Day 17: Darwin to Jabiru

Today, we left the sanctuary of a big city to again head off to smaller towns and places. Our goal today was Jabiru, the centre of Kakadu.

We left at the usual time of 8am and enroute stopped at the 'Windows to the Wetlands' display not too far out of Darwin along the Arnhem Highway. It is an elevated building run by National Parks in partnership with the traditional owners. Inside are displays and information about Kakadu and its plants and animals. It is worth a visit.  I've attached a couple of photos taken from the building.

After that stop, we continued on our way through a mixture of wetlands and savanah grasslands. We crossed the different Alligator rivers (east, west, south I think?) a number of times and they were flowing crystal clear - not a place to swim however. At a couple of the bridges, people were fishing. Some people say that the only place to swim in NT is in a swimming pool, due to the ever present fear of crocodiles.....

We had a small taste of animals - dingoes, jabirus (wader birds), but no crocs. Apparently however, a croc crossed the road just outside Jabiru this afternoon.

We arrived at our van park at around lunch time. The park is great. There is almost no-one here due to the wet season only lust finishing - it has scared off many tourist from southern states. We paid $115 for thgree nights with the fourth night thrown in free. We are staying at the Kakadu Lodge (or Aurora) at Jabiru. It is a huge camping ground - plenty of shade plus a fantastic shaded pool. Just what we need because it is very hot in the NT!

After lunch we all (Lorelle, me, Doug, Sue, Gary, Joan) set off to see the town - it is basically a mining town to support the nearby Ranger Uranium mine but it also a tourist centre as well. It has a garage, food store, bakery, golf club, school, etc. Most of the houses are quite modern and it is a clean, tidy town.

After visiting the town, we went to the Tourist Information Centre where we had to pay our $25/adult National Park fee. NT residents or children under 16 don't have to pay. The Information Centre had a decent display and we followed this up with ice-blocks before returning home to make bookings for the next couple of days, have happy hour, another swim, cards and now before I call it a day, my blog.

Tomorrow we go on a one hour flight of Kakadu ($215 per person).

Windows to the Wetlands

Photo of a jabiru I took from google so you know what I am talking about!!!