We were up before dawn to go on the Yellow Waters Sunrise Cruise which left the Cooinda jetty at 0630. Our guide was Reuben, a middle aged aboriginal (whose mum was a white English woman so he told us – in his words he had the best of both worlds!). Reuben was hilarious and very knowledgeable and so kept us entertained for the whole 2 hr cruise.

We watched the sun rise over the East Alligator River…

Saw lots of birdlife in the monsoonal waterways and swamp area…

Saw saltwater crocs in the water and on the banks….

Learnt about the amazing plant and animal life in the area and saw so many beautiful sights…..

We returned to Cooinda Lodge and after a great all you can eat buffet breakfast which was included as part of the cruise, we spent the rest of the day exploring more of Kakadu. Starting out at the Warradjan Cultural Centre we learnt more about the culture of the various aboriginal clans that inhabit Kakadu. It was interesting to see how they defined the seasons as depicted on a rock painting at the centre.

We did the lookout and art gallery walk at Nourlangie and saw some really interesting examples of primitive rock art.

The rock formations were huge boulders that were ideal for sheltering in during the wet season and you could imagine the aboriginal clan living in the area quite easily.

The view from the lookout extended across Kakadu over to Arnhem Land and consisted of large rocky outcrops, mountain ranges with huge cliff faces, and expansive areas of bushland.

From Nourlangie we went to Anbangbang Billabong which was alive with bird life and carpeted in waterlilies…beautiful but definately a crocs paradise!

After lunch back at camp, we drove south to Maguk and walked in over the monsoonal swampland and up the creek to a plunge pool at the base of a waterfall. Again another gorgeous natural pool though we did swim cautiously as crocs have been found there – there had been other people swimming there before we arrived so we figured that if a saltie was there it would have chomped someone earlier!