Mardugal NP 30 August – 1 September 2006

Camped in the National Park camp site to give Laura a better taste of the bush. The commercial camp at Yellow Waters was about 7 k away but ours was more beautiful. The birds at night were noisier than the day birds and were actually beautiful to listen to, then suddenly at about 4am it is deadly quiet for a few hours. The South Alligator River was just behind us, hence the large bird population. We took a boat trip at 0645 hrs onto the Yellow Waters and put that experience up as one of the highlights. All the birds concentrate on the shrinking waters and there are thousands up very close and not even slightly interested in us floating by so closely. We probably saw every water bird you could think of including jabirus with a nest on the top of a dead tree, with a baby the size of a stork standing up. We also saw a pair of brolgas who are the dancing birds with lovely long red legs. The daily arrival of the magpie geese in their tens of thousands made a terrific noise. Mixed in on the flats with them were the Whistling ducks, Burdekin ducks and so many other species of beautiful white creatures. We really felt like we had been spliced through nature and were invisible. It was goose bump stuff. The crocs were just fishing around and the birds practically walked all over them. The guide said the crocs usually only eat fish in this environment. There is so much life it feels unreal. We returned to the area the next evening and watched another spectacular sunset made very red by the constant smoke from the numerous grass fires. It was amazing to watch the tens of thousands of magpie geese go flying back to their roosts. The classic V formations were repeated over and over with some amazing variations.
Laura was dropped off on Friday to the Aurora Resort, at South Alligator 40 k west of Jabiru, to work for few months so she can save some money before she moves on to Nepal. She has to save as there is nothing to do there! She has another job in Jabiru in a child care centre that she wants to do on her days off and they are busting to have her.
She gets free food and board at the resort as she will be the manager of the café, so it should work out well.!! We said our good byes as we separated again on our own adventures and expect our next hugs in 6 months! For Laura it will be Kakadu to Kathmandu!