Our first stop on the way back to Pine Creek is at Nawurlandja (Now-oo-larn-ja) lookout in the Nourlangie region – a 600m climb up and across a sandstone slope for wonderful views of the Arnhem Land escarpment, Nourlangie and the `Anbangbang (Arn-barng-barng) billabong just below us. From this vantage point the billabong appears covered in green and a mass of white flowers; and oasis amongst the trees which stretch on in every direction. Unsurprisingly the billabong walk is closed and we have to satisfy ourselves with this view from a distance. We prepare lunch in the car park, only to discover that we have left one of our chairs back at the campsite 40kms down the road! How you might ask, after all it’s hard to overlook a chair, right? Ah, not so simple; we had taken the chair to the camp kitchen to blog and recharge batteries and left it there. Fortunately it is still there when we return to collect it!
Most of the other walks around Nourlangie are closed and we are running out of time to get to Pine Creek to cook and eat before dark we forgo the Nanguluwur (Narng-oo-loo-war) art walk and kick on to The Lazy Lizard, a refreshing dip and the cool of the late afternoon shade. There are several small bush fires along the way.
Kakadu is a place of inspiring landscapes and incredible views of this vast country. Had we done our research more thoroughly we would have done this road trip in reverse, starting in Perth and ending in Darwin, arriving in Kakadu in May when all the wetlands and rivers would have been accessible and many cleared of crocs. Ah well, hindsight is a wonderful thing! A 4wd go-anywhere-van is is also advisable as at least 50% of the attractions are not accessible to 2wds. That involves booking ahead particularly in Darwin where the number of vehicles for hire is limited by its remote location (something else we didn’t appreciate). Perth as a starting point would seem to be a better bet all round.