Bradley Family at Kakadu – Part 2

We have headed further north in Kakadu National Park.

First up we visited the Bowali Visitors Centre and learned about a lot of different animals that they have up here. We have seen so many honey ants and what we thought were spider webs are actually the work of weaver ants! The newborn larvae make the silk that glues the leaves together and they build incredible nests. We’ve seen them everywhere here in Kakadu and they leave us alone, unless we accidentally touch their house- which Daddy did. Then all of them come out biting. He said it didn’t hurt that much, phew!

This afternoon we went out to Cahills Crossing to see if we could spot any crocs. We saw a couple on the riverbanks on the other side.

We waited for them to move or do something, but they looked pretty comfy and were not too keen to move. Suddenly we heard a big excited shout from Mummy telling us to hurry over as there was a huge one near her. We rushed over to find that Mummy had been watching a log the whole time- she said she is going to go to SpecSavers when we get home.

That evening we walked to Ubirr and sat on the edge of the rock face to watch the sun go down. The colours in the sky were so beautiful. On our way back to the carpark we heard some noises and saw a Rock Wallaby. We got pretty close and were able to take a quick photo before it hopped away, but being nighttime, all you could see was two glowing white eyes, which made it look really creepy!

The next morning we went back to Cahills Crossing and saw more than 20 crocodiles coming in with the tide. They were much more active this time. They would wait patiently with their mouths open and you could see the fish coming and jumping out of the water, then you’d hear a pop sound as the croc’s jaws clamped together and snapped up these huge fish with three bites! To make it even more exciting, a road train came through while we were there and the crocs barely bothered to move out of the way for it.

Then we went for a big hike through the bush just up the road and Eagle spotted a common tree snake on the grass right in front of us. It froze like a stick and then when it realised after about a minute that we were still watching it, it slithered off so fast- up and over the rise and it was gone!

The following day we explored around the wetlands at Mamukala birds lookout. It was the most incredible sight. Birds, stalks, ducks, geese, kites and all kinds of birds sharing this incredible waterhole filled with pink lillies and green water leaves that looked like they touched the horizon. We stayed there for ages just watching them do their thing.

Just when you think you’re getting to know the land, something always seems to surprise you.

Thank you Kakadu, we’ve had the best time!

–Lyla and Eagle

What’s Next?

heck out the rest of the Real Life Classroom posts here!