Australian Boomerang: Day 7 in Kakadu and Darwin

Today we did a bit of driving and stopped first at the Windows on the Wetland Visitor Center. It wasn't that spectacular in my opinion...there were some displays on some of the animals you might see in the wetlands...and some great views. We weren't there long.We kept driving and came to Kakadu National Park's visitor center.

This place was great - at least the shopping was. We also had lunch there. Several of you probably got phone calls from here. Tim had told us earlier that there were 2 places where all there goods were totally authentic - made by the aborigines and the money went right to them. This was one of those places.

As we drove, we saw some fires. Tim told us that fires are very common...they're actually needed for the plant life and some of the animals. Here you can see an area that had just burned. Those things sticking up are TERMITE MOUNDS. But just wait, some giant ones are coming soon!

After lunch and shopping, we ventured on until we came to the East Alligator River. There are NO alligators - but there are crocodiles - quite a few crocodiles, actually! We were told not to even rest our elbows to where they would hang over on the sides of the boat. We had already seen at Crocodylus Park how crocs can JUMP when they are hungry. Once in the boats, we went for our cruise.

These photos were taken while we were waiting for our boat. It was sunny and very warm...the shade was welcome!

You may be wondering what THIS TRUCK is doing in this sequence of pictures. Well, it was crossing the river. I guess it needed to get to the other side!

Look at those roots!

During our cruise, we had the unique opportunity to go into Arnhem Land. This is a closed land to those of us who are not aborigines. However, you can make application or petition (something like that) to be able to go into their land, but with People to People, we were invited to go in. Our aboriginal guides on the East Alligator River cruise stopped and we got off on the other side of the river - this was on the border of Arnhem Land. Here, an aborigine talked to us about their culture - spears, baskets, hunting, men and women's roles, etc. He did some demonstrations of throwing spears too. In my opinion, this was an absolutely beautiful place.

After Arnhem Land, we finished our cruise and headed to Ubirr Rock. It is said that Ubirr has one of the finest Aboriginal rock art sites in the Northern Territory. Many of the paintings show the area's wildlife in the x-ray style and date to 20,000 years ago! After we walked through looking at many of the rock paintings, we hiked up to the top of Ubirr to watch the sunset over the wetlands. OH MY! The sun was setting over the wetlands...with wallabies hoping around termite mounds! Behind us, there were huge rock escarpments of different shades of red. These pictures don't do it justice.

Paul was our coach driver for the Darwin area and an expert on the rock art. He guided us through all the paintings in Kakadu.

This sign was interesting to me. Tim explained that when a person dies, his name is not to be spoken....and no pictures of him are to be around. So...that's why this picture is covered. It's a cultural reason.