East Alligator River

We arrived at Cahill’s Crossing by high tide (10:26am) to watch the saltwater crocodiles gather to catch fish as they wash over the road crossing the East Alligator River between Kakadu and Arnhem Land. We saw about ten crocodiles in all (three in the image below), and a single egret that stood sentry on the crossing. Foolishly, some people don’t heed the warning signs about the crocodiles, and stand on the roadway close to the water’s edge. At the nearby Border Store, we ate Thai food in the shaded outdoor eating area, and bought tickets for the Guluyambi Cultural Cruise (Parks Australia link), which was one of the highlights of our trip. While on the cruise, we saw the egret at Cahill’s Crossing and many more crocodiles in the river.For two and half hours, Neville, a multi-lingual and multi-skilled local Aboriginal man, was our guide, teacher, and entertainer. He showed us how to make a paintbrush from an aerial root of the pandanus tree; demonstrated spear-throwing (he threw three spears across the river, from Arnhem Land to Kakadu); and shared the story of rock art in a cave high above the river.Our tour was joined by a tiny frog that hopped on the boat from Arnhem Land. We saw a majestic grey heron. and the beautiful East Alligator River At the end of the tour, we paid for a site at the Jabiru campground before heading to Ubirr, which has some amazing rock art. I have read that rock art is meant to be seen in place, and so I decided not to post any photos of the artwork. Overlooking the Nadab floodplain from Ubirr.We left Ubirr before sunset and returned to an area with a large rocky outcrop and wetlands near Magellan Creek to watch the sunset (until we couldn’t stand being devoured by mosquitoes any longer).

Kakadu Sunset