RETURN TO KAKADU, SOUTH TO KATHERINE GORGE, AND BACK TO DARWIN - days 8-15

And off we head, in our little Britz HiLux van, to end the day at a nearby campsite whose manager reminds us that it's National Census Day - foreigners included! - and hands me a large envelope with the requisite form (20 or so pages to complete)...

Next day, out and about on our own, we returned to Kakadu Park via another entrance

and, at the wetlands, met an old friend bagging a meal

and new ones
 

We'd planned to visit "Cahill's Crossing" with Gordon and Fiona but run out of time.  At a certain time of day, when the tide comes in, the river rises to equalise levels across the road...

The local inhabitants were meanwhile making their presence known

some lazing,

others fighting

(or is that synchronised swimming?)

Eventually, the side to our left has risen enough to allow passage between the two
 

but the crossing crocs didn't seem to deter some local fishermen

Our own feast for the night was BBQed roo burgers

and meanwhile this little chap was also looking for dinner

A further stop on the Yellow Water - and we remember why the walkway...

is so carefully covered

though their neighbours don't deter all inhabitants (apparently, crocodiles can't easily digest feathers).

Then it's southwards, further into the "Top End" : the area from Darwin down Katherine ("Kath-ryne" to the locals).  A road past more, ginormous termite mounds

and into town

which is primarily a jumping-off point for Nitmiluk ("the place of the cicada dreaming")

We lunched in woodland vegetation, waxy and fine, long and thin even spiky

and with some cheeky (and some smelly!) inhabitants

Some of them only came out at night on our camping site, the little one hopping around like a rubber ball, and trying to climb back into his pouch

Next morning (and having, the previous day, discounted the possibililty of a boat trip along the gorge of the Katherine River as involving too much walking between boat-stops), we'd decided to treat ourselves instead to a short chopper ride: the "3 gorge buzz".  

Back on dry-land, Edith Falls provided a (v chilly) dip

The next day was spent at Fogg Dam, originally built as part of a government initiative to cultivate rice: the Humpty Doo (yes, there is such a place!) Rice Project; by the time that the scheme had flopped, the area had already become a refuge for wildlife so it was salvaged to become instead a sanctuary for waterfowl. 

Of course, in the Dry, there's not enough water for it to look its best but there was still more than enough to keep us entertained for a good few hours

On the way back towards Darwin, 50 or so km south, is the Territory Wildlife Park, mainly rescued animals and birds in three main habitats (woodland, wetland and monsoon vine forest)

At a "walkabout with the wallabies", one was most friendy,

and, at the fly-past, the birdlife colourful

I fell for beautiful Muffin, an masked barn owl from the Tiwi Islands and New Guinea

After pretty woodland,

we came upon manta rays

a close-up of a freshwater croc,

and, more peaceful, a lake where a bee-eater kindly posed

The last day with the van, we headed back into Darwin,

via Knucky's Lagoon, recommended by a chap in a next-door camper a few nights' back

before we head to he aurport to drop off our camper and catch an early evening flght to Cairns