Kakadu

Kakadu is a very large National Park in north central Australia, consisting of savannah, open woodlands, the flood plain of the misnamed Alligator River, which is filled with very dangerous salt-water crocodiles but no Alligators, rock outcropping and cliffs containing very extensive aboriginal art, some dating back 20,000 years, and very abundant bird life.

Kakadu has a hot dry season, and a hot wet season. We are at the end of the hot dry season, with daily temperatures in the mid 90's, which is actually claimed to be a good time to visit because the billabongs (water holes) are shrunk in size, and the birdlife is clustered there. In addition to the insufferable heat, there is a pestilence of small, non-biting, flies which seek every available body orifice, or alternatively just crawl across one's face. When I asked a ranger if there was anyway to deal with the flies, she answered, "Be grateful that your not here two weeks from now when they are ten-times worse." But we are seeing part of the 0utback most Australians never see.

In addition to the very impressive aboriginal art, there is an abundance of wildlife, wallabies, crocs, and many, many species of birds. On of the highlights of Kakadu was a boat tour on the South Alligator river which yielded close-up looks at very large crocodiles, and an abundance birds.

The river was nice and cool and fly-free.

The billabongs are quite amazing filled with thousands of Magpie geese, whistling ducks, storks, egrets, with sea eagles and kites overhead. Walks through the adjacent woodlands yielded views of many birds, some of which like the red-winged parrot, and blue-eyed honeyeater are very exotic.