My husband and I will be in Darwin the first week in April, 2011 and want to visit Kakadu for 2 nights. I have looked at tours but think we will take the Greyhound bus from Darwin to Kakadu, stay in the Holiday Inn, and take the Yellow River Cruise from Cooinda for sunset and again for sunrise. My problem is----how can we get from the Holiday Inn in Jabiru to Cooinda to take the cruise??? An email from "Gagudju Dreaming" (which seems to be in charge of all things/hotels at Kakadu) says there is no transportation available. I really prefer the Holiday Inn at Jabiru to the hotel at Cooinda.

Any suggestions? Self-driving is not an option.

Good question Jane, for which I don't have an answer except to say that there must be something. Perhaps contact the Holiday Inn direct and see if they have anything available. The hotel at Cooinda in pretty ho hum as you say as I have stayed there just to do the cruise. I wonder if taking a tour with one of the 4 wheel drives companies would be better for you?

we spent 3 nights in the park: 2 in jaibiru @ the very sweet lakeside resort. we went on a tour into arnhemland w/ lord's and saw spectacular rock art in a series of cave shelters. u lay on ur back to look @ the illustrated ceilings a metre or so above u. u really want to take the dawn yellow water trip; the birds and light r stunning. hotel is fine imo

cheers
AndrewDavid

Thank you for the suggestions.

I think I have found a solution!! Thrifty Rental cars are available for pick-up at the Holiday Inn. Who knew?? I have already booked a Toyota. We should be ok driving inside the park on the "wrong" side of the road (which was our objection to driving). So we will take the Greyhound bus to Jabiru on Wednesday, pick up a car at the Holiday Inn and drive to the Cooinda Lodge for the night. At the Cooinda Lodge, we'll be able to take the sunset cruise and the next morning we'll take the sunrise cruise. Taking the Yellow River cruises was the primary reason for our going to Kakadu. Then we'll drive back to the Holiday Inn for the next night and take the Greyhound bus back to Darwin on Friday.

We will, of course, drive to some of the other sites in the park that are open in early April. The tours looked interesting but doing it ourselves is really more our style.

Our trip to Kakadu was rained out. Half way to the park on Greyhound, we had to turn around because of water over the road. After returning to Darwin and cancelling all the Kakadu reservations, we flew onward to Fiji and continued our journey. BTW, the people at Crown Plaza Hotel in Darwin are so helpful and wonderful to deal with--highly recommend staying there.

Oh, JaneB, what a blow for you to miss Kakadu. I had just yesterday read that so many parks, etc, were closed or had limited access due to rain, and thought what a disappointment it would be for anyone planning to visit the area.
We are going in July and are hoping that this year the weather gods will be kinder to us than last July, when our plans for Alice Springs had to be drastically changed due to the unexpected and protracted wet weather! Mind you, we had a ball, and hope to take our trips this year.
We have planned 3 days in Kakadu, (staying at the Gagadju Crocodile Inn for 2 nights - gulp!) including a sunrise cruise on the Yellow River, as part of our 3 weeks' trip from Darwin to Alice Springs. Hopefully, all will be well, and go ahead. I will post a report when we return, hopefully including a photo diary if I can work out how to do it! You could then visit Kakadu vicariously.
We stayed in Crowne Plaza in Alice Springs last year, and found the same about the staff there. We are staying there this year too, and would have done in Darwin but the budget needed to be considered wherever possible!

Go in WINTER; our winter! There are only two seasons in NT - wet and dry; if you go in our summer it WILL rain, every day.