Windows on the wetlands is, in fact, a modern two story building with a viewing platform of the wetlands area. But it’s a cool title to the beginning of our journey to Kakadu, too.
The information centre is a must if you have children. Jett had been drooping with the change in humidity. He’s been fine in the 80% plus humidity of Litchfield and Darwin, but out here, there’s been a definite drop. It’s a dryer heat, something both Albert and I can deal with reasonable comfort, but Jett! He’s turned a bleached white, and underneath his eyes are the rare porcelain tinges he’s famous for with the ex-Bollywood society of Hamar.
He livened up in the air conditioned comfort of the child friendly information centre. There were things to lift, to light up, to read, to scratch and find, and a cool ladder to climb to experience how it felt to be a mudskipper.
The area is also known as ‘long-necked turtle dreaming’. When we woke in the blue P, on the outskirts of the wetlands, we were fortunate enough to see a little long necked turtle on its way to the marsh. I can’t help but see our constant spotting of wildlife here a positive omen/an auspicious sign/a positive indication of the health of the environment and the good luck of the day.
In the information centre, I picked up a couple of new names to birds I’d seen flying around, and learnt that the area had, in the 1880’s, successfully been used as a coffee and sugar plantation. They used Chinese labour for the fields at the time.
A little further along the road, are two famous crocodile jumping activities, each vying for the tourist dollar.
This is a breakdown of our predicament to viewing the crocs jumping.
Pros
a) They are spectacular.
b) Its seems a guaranteed ‘Aussie adventure’, something to write home about.
c) Albert and Jett thought it would be COOOL.
Cons
a) They are feeding crocodiles in a way that associate humans with food. (Like hand feeding sharks – to me it just sounds a bit nong nong)
b) They are making performing seals out of the crocodiles for profit, entertainment value.
c) Tiffany is totally against it on ethical grounds
We end up not going, because there are not many things we disagree so strongly about, and it cost a little more than we bargained for. (ahh, also, if you’d like to see some recent photos and make up your own mind about the croc’s, you can take a look at the Hussy Hicks post. It was their one highlight of their time in the Ambassador. Thems be the facts.
The wetlands are green, fresh and full of life. It marked the beginning of our trip into the extraordinary land we typically, with casual understatement, call ‘the top end’.
We gave a gold coin donation to the Windows on the Wetlands and signed off as T A J in the Ambassador Van.
Kakadu, here we come!
