Recommended by many friends – we did the dawn boat trip on the Yellow Water Billabong.

The wetlands and wildlife were spectacular!

Yesterday we visited the East Alligator region – an area in the North-East of Kakadu where the East Alligator river is the border between the Northern Territory and Arnhem Land.

We went to another art site – Ubirr that had some much older art work than Nourlangie and some stunning scenery of the Escarpment and flood plains.

In some cases the rock art told new-comers to the area – what was on the menu, and in other cases, it taught the laws of the land, like staying away from crocodiles and not stealing things from others

The scenery of the “Stone Country” escarpment was something else

The afternoon saw us on a cultural cruise on the East Alligator River.

The 2 hr trip had our guide stopping frequently to show us trees that had many uses in their day to day lives. We saw how spears were made, and our first crocs.

Our last event for the day – was a stop at Cahills Crossing – a causeway across the East Alligator river into Arnhem Land. Also its a popular spot for croc’s as the barrier traps a lot of fish.

We did a Ranger-guided tour of the Burrunggui Art Site in the Lourangie region of Kakadu. These paintings were done in 1963-64

Some of the birdlife around Jaribu Lake and Anbangbang Billabong

After 3 nights camping in Nitmiluk National Park, it was time to head further North.

We arrived at Jabiru in Kakadu National Park via Leliyn Falls.

Leliyn Falls is the northern most part of Nitmiluk and has the most stunning set of falls in the area. We did a 2.6km loop around the falls with a swim in the middle

We went on a dawn boat cruse through the gorge

Tomorrow we will drive to Edith Falls into the Northern section of the park

We have now been on the road for a week, and this afternoon we arrived in Katherine. With the weather fine and hot (35 deg) – it looks like we have left the rain back in Qld.

The road to Winton was still closed – and not likely to re-open today.

So….

A fifteen hundred odd km detour – back to Emerald and up to the old gold town of Charters Towers. This is a grand old town – full of beautiful old buildings.

Whilst the roads were open – they have had good rainfall recently

Well – our stay in Longreach has been extended as the road North West to Winton is flooded.

This gave us the opportunity to visit the Stockmans Hall of Fame

The day before – I also visited the Qantas Founders Museum