TravellingStrom

I slept for 11 hours but still felt tired in the morning, but I packed up as I was heading to Kakadu, the heat was too much. This is where I had been camped, in between the trees

There was 3 Germans living to the left, they were packing Mangos up at Humpty Doo, and to my right were two Aussies, also working the same place, I also had a backpacker stick his tent right beside mine overnight, not many shady spots for tents and was a bit too cosy when you are feeling crook!
So, off I go and on the way I passed the Alligator River cruise boats where they do croc spotting tours etc. I had the time and I had heard back in Cape Crawford that this was a good tour so I did it, only $25. The boat

Just as we left dock I took this photo of a truck and four trailers coming in from the mine sites out east, heading to Darwin, this is what we have to avoid on the roads all the time out this far!

Anyway, it was not long before we spotted our first croc

And as he was interested in a free snack, he put on a bit of a show

The boat proceeded up river and any croc that was interested came towards the boat and jumped for the bait, they usually got them to do a few jumps before letting them have the bait.

This is a baby one and has only been around for a few months

The crocs still hunt for themselves and if they are not interested in the boats, they go away and hide, but they know that the boats bring food, so stay onboard!!!! It was a nice river system and this was about 70km inland with a strong tidal flow still.

Here is a video of a jumping croc

Then it was on the road again and I finally made it to the park itself

I was still about 150km from my destination which was the caravan park at Jabiru, but it was still early. I was feeling crook still and knew now it was dehydration as I had woken with a headache, so I was sucking water back all the time, I had a 3lt camelback. I had a quick stop at the Mamukala Wetlands as this was right near the road only a short 100m walk. I was in the right time of the year for these Geese to be here

It was getting hotter and all I actually wanted to do was lie down, so I high tailed it to Jabiru, this is the main town site in the park. Greg and Nardelle were also here, they were meeting their kids and grandkids, they invited me too dinner that night. I found a campsite in the shade and promptly lay down with a wet rag over my head, a refilled camelback and just kept sipping water all arvo. It was still very hot and all though I tried to get an air-conditioned cabin, none were available. I had checked out the tours and walks etc and intended to go to the sunset lookout later that day; I had also booked a ticket for the next day’s 11am RUM tour, more on that later 🙂
So, I got active again around 5pm, first off I needed fuel, I realised after getting fuel that I was in no condition to ride 50km, then do a walk up some steep rocks, then ride back in the dark without safety gear, especially as I would have sizzled on the boiling road surface if I hit a roo. I had a headache, crook guts and was boiling hot and dehydrated, not a good combination. I decided to give it a miss and stay an extra day and do that tomorrow. I had a new tire to be fitted in Katherine on Thursday, so no worries there, plenty of time.

G&N came back from an aerial flight of Kakadu and we talked about that and they also showed some photos of that and previous weeks travel from Broome etc. You can see the DL1000 on its rear mount of the 5th wheeler.

The rest of the family returned from the Ubirr tour (which I did not go on) and we stayed up chatting till later. I managed to eat the steak and vegies they cooked for me( a very small portion as I was not in a food eating mood), all the time drinking water by the bucket and after about 5 trips to the dunny, I reckoned I might be hydrated again 🙂 Still not feeling well though, but you can’t have everything.
It was a lot cooler that night and I even woke up in the middle of the night soaking wet with sweat but freezing, go figure! I think I broke my body!

Day – 248km
Trip – 6154km

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