November 03, 2007 - The Northern Territory - Kakadu, Yellow Waters, Cooinda, Nourlangie Rock and the Bowali Visitor Center

Our tour of the Northern Territory was incredible. We covered over 1,650 kilometers in 4 days - so it is impossible to capture everything in this blog! The Aboriginal culture is fascinating and they have been around for over 20,000 years. Their story is amazing and is a treasure to explore and visit.

Our Travel Agent warned us that visiting the Northern Territory this time of year would be a challenge - it was hot, very hot! There were flies, many flies! Red dust and dirt - a lot of dust. . . . .but we would not have missed it for the world. The fantastic rock formations, gorges, blue skies, clouds, plants and wildlife (wallaby, wallaroo, kangaroo, water buffalo, crocodile (fresh and salt water)lizard, iguana, snake, and bird life) is too vast to even touch upon. It is not to be missed. We saw birds that visit only during migration and those species that make this land their home. They were distinctive and wonderful!

And of course the Aboriginal people and their history - the rock paintings that are over a thousand years old! Their paintings are guide books to their world! They really do tell you how to catch food, what areas to avoid because it would make you sick (we now know there is Uranium - a lot of Uranium in some areas). They knew from experience exposure to this area would make you sick and their pictures depict this for all who would pass through the area. I could go on and on - and would probably misquote much of what I think I know. It is a very interesting culture and we would like to learn more about it.