Kakadu National Park 17/4 - 19/4

We drove from Darwin to stay at Jabiru in the heart of Kakadu National Park for a couple of nights. It was only a fairly short drive compared to our usual journeys but to Jayne's horror we saw the most snakes we have yet seen in one day at a count of 4.

Kakadu is a World Heritage site and known for it's beautiful vast rugged landscapes and its Aboriginal Rock Art.





On arrival we discovered to our great disappointment that most of the roads were closed due to seasonal (wet) conditions and therefore a lot of the scenery was unaccessable to us. Even the roadsides were quite waterlogged on either side of the main highway.




However we were able to reach Nourlangie which has some of the best and most photographed Rock Art in Kakadu.



The painting below depicts Namondjok a dangerous spirit (central), with Namarrgon the lightening man (right) and Barrginj the wife of Namarrgon (bottom).



Some of the paintings and the Anbangbang Shelter in the area are said to have been around and in use by the local Aboriginal people for upto 20,000 years. It's just unfortunate that we didn't get to see more of the Park.



All was not lost as we still managed to have a traditional outback experience whilst at Kakadu. During the night the silence was broken when we heard flocks of screaching birds and packs of howling Dingoes. It was just a little reminder that we were in a strange and unfamiliar territory.