Rain did arrive during the night and it continued on through until morning and beyond. Yesterday afternoon when we met with the four Darwinians in the pool, they told us they were off on the evening wetland cruise. I had checked out the local weather and knew that a thunder storm was due to strike half way through their cruise, so was a little smug about the fact that the forecast promised only showers at the very worst in the morning and an end to the heavy rain, and we had been canny enough to book for the breakfast cruise.
How wrong I was! The thunder storms did not arrive late
in the afternoon as forecasted; I
imagine that the Darwinians thoroughly enjoyed their voyage. We, on the other
hand, found our way across to the jetty on Home Billabong in the dark of the
early morning, puddles all around and rain still falling steadily on our umbrellas.
Despite having been told to be on board quarter of an hour before departure time,
we were still waiting for the last half dozen five minutes after we should have
left. The stragglers arrived rain sodden and not at all happy.
Chris and I spent two very enjoyable hours cruising back
and forward across the Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu’s most famous wetland,
located at the end of the Jim Jim Creek, one of many lagoons and creeks that
feed into the South Alligator River. The river system, which is the largest in
Kakadu, contains extensive wetlands that include river channels, floodplains
and back water swamps. Even overnight, water levels had risen so much so that
the boat launching area Chris and I had seen yesterday was all underwater, as
was a large part of the camping ground, fenced off yesterday because the ground
was a little boggy. This morning the unpowered camping area had disappeared
completely.
Today on the water, the rain continued to fall and
the magic of a sunrise cruise with the mass of birds greeting the day and the
changes in light was absent. We saw acres of water grass, lotus lilies, melaleuca
trees and freshwater mangroves, egrets and darts, eagles and kingfishers, the
splashes of jumping fish and amazing flotillas of free-floating salvinia weed,
native to South America, imported as an aquarium plant, now invasive and a real
quarantine problem. We hunted for crocs peering into that same weed and under
the mangroves but those who do live there were too sensible to be out in the
rain.
Chris and I managed to stay relatively dry even in
the open aluminium boat, finding seats across the aisle from one another,
leaving the outside seats to catch the rain.
Our guide, young Sheldon, was wonderful and the service could not be faulted.
If I say I was disappointed, I would seem ungracious and I do not mean to be,
because it was all quite wonderful. However I would caution anyone against
paying a premium for the cruises at either end of the day when the conditions
are as they have been for us over the last couple of days.
Breakfast in the Bistro Restaurant was marvellous as
are all hotel buffet breakfasts. It was the first for nearly five years for me and
was every bit as good as the last. Beautiful fresh fruit and yoghurt, bacon,
scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans, potatoes, toast, hot cross buns, French pastries,
expresso coffee; how could we not wax lyrical? Greed kicked in and we ate well
before returning to the caravan, packing up and heading out on to the highway.
On the cruise we had chatted with a Dutch couple who
had driven through from Jabiru, through the even greater floods than we had
passed the day before. They had found it quite frightening and were even more
concerned to learn that the water was now across the road and there was a
chance the road back to Jabiru might be closed.
South of Cooinda, we also found the landscape had
totally changed. Everywhere, but the elevated road, was underwater and the
rivers gushed through the culverts with incredible force. The Kakadu Highway is
quite a marvel; that it has been built and still remains despite the floods
that must have come and gone across the years. Water was across the road in
parts but nowhere were we in any danger. Sheldon, the boat captain / tour
guide, had warned us to watch out for feral horses and buffalo on the road. They
apparently seek refuge nearer the roads during floods. We saw neither feral
beast although we did see evidence of buffalo dung on the bitumen. In fact we
saw very little wildlife at all, just a few small roos rushing into the
roadside bush, a few dead or perhaps drowned snakes and just one road-killed
dingo.
As we passed over the south western boundary of the National Park, this huge tract of land covering nearly 20,000 square kilometres,
we came away from the low lying wetlands and into the gentle hills that
continue on through to Pine Creek, where we joined the Stuart Highway yet again
and travelled on south to Katherine.
We were surprised to see evidence of flooding as we
closed on Katherine, the Cullen, Fergusson and Edith Rivers were all raging
torrents and other more minor creeks had been across the highway leaving random
craters calling for urgent repair. As we crossed the Katherine River into the
town of the same name, we were appalled to see what had just two weeks ago been
a small brown river far below the bridges, now a wide and wild sea just three
metres beneath the bridge.
Checking the rainfall for the area, I discovered
that the rainfall measurements over the last four days of March were 117.6 mm,
79.4 mm, 63.4 mm and 23.6 mm. Is it any wonder that the Katherine is as high as
it is? Obviously the Lo-level Bridge across the Katherine, the southern access
to the Big4 Tourist Park, is well under water. After we had finished shopping
for groceries and refilling with diesel we decided we could not be bothered to
turn north to travel to that lovely caravan park by the alternative route.
Instead we decided to try out this park that we had
seen several times during our previous visit to Katherine, the Boab Resort which has its very own
lovely boab tree near the entrance. The park is immaculate, very professionally
presented although the front man today was less so. He is the owner and it
being Easter Monday, not encouraged by the employment laws to have staff on
board today. I can sympathise with that however I can only hope that his
receptionist is superior to him in this particular facet of the business.
Interestingly we found that despite the hefty tariff, there is no on-site dump
point and a charge of $5.50 levied on any guest who should choose to use their on-board
washing machine. I quizzed him on this and learned that this arose from guests
abusing the “free” water and sullage en masse. He assured me that there was a
general movement by caravan park owners to levy this extra charge. To me it
does not come as a real surprise and only serves to confirm that my own laundry
management is the most practical way. I am sure however that those washing-machine-toting-caravanning-ladies
will disagree with me. Let us agree to disagree, but let me also warn them of
this lurking fee.
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