Northern Territory Travels

Kakadu Travels Part 3

May 9, 2016 by Vicky Leave a Comment

I’ve just discovered that this post didn’t get published for some reason!!!

Continuing with our Kakadu Travels Part 3 we also visited Nawurlandja in the Nourlangie region of Kakadu.

For this part of our trip we literally climbed up on to the Nawurlandja look out point which looked out over a beautiful plateau. The views were pretty much breathtaking and whilst the climb was a bit tough especially in the heat (we made the climb just after lunch which was a bit silly) when you turned around and looked out across Kakadu it took your breath away for all the right reasons.

There were some interesting shaped rocks as well – I thought these looked a bit like a snail or turtle – what do you think?

Birds & Buffalo’s & Crocs Oh My

July 28, 2015 by Vicky Leave a Comment

The Camera Club planned a visit to Corroborree Billabong to take some pictures of the local wildlife before our June monthly competition whose theme was Animals in the Wild.

I’ve been on a cruise to Corroborree before and it was fantastic, there was so much wildlife around and I was really hopeful that it would be the same this time round.

We had an early start at 7am which meant that I had to leave Darwin by 5.30am to get there in time with a journey south of Darwin of about an hour and 45 minutes and got there just in time for a lovely sunrise. I’m not very good at getting up so early in the morning, even for the sunrise so it was a great excuse!

We spent most of the day out on the billabong exploring the various waterways and because we had hired a house boat for our trip we visited places away from the routes used for the more commercial trips and the further away we got from the main routes the more wildlife we seemed to find. As well as birds we also found some wild pigs which I’ve never seen in the Northern Territory before, although there were apparently some in the rural area where we used to live, a buffalo and of course a few crocodiles!

I have mentioned before that I have discovered that I really enjoy bird photography and I was very lucky to be loaned a lens for my camera which was absolutely massive, it literally made my shoulder ache, but was perfect for wildlife photography. Of course I now want the lens which is a bit pricey but was really pleased with the photos i was able to take as a result.

There is so much wildlife in the Northern Territory and even though I have a wildlife app for my phone it still takes me a while to work out which bird or creature it is if its not immediately obvious to me (which it almost never is for me).

I always see some new creature on these journeys and also some more “exciting” moments like a crocodile trying to take a family of Magpie Geese for lunch which was one of those oh my god moments but also wow too. Luckily it seemed like most of the family escaped but we thought one of the babies might not have made it.

Magpie Goose escaping a crocodile attack

Overall it was a great day out for photography and we had a lot of fantastic shots in the monthly competition so it was inspiring for everyone! Here’s a few more photos from my day out.

Black Necked Stork/Jabiru catching a snake for dinner

Kakadu Trip Part 4

July 21, 2015 by Vicky Leave a Comment

On the final part of our Kakadu Trip over Easter and after visiting a few sites in Nourlangie, we visited the Warradjan Aborignal Cultural Centre. It was a really interesting place and was full of history, artwork and Aboriginal culture.

I wasn’t able to take any photographs inside the centre but if you are in the area it is worth taking a visit so you can learn more about Aboriginal culture.

We spent some time at the Warradjan Aborignal Cultural Centre before taking a trip on a Yellow Water Cruise which runs from Cooinda.

The cruise took us through the wetlands of the yellow water region which was quite flooded in places from the wet season. We were lucky to leave through a billabong at the Cooinda resort because the road to the usual boat ramp was flooded which was really special. In places the water was just wide enough to get the boat through because of the reeds and grasses that ran either side and it took some extra careful maneuvering for the driver who may or may not have been a trainee!

We saw so many birds which is developing in to one of my favourite photographic subjects. We did of course see quite a few crocodiles as well as some stunning landscapes as well. The good thing with these kinds of trips is that its not focused on finding crocodiles its about the waterways and wildlife as a whole so its great when you see a crocodile but the people running the trip want to make sure its a well rounded trip and you see everything.

We took the 4.30pm trip which finished just before the sunset which was as pretty as I thought it would be and was one of the reasons I wanted us to take the trip. The trips run throughout the day and I think you wouldn’t be bored if you took a sunrise or actual sunset trip because you would still see so much.

Here is some of the wildlife we spotted.

Male Jacana - they babysit the baby Jacana's after they are born whilst the Mum's go looking for a new mate — Male Jacana – they babysit the baby Jacana’s after they are born whilst the Mum’s go looking for a new mate

Kakadu Travels Part 2

July 7, 2015 by Vicky Leave a Comment

What seem’s like years ago now, me and the Aussie took a trip to Kakadu and the first part of our trip is detailed here.

In Kakadu Part 2 we spent the Saturday of our trip exploring the Cooinda part of the national park before taking a trip on the Yellow River Cruise.

Kakadu is an UNESCO World Heritage Centre as unique archaeological and ethnological reserve and having visited I can totally understand why, it is a stunning landscape literally everywhere you turn.

As we visited during the wet season quite a few places were either closed off because of floods or were only 4WD access only so our little Hyundai couldn’t get all the way down to the places we wanted to visit but it kind of worked out well because we wouldn’t have managed to see everything we did want to see and it’s a great excuse to visit again in the future. It was also pretty hot and humid so it was difficult to spend a lot of time out in the direct sun during the middle of the day.

Firstly we headed to Gubara in the Nourlangie region which is full of rock art galleries, kind of by accident after I missed the turn off (oops).

The drive down to Gubara was about 8km before we got cut off by the flooded track down. It was however a totally stunning drive down with the escarpments rising up along the roadside, so much so we had to keep stopping the car to take more and more photos.

Below are some of my photos from our mini drive before we had to head back to the main road because of the flooding.