Walk at Ormiston Pound

We are back into the Red Centre of our country. The nights are cool, the days are hot. No flies yet, and no mosquitoes either. Very nice indeed. After a supply stop at Alice Springs, we are now camped at Ormiston Gorge in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Our camp spot is in National Parks, with a full moon. I have just seen a dingo walking past our tent at night!
Mum and Dad got us up early this morning and had the backpacks full of water bottles and food. We set out to do our longest bush walk yet, to Ormiston Pound. A pound seems to be a big hole in the ground such as a crater hole. The walk takes us over a hill and through stoney terrain, up a pass and further up a peak. There, quite unexpectedly, we arrive at the most amazing lookout: The valley below us is fully enclosed in mountainous regions. Not a single trace of humans or animals to be seen. No roads, no track (well, the track that we walk is hidden from view). Just sheer expanse of beautiful nature in all its glory!

 
It takes us another 3 hours to make our way through the pound and back onto the river. The rivers here are dry, sandy and rocky creeks that you can easily walk. The day finishes with a long rock scramble through Ormiston Gorge back to camp. What a beautiful day!

Crocs-A-Plenty

Yesterday we went onto a sunset croc tour at Yellow Water, Kakadu National Park. First, we saw a dead catfish. The tour guide said that if you see a dead catfish, there is nearly always a croc nearby, as they kill them as bait to attract more fish, especially barramundi, to eat. Sure as can be, there was a croc! Next we turned left at a corner until the guide shouted over the roaring motor: “Try and find some kingfishers!" or so. Well, I was the first to spot one :-)

There were crocs absolutely everywhere: in the billabong, on the river banks, quietly diving under our boat, or basking in the sun with open jaws. Small yellow crocs that have only just come into the freshwaters, or bigger black crocs that have been in the billabongs for long enough to get a black skin. Alpha, the biggest one in these waters swam so close that our tour guide slightly panicked and reversed the boat to get away from him.

After a dream free night, we got up at 6 o’clock and went to the bus stop to find that we  were having our sunrise croc tour with the same guide as yesterday afternoon. This time, the sun was just rising. There was a thick layer of fog over the water and the light looked very mysterious.

We also saw: Rajah shellducks, Jabirus (yellow eyes: female; black eyes: male),

spoonbills, whistling ducks, whistling kites, white bellied sea eagles, cormorants, Australian darters,

several species of egrets, rufous night herons - also flying, brolgas - also dancing, magpie geese, forest kingfishers, pelicans, rainbow bee eaters, crested jacanas (they walk on lilies), white necked heron, wild horses (brumbies), water buffaloes, feral pigs, wild cattle, wallabies,  small crocs, medium crocs, big crocs, one huge alpha croc!

Ubirr - our turn around point for the trip

We are now in Kakadu, where it is hot hot hot. At night after 9:00 pm the temperatures drop to very nice, but during the day we sweat! We have had lots of ranger talks yesterday and today and have learned lots about Aboriginal culture.

We went to Ubirr today, our northernmost point for the whole trip. We looked at many rock paintings in ochre of what they refer to as "x-ray-style": barramundi, freshwater turtles, mullets, all things to eat. Ranger Ben said lots of interesting things.

We then went to Cahills Crossing to look at all the saltwater crocodiles waiting for barramundi. I have never seen that many crocodiles in one spot! There were at least 10 of them right next to were I was standing! But I only looked for 10 minutes, before I tripped and injured my fingernail badly. Mum and Dad took me to the health centre for the rest of the day. I look just like Destiny, Lily or Kobe now, with a big bandage around my hand. Typing is still fine, but there might not be any hand writing for a few days.

Murky waters

It all started when we went down to the river. We met some people at the carpark who were leaning out of the window. We asked them about platypus sightings. They directed us to the bridge and said “If you wait for some bubbles, you will see one!” — and there he was. A tiny small furry creature, diving and coming back up and happily paddling around.

Bush Bird

We had been camping at Etty Bay close to the beach. I was just spinning around in circles and having fun falling down when they suddenly appeared: Big, black, sharp claws, scaly legs, a crest like a crown — the kings of the rainforest!

Funny look

Tent hunting