J6 : Kakadu National Park
Le programme de cette nouvelle journée était au petit oignon et nous étions chaud patate malgré les quelques heures de sommeil à notre actif.Nourlangie
Nous nous sommes réveillés de très bonne heure pour assister au lever de soleil au point de vue Nawurlandja.C'est sublime ... Nous avons une superbe vue sur le Nourlangie Rock et plus loin l'escarpement du plateau d'Arnhem.
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| Vue sur Nourlangie Rock |
Nous sommes allés ensuite faire une petite marche à la base du rocher. Nous avons eu la chance d'avoir le lieu juste pour nous et passons un certain moment à s'y balader profitant du calme et de la spiritualité des lieux.
Il est très facile de s'imaginer des milliers d'années en arrière avec des aborigènes peignant les rochers.
Anbangbang shelter
Anbangbang Gallery
Incline Gallery
Pendant notre balade, nous avions mis toutes nos affaires de camping à sécher et à notre retour, ce n'était à peine sec. Alors nous nous sommes accordés un petit saut à la piscine (c'est ça aussi les vacances) et nous avons continué notre route !
Ubirr
Ubirr est le site le plus à l'est du parc et c'est la partie la moins accessible du parc sans 4*4 durant cette saison. Une crique, Magela Creek, sépare la ville d'Ubirr et de Jabiru et cette crique n'est que tardivement asséchée.
A notre départ de Brisbane une semaine avant, l'unique route était fermée car la crique était inondée. La seule possibilité alors pour aller à Ubirr était de payer la peau des fesses pour un tour organisé... Celui-ci rejoindrait alors Ubirr par bateau. Heureusement à notre arrivée dans le parc, un ranger nous avait dit que la route était maintenant ouverte mais qu'il y avait toujours de l'eau sur la route ...
A priori, 20 cm. Le rangers nous a dit que même avec notre petite voiture, c'était ok. Séb me l'avait bien dit mais nous avons une voiture de location et le moindre pépin, on l'avait dans le baba. Mieux valait un autre avis !
La plupart des agences de location stipule bien que la traversée de petits cours d'eau est interdite.
Nous avons relu le contrat et il n'y avait rien écrit mais j'avais quand même un peu peur (complètement peur).
Nous prenons la route donc et arrivons à l'endroit fatidique. La réglette sur le coté de la route indique bien 20 cm. Séb le sens. Je lui fais confiance mais lui rappelle bien que notre assurance ne couvrira rien si y'a un problème et que je suis sure que dans une annexe du contrat qu'on a pas, il est bien écrit que c'est interdit. Bref, Séb y va et tout se passe nickel ! On roule mais on arrive rapidement à une 2ème crique (c'est en fait toujours Magela Creek). Celle-ci est aussi profonde mais plus longue.
Je tiens à préciser qu'un crocodile de 5 mètres est un habitué des lieux et qu'en général, il se tient proche de là et n'hésite pas à attaquer : parole de rangers ... Donc pas possible de rester coincer et de sortir de la voiture, pas possible d'aller mettre les pieds dans l'eau pour vérifier la profondeur, ...
Bref Séb y retourne et hop, tout est ok !!
Le pot d'échappement a à peine touché l'eau ;-)
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| Magela Creek |
Enfin, nous nous rendons sur le site d'Ubirr, site décrit dans les guides touristiques comme "majestueux et gracieux nous laissant muet d'émerveillement et remplis de souvenirs inoubliables".
Forcément que l'on veut voir avec des promesses comme celle-là.
On arrive sur le lieu mais un orage (on voulait s'y rendre pour le coucher de soleil mais soir = orage, encore et toujours) gronde.
Un ranger aborigène nous demande d'attendre qu'il passe pour plus de sécurité. On attend un bon bout de temps et nous y allons.
Attente sur le parking ...
Les peintures rupestres sont superbes mais nous faisons le tour rapidement à cause d'enfants hurlants et gâchant la spiritualité et la quiétude du lieu. Nous en profiterons plus au retour !
Nous continuons notre circuit qui nous mène au sommet d'un rocher, le Nardab Lookout. Le spectacle est magnifique et les nuages noirs nous entourant rendent le lien encore plus mystique. On adore, c'est magnifique !
A peine le temps de faire quelques photos que la pluie nous retombe dessus. Le ciel est bien noir, cette orage ne passera pas tout de suite. Nous n'aurons pas notre coucher de soleil ici mais avons eu une magnifique opportunité avec ces orages aux alentours. On reviendra demain ;-)
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| Le vert ressort incroyablement avec cette orage, c'était superbe ! |
Nous retournons sur notre camping. La tente est toujours là et rien n'est mouillé dedans, ouf ! On s'occupe avec un jeu de société qu'on avait emporté en attendant que cela passe. Il est seulement 7h.
Le temps ne s'améliore pas, loin de là... Les éclairs et le tonnerre sont encore là ... Et la nuit est tombée.
Longue et pénible soirée en perspective !
On essaye de jouer tant bien que mal dans la voiture !
On commence à s'impatienter et puis je commence à me poser des questions. Et si le niveau de Magela Creek augmentait nous empêchant de prendre la route demain ?
On décide de ne pas manger : impossible de cuisiner dehors... Pas super dans la voiture ni dans la tente ... On préfère aller se doucher et aller direct sous la tente pour dormir.
Oui mais finalement pas d'électricité dans les douches ... Se doucher à la frontale ne nous enchante guère ... Ventre vide, pas de douche ... On va directement au lit vers 18h ... Le camping est inondé et il y a des énormes flaques partout.
La tente goutte un peu par un endroit.
La pluie, les éclairs et le tonnerre ne semble pas vouloir s'arrêter et maintenant que nous sommes au lit, les questions que je me posais avant deviennent des obsessions... On est dans le noir sous notre tente avec cette pluie battante, le tonnerre etc. Etre dans le noir amplifie toujours les angoisses...
Je commence à avoir peur de tout et de rien et l'angoisse monte...
Si Magela Creek est fermée, on ne pourra pas traverser. Nous avons notre vol le lendemain soir ...
Est-ce vraiment sûre d'être sous la tente avec un tel orage dehors ?
Ne devrait-on pas traverser Magela maintenant pour être sur pour demain ? Mais de nuit, c'est probablement trop dangereux ?
Est-ce que la tente va tenir le coup avec toute cette pluie ?
L'autre partie du camping à 200 mètres est fermé car inondée avec présence possible de crocodiles ... Le nôtre était fermé il y a une semaine pour les mêmes raisons ... Et si l'eau augmente au point que les crocodiles puissent être dans notre camping ?
Nous n'avons aucun réseau téléphonique et ne pouvons joindre personne, ni vérifier la météo, ... Et personne sait que nous sommes là ...
J'ai réfléchis et angoissé comme ça jusqu'à 23h environ (qu'est ce que cela a été long) jusqu'à ce que l'orage se calme enfin et que je tombe de fatigue. Après un réveil à 2h du mat', la pluie avait cessé et je me sentais quand même mieux... Finalement la nuit s'est passé normalement, et le ciel bleu était là au petit matin.
J7 : Kakadu National Park et Darwin
Au réveil, nous avons du une nouvelle fois fait sécher nos affaires ...
Pendant ce temps, nous sommes allés de nouveau profiter d'Ubirr en espérant croiser des gens pour savoir si Magela Creek était ouverte.
C'était toujours aussi beau et avec un ciel bleu en prime !
Retour dans le calme pour voir les peintures aborigènes !
La gallerie principale
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| Nous, ça nous laisse sans voix ... Superbe ! |
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| On pense à vous <3 |
Nous avons seulement croisé un bus 4*4 touristique et n'avons pas osé demander.
Une fois la tente rangée, nous avons pris la route du retour. Nez à nez avec Magela Creek, nous avons constaté que le niveau de l'eau avait augmenté. Un bon 30-35 cm maintenant ...
On a pas vraiment le choix et y allons. Séb est confiant et sait ce qu'il doit faire. C'est son passe temps favoris en moto ;-)
La première crique passe et la deuxième aussi ...
OUF, quel soulagement ... Tout se stresse pour rien et Séb qui me répète: "Je te l'avais dit que ça irait, toi et tes scénarios catastrophes !".
On a beaucoup de routes à faire aujourd'hui et encore des choses à voir. On ne fera finalement pas tout par faute de temps ...
3 jours qu'on nous parle des buffalos importés par les colons, blabla !
Il faudra attendre le dernier jour pour voir ces 2 énormes bestiaux sur le bord de la route ! Impressionnant !
Nous faisons un petit arrêt rapide à Mamukala dans un petit observatoire d'oiseau mais nous n'y verrons pas grand chose vu l'heure tardive.
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| Lotus |
Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise
Nous filons ensuite faire l'attraction la plus touristique possible : les crocodiles sauteurs.Le principe : une rivière à crocodile - des crocodiles - du porc - une perche
Accrocher le porc à la perche, l'agiter au dessus d'un crocodile, au préalable, tremper le porc dans l'eau, et placer le porc au dessus de la tête du crocodile et hop crocodile saute !
Stupide, pas naturel, ultra touristique, on sait ... Ce n'est vraiment pas dans nos habitudes mais une fois de temps en temps, ça ne fait pas de mal ...
Séb, en attendant l'heure de la croisière, câline un ami :-/ Je l'ai touché mais pas porter car j'avais mis de la crème solaire et c'est apparemment toxique pour la peau des serpents ...
Un python tapis très sociable :-/
La croisière a été très sympa. Alors que les crocos lors de notre première croisière nature s'enfuyait en nous voyant (ils sont très timides apparemment), ceux-là accourent vers le bateau ...
Donc le 1er était un gros costaud de 5 mètres de long environ et c'est très impressionnant. Les autres étaient plus petits mais tout aussi impressionnant.
Voilà un peu ce que ça donne ...
En vidéo :
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| Çà c'est de la bête ... |
Je m'élance ...
Et je saute ...
Cette petite croisière sonnait la fin de nos vacances et le retour à Darwin.
Après la route et une petite promenade à Darwin et plus précisément à East Point Reserve, à Mindill Beach (lieux incontournables de Darwin où nous avions pas eu le temps d'aller le 1er jour), il est temps de se rendre à l'aéroport et de rentrer chez nous...
East Point Reserve
Mangrove dans une eau bleu turquoise avec Darwin en fond !
On a commencé nos vacances avec un lever de soleil à Darwin. On les finit avec un coucher de soleil magnifique.
La boucle est bouclée ...
Petite conclusion : nous avions beaucoup hésité à y aller à cette période de l'année mais finalement nous ne regrettons pas. Le ciel en cette période est superbe. Les paysages sont encore bien verts et l'eau coule à flot dans les cascades. Le parc est désert et loin des hordes de touristes que l'on peut apparemment trouver en juillet/août.
Compte tenu du nombre de jours passés, le 4*4 n'était pas nécessaire. Il le devient je pense lorsque l'on passe plus de jours sur place, et lorsque plus de pistes sont ouvertes.
Encore des happy holidays ...
Les prochaines auront maintenant lieu lorsque nous quitterons notre vie autralienne dans 2 mois maintenant ...
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Ubirr was still amazing ...
Then we went to pack everything and took the return drive.
Once in front of Magela Creek, we saw the river was higher than yesterday. A little bit more of 30cm now ...
No choice, we went. Seb was really confident like the day before. It's his passion to do this with his motobike anyway ;-)
1st creek done, 2nd creek easy ...
Whew, I felt much better ... All this stress for nothing and Seb who was so happy to repeat me again and again : "I told you!".
We spent lots of time on the road and didn't have time to stop everywhere where I would like to stop.
We only did a stop to Mamukala Wetlands but we didn't see lots of things.
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D6 : Kakadu National Park
The plan for this new day was perfectly clear and we were so motivated despite of a lack of sleep...
Nourlangie
We woke up early to see the sunrise at Nawurlandja Lookout.
It was amazing ...We could see Nourlangie Rock and a little bit further Arnhemland.
We went after near the rock. We were lucky enough to be the only ones there and we spent lots of time to enjoy the calm and the spirituality of this place. It was really easy to imagine aboriginal people painting on these rocks ages ago.
At the same time, during our walk, all our stuff were drying under the sun. It wasn't perfect so we enjoyed a little bit more the swimming pool before going to our next destination.
It was amazing ...We could see Nourlangie Rock and a little bit further Arnhemland.
We went after near the rock. We were lucky enough to be the only ones there and we spent lots of time to enjoy the calm and the spirituality of this place. It was really easy to imagine aboriginal people painting on these rocks ages ago.
At the same time, during our walk, all our stuff were drying under the sun. It wasn't perfect so we enjoyed a little bit more the swimming pool before going to our next destination.
Ubirr
Ubirr is the most eastern point in the park and it's the most difficult site to access without a 4WD and during this time of year.
A creek, Magela Creek, isolate Ubirr from Jabiru and this creek is often still wet until end of April.
When we left Brisbane, the road was closed due to the flooding in the creek. The only way to see Ubirr was to book an expensive tour ... This tour will cross the creek by boat. Fortunately, when we arrived in the park, a ranger told us the creek was now crossable but a 4WD was prefered due to some water over the road ... About 20 cm.
The ranger told us we can do it with our car if we are going slowly. Seb already told me that but as we had a hired car, I was thinking about : if something happens ...
Most of hiring companies notice that crossing a river is forbidden. We saw nothing on our contract but I was still a little bit scared to do that even Seb was really feeling confident.
We went and arrived to the river. The indicator on the side of the road indicate 20cm. Seb is fine. I trust him but I'm pretty sure if something happened, we are no more covered by the insurance even if we didn't see anything in our contract. We took the risk ...
Seb went and ... everything went well.
Really easy !
We finally arrived to a second creek which is actually still Magella Creek.
The depth is the same but the creek is longer than the previous one.
The ranger told us a big 5 meters crocodile inhabits this place and he is often seen waiting for people (so he can get fed...) ... So it's impossible to go out if we are stuck in the car, impossible to go by foot to check the depth ...
Anyway, Seb went and once more, we are fine !
We went straight to Ubirr and made a stop to our camping for the night and settle the tent.
Then, we went to Ubirr Art Site, a site described as majestic, beautiful letting us full of unforgettable memories. With such promess, it was obvious we would like to see that !
Unfortunately a storm was coming (we would like to see the sunset here) and an aboriginal ranger asked us to wait a little bit. Safety first.
We were waiting a lot and went.
The painting are amazing but we did it quick because some children screamed and it was not the way we wanted to discover this place. We will enjoyed the paintings after.
We went to the Nardab Lookout, a rock summit. This was stunning. The storm was still around us. The light was amazing. The colours were marvellous.
We just had time to take a few pictures and the storm was still there. We will return there tomorrow and went to our camping ground.
The tent is here and it was not wet in it despite all the heavy rains. We tried to keep busy and did a board game in the car ... The storm kept going... It was only 7pm...
We began to be impatient and I began to be worried. And what about Magela Creek water's level ? If the level increase so much that it will be impossible to cross the river tomorrow ?
We decided to not have dinner tonight : it was impossible to cook outside anyway as we are using any tarp ... We just prefered to take a shower and go to sleep.
Finally, electricity didn't work in the bathroom ... Take a shower with our headlight is not motivating ... We went straight to the tent ... The camping is really flooded, there are mini ponds everywhere ... The tent is dry except at some point where the water is dripping from time to time. Not a big deal.
The rain didn't stop and it seemed far from stopping. While we were in our "bed" trying to fall asleep, my previous question began to be obsessions...
My anxiety increased ...
If Magela Creek is closed, we won't be able to cross. We have our flight tomorrow, we have to cross ...
Is it really safe to stay here under our tent with this storm ?
Perhaps we must cross tonight when the level in the creek is still low ... But during the night, it's not safe either ...
How much time is the tent gonna hold?
The other camping is about 200 meters and still closed due to flooding and the presence of crocodile ... What about us ? Can the crocodiles come here ?
What about if something happens ? We had no phone reception, just us in the campground and in Ubirr area for the night ...
Anyway, I thought like this until I finally fell asleep around 11pm, fell over due to the fatigue.
The rain stopped around 2am and I felt better ...
At the end, it was just a rainy night, and the blue sky was showing up again in the morning, ponds were gone etc...
A creek, Magela Creek, isolate Ubirr from Jabiru and this creek is often still wet until end of April.
When we left Brisbane, the road was closed due to the flooding in the creek. The only way to see Ubirr was to book an expensive tour ... This tour will cross the creek by boat. Fortunately, when we arrived in the park, a ranger told us the creek was now crossable but a 4WD was prefered due to some water over the road ... About 20 cm.
The ranger told us we can do it with our car if we are going slowly. Seb already told me that but as we had a hired car, I was thinking about : if something happens ...
Most of hiring companies notice that crossing a river is forbidden. We saw nothing on our contract but I was still a little bit scared to do that even Seb was really feeling confident.
We went and arrived to the river. The indicator on the side of the road indicate 20cm. Seb is fine. I trust him but I'm pretty sure if something happened, we are no more covered by the insurance even if we didn't see anything in our contract. We took the risk ...
Seb went and ... everything went well.
Really easy !
We finally arrived to a second creek which is actually still Magella Creek.
The depth is the same but the creek is longer than the previous one.
The ranger told us a big 5 meters crocodile inhabits this place and he is often seen waiting for people (so he can get fed...) ... So it's impossible to go out if we are stuck in the car, impossible to go by foot to check the depth ...
Anyway, Seb went and once more, we are fine !
We went straight to Ubirr and made a stop to our camping for the night and settle the tent.
Then, we went to Ubirr Art Site, a site described as majestic, beautiful letting us full of unforgettable memories. With such promess, it was obvious we would like to see that !
Unfortunately a storm was coming (we would like to see the sunset here) and an aboriginal ranger asked us to wait a little bit. Safety first.
We were waiting a lot and went.
The painting are amazing but we did it quick because some children screamed and it was not the way we wanted to discover this place. We will enjoyed the paintings after.
We went to the Nardab Lookout, a rock summit. This was stunning. The storm was still around us. The light was amazing. The colours were marvellous.
We just had time to take a few pictures and the storm was still there. We will return there tomorrow and went to our camping ground.
The tent is here and it was not wet in it despite all the heavy rains. We tried to keep busy and did a board game in the car ... The storm kept going... It was only 7pm...
We began to be impatient and I began to be worried. And what about Magela Creek water's level ? If the level increase so much that it will be impossible to cross the river tomorrow ?
We decided to not have dinner tonight : it was impossible to cook outside anyway as we are using any tarp ... We just prefered to take a shower and go to sleep.
Finally, electricity didn't work in the bathroom ... Take a shower with our headlight is not motivating ... We went straight to the tent ... The camping is really flooded, there are mini ponds everywhere ... The tent is dry except at some point where the water is dripping from time to time. Not a big deal.
The rain didn't stop and it seemed far from stopping. While we were in our "bed" trying to fall asleep, my previous question began to be obsessions...
My anxiety increased ...
If Magela Creek is closed, we won't be able to cross. We have our flight tomorrow, we have to cross ...
Is it really safe to stay here under our tent with this storm ?
Perhaps we must cross tonight when the level in the creek is still low ... But during the night, it's not safe either ...
How much time is the tent gonna hold?
The other camping is about 200 meters and still closed due to flooding and the presence of crocodile ... What about us ? Can the crocodiles come here ?
What about if something happens ? We had no phone reception, just us in the campground and in Ubirr area for the night ...
Anyway, I thought like this until I finally fell asleep around 11pm, fell over due to the fatigue.
The rain stopped around 2am and I felt better ...
At the end, it was just a rainy night, and the blue sky was showing up again in the morning, ponds were gone etc...
D7 : Kakadu National Park et Darwin
Once again, when we awoke we had to hang out all our stuff before packing up ...
During this time, we went to Ubirr to see the landscape under the sun with a blue sky and perhaps see some people to know how was Magela Creek this morning.
We saw no onee else except a big tourist 4WD bus and didn't dare asking them.
During this time, we went to Ubirr to see the landscape under the sun with a blue sky and perhaps see some people to know how was Magela Creek this morning.
We saw no onee else except a big tourist 4WD bus and didn't dare asking them.
Ubirr was still amazing ...
Then we went to pack everything and took the return drive.
Once in front of Magela Creek, we saw the river was higher than yesterday. A little bit more of 30cm now ...
No choice, we went. Seb was really confident like the day before. It's his passion to do this with his motobike anyway ;-)
1st creek done, 2nd creek easy ...
Whew, I felt much better ... All this stress for nothing and Seb who was so happy to repeat me again and again : "I told you!".
We spent lots of time on the road and didn't have time to stop everywhere where I would like to stop.
We only did a stop to Mamukala Wetlands but we didn't see lots of things.
Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise
We went then to do the most popular tourist attraction ; the jumping crocodile.
The idea : a crocodile river - some "wild" crocodile - some pork - a perch.
Put the pork on the perch - Put this above the head of one crocodile and Hop crocodile jump !
Not really natural, a little bit stupid, we kenw that ... Usually, we don't really like this kind of thing but from time to time ...
While we were waiting the departure, Seb is patting a friend :-/ I only touched him because I had sunscreen on me and it's toxic for snake skin...
The cruise was nice but not fantastic...
During our 1st cruise in Yellow Water Billabong, the crocodiles were really shy and went away when we're approaching, these ones were swimming quickly towards the boat... FRESH MEAT...
The 1st one we saw was really big with almost 5 meters long. The others were smaller but still impressive.
Here is the result.
At the end, the woman gave some little piece of meats to bird of prey which were also used to do that ...
The little cruise sounded like the end of this amazing holiday trip and our return to Darwin.
Before going to the airport, we did a little walk in Darwin, in East Point Reserve and also at Mindill Beach (a famous place in Darwin).
To conclude, we really hesitated to come during this season but finally we loved it and have absolutely no regrets. The sky was awesome each night. The landscape was really green and the water is still present everywhere from the fall to the billabong. The park was so quiet without all the tourists which could be present during july/august.
A 4WD is not necessary during this season and if you don't stay more than 3 days, you will not have time to experience the 4WD and the unsealed road in Kakadu.
This was some happy holidays again ...
The next ones will be when we will quit australian life in 2 monts now ...
The idea : a crocodile river - some "wild" crocodile - some pork - a perch.
Put the pork on the perch - Put this above the head of one crocodile and Hop crocodile jump !
Not really natural, a little bit stupid, we kenw that ... Usually, we don't really like this kind of thing but from time to time ...
While we were waiting the departure, Seb is patting a friend :-/ I only touched him because I had sunscreen on me and it's toxic for snake skin...
The cruise was nice but not fantastic...
During our 1st cruise in Yellow Water Billabong, the crocodiles were really shy and went away when we're approaching, these ones were swimming quickly towards the boat... FRESH MEAT...
The 1st one we saw was really big with almost 5 meters long. The others were smaller but still impressive.
Here is the result.
At the end, the woman gave some little piece of meats to bird of prey which were also used to do that ...
The little cruise sounded like the end of this amazing holiday trip and our return to Darwin.
Before going to the airport, we did a little walk in Darwin, in East Point Reserve and also at Mindill Beach (a famous place in Darwin).
To conclude, we really hesitated to come during this season but finally we loved it and have absolutely no regrets. The sky was awesome each night. The landscape was really green and the water is still present everywhere from the fall to the billabong. The park was so quiet without all the tourists which could be present during july/august.
A 4WD is not necessary during this season and if you don't stay more than 3 days, you will not have time to experience the 4WD and the unsealed road in Kakadu.
This was some happy holidays again ...
The next ones will be when we will quit australian life in 2 monts now ...
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