Vikings in Australia - Víkingar í Ástralíu

25^th of September.

After brekkie, we packed everything up and headed for Jim Jim Falls. The track to Jim Jim Falls is the same one as used for Twin Falls, except the Twin Falls track crosses the Jim Jim Creek and is a few kilometers further on.

At the Jim Jim Falls visitor park we saw one other car with a young couple. The girl was wearing a light summer dress and thongs. They didn't seem to be heading out for the walk to Jim Jim, so we couldn't figure out what they were up to!

The walk to Jim Jim Falls is around two kilometers return. The last seven hundred meters one has to walk or should I say hop over boulders and rocks of various sizes. Not for the feint hearted or perhaps I should say the weak hearted! The closer you get to the falls, the bigger the rocks and we are talking about big rocks!!

Fortunately we were there in the early morning, so it wasn't all that hot as it would get later in the day. Once we got towards the end and had scrambled across some big rocks to reach the sandy beach, we were there! The gorge is surrounded by sandstone cliff faces and the water fall cascades down into a deep pool. The water fall was just a trickle so we just had to imagine what it would look like when flowing properly during the wet! The place is pretty awesome, although I think the Twin Falls are more impressive. At least the walk into Twin Falls is a lot easier!! This gorge is much wider than the Twin Falls one. The light to take photos wasn't the best as the sun was still low in the west, so bear that in mind when viewing the photos. It’s probably best to be there late afternoon, with the sun low in the eastern sky.

We were the only ones there as usual. So after some respite and photos, we headed back to the car park. The walk back was a bit more difficult as it was a lot hotter. These days the temperature gets up to the forties, so one sheds a lot of water through sweat when walking!

The car that originally was there with the couple was gone! They must have decided not to do the walk. However a fair few other travelers were just embarking on the walk as we came back. It was pretty hot by then, so we didn't envy them at all! After chatting to a few of them about the walk, we headed back towards the main Kakadu Highway.

The destination was Yellow Waters, i.e. Cooinda resort. This is the main attraction in the national park. Yellow waters is the nexus where the main rivers and flood plains meet to create these wonderful wetlands. At Yellow Waters they take you out on a boat cruise throughout the day. As we arrived, we booked a camping site at the Cooinda caravan park, plus the last boat tour of the day, starting at 4:30pm, lasting for two and a half hours.

We then had some lunch at the Cooinda bistro before heading into to the caravan park to set up our tent. After camping we just took it easy until around 4pm we drove to the jetty, where all the boat cruises commence from. The main objective was to enjoy the boat ride, watch the scenery and spot some birds! While waiting on the captain of our boat, I noticed the blue colored dragon flies flitting about. There are also some red ones as well, so I’ll try to catch a photo of those later on!

Once we embarked on our tour, the first thing we encountered was a salt water crocodile. A more accurate name is Estuarine Crocodile due to the fact that these crocs are quite happy in salt and fresh water alike! Not to mention the fact that they can travel across dry land as well, for long distances. Throughout our boat journey we continuously came across Estuarine Crocodiles so most of the photos taken by other tourists are of them. Without writing an essay about these pre-historic creatures, the male Estuarine croc collects a few females and locates himself in a territory of several hundred meters along a river or wetland area. The male then patrols the area and challenges any other male crocs that dare to venture into it. Amongst the females there is also a pecking order. The males are also prone to maiming or even killing a female that they don’t feel is behaving the way it should. Thus, along the boat trip we most often saw the females, but on occasions the male that dominated that area. Some of the females had missing bits as you would expect from an attack by the male crock. As Sibba and I had seen them up close and personal in the Crocodile farm at Wyndham, we weren't all that enthusiastic in taking photos of the Crocs. We were more interested in the bird life!

The first birds we encountered were some ducks, or according to our field guide Green Pygmy-goose. Then we saw a beautiful glossy Ibis adult.

The captain of the boat was doing a running commentary along the way. He began by announcing that he could talk continuously for a week and a half. As the trip progressed I became convinced that it was not true at all. This guy could talk under water for weeks on end!!

After some close encounters with more female Crocs we finally sighted a black necked Jabiru bird. These are quite big and even the Crocs tend to stay away from their beaks as they can become a pretty lethal weapon when required! We then had a close encounter with a flock of Plumed Whistling Ducks. It’s only when you get up close that you realize how majestic they are!

The wetland is of course packed with swathes of water lilies with these wonderful pink flowers. Not only that, but also these funny looking shower heads with seed pods. The wetlands are very scenic, apart from the occasional Crocodile that would give me the evil eye!

Further along the wetlands we came across a small flock of native wild pigs, gracing near the wetland channels. They are not large in numbers, but sure taste good according to the captain! The captain had promised to locate and show us some Comb Crested Jacana babies with their father. Sure enough, after some cruising we managed to find them. They are very hard to spot as they walk on the water lilies. It’s the father that actually hatches the eggs and then rears the babies by himself. The mother simply goes her own way, once the eggs are laid!!

It was about then we began heading back to the jetty. As we turned around we spotted a couple of big birds on the hunt for fish. They turned out to be the White-bellied Sea Eagles. I managed to snap a photo as one sat in a dead tree branch. Then we headed back as the sun was setting over the horizon. The captain was keen for us to get some cracking sunset photos, so we lingered on as the sun slowly sank below the horizon!

Although the 4:30pm tour isn't the absolute best time to do the trip. The best boat trip is the 6:45am one, when the birds are most active at the crack of dawn.

However, our afternoon trip was quite spectacular and we were enthralled with the scenery and wildlife!! An afternoon well spent.

Back in camp were going to cook up a chicken dish on the gas stove, when we came to the horrible realization that the gas bottle was empty. We carry two 4.5kg gas bottles on the roof rack and had used the first one for the first two months of our trip until it became empty. Thus the second one had only been pressed into service for a couple of weeks. Why it was empty in such a short time, I can only speculate. We couldn't get a gas refill until the following day, so we had to make do with some hot soup.