spaswinefood: Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park at Jabiru

Kakadu National Park, one of the top places to visit in Australia's Northern Territory, was was our next stop after Darwin. Australia's natural icon is the largest terrestial national park in Australia, covering over 20,000 square kilometers.

Top Views from Ubirra, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Ubirra Rock Outcrop, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

The Northern Territory is home to many parks, with Kakadu National Park and Uluru-Katu Tjuta (Ayers Rock) National Park being the best known. Spaswinefood has discovered that the main industries in the Northern Territory are tourism and mining. Moreover, tourism in the Northern Territory is primarily centered around two national parks, Kakadu National Park and Uluru-Katu Tjuta (Ayers Rock) National Park. This makes Kakadu National Park, not only one of the Northern Territory's most visited parks, but also extremely important for its tourist industry. Given that there is so much to see and do at Kakadu this post will primarily focus our activities in the Jabiru area whereas a future post will cover the Cooinda area.

Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Journey to Jabiru, Kakadu National Park
Located 240 km. east of Darwin our drive to Kakadu National Park was a very pleasant half-day drive. Along the route we began to get a sense of the outback in Australia's Northern Territory.

Bird Billabong © Spaswinefood

Soon it was time for a lunch stop in Mary River where we also purchased our park pass.

Mary River © Spaswinefood

Then of course as we traveled along the Arnhem Highway there were the usual crocodile reminders.

Crocodile Alert, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Later the sign for Jabiru appeared.

Jabiru, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

After we arrived in Jabiru we checked into the Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park for two nights. The first evening was a time to kick back and relax over a glass wine and chat with our traveling buddies and new Aussie friends at the campground. It was time to celebrate with a very special Barossa Valley. The Yalumba Winery, Eden Valley, Hand Picked Shiraz + Viognier 2012 was just perfect for this occasion.

Yalumba Winery, Eden Valley, Hand Picked Shiraz + Viognier 2012 © Spaswinefood

We had bought this wine earlier in the Barossa Valley such that we could celebrate when we arrived in special places, like Kakadu National Park.

Now let's take a look at some of the activities we did in the Jabiru area.

Exploring Jabiru, Kakadu National Park
Most visitors I suspect visit the Bowali Visitor Centre to get an update on park activities. The centre's wonderful interpretive displays provide an excellent orientation to the park. There is also a souvenir shop, a coffee shop and yes Wi-Fi.

Bowali Visitor Centre, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

There is so much to see and do at Kakadu National Park that you have to choose. After the visitor's Centre we were off to the Ubirra area to checkout the rock art. The rock art at Kakadu is world class. There are 5,000 Aboriginal art sites throughout the park. It has one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the world. This is one of the reasons why Kakadu National Park has World Heritage status. The best locations for observing rock art are Ubirra and Nourlangie. We were fortunate during our stay to visit both sites.

Ubirra Rock Art
We explored the Aboriginal rock art at Ubirra with with one of the park rangers, Keith. He introduced us to what aboriginal life in the Ubirra area was like about 20,000 years ago.

Ubirra Rock Shelter, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

The rock shelter became an art gallery of drawings of plants and animals that lived in the area. It was also a place where the rock art drawings tell stories of the past.

Ubirra Art Gallery, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Ubirr Rock Art, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

The Aboriginal people and the Mimi spirits considered the rock art to be sacred sites and have been protecting the areas throughout time.

Please Protect Ubirr Rock Art © Spaswinefood

Explanation of Mimi Spirits, Kakadu © Spaswinefood

At the site there were a number of animal drawings that played an important role in the peoples lives at that time. Today the Aboriginal people in the area continue to share stories about the significance of the various drawings.

Turtle Drawing, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Fish Drawing, Ubirra, Kakadu © Spaswinefood

The Mabuyu drawing was used to tell a story about the dangers of stealing.

Mabuyu Drawing, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

It is quite common for the drawings to teach a lesson about appropriate behaviour. Story telling continues to be an important oral tradition of Australia's Aboriginal people.

Story Telling Lesson, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

The story of the Rainbow Serpent is another important lesson that is shared.

Rainbow Serpent Drawing, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Rainbow Serpent Story, Kakadu © Spaswinefood

The rock shelter had a drawing warning of Miyamiya, an illness that affects the bones. The people believed that if you disturbed the river stones at the sacred site down river everyone would be in danger of catching this illness. Hence the belief that sacred sites should not be disturbed.

Drawing showing Miyamiya, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Drawing Miyamiya, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

the rock art at the Ubirra site is outstanding.

After viewing the rock art we climbed to the top of a large outcrop of rock where we took in the surrounding views. From this viewpoint we could lookout over the expansive landscape of wetlands where today you will find coastal plains, river marshes and gorges that provide a home to the diverse wildlife found throughout the area.

Climbing Ubirra, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

Top View at Ubirra, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

At the end of the tour we discovered that Keith was one of the actors in the movie Crocodile Dundee. In fact some of the scenes were shot in the area we visited.

Posing with Keith atUbirra, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

After an inspiring visit to Ubirr rock art site we explored more of the park. Later, we returned to our campsite for the evening.

Nourlangie Rock Art
Next day we traveled from Jabiru to Cooinda Caravan Park. Along the way we visited the rock art at Nourlangie.

Entrance to Nourlangie Rock Art Gallery, Kakadu © Spaswinefood

Rock Art Gallery, Nourlangie, Kakadu National Park © Spaswinefood

There was a large rock art drawing of dancing figures.

There was a drawing of dangerous spirit known as Nabulwinjbulwinj.

Later we stopped to checkout the Anbangbang Billabong. Billabong's in Australia are ponds of water left behind after a river or creek changes course. They typically fill with water during the wet season and then later run dry until refilled with water during the next wet season.

Then it was onwards to Cooinda our next Kakadu National Park destination.

While at Jabiru we stayed at the caravan park however, the Kakadu National Park offers many types of accommodations from camping to hotels, self-contained cabins to safari camps.

While we decided to focus on rock art during our stay there clearly is something for everyone at Kadadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory. I invite you to join me in my travels in Australia and elsewhere at Spaswinefood.

Sharon

June 2015
Jabiru, Kakadu National Park

Northern Territory, Australia

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Monday, November 30, 2015

Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park at Jabiru

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