Darwin, Kakadu & the Jumping Crocs!

We arrived into Darwin late at night after spending 27 hours on a Greyhound Bus (never again!!!). The next day we explored the city and went to the Aquascene where the fish come right up to steps leading into the sea and you can feed them. There were Mullet, Catfish, Moonfish, Barramundi and even some small rays. Some of the fish mistook my fingers for the bread and tried to nibble them!!

The next day we began a 3 day adventure into Kakadu National Park with Wilderness Adventures. We were collected at 6.30am and met the rest of our group - Christine from Austria, Franziska from Germany and David from Canada. Our driver was Luke and he had brought along Dan who was being trained as a guide.

Our first stop was the Adelaide River Pub, where Charlie the Buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee movies now lives after he died and was stuffed! We (of course) had to re-enact the seen from the film!!

We stopped off at the Margaret River Roadhouse as Luke had forgotten to pack some of the food - namely all the dry stuff. He said it was the most expensive mistake he had made!

Then we we entered the park (after having a chat about the wildlife here and been told about the infamous Cain Toads). We drove straight to a waterhole for our first swim of the day and Luke volunteered to go in first - which was a relief as every waterhole has a crocodile warning and many people have been eaten here! The water was beautiful and clear and it had a waterfall at one end. We all survived (no crocs around!) and made our way to the Gunlom Escarpement.

Luke decided to take us on a walk up a steep hill and had told us not to look around us until we got to the top - and the view from there was amazing! The park stretched as far as the eye could see and the walk was worth it.

To cool down, we took another swim. As the wet season has only just finished here, the place is still green and all the waterfalls are still flowing and water holes are full. We swam in pool and sat at the edge near the Gunlom waterfall - there was another pool below us so there was no chance that we would fall over the edge! We walked back down and swam in the pool at the base of the waterfall and saw lots of fish, including Archer Fish.

As the sun began to set, we climbed up on the roof of the 4WD and sat there with a beer in hand. Its definitely the best way to see a sunset!

That night, we joined a couple of other groups round a camp fire and tried our hand at playing a didgeridoo. Some of the people were really good (they had been practising with their guide) and all I managed was some random noise! Oh well - it was great fun! Went to sleep in our swags under the stars!

We were woken by the light rain on the second day but it was time to get up anyway (even though it was still dark and only just gone 5am!) We headed over to a cultural camp to learn about Aboriginal ways from Johnny and Jennifer. We were told some of their creation stories and shown how they weave using the Pandenis Spiralis plant. They had dyed strands of it and we made bracelets!

We saw a green bottomed ant while while we were sitting on the floor - the Aboriginals use them to make tea or to eat them and we had been told by Meril on the Planet Perth trip that you like its bottom! So we managed to catch it (after about 5 minutes of it desperately trying to get away) and lick it! It was quite tangy like lime! Very strange!

Next we were taught how to throw spears! We had some animal cutouts to aim for and javelin lessons at school certainly helped! I managed to hit the cutouts but I would have gone hungry if I had to actually kill an animal! Then we learnt how to play the didgeridoo - took a couple of attempts but I finally got a noise out of it!

Our next stop was the Anbangbang gallery where we looked at the Rock Art. It was really amazing - it is so clear and its a great way of telling a story. It was still in such a great condition.

That afternoon we went to another cultural centre to see a dvd about the park. The first part was really interesting but I missed the end due to falling asleep (as did most of the group)!! I am blaming the air conditioning and it being dark!!

We stopped at Cahill's Crossing, which separates Kadaku from Arnheim Land. Its an area that quite a few crocs live in so we decided to try and spot one. Despite staying there for a while, we left without seeing one!

Then we headed up to Ubirr with Johnny from the Aboriginal camp this morning. He told us various stories as we headed through the park and pointed out the Rock Wallabies. This is the place where Croc Dundee goes to make his "phone call". We sat here and saw the best sunset yet over the wetlands - it was amazing!

On the final day, we are up before dawn again and head over to "The Castle". We begin with a gentle walk along an area that would not go amiss on the plains of Africa and then the fun begins! We had to climb up some pretty big rocks, using our arms to pull ourselves up and finally climbing up a steep rock with not much to hold onto!

But once we were on the top, it was worth it! Once again, we had one of the best views of Kakadu! We just sat there in the silence taking it in all in. Pure bliss!

We had our final swim in the Garden of Eden before leaving the park and going to the Corroboree Billabong for a cruise in an attempt to find crocodiles! We were held up for a bit - by the van overheating - but made it just in time to make the boat! We managed to see a couple of crocodiles - freshwater and saltwater - and I'm glad that I was in the boat far enough away from them - they were huge and they weren't even full grown!!!

We headed back to Darwin after having an amazing 3 days - Kakadu is definitely one of my favourite spots in Australia!

Back in Darwin, we have a couple of days before flying to Cairns so we head to the Mindil Market. Its full of funky little stalls and lots of Asian foods. There are also a couple of bands playing, including one where the guys is playing 4 didgeridoos that are tied together - it was pretty cool!

The next day we hired a car and drove out to the Adelaide River to see the jumping crocodiles. They entice them with bits of meat and they manage to leap right out of the water to get it! It was pretty impressive watching them!

There were also some kites flying around and they were thrown meat as well so that we could see how they catch their "prey" mid air!

On our last night, we went to the Deckchair Cinema - an open air cinema with deckchairs(!). They give you some cushions and mossie repellent and provide food and beer for you (not free though!) to have during the film! We saw Marie Antoinette.

We fly to Cairns tomorrow and begin the final leg of our time in Australia.