To Broome and Back!: Day 46. Kakadu National Park. Jabiru

A late start today as we only had some 60 kms to travel from Kakadu Lodge in Jabiru to the Gagudju Lodge, Cooinda in the Yellow Water Region (aboriginal name "Ngurrungurrudjba" ) of the National Park. Some of the local names are hard to understand.

The weather here is just so good. Clear heat, no humidity and temperatures between 16 and 31 deg every day. Weather reports from Dingley are cold, windy but with little or no rain - how lucky are we.

Early lunch then a cool off in the pool before readying for another highlight of the trip - a sunset boat cruise on the Yellow Waters Billabong.
We arrived at the wharf and boarded for our two hour trip and cruised up the billabong. Our first encounter was a Darter Cormorant drying out on a branch after eating a small fish. The Darter has a needle like beak that spears the prey, it then leaves the water and swallows the catch head first.
On turning the next bend we came upon a crocodile sunning on the bank. This was one of many crocs that we saw. Our guide and boat captain Adam explained that a large croc skin could fetch up to $20,000 or $30,000.
The Yellow Waters are surrounded by mangrove swamps, Pandanus Palms and other vegetation that is home to over 200 species of birds and the Asian Lotus Ponds dotted around the waters are very pretty and particularly interesting as they are inhabited by a very small bird called a Jacana or Lily Hopper. Some of the birds that were pointed out to us were Night Herons, King Fishers, Spoonbills, Whistling Ducks, Willie Wagtails, Brolgas, White Bellied Sea Eagles, Rainbow Bee Eaters Magpie Geese and others. Cruising further down the waters we came across a Jabiru feeding in the mangroves, and whilst we were observing him at close quarters he ate a fish and a small water snake. He must have had a very full belly. Very close nearby, we spotted a Croc that would have been about 2 metres, with only his eyes and snout visible above the water line, eyeing off the Jabiru. We had to move on at this point because it was nearing the time of sunset, and Adam wanted to move our boat to a special spot on the water to capture the best photos of the sunset, so we do not know if the Croc attacked the Jabiru.
There are over 50 species of fish in the Yellow Waters along with Pythons, Pig Nosed Turtles and other creatures, and as we were returning to the wharf the fish were jumping out of the water and we passed a small boat with two fishermen heading off to do some fishing. John was extremely jealous as it looked like they would be very successful.
We saw a beautiful sunset and came back to camp feeling quite elated after a wonderful afternoon.