Kakadu du du, Push pandanus shake the tree

Black Lace was a British pop band from the eighties who have succeeded in hijacking a large portion of my brain with the lyrics to several of their party anthems. If we’d actually met either of the two mullet headed stone washed fools who wrote the hit  Agadoo, I’m sure the kids and Sara would have smashed their heads in with a pandanus tree! No such luck, and anyway, the killing of anything in Kakadu be it cane toads or ageing one hit wonders is frowned upon.

Jumping croc

Kakadu National Park was one of the first big National Parks created in Australia to successfully include local indigenous people in its management. The result is that for the first time, we really have a good sense of the connection that they had and in fact, still have with the land. There are guided walks, talks, and activities on every day throughout the park. We were able to co-ordinate our visit with these events, and we trooped all over the place following the rangers around.

Many people had told us to Kakadon’t. Maybe they didn’t like the fact that it was so big requiring a lot of driving, the fact that you often have to pay to see the Kakadu the brochures represent, or maybe it was just the mosquitoes. Either way, we’re glad we Kakadid. We had six nights in there. We took the Disco through our deepest water crossing yet with the croc infested river coming up over the tyres. The waterfalls on the other side were worth it though, even if I couldn’t convince myself to swim the 100 metres across the plunge pool.

Dead cane toad with green ants

We all learnt how to weave using leaves from the pandanus tree, and the kids and Sara are still wearing their creations. We went over into Arnhem Land to the Injalka Art Centre and purchased a basket and a screen print of barramundi. We saw crocs basking in the river, and Oli bagged several new birds as well as confusing several rangers. Brett the six and a half foot, skinny ranga ranger was one of these. Brett had grown up in the area which made his talks even more special. He was able to talk about the local people and their history based not just on a seasonal orientation program, but his own experience. His reading of local man, Bill Neidjie’s writing at sunset at Ubirr, as we looked over an area that has been lived in for 50,000 years, was unexpected and challenging yet welcome.

Jim Jim Falls

Kakadu is a place where you should find a quiet spot, linger, look, listen and learn. We did plenty of the learning, but not enough lingering. It’s been that way a bit lately as we surge past the halfway point and into the final 4 months of this trip. As always happens, something pops up to change our perspective.

Twin Falls

The road into Gunlom at the southern end of Kakadu is a little rough, but nothing compared to places we have taken Kimmy. Unfortunately for her, it was a bridge too far. I opened the caravan door at Pine Creek to find my way blocked by the fridge which had loosened itself from its tenuous moorings and fallen against the stove. Sara and I muscled it back into place, applied gorilla tape to hold it there, and headed into Katherine.

Rock painting of white man, hands in pockets & shoes

Terry the mobile auto electrician, ex pastry chef, ex road train driver, and ex apprentice of the year two years running at the age of 47 showed up the next day. He reconnected the 12V. The fridge seemed to be working well enough, so we relaxed a bit. No damage to us other than inconvenience. I took my sorrows to the local country club and watched the Hawks go down to the Cats again in a thriller with Bill and Anne from Gisbourne. Cats supporters but still good people.

Not far away, in Katherine Gorge, the Leonards had made a stop. Pete has become our local travelling handyman, so we pulled in behind them. Pete and I attached the fridge firmly and in accordance with the installation instructions which hadn’t been done before. Two beers and the trials were behind us which emphasised how they really weren’t enough of an issue to get too caught up on, especially when people at home close to us are going through much tougher times right now.



Ned and me swimming at top of Gunlom Falls

We had said goodbye to the Leonards outside of Darwin, but were not surprised to see them again. Ivy in particular has been rapt to have Summer to play with. We all went canoeing on Katherine Gorge yesterday. Sara and I ended up towing the two girls behind us for 5k as we paddled to get back before the four o’clock deadline so that we wouldn’t lose our $50 deposit. No tension in that boat at all… I’ll put this on the record now: we will never canoe with our children again until they are old enough to propel themselves!

Ivy jumping at Ubirr

We’ll make our way down to the centre from here, which means… “In 24 hours we’ll be driving the van to Alice!!!” My sincerest apologies, but there will be more tangled lyrics to come.

H