10 March 2016:-AUSTRALIA & NZ :- Darwin>>Kakadu>>Jabiru

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND :- Darwin>>Kakadu>>Jabiru

5th Day  : 10.03.2016 

Since I have got my rental car and I will drive independently to the Natural Park KAKADU I do not hurry today. I woke up around 07:30 and prepared my stuff. I took the breakfast at The Palms Resort City Hotel. I am happy with this Hotel. Rooms are on the ground floor in a yard having a lot of palms, trees etc. It is very green and natural outside of the door.

I paid 23.-AUD for the breakfast. There is no big variety but good enough. At 08:30 I drove away from the Hotel Palms Resort. Since I paid also for GPS when I took the car from Bargain Car Rental the life is easy. There was heavy rain in the night I heard but there is almost nothing left on the streets. The weather is hot and humid as well. This makes the life worse.

                         

My route from Darwin to Jabiru (north) and next day from Jabiru back to Darwin (south)

Referring to the map posted on top, I took the upper route –Arnhem Highway- in the direction to Jabiru which is a very small town in the core of the KAKADU National Park. The distance is around

250 kms. Highway means not the same thing as know. Paved road with two lanes in general is meant highway here. After a long time I am driving on the right hand side of the car. I am getting used, I hope in a few hours. After one hour I saw the sign “Fogg Dam”. I drove to the left of the road and reached after 12 kms to a wild natural place. The road was constructed on top of the dam

which is but only 2-3 meters high from the water level at both parts. On the left and right of the road

there is big area where water is accumulated. Everything looks like natural in the wild nature. At one side of the road I saw an irritating note for the visitors.

Fogg Dam on the way from Darwin to Jabiru

Lilly Flowers on the Fogg Dam-Darwin

Do not worry ! I did not entered the water.

In one of the balconies I saw one bird watcher. I took some pictures of the lilly flowers and the dam. I drove on the same road back to the main road. I took again the direction to the east.

Around 10:10 I came to the intersection with the Adelaide River where I saw the signs of the “Jumping Crocodile Cruises” on the river. On a boat (approx. 10 meters in length and around 30-36 passengers capacity) named Pathfinder II they arrange 1 hour tours on the river and the guys are feeding crocodiles and crocodiles are jumping almost with 2/3 of the body outside of water.

I took the tour at 11:00 with three other guests. The boat was under the control of the father and son and they were really funny and special guys.

Together with the crocodile guides-Father&Son

Occasionally two of the guests were from Stuttgart and we chat with the daughter and the mother

During the tour and after the tour while drinking Cappuccino at the Café of the Crocodile Cruise Co. The crocodiles are well known figures in this part of the country. It is something very common for the people who are leaving in this region. As per the boat owner, sometimes happen fatal accidents as well. But the life goes on!!

I recommend: Take part in a crocodile cruise whenever you visit Australia, but in natural habitat.

I had never seen the teeth of the death in such a close distance!

I drove further and made a lunch stop at the Bark Hut Inn. It was a big bar-tavern located at the side of the road. Because of the furniture and the ambiance it was dark inside. The Inn was giving an impression that it was established for the cattle owners and (water) buffalo people. Darwin was settled in the early 18 hundreds and the people started with cattle business at first.

I ate my beef burger which was accompanied by the Australian Beer. I gave 20.50 AUD. The other customers were 14-15 years old kids; most probably sport team of a school from the neighborhood.

I drove further and stopped at the Northern entrance of the Park. I talked to the girls there and tried to get some hints for the visiting areas. In the meantime I found out that every visitor should pay 25.-AUD entrance fee. I paid. The girl gave me a ticket with my name written on it. I took it seriously, but nobody asked me within the National Park for my ticket. I could not to pay for the ticket.

AS per the girl‘s suggestion I visited “Mamukala Wetlands” on the way to Jabiru. 1 km on the South side of the road. I parked my car and walked to the bird watchers’ balcony at the side of the lake. It is around 200 meters paved path but both sides were covered with bush and trees.

Commencing the walking I saw a sign at the side of the path, saying that the guests must be careful about the crocodiles. Sometimes they attack! What can someone do when the croc is attacking? It is too late.

Around 15:30 I reached to my Lodge: Kakadu Lodge. I had booked on the internet and it was not irreversible. But no worries! I am at the reception doing check-in. The guy gave me politely the key of the bungalow #2 which is a container-house of 22-25 sqm with a balcony outside. Every bungalow was having kitchenette, WC+Shower, TV, cooling and A/C Unit mounted on the wall.

Jabiru:- My bungalow in the Kakadu Lodge

Other than the key the guy at the reception handed me also a map of the Lodge where I can find bar-bistro, swimming pool etc. Since the spirits buying is restricted in the Kakadu National Park

The guy also gave me a ticket for buying alcoholic drinks from the bar.

I think the government holds the native people (Aborigines!) under control and does not let them reach alcohol simply in this region. As a general rule on the Kakadu NP there is no take away alcohol buying possibility! Drinkable in the lodges, hotels, but not outside and at home. There are some stories related to some parties given at the riverside. After a couple of drinks some people have died bacause of the attack of the crocs .

From Wikipedia :

"The category "Aboriginal Australians" was coined by the British after they began colonising Australia in 1788, to refer collectively to all people they found already inhabiting the continent, and later to the descendants of any of those people. Until the 1980s, the sole legal and administrative criterion for inclusion in this category was race, classified according to visible physical characteristics or known ancestors. As in the British slave colonies of North America and the Caribbean, where the principle of partus sequitur ventremwas adopted from 1662, children's status was determined by that of their mothers; if born to Aboriginal mothers, children were considered Aboriginal, regardless of their paternity.^[6]"

After getting fresh in the swimming pool and having a bottle of Crown Lager Beer I decided to walk to the town. It was 18:15 and I started to walk. On the way to the Jabiru town center I saw the big hotel “Crocodile Hotel” constructed in the shape of a crocodile (On the google earth it is also clearly to see). I saw few Aboriginal Artwork at the entrance hall of the hotel.

Art Galery in the Jabiru 's Crocodile Hotel

The town center is in 20 minutes walking distance. When I reached to the center I was astonished. The town center was in dead silence, nobody was there. ATM ‘s where active, a silent and peculiar music was coming from somewhere. It was sun set time and the colors where changing in a spectacular way. Greyish red and orange was dominating the sky color. It was like I was acting in a “Twilight Zone” movie. There was no sign of life. Only white tropical birds were making noise on the trees.

I walked further to complete my round tour and came back to the Kakadu Lodge. I proceeded to the bar-bistro at the swimming pool and ordered my big prawns with garlic and vegetable side dish. I also took a white wine from the South Australian choices.

After coming to my bungalow I decided to write my blog. In all rooms there is free café and tea facility. Someone may prepare his own café or tea. Having my café after a short but tasty dinner I wrote a few pages to my log.

I attempted to sleep around 23:50. No hurry because I am independently travelling with my rental car and I have a whole day tomorrow. I will drive back to Darwin in order to have the flight to Cairns at 20:15.

Good night to everybody!