Day 18: Kakadu National Park

Samuel is already awake at 5:30 am and our alarm rings at 5:45 am. We have to get up early because we booked a morning boat tour. At 6:25 am, we take the bus from the campsite to the boat dock. It's already nice and warm, and the sun is shining.

In Cooinda, there are more people and the two boats that depart are not too crowded. At the beginning of our boat tour, we see a large saltwater crocodile, and an even bigger one follows. The guide encourages us to take photos, as crocodiles are rare at this time of year and in these temperatures. During our tour on the Yellow River and the South Aligator River, we see many ducks, some crocodiles, kingfishers... We are glad that we chose the morning tour, as the temperature is already quite hot at this time, but surely more pleasant than in the late afternoon. The flies are annoying, but luckily there are no mosquitoes yet in the morning. The warm morning light creates a beautiful play of colors in the landscape. We enjoyed the boat tour, but the 2-hour ride is a bit too long for the kids. Maxima is sleeping, but Samuel is relieved when we finally get back on the bus.

Back in Cooinda, we go to the restaurant for breakfast (included in the boat tour). Such an adventurous morning makes us hungry, and we indulge in the buffet. Especially Maxima can't get enough of the scrambled eggs.

We spontaneously decide to stay for one more night in Cooinda. We do our laundry and go to the swimming pool. Unfortunately, we have attracted an ant colony. Through the power cable, a mini ant colony has found its way into our camper. We store all opened food tightly sealed.

In the afternoon, we take another tour through the national park. We drive to Nawurlandja. Here, there is supposed to be a walking path around the billabong. Unfortunately, the path only leads along the water for a while and is closed from about halfway. We turn back. Despite its shortness, we really enjoyed the walk. We saw some birds and wallabies, and the landscape is very beautiful.

We drive a little further to Nourlangie. Here, we take the walk to the other side of the billabong. It mostly leads through the forest and is less interesting. Afterwards, we climb to the top of the rock at the other end of the parking lot. The sun is setting and bathes the entire surroundings in a warm light. Once we reach the top, we sit down on the warm rock and enjoy the great view. It's really a beautiful spot! Highly recommended!

It's getting dark and we make our way back to the camp. Since it's already quite late, we only have ham and cheese toast for dinner.

10/11/2016

Overnight stay: Cooinda Caravan Park

Weather: sunny, 38 degrees

93 kilometers traveled today, total of 871 km