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An extremely early start (I think 5am) and head to meet our fellow travellers and our guide Jordan, and the 4WD truck which was to be our home for the next three days. A group of about 14-15 people. Evs and I jumped in the front seat and started off an excitable chat with the tour guide.
Stop en route for an egg and bacon roll at a roadhouse (egg cheese for me).
One of the girls in the tour had a bad back so I swapped seats with her, and got to hang out with some lovely French girls. Over the next three days we had a blast with the guide and the iPod, playing random tunes from our different countries and explaining song meanings in different languages.
Arrived at Florence Falls, which we got to with a short easy walk with some proper wooden stairs and metal hand railings. Very beautiful and tropical. It was a very hot day so went for an early morning swim in the waterhole under the falls. Very strong current to swim against!
Had a fabulous walk through the national park to the next destination, very easy flat paved walk about an hour or so, thongs could be worn easily, though as it was the wet season there was a lot of flooding along the path. Such extremely humid and gross weather! After swimming, I'd advise getting fully changed before heading out on this walk, walking in wet swimmers is not pretty in this weather.
Arrived at Buley Rockhole which was just gorgeous. Notice how much water is flowing through here in my photos, and then look at what it usually looks like on their website. There was a lot of rain recently up in the top end. I talked with some of the other travellers in our group, and this is where I met Philipp, Philippe, Jenny, Patrick and the lovely Joshua. The running joke became Jenny and Joshua are no friends! They were getting along so famously when I first met them, I thought that they must have been best friends for years and were travelling together, when in fact they had just met the same time we had. It became apparent though that, these two in particular, are so easy going and friendly, that they become instant best friends with all who they meet.
Had a great time swimming in the hole and under the waterfall, and even the unexpected water slide which came with complimentary cuts and bruises was fun! I survived though.
Back on the bus and arrive at Wangi Falls for our first meal together. Everyone lends a hand to chop, wash, clean or cook, had ourselves some hamburgers sitting on the grass while listening to the roar of the magnificent falls. So much water volume! It was pretty intense. We walked down to the falls before lunch and the spray coming from the falls was quite refreshing. And the water! Apparently it was running faster than the guide had ever seen before due to high rain levels recently.
Next stop the Termite mounds. Cathedral termite and magnetic termite mounds. Spectacular, one of the cathedral termite mounds was over 60 years old!
Then a stop for ice cream and a cold drink at the Banyan Tree Caravan & Tourist Park, where some of the group got to hold a snake (python). The banyan tree was enormous!
Off to camp now, laughing at Evelin falling asleep on the bus. Again. Stopped at a roadhouse along the way to buy beer and wine from a very rude shelia (Aussie slang for woman) behind the bar. Anyone would have thought I was asking her to sacrifice her first born child, not asking the price of takeaway alcohol! I think there were wallabies and a crocodile in an enclosure at this roadhouse. I can't remember where it was unfortunately, possibly at Batchelor.
Point Stuart Wilderness Lodge was base for the night. We arrived on a site with permanent tents and a tented kitchen area, set up our sleeping bags on the beds in the tents to find out that the last people had left the tents open and there were billions upon millions upon trillions of mosquitoes in there. Lucky the guide had mozzie coils which we burned before going to sleep.
All muck in for dinner again, which was rice and a curry of some sort I think. I remember washing rice in an oversized pot outside under the hose. After dinner, we sat around for a chat, then headed down to the saloon for a few drinks with Jordan and some locals and heard stories of fishing - was a major hub for fishermen. We got eaten alive by mozzies and saw cane toads on the way back to camp.
It was stunning to sleep out in the middle of nowhere, just the sound of frogs, insects and other wildlife and a million stars as you drift off to sleep, somewhat uncomfortably in this humidity.
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