Australian Postcards - Kakadu National Park
If you ever get the chance to visit Kakadu, grab it with both hands. It is an amazing place full of beautiful scenery, wildlife and aboriginal heritage. You really need several days to do it justice - and a 4WD to get into some of the more amazing parts.
Kakadu National Park is one of Australia’s original World Heritage areas. It is about 3 hours drive south east of Darwin in the Northern Territory. If you go to Darwin you can’t really not visit Kakadu … in my opinion anyway.
One of the more popular things to do in Kakadu is take a cruise on Yellow Water, where you can see things like this, not to mention crocodiles and birds galore.
Another place that is well worth going to is Twin Falls. Its something like 50 km down a really rough track but worth every bump and rattle. There’s a swimming hole at the bottom of the falls, which we swam in when we visited. However the next year I believe they closed it off for swimming because they found a crocodile in there. Yikes - we were taking it on faith that it was croc free when we went.
Something else well worth doing is going on a tour with an Aboriginal guide. This can help you understand their history and also can enable you to get into parts of the park where you can’t otherwise go. We went into the Cannon Hill area and were able to see things like this.
If you do get to Kakadu, take your camera - you’ll be unable to resist taking heaps of photos. Also, keep your eyes open, as you can see plenty of interesting things in unexpected places.
Oh dear, talk about making me homesick. I grew up in Darwin and the memories are flooding back.
I second everything you said Ian - it’s a magical place.
haha… i still do remember what we have experienced in that place. There was a season called Gudjeg? or Gudjegw? i cant still remember the word again but the funny thing is, the season of thunderstorn and heavy rain.. OMG we actually drove down to the town for a week (a week in town before we can see the park.. lol) but its a nice experienced.. We see alligators/crocodiles. birds, waterlilies and black-necked Stork. Thanks for the post…
Your first photograph is stunning. My wife was born in Darwin although she grew up in Adelaide. We would like to take the kids there and I would like to take a look.