Days 65 – 69: Back on Wedgetail trip with no particular destination (Fogg Dam, Mary River National Park, Kakadu National Park)

Day 65: Fogg Dam (Limilngun-Wulna country)

Having not slept on the night plane back to Darwin from Singapore, both Pete and I were rather weary. We had shopping and laundry to do before we headed out of town. We had both had enough of cities for a while. Destination – Fogg Dam. Here, we managed to find a spot to set up our camper so we could have a sleep. This was absolutely necessary so we could enjoy the wonderful wetlands that is Fogg Dam (Limilgan-Wulna country). Once a rice farm and probably something else, it is now a nature lover's paradise.

I explored the boardwalk first, then Pete drove at snail’s pace, literally, across the dam wall a few times, with me and him hopping out numerous times. We were lucky that there weren’t too many others there. So many birds, so many things to look at. Fogg Dam is a very special place since it is one of the few areas where you can get up close to wild birds of all kinds. And of course, if there are plants and there is water you will find dragonflies and other wonderful insects. If you are interested in the birds and other creatures and plants there, click the following link to see some of what I found. Fogg Dam Flora and Fauna

We spent the night at a Hipcamp about 30km from Fogg Dam. As we were the only ones there, it was perfect, not far off the road but private. A good night’s sleep!!

Days 66-67: Mary River National Park (Limilngan-Uwynmil country)

Day 66: Before heading off to Mary River National Park, our destination of the day, we backtracked a fraction to a billabong just near where we had been staying – the Leaning Tree Billabong. A lovely spot, but not many birds around when we were there. A few interesting plants and a monitor though. There seemed to be a longer track than we were able to do, but water over it meant that it was impossible to navigate.

We were not really sure of where we would stay the night since some of the campgrounds in Mary River NP are still closed after the longer-than-usual wet season. Originally, we had hoped to go to Point Stuart, the northernmost part of Stuart’s exploration into northern Australia, but it is still not accessible. Instead, we came across a campground at Couzen’s Point that looked okay and so stayed there. Although there were not too many walks around, there was enough to keep us amused and the campground was right next to the river but the sites far enough away not to be worried by crocodiles. It was wandering around that we had our first scary croc moment. I was showing Pete a place I had been earlier and, just where I had been, about 3 metres away from where we were approaching, one was basking in the sun. We both got a nasty shock with me swearing my way backwards and the croc sliding very quickly and quietly back into the river. Needless to say there are no pics of that one! We kept a VERY close eye out after that.

There was plenty of interesting fauna and flora along the river to keep me occupied and away from crocodiles, although the fauna was not always native. Feral cattle/buffalo/pigs are still a problem up here.

There was a lovely sunset viewing spot and of course I had the opportunity to do another moth watch. To see my close encounters of the evening, click the link. Couzen's Lookout Moth Watch

Day 67: While exploring the area around the campground we had come across a 4WD track called the Wildman Track. We decided to use that instead of the main road to get to our next campground, a privately run one, the Point Stuart Wilderness Lodge, further into Mary River National Park. It was a lovely drive, although only a fraction was real 4WD territory. We passed through woodland savannah, pandanus groves and monsoon forests and passed by billabongs, beside one of which we had our morning tea and watched the birdlife. We saw the Mary River Floodplain, which stretches for miles.

We checked in to our campground, not knowing whether or not we had a choice of sites or not (we didn’t) and then headed up to Shady Camp, a little way north. This is fishers’ paradise with boats being able to put out easily onto the Mary River. There is a small barrage built there to separate salt from fresh water. We learned later that many of these have been built in the NT because the damage to the ground caused by feral animals has meant that the seawater has encroached far further inland than it used to. Barrages are an attempt to rectify this and apparently they are improving the environment upstream. We walked up a small boardwalk to view the river and saw lots of what I think were catfish and what I think were juvenile White-bellied Sea-eagles.

On our return to the campground we walked around a monsoon forest walk that is just behind it. A lovely easy walk only spoiled when kids on bikes came speeding around behind me.

During the day I did find a number of interesting creatures. Here are a few photos.

Days 68 - 74: Kakadu (Bininj-Mungguy country)

Day 68: Off to Kakadu National Park today. On the way, we stopped by the Alligator River after having seen a few crocodiles hanging out on the shore. Unfortunately, by the time we got to within viewing distance a couple had disappeared under the water. Never mind, it was a good place for morning tea anyway.

In Kakadu there are managed and basic campgrounds, the main difference being that managed ones have a manager on-site and have flush toilets and hot showers. We opted for a basic one at Malabanjbanjdju for the first couple of nights. 21 years when we came here with our boys, I remember this as one of two campsites from hell, but other than the mozzies, this time it was lovely with only a maximum of 6 campers on either night we were there. The mozzies were vicious though. We opted to take the camper off the car here as the campsite here are first in, first served. Then off to see Cahill’s Crossing and go to Ubirr – to both the art sites and to watch sunset.

Cahill’s Crossing was awful. People fishing and lots of people looking, for what I’m not sure. Maybe for a croc to take a bite at a fisherman’s line? Certainly not to watch a difficult river crossing since the river is below the causeway. Didn’t stay there long. It is not really even a very special part of the Alligator River.

Ubirr on the other hand is still as wonderful as ever. The intricacy of the aboriginal art, the settings for the art and of course the famous Ubirr Rock itself. Even the hordes of people who come here for sunset can’t really spoil it. Mind you, it would be lovely to be there when there was no-one else around…

The art work ranges from Mimi figures (art drawn by Dreamtime spirits) to detailed skeletal diagrams of fish and animals. One thing we learned is that it is not considered acceptable to touch up someone else’s art, but it is quite okay to draw/paint over old art. The caves and overhangs in Kakadu therefore contain layers upon layers of artwork. I've pictured just a few of the many, many paintings here.

While we were around Ubirr, a young boy also just happened to show us where a 'rare rock wallaby' (it was a Wilkins Rock Wallaby - thx Bruce) was having a rest and a feed.

Day 69: Burrunguy

Today we visited the area that used to be known as Nourlangie but which we learned is correctly called Burrunguy, Nourlangie being a 'balanda' (white person) rendition of Nawurlandja, a nearby hill with a great view. We started with a walk to Kubara Pools, a 6km return walk to where shady rock pools are found in a monsoon forest gorge. Most of the walk was through savannah woodland and I'm glad we started when we did because later in the day that part of the walk would have been very hot. Hot enough on our return. The views of the escarpment were wonderful in places, the colours of the cliffs beautiful and there were more flowers than I have seen in any other savannah woodland walk I've done, so that was another bonus.

You cannot swim in the rock pools but the area is beautiful and peaceful. In some of the pools further upstream were lined with some sort of algae that created rather pretty patterns on top of the water. Butterflies and dragonflies aplenty in this cool but occasionally sunny part of the park.

Our next stop was Anbangbang Billabong, one of the many billabongs in Kakadu. There were warning signs about crocodiles and water buffaloes so I had my escape routes mapped out in my head as I took the 2.5km walk around the billabong. Luckily, I didn't need to see if they worked!

We then headed to Burrunguy itself, a fabulous rock escarpment outcrop under which are many old cave shelters and the accompanying Aboriginal art. A truly beautiful place to shelter from rain and storms as people have done for many thousands of years. Not that we had any rain. On the walk around here you see art work, the beautiful landscape and end up at a lookout where you can see Burrunguy in its full glory.