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Cruising Yellow Water Billabong at dawn – Australian Bucket List experiences

Places We Go Team | March 5, 2019 | 2:15 pm | 2 Comments

Dragging yourself out of bed at 5am is never easy, especially when you are on holiday. But there are certain occasions when staying in bed for a sleep-in is simply out of the question – because when you wake up in Kakadu National Park, the magic happens at dawn.

Boarding a boat in the dark at the Yellow Water Billabong made us wonder what it was that was going to be so special. Our indigenous guide from  Yellow Water Cruises welcomed us all on board and as we settled in, we began to see the sun inch its way into the bottom of the horizon.

Yellow water billabong
Glorious sunrise on Yellow Water Billabong

As it lifted, and we drifted peacefully out onto Kakadu’s most famous wetland, the mist began to reveal itself in the growing light and the world around us began to wake up.

Slowly, the sounds of birdlife and insects reached our ears and as the light grew, so did the volume. Soon the sky was glowing orange, and the mist transparent enough to make out the flood plains around us covered in lush mangroves, pink and white waterlilies, pandanus and paperbark forests.

Yellow water billabong
Wildlife abounds

And the wildlife was simply breathtaking. Flocks of magpie geese. Proud jabirus. Sea eagles and whistling kites, and even buffalo along the edges of the water. Their calls joined together in chorus and we were all silenced by their song.

But none of us took our eyes away from the water for long, for we were all searching for that one local resident of these waters… the saltwater crocodile.

Yellow water billabong
The local residents

And it wasn’t long before we drifted into the path of a beauty. Warming him (or her) self in the growing sun on the bank of the billabong, this huge reptile barely gave us a blink as we rested the boat a short distance away. We watched, mesmerised, each of us secretly thinking of this giant’s capabilities but knowing we were entirely safe in the boat.

In the end, he (or she) got bored of us, glided into the water and silently swam away. We were obviously not that interesting.

Our experience was heightened by the narrative of our guide Dean, who had us spellbound by his tales of the lands history and culture. It is hard to bring a landscape any more to life than with stories that reach back to the dreamtime, and the people who are as much a part of it as the native flora and fauna.

Yellow water billabong

Watching this incredible world ‘wake up’ was undoubtedly the highlight of our time in Kakadu. During our stay we experienced incredible moments. However the silence and power of the experience at dawn, when the local wildlife is at their most active and the landscape was glowing in its best light, eclipsed all else.

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Comments

  1. Peter Cary says

    March 14, 2019 at 6:44 pm

    My wife and I did the 9 am trip the first time and were simply amazed by the wildlife, the wetlands and our guides knowledge. It was so good we did the sundowner the next day as well which was quite different, partly because of this guides perspective and knowledge. When you book two trips at a time the. Second is only $25 per person. That’s value. well worth doing the Yellow River twice. Loved it.

    Reply
    • Jen Adams says

      March 20, 2019 at 3:06 pm

      I know Peter, it’s seriously good isn’t it! These are the experience I find so many of my friends simply don’t know exist. The guides knowledge, and love for the environment deserves an award in my opinion. thanks for your comment. And re doing it twice, yes I can see how you could. The value even from a time perspective of what you actually see its simply brilliant. Jen 🙂

      Reply
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