We had been looking forward to our scenic flight over Kakadu but we were disappointed to wake to a very smoke-filled sky, the worst it has been since we arrived on Saturday. We met our pilot, Lawson, at Jabiru Airport and after a quick toilet stop we were shown to our plane, another little Cessna. Lawson preferred someone to sit up front with him so Philip took that seat and I had the whole back seat to myself. They are really small planes but terribly safe planes. They just love to glide.
After Lawson did his safety check and contacted the control centre we were up and flying. Our flight path took us over the Ranger Uranium Mine that was closed for production last year. They are now rehabilitating the area that will take many years and hopefully after the Rum Jungle debacle a lot of lessons have been learned.
We continued on towards the impressive Lightning Dreaming cliffs that can be seen from such a long distance and then we headed north towards Ubirr Rock and Nourlangie Rock where there is some remarkable rock art. We will be visiting these two places on Thursday.
From here we passed over Cahills Crossing but we didn’t spot any crocodiles. We then followed East Alligator Creek all the way to the ocean.
We passed over some lush coastal grassland that could have been swamp. It’s hard to tell from the air. The water channels that snake their way into the river are absolutely amazing from the air and I just wish it wasn’t such a hazy day. Photography wise it was quite awful.
We saw some fantastic birdlife on the billabongs and looked hard but couldn’t see any buffalo. We did see some crocs on the river banks and the fact that we could see them from 1500 feet meant that they were very large!
Our return flight took us along South Alligator Creek that winds its way throughout Kakadu National Park until we found ourselves back at Jabiru. Our pilot took us for a loop of Jabiru to show us the renowned Crocodile Hotel and from the air it really does look like a crocodile leaving the billabong. It is wonderful architecture that we will explore tomorrow when we move to Jabiru.
Our one hour and 45minute scenic tour ended all too soon and even though it was very smoky it was still one of the best things we have done. Highly recommended.
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