TAYLOR HOWELL

Time to say our farewells again to Gary and family knowing we would probably not cross paths up until South Australia or Melbourne as they head back east then south, and we go the west. As always we had a great time with them, full of fun and adventure!
We headed off towards Fitzroy Crossing a seven hour drive via Halls Creek for one night then up to Derby for another one night before reaching Broome by the 27th. These were long drives and not much in between!
Fitzroy Crossing sits on the Fitzroy River covering one of the largest floodplains in the world with the River Lodge campsite being a welcome oasis in an otherwise arid and parched landscape.
On to Derby and a quick look at the 2000 year old Prison Boab Tree. The so called Prison Tree was not actually a prison itself but was located near the Derby Gaol in the 1850’s, although its hollowed out trunk via the small gap was used occasionally to imprison some locals.  Apart from the tree Derby is not the nicest of places to stay, so after a quick overnight rest we hot tailed it to Broome.

The Bug Bats and a Ta Ta

Great Northern highway to Broome

Is that a pile of dinosaur poo? No its a termite mound!

The ancient Prison Boab Tree

Is anyone in there?

We all decide we should go and see Wyndham, a town 100km north of Kununurra, home of the biggest Boab tree in WA and at the confluence of five mighty rivers ( including the Ord, Durack and King Rivers). That’s about it as it is a port for shipping out iron ore, so not the prettiest of places. The Bug Bats were not impressed by such a trip as it did’nt include water, skateboarding, wildlife or fishing……nevertheless the adults were impressed by the scale of the five rivers from the lookout.

Five Rivers Lookout - very hazy though!

Five Rivers marker

Karen and the gang at Five Rivers Lookout

P & K infront the biggest Boab in WA

We headed back to Kununurra to find a secret swim hole that a local told us about called Molly Springs, which is not signposted hence its their best kept secret. We managed to find the dirt track off the highway and found a pretty waterfall and pool. All glad to jump in and get cool. The Bug Bats happy that water had actually featured in this day trip!

A cool dip at Molly Springs

The guys at Molly Springs

Picnic at Molly Springs

Now we were all itching to catch some fish after the antics of the day before. So we managed to found a local boat hire place that had boats with BBQ’s on board ( hopeful of some fish for lunch?) and the game was on. The lads decide it was a competition with the girls so Kirst and I had to set up to the mark….crikey we were outnumbered too!
Just in case Kirst and I bought some beef burgers knowing that when hungry it could turn ugly if  we had no food on board and reliant on fish for lunch! (the lads at that time in the morning were more interested in buying some fishing tackle….aha wait til its lunchtime then food will be high up on agenda).
We set off on the lagoon and zipped past our camp spots towards Lake Kununurra and Ord River. Well what a brilliant day we had, we pulled out 30 fish in total…….wait for it though only Catfish which are not very tasty! Not even a sooty Grunter was interested in our bait. To cap it all Nathaniel pulled in the biggest Catfish about 45cm length by fishing rod no less, all by himself! Followed by Karen pulling out three big uns (40, 41 and 43cm in length!). Woodley caught the most at 14, then Arch at 6 and Kirst at 3. The big lads to be fair although only pulling out 3 between them spent most of the day grappling with our catches to remove the hooks and both got stung by the barbles on the back of two of the catfish in the process! Those catfish are feisty little devils and noisy too!
Another great fishing day!

And we're off in search of a fishy lunch!

Our camp spots by the lagoon

Kaz catches a big un!

Nathaniel gets The Big One!

Funny - that chap was flying a plane now he's a helming a boat

That old party trick - Woodley 'planking' hammock style!

Nathaniel sitting up the right way!

As the sun rose so early (5am) we were all generally up and about by 6am. The Bug Bats (the lads) always up to mischief such as stalking wildlife mainly those poor Ta Ta’s ( lizards) whilst the adults enjoyed the cool of the early morning before it would heat up to 39C deg by 9am….!
We had been told that the best spot for catching Barramundi locally was at Ivanhoe Crossing on the Ord River which was very popular with fisher folk so we packed a few snacks and set off to bag our spot before the rush….although it was already gone 10am and to catch a fish you need to be up at sunrise! We got to Ivanhoe Crossing which is one of the main access points to cross the Ord by 4WD at low water level. When we got there it was flowing fast and fishing proved a challenge even for the big boys.

Ivanhoe Crossing

What tackle shall we use.......

Crikey lads the waters flowing fast!

So after an hour or so we gave up as nothing was biting except the underwater branches that kept snagging the lines so we decided to go elsewhere and were told about another great fishing spot called Skull Head (nice name!). Off we headed, Gaz driving along a very bumpy dirt 4WD track complete with creek crossing and about another hour later we found a very remote spot, nowhere near Skull Head, but on the bend of the River Ord so the lads thought it would be a great place for Barramundi to congregate.
We all spent a great couple of hours trying catch fish but only Woodley had some luck with the Catfish (pulling out a few) and we all got nibbles from shoals of little Catfish. A beautiful spot but we were wary that the old Salties could be lurking here so were very careful not to get too near the waters edge. A great day but where are these !!! Barramundi!

What a great spot for fishing....somewhere on the River Ord

Woodley and Nathaniel going for the big one!

All the lads (Gaz, Paul, Archer, Woodley and little Nathaniel) were chomping at the bit to go fishing so we had three days in various locations in search of that elusive Barramundi and some Sooty Grunters! Kirsty and I gave the first trip a miss but joined the lads for day two and three.
Day One was from the edge of our camping spot on the Lily Lagoon. The lads hired a couple of canoes from the camp reception ( Gaz with Arch and Nathaniel in one, and Paul with Woodley in the other) and set off in hope that some fish would jump into the canoes so that we could have fish for tea……….! Needless to say after a couple of hours they came back empty handed with tales of ones that got away and near misses of man overboard on the very wobbly canoes as Woodley forgot where he was and kept standing up! We did however have fish for tea – some lovely Barramundi fillets form the supermarket!!

A Water Monitor pays a visit to the camp site

Paul and Woodley ready for the off ably assisted for the push off by Nathaniel

Gaz pushes off with Arch and Nathaniel

Paddling in search of those fish - the race is on!

Later that evening we found out that we actually had resident crocodiles in the lagoon ( luckily they were freshies!) who would come up to the bank by our camp spots at night and lie there. This was a source of some excitement in the camp as people carrying torches would stalk the edge of the lagoon to see these creatures – revealed by red eyes in the light of the torches. Generally, they were left alone as although not aggressive ( like their salty cousins)  could easily get pissed off if they were bugged by people. Needless to say after the first close encounter we kept our distance form them.

Eh up! Seen any wide mouthed frogs?

Well those noises of the previous night were nothing compared to last night! Crikey a herd of wild cattle led by two of the biggest Brahman bulls we’ve ever heard stampeded through the camp – first we heard the sound of vegetation being trampled down then something must have spooked them as they shifted up a few gears and belted past our tent. All we could see were the shadows of the distinctive humps on their shoulders through the tent canvas…… they were massive!! Luckily the tented cabins were built on platforms and they steered their way round us all. Everyone woke up of course! Then two massive huntsman spiders must have decided they did’nt want to get trampled on either and sought refuge in our tent as I discovered at first light – luckily they stayed on the ceiling but then scarpered through the same hole when we turned on the shower!
Next morning we all gathered to wait for the flight back to Kununurra which was leaving at 10am. A great time had by all and great people for company.

Staff at Bungle Wilderness Lodge - Peggy third from left with Judy in front!

When we waited for the plane to land a woman got out of our plane with a full sick bag so we all wanted to got back by 4WD! Needless to say we did get on it and Paul did the co pilot bit – the most stable part of the plane….yeh! The flight back was equally amazing and bumpy! We flew close over the Bungle gorges  – Daniel (same pilot) tipped the plane to let us see right into them….whoah – my stomach did a 360…luckily my breakfast had digested thank goodness!! Then headed north out over the Carr Boyd ranges and then over Argyle Diamond Mine – the biggest in the world. It produces about a quarter of the world’s diamonds with the unique pink diamond.

Paul the co pilot gripping those controls - picture taken by the pilot...s...t!

Phil and Judy ( from Perth) doing the Leslie Nielson (off the film Airport) grins before take off

A look into a Bungle gorge

Another close up of a gorge

Argyle Diamond Mine

When we got back to our camp site our mates Kirsty and Gary and lads had arrived and were setting up camp next to us. It was great to see them again as they had decided to come west to go to El Questro to meet some other friends from Melbourne who were arriving on 30th Sept, before they head down the middle through Alice Springs and Coober Pedy.

Wow, we heard all sorts last night including cattle mooing, dingoes barking….and as Paul was standing outside looking at the wonderful starry sky an eight legged friend crawled across his bare foot (did have flip flops on)! As you can imagine he did’nt keep quiet about it but I think the spider legged before it got the weight of a size eight on its head!
We were ready for a day’s walking by 8am after a great breakfast and the day was already hot promising to nudge the barometer up to 39-40 deg C! Phew lots of water needed…
Our guide Peggy was in jovial form even at this time in the morning. She had picked up a family from an early flight who would be joining us for the day. They were a family from of all places…Wilmslow!
So water and lunch packs on board we set off to the south end of the Bungles to walk the Beehive Domes, Little and Big Cathedral Gorges and Piccaninny Creek in the morning then drive to north end of the massif to have lunch and walk Echidna Chasm. There is so much to write about theses wonderful rock formations but in essence they are sandstones and conglomerates formed by millions of years of weathering and river carving. The beehive description is apt and the striped colouring caused by hardened skins protected by cyanobacterial bands giving it the blackish stripe.

The two elephant rocks at south end of Bungles

Start of the Beehive Domes trail

Dry river bed between domes

Dry swirl pools in the rocky river bed

Paul in Cathedral Gorge

Karen with Judy in background at Cathedral Gorge

Water Monitor keeping safe from our trampling feet!

P&K at Piccaninny Creek

Australia north end rock!

In the afternoon we walked the trail to Echidna Chasm. This north end of the Bungles is so different to the south in that the rock is a conglomerate like pudding stone and very soft. The walls are sheer cliffs with Livingstonia Fan Palms growing in every nook and cranny.

The trail to Echidna Chasm

The texture of the conglomerate rock at Echidna Chasm

Echidna Chasm

Paul and a few palms at Echidna Chasm entrance

Coming out of the chasm!

Sheer cliff faces at north end of Bungle Bungles

We then finished the day by driving out to see the sunset on the Bungles with Peggy sneaking out some cheese and biscuits…..and a bottle of wine!

Waiting for the sun to go down.

Sun setting on Bungles ( not unlike Ayers Rock!)

The Bungle Bungles massif is one of the places we have always wanted to see in Australia (after the Whitsundays) but as it is 4WD access only off the highway along a 50km track and we knew Hilda would’nt be up to it, we managed to book ourselves a great 50% deal including flights into the Bungles from Kununurra, two nights at the Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge (tented cabins) and guided walks to the north and south gorges within the Bungles. A trip normally beyond reach so one not to be missed! We’re off at 2pm today!
At the airfield we boarded a seven seater prop engine plane (elastic band job) by Alligator Airways (no joke!), our pilot Daniel gave the safety briefing, stating that the flight would take an hour, and we were ready for off (Paul and I seconded to the seats at the back as all the front ones got bagged first, so you can imagine it would be a bumpy ride ahead…..). We hit it off immediately with another couple doing the same deal, called Phil and Judy (Lawson……did’nt think we meet another Phil and Judy (Moss that is!)) – the usual jokes were made as we trundled along the runway all hoping the plane would get off the ground….needless to say it did!

Kaz putting on a brave face before take off!

Well we flew over some awesome scenery and landmarks on the way to the Bungle Bungles.  First to see was the Ord River irrigation system featuring the Diversion Dam that diverts the river waters to flood 7,000 hectares of crop growing land including Sandalwood and Mango tree plantations. Then over to Lake Argyle which is the largest man made lake in Australia with a surface area of 1000 kilometres. An amazing scale apparently it is 23 times larger in volume than Sydney Harbour and up to 63 times in flood conditions. A peninsula protruding out to the east hold’s the world’s only known deposits of Zebra Rock, a unique striped stratified claystone. Then we flew over cattle country over Lissadell and Texas Downs Cattle Stations bounded by the Bow River and the Osmond Ranges, covering a combined area of 307,500 hectares…….that’s some job to muster up all those cattle!

Ord River Diversion Dam

Lake Argyle - one of the many islands ( previously mountains before the river diversion flooded the valleys)

Osmond Ranges within cattle country

After about 45 minutes the Bungle ranges came into view and the only word to use is gobsmacking!!! Their unique beehive formation is so visible even from the sky in hazy conditions, The Bungle Bungle massif covers an area of 45,000 hectares situated within the Purnululu National Park of some 240,000 hectares. It is protected as a World Heritage Listed site as an outstanding example of cone karst in sandstone anywhere in the world, interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena.

Approach into Bungles from north

Beehive formations

Southern end of Bungles

Piccaninny Creek at southern edge of Bungles

Landed at Bellburn airstrip....phew glad to be on terra firma again!

We landed at Bellburn airstrip south of the Bungles massif and glad to get on the ground! We were met by our guide called Peggy (who was a laugh a minute from the start……and we did’nt stop laughing until we left – she was a hoot!) in a big 4WD truck, who drove us to the lodge. The Wilderness Lodge was a collection of sand coloured tented cabins all integrated within the bushland landscape so that you can’t see them from the air. We finished the day with a great meal with the lodge staff who were all really friendly, and of course Peggy entertained us with outrageous stories all evening too. We were warned that we might hear strange animal noises in the night including wild cattle, dingoes as well the usual furry ones……. definite sightings of those slithery things (without legs) as we were int’wilderness and it is an eco friendly place …….oh, as well as eight legged friends!!

Sun going down at Bungle tented cabins!

Karen in front of the Bungle Wilderness dining Lodge

Phew, we’ve reached Kununurra and flopped! Both feeling jaded, (having caught colds as well which doe’snt help)……..its also very, very hot and oppressive! Don’t all get your hankies out I know you’ll have no sympathy whatsoever, as you enjoy the lovely British Autumn …..ah cool and crisp!
In the very apt words of Aussie author Phil O’Brien…“It is build up time in the Top End………hot, sticky, sweaty, really b!!!!y hot and steadily growing hotter. Humidity is on the way up and air so heavy its hard to suck it up and get it down your lungs. Its what the locals call the suicide season” ( the late Dry, the lead up to the start of the Wet season, which starts at the end of October). He’s not far wrong…… although we were told by one shop assistant yesterday that it was unusually cool for this time of year……what is she nuts!!
We have however found a beautiful shady, camp spot though overlooking Lily Lagoon at Lake Kununurra with the Sleeping Buddha as the prime view, so not much to complain about really. The Sleeping Buddha is a rock formation which looks like the buddha is lying on his back asleep. The lagoon has those Jacana birds (Jesus birds) skittering across the lily pads, as well as Ibis, ducks, moorhens ( at least they look like moorhens but bigger Aussie versions), and apparently some resident freshies! So we decided to stay here for a few days to recharge our batteries, and ditch the colds and sniffles, ready to hit the Bungle Bungles, El Questro etc next week! This takes some planning due to restrictive 4WD access only so we need to decide how we get to these places.

The Sleeping Buddha, Lake Kununurra

Paul at sundown, view from camp at Kununurra

We crossed the border with Western australia (WA) and immediately the clocks went back an hour and a half! So now it would be really hot by 7am and go dark by 5.30pm! The border crossing point is manned as a quarantine inspection station because WA want to keep out cane toads and other pests so any fruit, veggies, plants, meat and honey of all things (bees!) has to be thrown away or they will take it off you!
We pulled in, got out and stood back as Hilda was frisked….yes she got a good going over (by a nice but officious border inspector). We had to unload the tent and other stuff piled in the van, so that the fridge and food storage boxes could be accessed and inspected. Nothing incriminating was found (no apple cores lurking under seats!) so we got on our way and onto Kununurra ( gateway to The Kimberley and the Bungle Bungles).

Hilda gets a frisking at WA border quarantine point

Escarpment scenery as we move towards the Kimberley

As we move west the landscape is changing and everything looks much more parched and arid. As we get closer to the Western Australia (WA) border there is a tree unique to this region called the Baob Tree (Baobab) which look like an upside down trees with their roots sticking out of the ground. They have ‘bloated’ trunks located as random single trees or clustered in small groups by damp ground or along creeks, but never seen in large groups. The road long and as ever seeming endless! We did an overnight stop at Timber Creek which was in the middle of t’outback on the Victoria Highway, miles from anywhere but a welcome little patch of green to camp on !

Nice camp spot by Boab tree at Timber Creek but no one else about!

Driza bone landscape view from Hilda

The strange looking Boab tree

Fridge all working again! We knew we needed to head south and then west to today it was time to say farewell to Gary, Kirsty and the lads, knowing that we may not see them again until South Australia or Melbourne nearer to Christmas. We’ll keep in touch guys and thanks for the fun days we had over the last week!

Farewell for now to Gary, Kirsty and The Bug Bats!

We spent the last few days running around trying to find out why our fridge was’nt working and to cut a long story short it was the battery, the battery charger and the mains power charger that had all konked out, the fridge itself although old was perfectly okay. As you could imagine we had to go to various places by process of elimination such as a fridge manufacturer, battery centre, auto electrics centre before it was all sorted! This took four days and alot of hanging about. We know Darwin quite well now!
In the meantime we had some fun days with Gary, Kirsty and The Bug Bats going to the wave lagoon at Darwin Waterfront again, Berry Springs and then the Territory Wildlife Park. This park was excellent, we saw a Raptor bird show, saw massive Barramundi in the aquarium and lots of tropical birds.

I'll crack this one!

A Jabiru legging it!

Ruby the Rufous Owl and a budding Harry Potter. (Nathaniel doing well to hold her!)

Our plan was to head down to Katherine today and then westward ho! However our fridge decided to pack up and had defrosted despite all efforts to revive it we realised we had to go back to Darwin to get it replaced or fixed…..! Gary and Kirsty were heading to Darwin anyway so we all decided we would all stay at Howard Springs as it was a lovely campsite and not far from Darwin.

As we prepared to pack up our tent etc we noticed that it seemed to be ‘moving’! To our horror our tent had become attractive to hundreds of green ‘electric’ ants as we had pitched it near a big tree and the ants had decided overnight that they preferred our tent to their tree! They were marching up the tent poles, along every seam, under the flaps, you name it they were congregating there! So as Paul and I tried to shake the little beggars off they became rather cross and started to bite us! It was like doing the Mexican Hat Dance as we tried to fight them from crawling up our legs….aagh! We must have looked ridiculous (glad that no one had taken any photos of us)  but somehow managed to clear them all off. Phew!

Onwards back to Darwin!

We had been told that Maguk Gorge was the prettiest gorge in Kakadu so we all stayed another day to go and see for ourselves and sneak Gunlom Falls in as well. Yep it was another awesome 4WD adventure with the Halls!
We headed into the track to Maguk and spotted an enormous Water Buffalo that did’nt seem too pleased to see us go by but we kept our distance! We then reached the start of the 800m walking track that takes you to Maguk over rocks and through streams amongst Pandanus and Palms – a beautiful lush green gorge! The Maguk Falls and pool at the end was a real treat, we swam in crystal clear water, and jumped and dived off the rocks. Great! ( no photos taken though as we were all having too much fun and cameras were safe and dry in our bags).

Hey there, whose a big fella then !

Maguk Falls and plunge pool

Lush green landscape of Maguk Gorge

We then headed south to find Gunlom Falls along more 4WD tracks! Gunlom Falls like Jim Jim had virtually dried up but was nevertheless still lovely and of course there was a pool to cool off in and more rocks to jump off! Another epic day!

Paul and The Bug Bats at Gunlom Falls!

Gunlom Falls and plunge pool

Kirsty and Gary invited us to join them in their 7 seater 4WD car to go and see Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls which are 4WD only access roads. We all packed a picnic and headed up to the falls turnoff expecting the roads to be gravel and easy, but……oh no…Gary had to tackle sand, rocks and boulders, creek crossings and a rather wide river crossing so it was a day full of fun and adventure topped by some wonderful scenery, gorges and waterfalls. And as always we had a good time with these guys. Fantastic!
We first drove along the track to Twin Falls with the big river crossing, complete with all the croc warning signs! Once through that we ended up at the river gorge leading to the falls. a short boat ride takes you through the stunning gorge with the falls at the end still in full flow and awesome.

Hmmm this track is certainly 4WD!

Hey guys this is easy!

Hey guys....can we do it? This is THE river crossing!

Here we go...keep your revs up Gaz and guys get your snorkels on!!

Yep we're car cruising on water. Keep your window up Gaz there's crocs about!!

Grabbing lunch before we hit Twin Falls!

River gorge boat trip towardsTwin Falls

Indiana Jones and the Twin Falls gorge!

Crikey its a croc cage....maybe its a good thing its still unoccupied!?

Boat drops us off and its a 500m walk to reach Twin Falls

Twin Falls in The Dry ( dry season)

The view looking back from the falls

A welcome soaking....the Misses Wet T-shirts!

The trip to Twin Falls was amazing combining the epic drive, then a short boat trip up the pretty gorge and finished off with a scramble over rock ledges to reach the falls themselves, still flowing even though its the late dry season.
We then headed out back across the river and along the track for another 15 km to Jim Jim Falls. Yet more stunning scenery and a scramble over rocks to reach the falls. Jim Jim had only a trickle now but was nevertheless beautiful and…we were allowed to swim in the plunge pool ……and of course the lads loved jumping off the rocks into the water!

Jim Jim Falls in The Dry!

Okay lads whose jumping first!

Paul taking the high jump....yes into water, watched closely by Nathaniel.

Amazing cliffs tower above us at Jim Jim Falls gorge

Our friends Kirsty and Gary and the lads were still in Kakadu at the Cooinda campsite for another few days so we thought we would head back to meet them for a get together before we all would be heading in different directions (us going to the west coast and they heading south down the middle of Australia). We also wanted to see some of the famous waterfalls and gorges that we missed on our first trip to Kakadu.
At Cooinda Archer, Woodley and Nathaniel had been on an ‘Animal Tracks Safari’ and had learn’t all the tricks of how to catch lizards, geckos and Ta Ta’s (type of lizard) from their Aboriginal tour guide. Their grandma (Kirsty’s mum Joan) has nicknamed them ‘The Bug Bats’ and has written a lovely story about their antics with the wildlife. I suspect when we all left Cooinda three days later the reptile population at Kakadu breathed a sigh of relief!

The Bug Bats with Paul at Cooinda campsite

Aah don't let them loose down me shirt lads!

Barry and family have arrived back safely in UK. Daniel found out that he passed all ten of his GCSE’s so everyone is really pleased for him.
Paul and I now camping at Howard Springs, at a nice shady campsite as it is about 36 degrees and !!!! hot! We never thought that ice cold showers would be so enticing!
We visited a lovely tropical orchid gardens and nursery nearby called Jenny’s Orchid Gardens with so many different species of orchids the colours were fabulous. Jenny sells to the retail and wholesale markets across NT.

Pinks

Get that Howell chin!

Blues

Yellows!

We all can’t believe its the last day and that BMJ and D would be returning their campervan and flying back to the UK the next day (staying in a hotel back in Darwin) and we would be saying farewell to them today!
We all headed out of Kakadu stopping at the historic Bark Hut Inn for coffee, and then Window on the Wetlands visitor centre on the northern exit to the national park and then said our goodbyes  at the campervan hire depot.
Paul and I then headed to a campsite just outside Darwin to camp for a few days before we would then head south back to Katherine and then turn west towards the Kimberley over the next week or so. We’re already missing the guys already and hope they have a safe flight home.

Leaving last camp at Aurora Kakadu

Hey lads did'nt you read the sign!!

Last chance to shave that stubble off Baz!

We camped overnight at Aurora campsite south of Ubirr. Barry and family now have just one more full day left so we wanted to pack in the last experience we had of Kakadu in the time we had left.  We headed up to Ubirr which is a sacred Aboriginal art site with many rock paintings displayed under the rock overhangs. Ubirr is renowned for the most powerful ancestor, the Rainbow Serpent, who in her human form painted her image on the rock to remind people of her presence. The rock outcrops at Ubirr tower above the floodplains of the East alligator River. The vast scale of this area of Kakadu is absolutely breathtaking (of a scale not dissimilar to that of the Grand Canyon) with the rock plateau interspersed with woodlands and green wetlands – stunning! ( again I don’t think our photos do it justice it is so big!).

Main 'gallery'

Under the cool rock overhang (see art site behind)

Massive rock overhangs one of the main 'art galleries'

Ubirr rocks!

The Arborigines used animal blood and stone pigments to paint their art

The descent to the plateau glimpse of the plains beyond (at Namarrkan sisters rock site)

Karen near Nadab lookout on the top plateau

Baz and Daniel on the way up

Is that Fred Flintstone or Barney Rubble in his new automobile!

Rock formations on main plateau with woodland and outer plateau in distance

Rock site of the Rainbow Serpent

Hunting figures

Rainbow Serpent sun path

We then had a quick look around the town of Jabiru, famed for its Crocodile shaped Holiday Inn Hotel, sampled a few goodies for lunch at the bakery and then back to camp.

Crocodile Hotel at Jabiru