Kakadu

The problem with kakadu is that's it's in the middle of nowhere. The surrounds of kakadu are idyllic but the major town jabiru does not deliver the same beauty. We are staying at the crocodile hotel which is a holiday inn in the shape of a crocodile (I kid you not). You enter a very impressive foyer through the jaws of the crocodile and then the rooms behind the body disappoint greatly. If you look beyond the accommodation on offer the area doesn't disappoint. Today we visited urbirr. About an hour outside of jabiru we met the station ranger (an aborigine from the area) who gave us a tour of his homeland. His stories were about mythical creatures that would keep the children in check. Threats of spirits and the boogeyman meant that all towed the line perfectly. He told the story of the rainbow serpent where the women had fed the baby an incorrect food, the baby cried and cried woke the serpent from it sleep and in turn the serpent killed those on the tribe. The result was that men now could only hunt for food leaving the women to just care for the babies. Interesting moral. The story I loved the most was the well know story of the fight between the turtle and the echidna. The turtle threw spears ending in spikes for the echidna and the echidna threw a rock at the turtle and that's how the turtle got it's shell. Above all, the paintings and views from the rock if 
was truly magical just like the stories. 

After this we headed back to jabiru but took a detour at Cahill  crossing. Our first legitimate crocodile sighting! 

Handball while we wait for the tour to begin

Our guide and the beautifully told story of the rainbow serpent