking the
path down to it. Rainbow bee eaters and willy wag tails were fluttering about
as we approached.
Unfortunately you couldn’t get out on the small pontoon
jetty so we had to take in the view across the water of the billabong, all the
time I was scanning for crocs.
We did a walk of the perimeter of the resort, but did not
find the boardwalk, so we returned to the bar for a drink before we started
getting hungry watching the food come out from the kitchen.
Back at the van we cooked up some of the fish Paul had
caught before relaxing for the evening.
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