Kakadu: Mardugal Billabong Walk

Our next stop after Katherine was Kakadu National Park.  The Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Kakadu was fantastic.  Unfortunately no photography is allowed so I can’t show you any of the fabulous displays.  It was one of those places where there were so many interesting things to look at that the kids took off in all directions as soon as we got through the door.  I kept having to wrangle them back together to point things out to them.  Heaps of info on aboriginal culture and wildlife in the area.  This seasonal calendar just outside the main door is the only picture I have.  There are six seasons on the aboriginal calendar and this gave just a clue as to what happens during each. (I have no idea why LadyBug (5) brought along her Rubik’s cube that day!) We camped at the caravan park in Cooinda which is in the Yellow Water region of Kakadu.  One of the short walks in the area was the Mardugal Billabong Walk, which we thought was supposed to be a walk along the water’s edge.  It was more a trail that went parallel to the water but some way from it, but you couldn’t even see the water until the end.  And it was hot.  Very hot.  Definitely croc country here. The walk itself was rather unexciting but at only half a kilometre it was a short one.   This spiral palm was along the trail, they are so interesting but I’ve read they aren’t even palms.  Somewhere I have a picture of one all green and lush. At the end of the walk there is a picnic table, we had a snack and enjoyed the view of the river.  We were high enough up that we didn’t have to worry about crocs as long as we didn’t fall in.  🙂 These two were ‘fishing’ together.  It was cute, they made up all sorts of stories while they sat there together.  In the second picture below they’ve moved up a bit, we asked them to move back since we didn’t want anyone faliing in! Someone at the campground gave TurboBug a new hat that didn’t fit their child anymore.  He was so happy with it.  The only problem is that the hat is white and the dirt is red.  That hat won’t be white for long! We enjoyed the view for a little while then made our way back to the campground to enjoy the pool at the lodge.  We’ve discovered the best way to survive this heat up north is to swim often.  There are waterholes safe for swimming at Kakadu but most are accessible only with 4WD.  The campground definitely had a national park feel, nice after some of the caravan parks we’ve been in.  It’s a huge campground with over 300 sites, full to the brim during peak season but not too crowded while we were there.