Day 5 Friday

Day 5 Friday

Another beautiful morning, so another leisurely breakfast before we headed off for a 2 hour boat  cruise on the East Alligator River.  The river was named by a white explorer who did not know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile. There are no alligators in Kakadu!  This cruise is owned and run by Aboriginal people.  Our guide Neville was happy to share his extensive ancient knowledge with us.  He is also an artist and an actor.  He is just about to start shooting on a film called Higher Ground with Jack Thompson and Simon Baker which will be in the movies next year.

  His character is the villain and is called Black Fred (go figure!). It did not take long for us to start spotting crocodiles.  They were on almost every bank.  I was surprised that they were actually quite beautiful up close.  They live to be up to one hundred years old and can get extremely large.  They are actually cannibalistic which is lucky as otherwise we would be overrun by them!  The guide also cut a small branch from a bush and showed us how to make a paint brush by scrapping off the outside with his thumb nail. Later he showed us how to throw a spear. It was a fun trip and fortunately this place was along the same road as the Ubirr rock, so we were able to drop in to our favourite Thai coffee shop. We also picked up some beef fried rice for tea – a huge amount for $26 and it was really good.