August 28th, Kakadu- Merl Campground

Sunday morning we headed off for Kakadu towards the Merl campground near Ubirr and Arnhemland. We crossed the South Alligator river which is huge before stopping at the Bowali Visitor Centre near Jabiru. Very nicely done up with a restaurant, gift shop, museum etc as part of it. We set off from there to our final destination near the Arnhemland border. We pulled into Merl which is a National Park in Kakadu. Well we had some fun as the sites while large are definitely not designed for large caravans. Terry and Di in particular got into a nasty spot where we couldn't get them between a tree and a fireplace. We ended up taking the caravan off the car and manually pushing the caravan through before hooking up again with the car. Lots of hard work and tension on a very hot day (high 30s) but we finally got us all settled. Facilities were very basic and not that clean but they still charge you $10/adult. The tourist booth and the ranger that collected our money all warned us about the mosquitoes as well. Once set up we took a drive down to Cahill's Crossing which is the border crossing between Kakadu and Arnhemland. It was low tide and a number of people were fishing for Barramundi without much success. We saw a few vehicles cross and a number of crocodiles lurking about. We can attest to the mosquito problem as Terry came into the caravan covered in them. We all spent a hot uncomfortable night in our caravans avoiding them.

Monday morning we got up early and walked up to the Ubirr Art and Lookout. It is an amazing view. You can see in 360 degrees from the top with views of the Arnhemland Escarpment, Wetlands, and Bush land. The art sites are interesting although neither Sandra or I is that impressed by the Aboriginal Rock Art. We returned to Cahill Crossing around lunch when it was high tide. Very interesting as the water was considerably higher. The Crocodiles were actually swimming across the crossing and lining up to catch the Barramundi as they came over it. They are so smart, sneaky, and just plain scary!

We had planned to spend 3 nights here but were quite disappointed with the campsite and decided to return to civilization for air conditioning and less mosquitoes. The cost of these campsites are too expensive for the value received. Would not recommend the Kakadu Park Campsites at current prices.