A spontaneous job application turned our live upside down. We just started to feel at home in Darwin, but this job offer at the Kakadu Lodge in Jabiru, was quite tempting. We decided to give it a go and had a week to pack up and move 250km inland.
On the way to Jabiru we stopped at the Fogg Dam for a look before visiting our friends.
Our friends – the same ones we visited in Tasmania – were working at Bamurru Plains. The day we arrived they took us out on the airboat, what an experience! I’ve never been on an airboat before, and it was fantastic! These boats can get anywhere, even when there is barely any water. They glide over swamps and seaweed like it’s just water. We saw so much wildlife – thousands of Magpie Geese, other water birds, horses, a dingo, and quite a few buffalos. We didn’t see any crocodiles which surprised us. They were definitely there, but we didn’t spot any.
The photos do not do justice to the place. Better you watch the video I made. What an epic experience!
Bamurru Plains is a buffalo station. The company our friends work for is operating on their property and offers fishing trips, airboat tours, and safari tours with luxury accommodation and worldclass food.
We had a fun night in the staff quarters. Excellent dinner and a few drinks after, being entertained by a snake catcher who brought a few snakes to look at and hold. Incredible how he can find and pick them up.
The following morning our friend took us on a safari cruise where we saw more buffalos, some cattle, horses and a bush turkey ready to impress a girl.
After the safari cruise we said our goodbyes and headed to Jabiru. My partner left the next day to catch his plane in Darwin and I set up our new home in between my shifts.
On the way we stopped at the South Alligator boat ramp 
there is a pig trap, first I’ve ever seen 
and a hidey hole of an animal 
The menu board I’ll soon have to write myself 😉 
parked up 
the new home is starting to take shape 
every day a bit more organised 
the pigeon is enjoying the shower 
the green ants love the leak 
or any little source of water
On my mornings off I usually go for a walk. The first morning off I visited the Bowali Visitor Centre. It’s a 1.5km walk from the Lodge to the visitor centre along the road until the walk turns off and continues right through the bush. It’s a nice scenery, but it is all bitumen which made me regret not taking the pushbike instead (I don’t like walking on bitumen).
The walk through the bush 
to the visitor centre 
It is a nice spacious shady spot with a lot of interesting exhibits. 
Canoe found and dug out on the bank of the East Alligator River. 
Since the 1970s crocodiles are protected. If there is a too friendly one close to tourist and community spots they catch it in a trap and relocate it somewhere else. 
“Hot Rocks” – This is a Geiger Counter to measure radioactivity. There were two Uranium mines – one in the South Alligator River Valley and another one East of Jabiru – but they are both shut down. Indigenous people referred to these areas as ‘sickness country’ long before the white people started mining the Uranium.
On my first full day off I rode my motorbike down to Nourlangie Rock. Along Nourlangie Rock Road are a few car parks with different walks. I started with the Anbangbang Billabong (pronounced Arn-barng-barng). It’s only about 2km around the billabong but it’s a very nice walk with views of some nice rock formations and a lot of birdlife and the occasional wallaby.
At the end of the Nourlangie Rock Road is a loop hike that takes you through bushland and rock formations which are full of Aboriginal paintings. It’s a very well maintained track and frequented by various tour operators. This area is traditionally called Burrungkui (pronounced Boo-rong-goy).
On the way back I stopped to do the Nawurlandja Lookout walk. By the time I did that the temperature was way up and this walk is completely exposed to the sun and I was dripping. If you do this section of the National Park I recommend to start with Nawurlandja, then do the billabong and finish with Nourlangie, as Nourlangie is 90% in the shade.
I finally got a new camera after two years! I tested it at camp before I took it with me for a walk around Jabiru Lake.
The next morning I had no work so I went for a walk around Jabiru Lake in town. Of course I brought my camera. The lake is a great spot for birdwatching! So many different birds. Go there before it gets to hot, but not to early, as the mosquitoes are insane! By now I aim for 8 o’clock or a bit after.
There is a lot more to see and do in Kakadu National Park and I will tell you all about it in future blogs.
Thanks for checking in and hope to have you again!
Explored Septemberand October 2025, written November 2025