East Alligator River and Arnhem Land, NT

On our second day in Kakadu National Park, we spent the early part of the day looking at Aboriginal rock art at Ubirr, before going on another cruise, this time on the East Alligator River.  This cruise was very different to the wetlands cruise, and demonstrated how diverse the landscape is in Kakadu National Park.  Our cruise was by Guluyambi Cruises, which are run by the Aboriginal people of the Top End.

We were taken down the river in a boat by our Aboriginal guide from Arnhem Land, who skilfully negotiated the many snags in the river.  Along the way, he gave us softly spoken commentary about what we were seeing and its significance to his people.

This plant is used by the Aboriginal people to make fibres and medicine:

Some of the river bank was lined with sandy beach:

Don't you just love the contrast of these ghostly trees against the bright blue sky:

The scenery along the East Alligator River was breathtaking, but in a much more understated way than the wetlands:

You normally need a permit to enter Arnhem Land, but on this cruise, we were permitted to go ashore in Arnhem Land with our guide:

While in Arnhem Land, our guide demonstrated the use of Aboriginal hunting spears, thrown using a woomera:

I am pretty sure that I would be hopeless at spear throwing:

We re-boarded our boat after the hunting demonstration, and were shown more Aboriginal rock art which was painted on the river banks:

There was lovely plant life to be seen all along the river banks:

The East Alligator River Cruise was followed by a visit to the Bowali Visitor Centre, celebrating Aboriginal culture, before we made the long drive back to Darwin in the bus.  It was worth it just to see yet another glorious Top End sunset:

You won't find a sunset as magnificent as this in many places. Gotta love the NT.