{"id":481,"date":"2015-09-13T11:27:17","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T01:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/?p=481"},"modified":"2016-06-07T16:05:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T06:05:44","slug":"handel-holiday-part-4-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"Handel Holiday (part 4 of 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve strung you on long enough, so this will be the final post about our trip up to the top end.<\/p>\n<p>Waking up early in Jabiru, we headed out to do a 12km loop hike up and around Nourlangie Rock. The trail took us through many different ecosystems.\u00a0 The trail was shockingly narrow at times and included harrowing drop-offs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_485\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-485\" style=\"width: 1728px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ussie.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-485\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Ussie.jpg\" alt=\"Nourlangie Rock\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nourlangie Rock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_484\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-484\" style=\"width: 1296px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Trail2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-484\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Trail2.jpg\" alt=\"No margin for error\" width=\"1296\" height=\"1728\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-484\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">No margin for error<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_483\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-483\" style=\"width: 1296px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Trail1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-483\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Trail1.jpg\" alt=\"Narrow passageways\" width=\"1296\" height=\"1728\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-483\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Narrow passageways<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The hike featured aboriginal rock art at various spots along the way.\u00a0 This helpful sign points the way.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Hand.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-491\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Hand.jpg\" alt=\"Hand\" width=\"313\" height=\"417\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Art2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-487\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Art2.jpg\" alt=\"Art2\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Art1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-486\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Art1.jpg\" alt=\"Art1\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We managed to finish the loop hike in about 4 hours without encountering anyone else (so crowded!)<\/p>\n<p>We then headed back to Jabiru and hit up the German bakery for lunch.\u00a0 Then back to our room \/ pool for some R&amp;R.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Lodging.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-492\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Lodging.jpg\" alt=\"Lodging\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That evening we headed up to Ubirr to witness the sunset &#8211; it did not disappoint.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sunset1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-493\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sunset1.jpg\" alt=\"Sunset1\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sunset2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-482\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sunset2.jpg\" alt=\"Sunset2\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>During &#8220;the wet&#8221; the entire plain below this rock is completely flooded.\u00a0 Looking out on the large expanse of green, it is very hard to imagine that volume of water.<\/p>\n<p>After the sun set, we made a quick dash back to Jabiru, as we were warned it is very dangerous to drive at night due to the high number of single vehicle accidents involving wildlife.\u00a0 I didn&#8217;t want to hit any kangaroos and thankfully didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning we awoke for our last day in Kakadu with a 3 hour drive to Darwin in front of us.\u00a0 We checked out some wetlands on the way out of the park and were generally surprised by the amount of water (and birds!) even though it had been 3+ months since the last rain.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Birds.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-488\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Birds.jpg\" alt=\"Birds\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After seeing smoke everywhere the entire time we were in Kakadu, but never seeing fire, we finally came upon an active bushfire right along the side of the road.\u00a0 Apparently, these are, for the most part, set intentionally to refresh and renew the landscape.\u00a0 Still shocking to drive by.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Fire.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-490\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Fire.jpg\" alt=\"Fire\" width=\"1855\" height=\"1384\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We made it to Darwin and checked into our nice big hotel room with a big balcony on the 25th floor.\u00a0 In Darwin we saw the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.axisofawesome.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Axis of Awesome<\/a> (comedy rock band) and also saw a movie at an outdoor movie theater.\u00a0 Other than that, we mostly just relaxed and spent time at the wave pool.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Darwin.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-489\" src=\"http:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Darwin.jpg\" alt=\"Darwin\" width=\"1728\" height=\"1296\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A good quality Handel Holiday all around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve strung you on long enough, so this will be the final post about our trip up to the top end. Waking up early in Jabiru, we headed out to do a 12km loop hike up and around Nourlangie Rock. The trail took us through many different ecosystems.\u00a0 The trail was shockingly narrow at times &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/?p=481\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Handel Holiday (part 4 of 4)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handelblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}