Beauty , Splendour & Shock

Up before the sun again , this is starting to be a habit . We are heading north today , only 38 kms , to another art site - Ubirr - the pronunciation of which you'll love :- Ooo,beer - I thought it was pretty good !!!
 Headed down to the bakery for some bread & bread rolls , as we had run out , the pantry is starting to look a bit light on .
  Driving toward Darwin , we turned off a few kilometres down the road and headed north . The road taking us down lower , and the pandanus getting more prolific , trees now getting taller . We passed by dry sandy creeks , and many views of rocky outcrops , the views were amazing , we'd only gone 20 kms and we were in a completely different area . It was difficult to know which side of the road to look at , large billabongs & vast grassy areas were emerging from the trees & pandanus .
 Before long we'd arrived at the Border Store , apparently they sell the best Thai food - pity they're a long way away from everywhere . Ubirr was only a couple of kms down the road and we arrived at 10 am , the temperature was already hot 28 degrees and forecast to get to 36 today - bloody hot !!!
 There are guided walks with rangers - they leave at 11am , we decided to go now before it got any hotter . The area had a lot of pandanus , spear grass and paperbarks , and a rather large amount of mosquito's , with rocky outcrops around each corner of the track . Whilst walking in I spotted a plant which had flowered , but looked good with the rocks in the background .

 Continuing on we came to the first section with rock art , there were fences to keep you from getting too close . The top rails were branches and it was difficult to see the joins , they were very well done .

  Now comes the art , there is so much of it here , they let you see about 5 different sites , all in overhangs and reasonably protected from the weather . 

The trouble we found , the pictures have been done over many thousands of years and a lot have been covered with newer ones , now they are looking a bit blurred . The more you look at them , the more you can see , a lot of them are fish - the dominant food source presumably , and how they are treated to be best eaten - mullet have their heads cut off to remove the blood . The colours in the rocks were also amazing .

 There are also newer pictures that depict rifles & guns , whether it is white man or not , we don't know .

 Inside several shelters were the table rocks , where food was prepared , ground & processed .

Moving from the flat areas , we started to climb to Nadab Lookout , passing the pictures & shelter of the Namarrkan Sisters - 2 rebellious sisters who turned into crocodiles , so they could grab and eat anyone or anything they wanted . The shelter where their pictures are has a great view out to the west over wetlands .

Views to die for !!!

More art.

 Climbing further to the top of the rocks let us have 360 degree views of the area , we stood in awe at the view that opened up . Wetland swamp areas with green grass & native rice to the north & west , to the east & south we had rocky outcrops & escarpments & tree lines near waterways . There aren't enough superlatives to describe this - it's fan bloody tastic !!!!!!

 Then we had the supervising Jabiru overlooking the site , making sure everyone was behaving .

                                                               Some rock formations 
 We headed back to the ute and drove down to the East Alligator River for lunch , on one side of the causeway was a murky brown coloured river . This river is tidal , and on the other side of the causeway is the tidal section - they both merge as the tide comes back in .

 This is what awaits you if you decide to go for a swim - 3 resident crocs - 2 on the mud flats and one just floating around after catching a fish . Although it didn't seem to worry the local indigenous family who came down to fish with a throw net and several kids who had hand lines .

 With that we headed back to Jabiru , some of the photo opportunities from this morning had reappeared , so it was a slower trip back in . There were the rocky outcrops & escarpments , also the dry sandy creek bed .

 Now back to the title of todays post , we drove back toward Jabiru and went past the turnoff out to the airport and the Uranium Mine - yes you read that correctly !!! We have had the best day in Kakadu today of the whole week we've been here , pity about this bit though - the picture will show you what we found , so you can make up you're own minds about it !!!

Big open cut pit - apparently over 400m deep !!! next there is the processing plant , then you have the amazing escarpments in the distance - talk about a contradiction !!!! There are 2 huge piles of rock & excess material that they can't use to make money .

 Back to the RV , it was bloody hot , so it was swim time . We cooled down and headed straight back to the ute and washed it while we dripped dry , then we attacked the RV , washing it down as well , hosing each other down as we dried out - would have been funny to watch !!! With that done we went for another swim to cool off again - a quick dip , soaking wet , then round to the bar for a quiet beer - I had run out and you can't buy it in Kakadu !! 

 That's your lot for today , here's a map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kvqmsrM9Wpyc&usp=sharing