THE MONSTER TRIP TO KAKADU - days 4-7

Having picked up Gordon and Fiona, our route led the monster camper-van 150km south along highway 1, aka the Stuart Highway, to Litchfield National Park

home to magnetic terminate mounds (they build in north-south alignment to minimise exposure to the sun). Impressive structures, both in numbers

and - in the case of the Cathedral - size,

a great spot to cool off at Buley Rockhole in the clear (croc-free!) waters

of Florence Falls, and Tolmer Falls (though regrettably you can't get any closer - apparently protecting colonies of ghost and orange horseshoe bats)

and overnighted in a spacious green site. After a morning trip to Wanji Falls

less-croc-free (they don't want to leave you in any doubt)...

Sunday's destination was UNESCO Heritage Kakadu NP,

20,000 square km, bordered to its East by the reservation areas overseen by Aboriginal custodians, Arnhem Land....  And ended with a refreshing swim in the campsite pool at Coolimba

Next morning at sunrise, we took a 6.45 boat trip 

on the Yellow Water Lagoon and Alligator (!) (the chap who discovered the waterway didn't know an alli from a croc difference, apparently) River 

 

and saw a multitude of birdlife

 

as well as water lilies - both useful

and pretty!

And of course the crocs - a mix of "salties" and "freshies"

After picnic lunch at a billabong (if ever there was an unnecessary sign, it's the lower of these:

the first warning told me more than enough to dissuade us from going too close to the edge!)

we headed further north.  At Anbangbang and Ubirr, there's Aboriginal rock art to see from raised walkways

- depictions of kangaroos,

mystical figures,

and what they call lightning skeletons,

The overnight camp was a rustic affair

Next morning, we headed back to Darwin via views over the Crocodile River plains 

and parted from Gordon and Fiona (who popped into Darwin for the afternoon, before their 01.50 - ouch! - flight back to Sydney) while we swapped the monstermobile for a more modest (and manoeuvrable!) two-sleeper

in which we'll buzz about for the next week