Northern Territory Travels

Travels to Kakadu

April 9, 2015 by Vicky 3 Comments

As mentioned here, the Aussie and I took visited Kakadu for the Easter weekend and it was just fantastic. The downsides were the heat, it felt so much hotter there without the sea breeze we enjoy (occasionally) in Darwin during the wet season and I really noticed it and the fact that even though it hasn’t really rained this wet season, a lot of places were only accessible in four wheel drives so our little Hyundai wasn’t quite equipped for the terrain.

Even though we couldn’t visit all of the places we wanted it didn’t really matter as we did so much and saw a lot. It is also the perfect excuse to visit again during the dry season too!

We travelled down to Jabiru on the Friday as we were staying in the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel which is built in the shape of a crocodile (photo is from the Agoda website for the hotel)!

The hotel was pretty nice, with its own art gallery full of aboriginal artworks to view and also to buy. It was very quiet all over even though it was full for the Easter weekend and had good facilities including a pool where you could take a dip after a long day out in the heat. The restaurant was nice with good quality food although we were encouraged to opt for the buffet style dinner over the menu on both nights which was a bit annoying but the food was still good quality for a buffet.

The hotel was though possibly a little bit out of the way for us as most of the things we wanted to do on Saturday and Sunday were at the Cooinda end of the park but it was only a 50km or so drive back so it wasn’t a huge problem. I would probably suggest that you spend one night at the Crocodile hotel and then another 1 to 2 nights in Cooinda if you want to explore.

On our way down to Jabiru which is approximately 294km south of Darwin there are lots of places to stop including Fogg Dam, Windows on the Wetlands, The Mary River Park , the Bark Hut and Corroboree Billabong. We have visited them all before so drove straight to the park.

The park is beautiful and a sign welcomes you to the area and reminds you that a pass must be purchased for $25 which allows you 14 days access to the park unless you have a Northern Territory Driving Licence, in which case it is free. We both do so didn’t have to worry about buying the pass, although a lot of the holiday parks along the way sell them so it is easy to do.

We got to Jabiru at about 1pm and thought we would start at the Bowali Visitors Centre and this was a really good idea as I had only started really planning where we should go the day before (damn busy life) and they have guides who can help you with directions, places where there are free talks and just how to get to your hotel! We picked up maps here which was good because when you are away from the hotels and manned tourist attractions you get no phone reception which is fantastic unless you want to get directions!

The Visitors Centre was also good because there are displays where you can learn about Kakadu and Aboriginal heritage which I really enjoyed having a look around. The centre was literally 5 minutes drive from our hotel (unless you miss the Jabiru turn off like I did and end up at the very end of the highway!) where we headed afterwards to check in and have a bit of a nap. We were going to go to a free talk being held by the Rangers that evening but decided that we just wanted to relax so made plans for where we would visit the following day and had dinner at the restaurant.

I am still editing my photos (I took a LOT) from our travels on the Saturday and Sunday so will talk about the other places we visited in future posts but below are pictures taken at Bowali Visitors Centre:

Wetland Cruise at Corroboree Billabong

September 4, 2014 by Vicky 8 Comments

I thought it was about time that I posted about Darwin again as it’s been a while and I keep getting distracted by my slow cooker!

A few weeks ago the Aussie had some friends visit us in Darwin. We had a really lovely weekend and it was nice to get to know his friends as well as getting to show them around Darwin and also visit some places me and the Aussie haven’t visited before.

We did the usual visiting Mindil Beach and had dinner out in Darwin but decided on the Saturday they were here to take a trip to Corroboree Billabong and try one of the Wetland Cruises. Corroboree is about an hour and a half from Darwin and a couple of hours from Kakadu. The billabong is part of the Mary River, river system and so is of course full of crocs!

We’ve done and enjoyed the jumping croc tours that are run all over this part of the Northern Territory (and I will blog about them one day I promise!) but this tour promised to be a bit more because it focuses on all of the wildlife in and around the billabong.

We opted for the lunchtime tour which starts at 12.45pm and comes with lunch. We were taken out on the tour by a lady called Amy and who was just fantastic. She loves crocodiles and is studying them at uni whilst also working on the tours and she just knows so much information about them it was fantastic. She knew who all of the crocodiles were and most importantly she really appreciates their wild animals and does not want to disturb them anymore than necessary.

It was also great because whilst the billabong is very popular for fishing, the cruise has areas where only they go so you get to see almost unspoilt areas whilst hearing tales of the crocodiles and birds all around.

We were lucky to see both salt water crocs and freshwater crocodiles and Amy was so excited each time it was like she was seeing them for the first time! It was very cool to see the freshwater crocs in the wild because you can really see the difference just in size as well as the colourings. It was fascinating (above is a saltwater and below is a freshwater crocodile they both live in the billabong).

Whilst the crocodiles are a large part of the tour there were also so many opportunities to see the different kinds of birds around the billabong. We saw my favourite birds which are called Comb Crested Jacanas – I just love the way they strut/run across the leaves!

We were also lucky to see a black necked stork/jabiru catching and eating a snake (its in its mouth in the picture below) and a Great Egret catching a fish although I didn’t manage to take any decent photos of that one.

There were Wandering Whistling Ducks, Brolgas, Great Egrets and Darters all around and we got to spend lots of time watching them as they just went about their business.

Our lunch was really tasty and there was so much food they really take care of you as well. Amy stopped the boat in a spot where there were lots of birds so we could do some bird watching as well as croc spotting.

Overall we enjoyed this trip immensely. It is a trip we would definitely do again and we really want to try the sunset trips as well because the billabong looks stunning during the day so you can only imagine what it would be like during the say. If you are in Darwin you should definitely try this trip (and if you visit me in the Aussie I’m sure you’ll get to go give it a try too!).

Road Trip Part 3 – Corroboree Billabong and Corroboree Park Tavern

April 29, 2014 by Vicky Leave a Comment

For the final part of our road trip we drove back to Darwin via Corroboree Billabong.

I had heard that this was good crocodile hunting (in the non actual hunting sense of the word) ground so was hopeful we might finally see one in its natural habitat. There are great places around Darwin and the surrounding areas where you can see crocodiles but most are reliant on human contact for feeding etc so I really wanted to see one naturally.

This bit of the trip started of quite badly as the only activity going on was as people pulled their boats out of the water and on to their waiting trailers to go home. I was feeling over heated again and thirsty so started wandering off to the car when a women on a waiting boat shouted to me and the Aussie that there was a crocodile pretty much right next to the boat eating a barramundi! I rushed back and there it was sat under the trees digesting its dinner.

I took a few photos whilst it went under the water and back up but as I stepped closer to get a picture it disappeared.

We hung around a bit more and saw a crocodile swimming across the billabong and back right where the boats were moving around looking for fish. It was very exciting to see them, and also not to be eaten by one of course!

We headed back to the car and back out of the car park and on both sides of the roads there were so many Wallabies and Kangaroos I was in my element as they are one of my favourite Aussie animals!

I love that they are so nosey and just can’t resist standing up and watching you and they always look very cool.

We also saw lots of birds and think that this might possibly be a Jabiru. It looked like a very tall bird even from a distance and the way it was catching fish by practically thrusting its head in to the water would definitely make you glad to be far away from it!

Finally we stopped of at the Corroboree Park Tavern for a frankly epic sized steak sandwich and on the way out found they had some very cute looking buffalo and a few more nosey kangaroos!

I also decided to link up with Keep Calm and Blog on for Tea Party Tuesday!

The Rules:
1. Link up ANY post and link back here.
2. Follow Keep Calm and Blog On and your co-hosts.
3. Visit at least three other bloggers below and say hello.

Sip your tea and nibble your crumpets – let’s hop to it… #teapartytuesday

Road Trip Part 2 – Mary River

April 28, 2014 by Vicky 3 Comments

Back out on the road again to drive about 2km’s we headed back towards Mary River. There is a boat ramp just by the bridge across the river but we decided to pop in to the Mary River Wilderness Retreat. The retreat has accommodation for visitors but we discovered that for just $5 each we could visit as day visitors and get to enjoy quite a lot of the facilities available including the swimming pool.

There are 3 walks that you can do at the resort; the Wallaby Walk which is 1.5km and easy to cycle around after seeing lots of children and families doing it, the bamboo walk which is about 4km’s and the last one whose name we can’t remember which is an extension of the bamboo walk and 8km’s in length. The 8km was closed was closed (“sadly”) as it was still a bit wet to clear the path for access but we went for a wander around the Wallaby Walk and bamboo walk, well I did half of the bamboo walk because I was a little bit overheated but the Aussie did most of it.

Both walks are very scenic and in places you get views over the Mary River as well as the billabongs around and about and allegedly there are crocodiles around (I only say allegedly because we didn’t see any – we were assured there are lots around the river and we were shown a picture of a crocodile that had been literally bitten in half by another crocodile and left on the banks of the river).

Wallaby Walk:
You wander along the track and about of a third of the way along you can cross the swing bridge to look at the billabong before carrying on your journey around the main track.

This bridge is across a billabong where a crocodile lives. It’s literally in among the plants growing out of the billabong so your very close to the crocodile if it is in there as you walk across! Sadly none were seen.

There’s a crocodile out there somewhere in the billabong but we didn’t see it. Even my usual method of throwing a stone in (I seem to think this will make the crocodiles think that a person just fell in) didn’t work.

Bamboo Walk:
This is the longer walk that was open and begins with a wire fence and door that you have to walk through to gain access! No idea why but did wonder if it was a bit Narniaesque!

Along the path we had some nice views of the river.

We also saw some cockatoo’s and red winged parrots that were very pretty looking and these are the male parrots.

There were also some butterflies fluttering around looking very pretty. I quite like butterflies so am always very pleased to see them around. I was explaining to the Aussie that I’d like for one to land on my hand but would probably freak out if one did!

I was very impressed by this “bugs” cleverness in finding the gap between the lid and seal to locate water. Only after the Aussie returned from his extra walk was it noticed that this is in fact a mosquito – yep I hate them and didn’t even realise. In defence of the mosquito, it didn’t try and bite me even though I was close!!!

There was a very pretty bamboo walk along the way back surrounded by beautiful bamboo archways and magical looking billabongs. The Aussie thought I should get really close to the edge of the water to see the lily pads but I thought this might not be the best choice given the proximity of crocodiles.