Skippy

We were up at 5;30 this morning to go on a breakfast river cruise. We had a hot breakfast as we cruised up the first gorge. Then we moored and walked 600 metres up to the second gorge and continued cruising. Skippy was very excited and pranced all around the boats. On the way back Mrs Parrot, Skippy and Mr Parrot got coffee and fruit and sat up the back of the boat so we could have a great view as we left the gorge.
After we got off the boat Mrs Parrot went and organised the helicopter flight in a little four seater while I went and found this cache.
Skippy was very excited to be going up in the helicopter and kept poking his head in front of the camera. We flew up through all the gorges and landed on the rocks at the top of the gorge. After getting a photo we got back on the helicopter and went and followed the river before it entered the gorge.
We saw some buffalo and the Pilot did some figure eight sweeps around them so we could view them. Mr Parrot and Skippy thought that was fun but Mrs Parrot had a different opinion. My GPS showed we got up to 245 kilometres.
Mr Parrot decided to go back to the camp while we went out caching. We found lots of caches around Katherine and saw the place the Overland Telegraph crossed the Katherine River. We then visited the local museum and the Hot Springs. During the afternoon we went back for a short time between caching for a swim in the pool.
We got back at sunset and Mrs Parrot had dinner waiting for us.
Tomorrow we pack up and start heading back home.

Today we parked up our camp in Cooinda by Yellow water in Kakadu and headed down the Kakadu Highway past the Mary River Roadhouse and back on to the Stuart Highway.
We were on our return trip back home to Adelaide.
However there is one park left to visit before the big drive back.
We have to stop at Katherine and see their park. We made it to Edith Falls by the early afternoon and couldnt resist going for a swim in the pool in front of the falls. There were several aboriginal children fishing by the water edge and they got quite excited when they saw a water lizard making his way down to the edge, We were joined by a gaggle or should that be giggle of teenage female tourists who all made a big noise about how cold they thought the water was. For us South Australians I can assure you it was beautiful. After a swim we had lunch about 10 metres from the cache. After lunch we found it and then went on to Katherine.
At Katherine we made camp at the Shady rest Caravan park which is along the road to Katherine Gorge. We are getting up at 5:30 tomorrow and driving to the Gorge to go on a breakfast cruise. Later in the day Skippy is going to make like QANTAS and be a flying kangaroo if we can organise a helicopter flight.
Sitting under the stars at 10:17pm writing this.
I have just turned off the light on the trailer as frogs keep launching themselves at the reflected light on our tent and waking up Skippy and Mrs Parrot.

This has been a big day.
Woken up at 5am by caravaners on either side of us thinking this would be a good time to start packing up their vans. When we got up we had no power and management told us they would send round an electrician. I plugged into one of the sites vacated and the day got better.
First up we did a Yellow river cruise on the wetlands. This was a great experiences. we saw lots of the local bird life and flora. There were also crocodiles on the banks of the river and swimming along in it, This lasted 2 hours and was a treat the birds were amazing. The largest was the Jabiru which is like a stork and builds a large nest and the littlest was Lilly Runners chicks. They have big feet which lets them run across the Lilly pads.
The crocodiles looked fierce just laying their sunning themselves on the bank and when a big one dove underwater after swimming beside the boat we beat a hasty retreat.
There was also lots of plant life in this wetland area and my favorite was the sacred Lilly.
After the cruise we did a bit of 4 wheel driving out to Jim Jim falls this was about 60 kilometres on dirt with the last 10 kilometres being a fun 4wd track. There was soft sand and a couple of small creek crossings and lots of bumps.
At the Jim Jim car park it was still over a kilometre to the falls which docent sound far but this was a scramble over big boulders which certainly made it a chore.
The falls however were magnificent and there was two plunge pools in front of them that we had been told by rangers was safe to swim in.
I passed lots of people on the way in who had been for a dip and there was some in the water when I arrived. The pool closest to the falls was cool and deep. I swam over to where you could feel the mist of the descending water. I t was amazing to lay on your back and see the cascading down.
Back to the car on the way out we found a Japanese girl walking alongside the track. She explained she had walked in earlier in the day with some other blokes who had walked on ahead.
They didn't have a 4WD. We squashed some gear up in the back and made some room for her. When we finally caught up to her friends they were a bit disappointed we didn't have room for them,
We dropped her off at her camp ground and then went looking for this cache.
I was certainly feeling weary by the time I had climbed to the top.
Then back to the camping grounds for a dip in the pool before dinner.
So I am now typing up this log and will soon be going to bed.

Day 17

This was an absolutely amazing experience.
We arrived at this location the night before after driving in from Darwin.
It was almost sunset and we got a camping spot at Ubirr and the Rangers suggested we go round to the lookout at the art site to watch the sunset. It was very beautiful and once again very red because of the smoke haze.
It was dark by the time we got back to the camp site and we were horrified to find we were literally being carried away by mosquitos.
They were thick and thousands of them. I had bought some Banana prawns in Darwin for dinner and cooked them on our Hibachi but it was no fun trying to eat them with the swarm around us. We escaped to our tent for the night and when the sun appeared they disappeared,
We had breakfast and packed up. We then called in at the Border store to find the cache before going around to the Aboriginal Art site for another look.
What a moving experience. Art thousands of years old with stories passed down from one generation to the next.
Back out the art site and we checked out Cahill's Crossing which leads into Arnham Land. Then onto Jabiru for some more caches and then some more example of Aboriginal culture at Nawurlandja. The rock here was impressive as well.

From there we headed for Cooinda and our camp for the night.