Day 57 - Darwin to Kakadu, Australia
Road Trip !
After a sleepless night for some reason we were both up and ready to hit the road by nine which was very much the plan.
We filled up with diesel and headed out on the Stewart Highway for Kakadu National Park.
As this was our first time out in the van on the open road we had to learn to get used to all the noises that it makes and how quickly the diesel gauge goes down!
The drive to Kakadu was meant to take about three and a half hours but was more like four and half as the van is really not that fast (another lesson learnt).
Kakadu is owned by the Aborigines and to them is is a special and sacred place. It’s various tribes still live in the
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Trevor & Jonathan’s World Trip 2010
bush mainly towards the coastal end but they are here.It is an area of many landscapes from mangrove swamps to flood plains, rain forrest to rock, cascading waterfalls to red dessert, it has it all.
As we got closer and closer to the Kakadu park entrance there are a number of things that you notice, firstly very few cars. The roads are all but empty with only the occasional camper van seen going the other way. the other main creature of the road is the road train, massive lorries pulling trailer after trailer across the country, apparently some of these can be up to 50 metres long.
We passed countless termite mounds at the side of the roads, saw our first wild kangaroos sitting in the grasses at the side of the road, we read numerous danger signs about the Estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles and slowly the land became redder and redder.
Going back to the Croc’s, it seems that the northern territory is riddled with them and they basically say that you can’t swim anywhere safely as the salties are apparently aggressive and are known to eat people. Needless to say we will not be jumping into any streams or lakes, no matter how hot it keeps on getting (the temperature on the way to Kakadu was 34 degrees).
The other thing that we could not help but notice was how quickly the not so pretty diesel gauge was going down, our camper is very very thirsty!
We arrived at the campsite just after one, hooked up, booked a trip for tomorrow morning on the Yellow River to see all the wildlife then after a quick bite to eat headed for the site pool. The mid day sun was crazy and we were both dripping and the thought of getting on the bikes to go exploring just did not appeal, I don’t think it even would have been possible, it;’s just to hot. We both vowed that we would make a proper day of it tomorrow though as we also want to go and see some of the ancient Aboriginal cave art whilst we are here as well.
We lounged in the pool for a good hour then it was back to the van for a cold beer and a book for the afternoon followed by typical camp food dinner, we both had beans on toast with some chicken breast!
Tomorrow we are both up early for the boat trip and after last nights attempt of sleep it’s an early’ish one again tonight.