2 - 4 July 2022
After a lunch stop at the Mary River Ranger Station we drove on to Djaradjin Campground. There are no bookings for Kakadu campgrounds so we hoped we would get in. Being school holidays we expected it to be crowded but when we arrived at about 2:30pm, there was only 3 other camps set up.
Once we were settled we headed to Burrunguy (Nourlangie Rock) to have another look for the Banded Fruit-Dove along the Barrk Sandstone Walk. This is a difficult and challenging walk and we only walked the first 250 metres to the spot where I'd seen the fruit-dove a few weeks before. Unfortunately we didn't even hear them calling this time.
Back at camp, the campground had filled up and we were surrounded by campervans, tents and a couple of caravans. There was even a school group at one end of the campground. The ranger came around to collect our fees which must be paid in cash. He stopped to chat and provided some information about where to find particular birds. Mick already knew most spots, but it was good to have it confirmed.
We were a bit wary about the possibility of the mosquitoes being bad due to the proximity to wetlands and billabongs but apart from a small number just on dusk and again at sunrise, they were not much of a problem.
After getting up before the sun we drove to Nawurandja Lookout hoping for rock pigeons - not this time - then down to Anbangbang Billabong where Mick spent some time trying to photograph the resident Rainbow Bee-eaters.
We spent the afternoon enjoying the quiet at camp and then drove down the road for another session looking for birds. We returned to camp and lit a fire even though it wasn't that cold, but we did cook on it. It seems for some people that if you have a fire pit in the camp, you should light a fire, no matter what the temperature.
We set off in the morning with a stop at the Mary River Ranger Station for morning tea before making our way back to Pine Creek for a couple of nights.
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