Friday we went to Ubirr in order to join another ranger talk at 9 o’clock. On the way we stopped at the Bowali Visitor Centre in order to ask for some permits, which opens unfortunately not before 8 o’clock. But for the first permit there’s a waiting time of three weeks at the moment, and for the second one we needed to go to Northern Land Council, which is directly situated in the town centre of Jabiru. In the end it wasn’t a problem to get the one, but after all we run already late in time again. After a quick drive north to Ubirr, we ended suddenly infront of the gate, which was still closed shortly before 9 o’clock. Well, if the gate is still closed at that time, there’s no ranger to open it, and eventually also no ranger to go for a talk. We waited additional 15 minutes, but then left the scene to get to the Cahill’s crossing of the East Alligator river. This crossing is well known for its salt water crocodiles. In the morning it was low tide, and most of the crocodiles were relaxing in the water or in the sun. After watching the scene for a while, we went on for the Bardedjilidji walk. In essence, it was much more to see than we first anticipated. After we left the river with additional salties, we passed a billabong and afterwards directly went into something like a sandstone castle. Also in the small caves of this rock formations there was evidence as of a living place for several millennia. After finishing the walk we went finally to the Ubirr rock art, which was finally opened. At five different galleries several art from different time areas can be observed. The highlight of the day was for sure the Nadab lookout. During the day you’re pretty much exposed to the sun, but you’ve the lookout more or less for yourself, and can just enjoy the awesome view. So we decided to come back for this view in the evening. In the afternoon the East Alligator river had high tide. That means even as the shore is about 95 kilometres away, the 7m high tide is pushing the salt water all the way back, even 5km upstream of Cahill’s crossing. During high tide fresh fish is pushed upstream, and the predators are happily awaiting them. In the late afternoon we checked out the campground, as we desired a shower after 4 days. Surprisingly nobody was there for check in, so we just had our dinner and then went again to Ubirr for the sunset. The view was still stunning, but now we had to share them with at least 100 other people, which was finally quite hectic on the top. So I enjoyed the view more during the day, even if the photos are nicer during dusk.
