Merl camp and Border Store

We completed our shopping in Jabiru.
It so took us back to when we lived in Mt Hagen in PNG. The supermarket was so similar and to think it was 32 years ago and the prices were like then horrendous!
The drive towards Arnhem Land was about 40kms and we camped at Merl campsite which had plenty of shade. In the afternoon we visited the Border Store where they had some Aboriginal women doing some weaving. They use the pandaneous  leaves which they treat similar to flax with the way they split and then dry the strips.
The weaving is in circular patterns very similar to what they do in PNG, making mats, bags, wall hangings etc.

This area of the Kakadu NP is called stone country and by the pictures you can see why.
There are actually 6 areas and each area has its own range of habitants. The lowland plains that stretch over the Top End make up 70% of the park.

There are stones like this all along the roadsides.

I find it interesting too that it is often mentioned that where we did the Yellow Water cruise is where the movies  Crocodile Dundee, these were now made over 30 years ago, still a claim to fame!
This area is also where the Alligator rivers East,South and West are. They were explored bean English navigator Philip King in 1820 who named them in the mistaken belief that the crocodiles in the rivers were alligators.
Evidently many people tried to get the name changed later but the government refused saying it would cost too much.
We returned to the camp and really for the first time felt the intense heat. It was over 38 deg and only dropped much later in the evening for comfortable sleeping. Both of us enjoyed chilling out reading our books.