After a hot buffet breakfast we check out of the Kakadu Crocodile Hotel and drive back down towards the Cooinda Lodge. We have a booking for the Yellow Water Cruise at 11.30 AM. There are no shuttles down to the jetty, so we walk around the caravan park, keeping to the shade and away from the scorching sun.
After signing the COVID documents, we climb aboard the flat bottomed aluminium boat. Everyone already aboard is sitting on the shady side and there is a definite list. Then the remaining tourists climb aboard and it is righted.
The are families, grey nomads and a pair we dub the Instagram Couple with Mr Tattooed Fitness and Ms Makeup Flirty. Our guides are young Jeremy and grizzled Chiso.
We slowly make our way out into the Home Billabong, then up the Yellow Water, named either for tannins in the water or for a carpet of yellow lilies destroyed by the introduced water buffalo. Along the way we pass the Dry Season docks of the cruises, walkways and pontoons submerged by the high water levels.
The waterways lead out into the misnamed South Alligator River.
We cruise through a variety of habitats, partly submerged paperbark and pandanus savannah, past buffalo grass, clumps of native bamboo, freshwater mangroves and broad mats of waterlilies, white and yellow. The pink lotus will emerge in a few weeks.
Beneath the water long water grass waves in the boat's wash. Fish dart alongside. The most common I see are the small Archer Fish, capable of shoot down insects with jets of water. A school of Freshwater Longtom glide past like needles. Near the edges, Rainbow Fish dart between the reeds. Other larger species occasionally emerge and disappear in the depths.
It is wonderfully serene and entirely beautiful.
Chiso describes the vegetation and wildlife. We watch a Whistling Kite catch fish while its mate looked on from a nearby nest, calling to him. A couple of red crested Jacana walking on the lilies, one with tiny fuzzball chicks tagging along behind.
The real target are crocodiles, but at this time of day the big fellas are hiding away. We do spot a juvenile or freshwater croc lurking in the mangroves.
I'm not disappointed. Just cruising through the beautiful landscape is enough.
On our return we have lunch at the Cooinda Lodge for a second day running. B orders local barramundi, me a water buffalo steak. I'm not certain that they quite match the descriptions when it comes to local ingredients, but the meals are more than satisfying.
Before we head off back to Darwin we stop again at the Wirradjan Cultural Centre to purchase a small painting of a catfish amongst the lilies that I had my eye on yesterday. It will be a reminder of today.
The drive back is mostly uneventful, though the landscape looks particularly fine beneath the heavy tropical clouds. The wallabies are still grazing on the green grass near the South Alligator River crossing and I spot a mother with a joey in her pouch.
We have a great laugh when, for the fourth time we pass the annoyingly slow car with the numberplate LUV4WD, also heading back towards Darwin. Yesterday, on the way in, the group of fashionably young people had been doing 80km/h in a 130km/h zone, driving even a truck to distraction! This time a bloke, rather than bandana lady, was driving, doing about 10km/h faster. Very strange!
Eventually we rejoin the Stuart Highway and I spot a US KC-135 tanker descending into Darwin, something a little different.
Before I turn in for the day I have a short swim with Alex, then head up to the rooftop bar to watch the sunset over the Darwin skyline.
I'm so pleased that we made it to Kakadu. Although much of the park was closed due to the Wet Season, there was still so much to see and learn. It really was like going to another country. It's not my country, I'm a southern boy, but it was a privilege to walk those lands and hear a few of the stories from those that call it home.
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