We awoke early again for an 8 am guided walk with a ranger in the Yellow Water billabong.  Helen had given the talk at the Anbangbang shelter the previous day as well, and we really liked her style.    One person was particularly interested in birds, so she pointed out each of the 27 we spotted.  The wetlands are a perfect spot for that.  She also talked about bush tucker, or food from what’s available around you in the bush.  We stayed behind after the talk, and came across a dingo (or he came across us) on our walk back.  It was unnerving, especially since he looked kind of lean, but he just kept trotting along past us with his tongue hanging out, probably looking for a shady spot before the sun got too high.

The walk up to the Mirrai Lookout, 30 km or so away at the top of Mt. Cahill, was a challenge, not so much for the steepness, but the FLIES.  These demons had been plaguing us since we entered the Park, but this spot was almost unbearable.  At this point we were almost out of water as well, and by now fully understood why they recommend people drink many more liters per day than seemed necessary to us at first.  We head back to Bowali, where we refilled our water bottles, along with a juice bottle we’d emptied.  Even so, we broke down and had to buy another 10-liters for $10 from the gas station at Jabiru to hold us over.

We stopped for lunch in Jaibiru at a pretty spot by another body of water you shouldn’t swim in.  We  made some instant noodles and relaxed in the shade until we head for the Mamukala Wetlands.  WOW!  Never before had either of us seen a larger collection of birds in one spot.  You could hear the racket from the car park.  There were thousands of magpie geese, egrets, whistling ducks, heron, jacanas, pelicans and numerous other species we couldn’t identify gathered in the little water left after a long Dry Season.  We sat there for quite a while, watching the show.  There is a video or two we’ll try and get up on the video page, since it was truly an amazing spectacle.

The Aurora Kakadu Resort and Caravan Park gave us a $30 unpowered site for the night, and access to the resort’s pool.  After three days of sweat and heat, we stayed in until almost dark.  The resort was noisy with the very common white parrot or lorikeet we’d seen so many of.  After a dinner of cous cous and Indian potatoes in sauce, that could be heated in a pot of water, we finished our bottle of wine and our card game, and called it a night.  The night sky was again amazing, and we were sorry to be leaving to head back to Darwin in the morning.

More Kakadu photos