Australia’s North and South
A dawn mist rises from the mirror-calm surface of Yellow Water Billabong as your launch leaves the wooden dock. The birds are already up and about: skeins of magpie geese and whistling ducks commute in formation overhead; comb-crested jacanas fuss over the lily pads; a jewel-like little kingfisher darts beneath the overhanging pandanus. This awakening tropical panorama seems the very picture of serenity. And yet a group of thirsty wallabies hangs back nervously from the water’s edge. The reason for their reluctance becomes clear as the serrated back of a saltwater crocodile emerges silently from the deep. This formidable predator – the largest reptile on the planet – stalks the dark waters of Kakadu National Park in impressive numbers. Soon see another: a four-metre monster hauled out on a bank, jaws agape with primeval menace. Some 2,000 km to the south a very different aquatic predator hauls itself out of the churning breakers and shuffles up the beach to join its companions. Australian sea lions are among the most endangered of the world’s marine mammals, yet at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island you can stroll on the beach through the very heart of the colony. Sleek youngsters gambol in the surf, while battle-scarred old bulls flop down among the dunes higher up the beach. There are birds here too, though a very different selection from those of Kakadu, with waders, terns and waterfowl finding rich pickings along the fringes of the Southern Ocean. Cape Barren geese overfly the sea lion colony, honking noisily, while rare hooded dotterels scuttle like clockwork along the tideline and a white-bellied sea eagle wheels over the nearby headland. Kangaroo Island and Kakadu National Park are the premier wildlife attractions of South Australia and Northern Territory respectively. So wildly different are their landscapes – the dunes, heathland and mallee scrub of the former contrasting with the tropical wetlands, escarpments and monsoon forest of the latter – that it can be hard to believe they form part of the same country. Yet, together, these two wild destinations embody the extraordinary diversity of Australia’s wildlife and offer some of the country’s greatest natural spectacles. The attractions are not only aquatic. Head inland on Kangaroo Island, into the eucalypt and mallee scrub, and you will find Australia’s native mammals thriving in the absence of invasive predators. Kangaroos abound -
specifically the western grey kangaroo, which occurs in a unique chocolatecoloured island subspecies – while the rare tammar wallaby flourishes alongside the more common Bennett’s wallaby. Look up and you’ll find koalas dozing in the gum trees. Down, and you might meet a short-beaked echidna probing the deadwood for termites. At night your torch beam will catch the eye-shine of such elusive nocturnal marsupials as brown bandicoot and brushtail possum. Flinders Chase National Park is the top spot for many of these animals. But the beauty of Kangaroo Island is that you may encounter them anywhere – perhaps crossing a road or foraging around a picnic site. Birds also abound, with nectareaters such as purple-gaped honeyeater and eastern spinebill gathering on the flowering eucalypts, rare glossy blackcockatoos roosting in a casuarina grove, and local races of the crimson rosella, grey currawong and western whipbird to excite the birders. Meanwhile keep an eye out at ground level for the 1.3m-long Rosenberg’s goanna, the island’s largest predator. Exploring Kakadu’s interior opens up a world of wildlife adventure. This vast wilderness, protecting an area of nearly 20,000km2, is more than four times the size of Kangaroo Island. Yet as well as boat trips on Yellow Water and the East Alligator River, you can take to the wild terrain on foot – exploring the floodplains and escarpments in search of such strange creatures as frilled lizards – which, when threatened, expand their neck frill like a parasol – and black fruit bats, which flap clumsily around their riverside roosts. Local birds to look out for include the exquisite rainbow pitta and rare chestnut-quilled rock pigeon.
Kakadu’s bountiful wildlife is also celebrated in its aboriginal rock art. The park has earned UNESCO World Heritage status for its cultural as well as its natural values, and sacred sites such as Nourlangie have served as a canvas for thousands of years. A trail among the dramatic sandstone escarpments reveals rock faces adorned with creation ancestors and other figures drawn from the human, animal and spiritual worlds. Meanwhile, peregrine falcons soar overhead and the elusive sandstone shrike-thrush whistles its distinctive call from among the cliffs. On Kangaroo Island nature has created its own rock art in the form of Remarkable Rocks, a cluster of windcarved formations that perch like giant Henry Moore sculptures atop a dome of granite, and the nearby Admiral’s Arch, which shelters a New Zealand fur seal colony. These natural monuments both make convenient spots from which to spy the rich marine life offshore, including countless short-tailed shearwaters angling over the waves and – in season – the waving flukes of southern right whales that visit the island’s more sheltered bays.
Kakadu and Kangaroo Island in their own way, like nowhere else on earth. Either one offers a truly memorable wildlife experience. To see both is to understand just why Australia – from top to bottom – is a natural wonder like no other.
opens up a world of wildlife adventure