| "Crocodile Dundee Country!?" - part 1 |
| 10th September 2004 |
| G'day! Left you guys last time in Kununurra, after our fab, but tiring, 2 day 4WD tour of the Bungles. Back at the hostel, we still had another few days before the next northbound "Easyrider" bus was passing through, which gave us some well-needed relaxation time around the hostel pool! Picking up the next bus, we headed out towards Katherine, which was to be our next overnight stop. We stopped briefly en-route for a boat cruise around Lake Argyle to see some of the local wildlife: freshwater crocs, short-eared wallabies & white-bellied sea eagles, and the barrmundi nurseries dotted around the lake. The rest of the day was spent driving, along yet more long straight desert roads...but our new driver kept us entertained with games & some "choice" metal music...no falling asleep on this bus!?! Arriving into Katherine in the late afternoon, picking up proisions for our group BBQ tonight which our driver kindly offered to cook for all of us! We stopped by the "hot" springs on the way in...basically a river coming from "hot" groundwater...now, I don't know about "hot"springs though, these were only lukewarm!? So, a little disappointing (not a patch on the hot springs in Denham!), but we had a dip anyway. The next day we were up and out early...we'd chosen not to "jump off" the bus for a few days in Katherine, even though it's a beautiful area, as we wanted to make it up to Darwin, as we'd heard so many good things about the town!! An hour or so sleep later, we arrived at our first stop for the day..."Edith Falls". After a trek up the side of the hill, we reached the top pool of the falls, and were offered to go in for for a morning swim if we wanted. But first, let me set the scene for you...7am...pretty chilly...cold wind...freezing water...croc country...and you want me to get in there in just a bikini, where's the wetsuits?! Ah, what the hell, we're only here once!! So the "braver" half of the group threw ourselves in for a swim. It actually wasn't that bad...until we got out and felt the cold, and were pretty much numb from head to toe!! Had fun though! Back on the bus to get dry, and off to our next stop...Litchfield National Park! A few more swimming holes were in store for us, this time later in the day, so the sun had warmed us all, and we were ready for some serious swimming/waterfall action! But I hadn't realised just how beautiful this next spot was going to be..."Florence Falls"...the view from the top was like something out of a "Timotei" advert!! Needless to say we didn't need to be persuaded to stay there for a while splashing around and getting neck massages from the waterfall! We tore ourselves away from Florence Falls, and onto "Buley Rockpools". These were a series of shallow waterfalls and rockpools, as the name suggests...but it was cool as you could start at the top and slide your way down the falls to the pool at the bottom! A nice way to spend a relaxing afternoon...such a hard life!?! Having almost to drag our tourguide/driver away from the rockpools, otherwise we wouldn't have made it Darwin before nightfall! We arrived on schedule though, and after checking into our hostel, met back up with the rest of the group for dinner. Now, this was at a pub called the "Vic Hotel" (those who've been to Darwin probably know it far too well!). It's a loud, raucous bar where all the tour groups end their tours...you get a free meal, and can enter competitions to win more meal tickets, and beer! The competitions culminate in a "table dancing" competition...nope, not the seedy kind of table dancing you may be thinking of...but basically, as many people as possible on the tables and benches, jumping around to random songs...the craziest table wins...you've guessed it, more beer! Though I was a bit worried at 1 point, as our crazy tour guide apparently tries every time he's there to break the table, and was jumping so hard, I could feel the table flexing underfoot!! Eek! We survived though and had managed to move our table about 3 metres until we'd hit the stag and could go no further...yes, we won beer!! Well, that was basically the template for quite a few nights in Darwin!! We had heard it was a party town, and it really lived up to it's reputation for us! We did do a few other things (between hangovers...just kidding!!) of interest in the town though. I hadn't realised unti I went there, but Darwin was virtually destroyed in the 1970's when "Cyclone Tracy" (unfortunate name!!) hit on Christmas Day...it had only been forecast as strong wind, so they weren't expecting the ferocity that hit...buildings were flattened, residents killed and an emergency zone declared, with all the residents evacuated during the clean-up. I found out the story at the Northern Territory Museum. One exhibit I had heard about was a small darkened room, where you can stand for a few minutes and listen to a sound recording of the cyclone taken from the actual night...it's pretty eerie, and gave me goosebumps, as you listen to the howling wind and sheets of iron being dragged across the concrete. This disaster explained why all the buildings in Darwin looked relatively new! One of the highlights of being in Darwin though had to be the chance to take a 2 day camping trip to Kakadu National Park!! I had been looking forward to this, as had heard and seen so much about it. We beagn our tour with a visit to the Adelaide River, and the "Jumping Croc Cruise". This is Saltie (saltwater croc) country, and they thrive in the river here. We went on a boat, and they hold out pieces of meat on a pole over the side of the boat, and the crocs literally lauch themselves out of the water to get it...it was a little tacky, but cool to see the salties so close up...made me realise I don't ever want to be that close to one again, coz unless on a tour I would be in deep danger!! I also got the chance to hold some of the snakes they have at the tour office (sorry Dad!!)...something I had never done before...I was a little apprehensive, but eventually plucked up the courage to hold a Water Python, & Olive Python! They were beautiful...you can just feel how strong their muscles are...luckily these ones weren't venemous!! ... |