Kakadu National Park – Cooinda

 12 – 15 June 2022

We had booked three nights at Cooinda so we could go on the early morning cruise on the billabong. Cooinda is another of the spots we stayed at on our round Australia trip in 1991 and we had always wanted to return. After settling in and locating the pool, we stumbled across happy hour in the bar. We decided it would be a lovely way to finish quite a long day.

We seemed to be making a habit of early mornings and on our first one in Kakadu we headed for Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) Rock just as the sun was starting to rise. Burrungkuy is the name for the upper section where rock art can be seen, and Anbanbang is the lower section and surrounding area. We weren’t the first ones there, a fellow birder Mick had made friends with in Darwin was there already. The short loop walk takes in a number of rock shelters and art sites. The art sites are evidence of continued occupation of the land by the Bininj and Mungguy people. There was a not too strenuous climb to the lookout with magnificent views and then an easy walk back to the start along a paved pathway.

After leaving Nourlangie Rock we turned off to visit Anbangbang Billabong, just a few kilometres down the road. There is a walk all the way around the billabong but we walked about half way then turned back because of the position of the sun.

Back home for lunch and a swim, then we drove to the famous Yellow Water (Ngurrungurrudja) Wetlands for a walk along the boardwalk where we saw a couple of crocodiles and lots of birds. We also drove down to Mardukal Billabong for another short walk. There is a large campground at Mardukal and a couple of walks. The one to the billabong is 500m each way, and there is a nice picnic spot by the water.

We were up even earlier the next day to go on the sunrise Yellow Water Cruise. We were picked up at the bus stop just outside the campground and bussed the short distance to the billabong for a two hour tour. Our tour guide, Adam, was knowledgable and engaging as well as being quite the comedian. We watched the sunrise and set off to explore the billabong and floodplain. There were lots of birds, as well as crocodiles, and we even saw feral pigs and buffalo.

We relaxed the day away – a swim and a then reading in the shade by the pool. Later in the afternoon we visited the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre then we drove back out towards Nourlangie Rock to the Nawurlandja Lookout Walk. This walk is fairly short with a moderately steep 300 metre climb up over rock. The view was magnificent but there was so much smoke in the air from seasonal burning.

We returned home and had an early birthday dinner for Mick at the bistro. We shared a very nice pizza that was just the right size for two people. In the morning Mick returned to Yellow Waters Billabong for a short while, before we finished packing up and moving on to Jabiru. As we needed to kill some time, we stopped in again at Nourlangie Rock and completed the walk again – still looking for some elusive birds. Because it was later in the morning when we arrived, there were lots more people there.

We continued on to Jabiru, where we would spend the next 4 nights.