​May 22 to 26  Five amazing days exploring Arnhem Land and the Cobourg Peninsula.

This was one of those once in life-time kind of trips! An absolute must for the bucket list; it exceeded our expectations in so many ways. Cobourg Peninsula, Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, had been on my must-see list for 3-4 years and Arnhem Land for much much longer - and this tour whetted my appetite to see more!
We were picked up from our caravan park before 7 Monday morning and were dropped back right to our door about 8.30 Friday night exhausted but feeling very happy.

Lotus and water lilies, fringed lillies and water birds. Stunning and lush!

On our way to Jabiru our first overnight spot, we stopped for a cruise on the Corroborree Billabong. What a fabulous start to the trip. We saw so many beautiful birds including the funny little jacana (AKA the Jesus bird as it walks on water). They have very long legs and huge delicate feet and sport a red comb on their heads which looks for all the world like a bougainvillea flower. Sweet!
We passed through stunning countryside from water-lily encrusted swamps and billabongs teaming with gorgeous birds - jabiru, brolga, egrets, herons, magpie geese, whistling and plumed ducks plus plus, to vast stretches of savannah with its mega grasses as well as forests and tropical scrub.

Fire is used in the traditional way in Kakadu as a successful management system. Amazing to be up so close - particularly in the weather we were having. This was at Nourlangie where we stopped for lunch. No not BBQ!

That night we experienced our first camp dinner - barramundi cooked in foil with garlic and lime and Chinese pork all cooked on the BBQ, delicious. Fruit and flowers decorated the table - we were impressed!

Great roads eh!? Just our style. As a matter of interest what was once called Oenpelli is called Gunbalunya. At this stage we have left Kakadu and are driving through Arnhem Land.

The billabongs and creeks were very enticing but there were crocs around so ...... we just enjoyed looking.
Incidentally the freshwater pandanus on the left is used for many things art and food related

Our little group (there were 4 'guests' and our fabulous guide Alex plus another guy learning. We had to time our arrival at East Alligator River to catch the right phase of the tide. Amazing that far up river! In the water on the right, downstream you can see the wheels of an upturned car. Timing is everything!

On the way to the Garig Gunak Barlu the following day, we climbed Injalak Hill and Nourlangie Rock to visit ancient rock art sites, visited art centres to watch traditional artist translate ancient stories onto bark, canvas, silk and wood. And to watch women sitting in the sahde of banyan trees weaving pandanus leaf baskets and mats. Truly brilliant. All rather idyllic.

Michael our guide was a gentle knowledgable and patient teacher. He is explaining what the images in this location are and how they were done. Many in this site were the X-ray style which shows the skeleton and innards on the creatures depicted. The colours were wonderful.

The climb was strenuous - to us at least. So Michael and our amazing guide Alex took a bit of time out while we cooled down a bit.

Cooling down and trying to keep out of the sun for a little while. There was quite a bit of clambering over rocks and the like. I am definitely NOT fit enough ... but I did it hooray for me !!!!

This jumble of giant boulders and rock cliffs was a bit like Hanging Rock - multiply by 10! Without Michael we would have become hopelessly lost - actually we would never have found the place or been allowed to climb it.

See what I mean!? I just fit through sliding part of the way over boulders glancing above as I went to check on the wee bats clinging to the rock face - asleep we reckoned!

And we got to the top! Well as far as it was safe for us whities to go. Lindsay walked out on to an rock ledge overlooking Gunbalanya and the swamp. I hid in the safety of the shade! We ate lunch here - can you imagine a more spectacular al fresco setting? Hardware Lane eat your heart out.

Remember those freshwater pandanus? Well here's one of their uses. The end of the strip of leaf the artist bites it back to just a few strands to paint with - the number of strands depends on what they are painting. Their paint brushes were anything from one thin strand to 4 or 5. Such delicate work!

This is Injalak Hill which we climbed with a local aboriginal guide Michael to see the rock art above and visit a traditional burial site.

The peninsula is bordered by an extensive Marine Park where you might be luck enough to see turtles and if you're very very lucky dugongs - I saw some of the former but sadly none of the latter. We saw salt-water crocs, a variety of sharks, fish species that would give a fisherman happy dreams - turtles, rays, and in the rocks mud crabs and cockles, coral and other exotica for we southerns. The whole of the peninusula is a Ramsar site where birds and wetlands are protected.

This is our travelling rig - a 7 seater Landcruiser (like the one we have) with trailer. Boy that trailer was packed! The last store, except for Gunbalanya, was Jabiru.

Nice tent eh! Natural aircon and trillion dollar views. In fact everything was open air - the loos, showers, wash basins, kitchen & dining room and the all important bar.

This is one of the loos in Venture North's coastal camp. Loo paper was held in huge scalloped 'baskets' of hard coral, and other coral, drift wood and palm fronds decorated the space. The loo was like a throne with shell-edged views of the tropic scrub. Amazing!!

All aboard for a cruise around Port Essington destination the old Victorian Settlement ruins across a large expanse of water. The settlement which was stablished as a British protection outpost, survived for about 60 years. Very hard going. The body of water is bigger than Sydney harbour they say.

The remains of an ammunitions magazine. This is Alex explaining it all to us. He carried yummy lunches and snacks for us in this backpack. He was a star!

Day 4 we went mud crabbing and generally mucking about along the extensive coast. Wonderful. Alex managed to capture a big mud crab in spite of his spear being broken. Lindsay and I collected a dozen or more sand cockles. All together, we had enough for happy hour nibbles! I saw coral - red and green, hard and soft. Shells like you've never seen outside of a museum, and all sorts of beach treasures. Rather like a mini paradise for beach combers. Did anyone say me!?

Funny but true! We have since seen one for turtles.  

Turtles nest on beaches like this but not when we were there unfortunately.

And we ate fresh, delicious food sipping champers on the cliffs overlooking Port Essington, an enormous bay which opens onto the Arafura Sea. At sunset we watched fish and ‘other’ wildlife swimming in the shallows 20-25 metres below the open air Sunset bar where we sipped cool drinks and ate yummy nibbles.

Our resident croc ~4 metres. He visited each morning and at dusk. He was beautiful to watch so slow and graceful until something hit the beach or the water and then he moved like greased lightning. Sent a shiver down your spine. Interestingly he didn't bother the fish - queenies and large brim, which just swam around him. Strange?!

This tour bus went too close to the edge of the 'road'. The water was still close to the surface. They had to helicopter people out! Whoa ... we were glad we went with Venture North - the family or rather the brothers who run this package comes from country Victoria - say no more!

Big white hunter Alex really too close to the river but hoping to catch a barramundi for dinner. He caught quite a few but released them because they were under size. Don't go in the water!!! That's what we were told.

Last important stop was at Ubirr Rock to see some more rock art. This site had some examples of 'contact art'. AKA images from when local aboriginals first made contact with white explorers. Here are a couple of paintings of muskets. Hard to imagine what they thought of such strange beings and weapons.

Who could ask for more? I just loved the whole trip!

The Sunset Bar with a private view into a real live aquarium! And sunsets to die for. Our host is pouring us champers to welcome us. Nice!?

How many photos can you take of a sunset? Which is the best? Choices, choices - they were all glorious but as they say .... you had to be there.