15/8/2013 to 17/8/2013 Ubirr in Kakadu

15/8/2013 Darwin

When I woke up I felt really sick and faint so I had to lie down for a while. After I recovered we prepared for the long journey home. We did the washing, did the shopping and then put 4 new tyres on the car. We made our last trip to  Mindel Beach to buy our tea at the market and watch the  sunset.

16/8/2013 Merl Campground, Ubirr

We did the long drive from Darwin to Ubirr. On the way we stopped at Fogg Dam. There are lots of birds and lilies (as well as unseen crocodiles) on the wetlands.

At Adelaide River we looked at the crocodile cruise boats and then pulled in along the Mary River to eat a picnic lunch. In Jabiru we bought Kakadu National Park passes and also arranged to go across Cahill Crossing into Arnhem Land. We travelled on to Merl camp ground and found a place to leave the caravan ($20 pn). From there we quickly drove out to Ubirr to watch the sunset . The wet land at the bottom of the big rock where we sat to watch the sunset was being burnt off so there was a lot of smoke and it was already too late in the evening to get good pictures so we just enjoyed the view.  

On our return to the campground we set up 3 mosquito coils to burn outside the door of the caravan to repel the local inhabitants, but a few still managed to get in. I had to take a can of insect repellant to spray in the toilet and shower before visiting there. Gerd came back from the shower very excited because a snake had slithered across the path just in front of his feet.  

17/8/2013 Kunbarlanja (Oenpelli), Ubirr

Sabbath morning. After looking at the crocodiles in the river close to where people were fishing we drove across the Cahill Crossing into Arnhem Land.  

There were a number of aboriginal people at the cultural centre. The women were sitting under the shade of a tree preparing pandanas leaves by tearing them into fine strips, colouring them with natural plant dyes and weaving baskets and one older lady was weaving a traditional net for catching fish. 

The men were on the other side of the building painting traditional aboriginal cross hatch designs on paper and bark. Other men were inside screen printing material with aboriginal style motifs. The workmanship was high quality. We spent the morning talking to the people. 

 Oenpelli is situated in a beautiful area. 

   

We returned to our caravan for a late lunch and then decided to do one of the walks among the tall sandstone blocks that dominate the landscape.

In the late afternoon we returned to Ubirr for the sunset. When we got there a film crew was in the process of making part of a commercial to encourage tourists to visit the Northern Territory.