29 September 2012
The first track off the main road in Kakadu coming from Darwin follows the Wildman River until you reach West Alligator Head. We decided that would be a great start to our long weekend.
Carl had a quick fish at Two Mile Hole where he lost two soft plastics in a matter of five minutes.
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| great white hunter at Two Mile Hole |
Onward to Four Mile Hole with a little sidetracking along the way. No fishing here as it was the middle of the day, but apparently this is the place at the moment if you have a boat.
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| Four Mile Hole |
We were getting pretty hungry by this time so off we went in search for some shade and you wouldn't believe off the track a bit we found...
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| not sure why this is here |
After a long and scenic drive through bushland...
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| a waterhole - we have never seen so many pelicans |
...and floodplains we reached Pococks Beach where there are toilets, showers and a boat ramp and very strangely No Camping signs everywhere. This was very confusing so we continued on to Jungle Camp (a limit of two cars) and kept on going since this was definitely in the jungle right next to croc invested mangroves. We eventually found a great place to camp near the beach at Middle Beach camping area.
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| view from camp looking out to Van Diemen Gulf |
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| view of camp from beach |
The fence went around the camp ground to keep out crocs. This location is also a nesting ground for turtles, however we didn't see any, but we did see a lot of hermit crabs that night.
30 September 2012
It ended up raining through the night and looked threatening for more in the morning so after a quick pack up we were out of there. Or so we thought. We made it to the Mannasie Floodplains which were bone dry the day before but overnight turned into...um...yeah a floodplain!!!
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| bogged, right up to side steps |
Carl shovelled, he let air out of the tyres, tried to use the max tracks...nothing was working, then along came our rescuers in a 60 series Toyota. Once they got through it was only a little bit of towing and we were freed. Thank God, I really didn't want to spend all day there, the kids wouldn't have minded as all they could say was MUD, I like MUD.
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| where the car was bogged |
After playing in the smelly mud we decided we needed to find somewhere to shower and watch the NRL grand final. Aurora was the closest place and since we didn't want to spend $192 on a room we camped ($34) and watched the game and ate at the bar, oh and goes without saying a few drinks too.
01 October 2012
Once again it rained over night and we were all suffering from million mozzie bites...we were over it...home please.
We ended up getting home in the early afternoon. Carl spent the rest of it washing the car and I spent it washing clothes. The boys got their wish and they played in mud!
