Wall Paintings to Water Lilies - Kakadu

Kakadu is the gem of the Top End, supremely beautiful and important for its Aboriginal history and unique ecology. The World Heritage-listed park is 260 kilometres east of Darwin on the sealed Arnhem Highway. The best-known rock art galleries are at Ubirr and Nourlangie Rock. Day-to-day scenes like hunting with spears are depicted, along with extraordinary pictures of fish, birds and animals showing bone structures and internal organs that look like stylised x-rays. Important Dreamtime paintings include Namarrgon the Lightning Man and Ngalyod the Rainbow Serpent.

Kakadu has 1600 plant species, 275 kinds of birds, 123 different reptiles, 25 varieties of frogs, as well as mammal and freshwater fish species. Water lilies blanket the billabongs, and waterfalls (Jim Jim, Gunlom and Twin Falls) plunge down the sandstone escarpment. The Wet season (November to April) sees tens of thousands of water birds descend on the park as the water spreads into massive lakes, spear grass soars to two metres and the waterfalls roar into deep pools. The monsoon storms generally drench the land at night, leaving the day clear to tour and cruise. While this is probably the best time to see Kakadu, some roads may not be accessible.