Day 33 Kakadu - Mirray Lookout, Cooinda and Yellow River Cruise

A quieter day today, we left Jabiru, spying two roaming dingoes beside the road, and headed out to the Mirray Lookout. A short walk compared to yesterday, with a steep hike 2km return, up to the lookout. There was an elevated viewing platform, but sadly the surrounding trees are overgrown, and the view greatly reduced to what it could be, and the smoke haze also reduced the clarity of the views of the outlying rocky escarpments and wetlands around Kakadu. Still worth the hike up the hill. I must add that Matt always has me walk first, apparently so I scare away the snakes, or at least be the early warning sign that there is one; and for the downhill trips, so he has something soft to land on, should he fall. Thanks Matt, love you too!😜 We headed into Cooinda and enjoyed the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, before chilling out in the bus, yesterday's big walks have hit us a bit today.

We had our Yellow Water Cruise in the late afternoon, and ventured out onto the billabong and Yellow River to see all the various birds, wildlife and of course crocodiles. There were whistling ducks in the plenty, that don't quack and don't really go swimming (are they really a duck...). Apparently birds are not usually food for the crocs, as they would essentially choke on the feathers and cough up feather balls... There were pied cormorants, magpie geese, a black stork aka Jabiru - they have renamed the specie apparently, white bellied sea eagle, egrets of various sizes, the Lotus birds aka Jacana, whistling kites, and more. We saw water buffalo and even pigs, getting very close to the crocs but none disappeared. We also enjoyed another magical sunset across the billabong. One croc was named Van Gogh as he had a deformed ear due to misfortune as a young croc, and he was very big. Matt was able to capture much of the wildlife in photos. I may be Matt's safety net on our walks, but he sat next to the edge of the boat and was mine against the crocs.

Another good day in Kakadu.