Kakadu

The drive thru Kakadu Nat Park is pretty disappointing.  Whilst there is a lot of growth, and burning off, the look is plain scrubby.  The palms take the edge off but it isnt as tropical as I thought.  Perhaps in the wet season it is nicer.  One thing for sure, if you dont get off the road, you wont see anything.  All the gorges/waterfalls/billabongs etc that feature in the tourist brochures all require big kms to get  in.  Once there, most of them require a fair bit of hard walking as well.   Once off road and at your destination though, the scenery will blow you away.  The rocks faces/vegetation/water is so different to what you see on the Arnhem Hwy.  Our big walk to Jim Jim Falls nearly killed us, there were 4 little kids there, 3-6y.o. who had done it.  I was amazed.  Then their mum told me that had walked the 4 hr walk to the top of the falls the day before.   Crazy!!!!!!!   We didnt get to see it all, too wet, even at this time of year, but I beleive the best way to see it would either be by air to get a real view of the pools and falls above the ones you can access or perhaps to visit in the wet season, but then Im guessing access would also be a problem.     You have to pay $25 p.p. to drive into Kakadu with a Nat.Park Pass, (it is good for 14 days) then on top of that are camping fees, ranging from $5-$10p.p. p.nt. The whole time we were there, meeting rangers and visiting touristy type venues, we were never approached for our pass.   The problem is, when purchasing, you have to write your name on the pass at the counter.  This way you cant pass it on when you have finished.  Assuming you got asked for it and then asked for ID as well. 

I may be out of line here, but when visiting the Aboriginal Cultural Centres, it is always implied that we are visitors to this land of ours.  As they are the rightful owners, we are asked to respect their culture and their wishes.   Up here, 1% of the population is aboriginal, yet we cant buy alcohol when we want or in the quantities that we want.   We have to show a Drivers Licence ID which is scanned before we can purchase.  At Katherine, starting soon, Woollies will no longer carry cask wine to help this 1% of the population.   Stuff the locals and the tourists.   A friend here has a wife working for the Federal Police, she has photo ID and has passed some pretty strict tests to join this Force.  She doesnt have a drivers licence and so she cannot buy alcohol at all.  No drivers licence no grog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Off my soapbox now.