Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
A sad farewell to the girls, Fi at the hostel and Canks and Sozza at the airport as they were just being hauled aside to have their bags inspected. I head to the plane preparing for some serious hiking and 4x4 action!
On arrival in Darwin, I check into Cavanaughs (a really rough backpackers in comparison to the Haven in Alice Springs) and head for a walk around town and wonder how on earth I'm going to cope with trekking and camping in this crazy heat, it doesn't even seem to cool down at night!
The next morning, we head off in our 4x4 truck with Jordan our tour guide at the wheel and all bump along in the back. Three days mainly filled with walking, swimming and camping and I will try and remember what we did and in what order….
First off, a big drive to Litchfield along the Stuart Highway (named after a man who stupidly decided to try and walk from Adelaide to Darwin to find new land to inhabit, on his 3rd attempt he made it). Couldn't believe I was still in the same country, in stark contrast to the red dirt of the last few days I was now hurtling past lush green, although as it's the end of the wet season up here it does kind of make sense.
Our guide, Jordan (only 23) was excellent and seemed to have his eyes and ears everywhere. Every now and again our bus would scream to a halt as he spotted a frill necked lizard or some kind of venomous snake, anything that moved really. We were eased into it all gently on the first day, with 2 short walks ending in Buleys rock hole and Florence falls for swims. I also saw my first rock possum. My personal highlight of the day though was the Mary River cruise.The wildlife and plant life was really diverse and we were lucky enough to see 3 crocs, all with their mouths open, apparently to absorb heat (as if it's not hot enough here).The lilies were massive, so big that I used one as a hat, we were very lucky to see them as they only come out for a few weeks every year just after the wet season.
Our first night camping, I was sad to find out that the flies had gone and were replaced by blinking mosquitoes!! So no Swags for us, instead tents with mosquito nets for walls as the canvas would have been too hot. Still not convinced I would be free from biting and after finding out they carry deadly disease up here, I slept in my sleeping bag liner with my fly net on my head, again looking very stylish!
The next morning, my personal favourite thing, UBBIR rock art site. Although at first I was a little skeptical about some of the aboriginal beliefs we talked about on the way around, some of their traditions and rules were fascinating. I could go on forever about it, but to mention just one. Aboriginals use 8 family groups that get allocated to people on birth by a very complicated system that involves family trees amongst other stuff, essentially it was introduced to prevent incest and by all accounts it works very well (perhaps we should introduce it in some parts of England!!).The major downside, however, is that 4 of the groups can't talk to or look at the other 4, which obviously makes it very difficult when you have more than 4 kids!! But it's a strong tradition that is still rigidly upheld today.
So leaving the culture and art behind for now, the view from the top of the art site was never ending. I could have stayed up there all day just looking around. However, it was up in the sky for me next on a scenic flight over those areas that still couldn't be accessed by road after the wet season. From Jabiru airport we headed north to Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls, to the border of Arnham land and over the croc holiday Inn. I got to be co-pilot which was great, but not so great was the lady sat behind me who totally filled 2 whole sick bags with bright red puke, yuk!! The afternoon brought with it a 10km hike rewarded with a swim in Gubara springs alongside a massive monitor water lizard.
Our last day and another 5am start, we are all starting to feel shattered - with the heat and the amount of walking we have done. So a series of shorter walks and swimming holes for today - Boulder creek and Moline falls where we ended up swimming with a giant python, apparently harmless, but I didn't take my eyes off of it once. On our way back to Darwin we stopped to check out the giant termite mounds, which take 10 years to build from chewed up undergrowth to 1m high, so check out the photo of me with one and work out how old it is!
Sad to be at the end of another tour already, I give the group meal a miss that evening in favor of a family BBQ at my cousins house, white fluffy towels, a double bed, en-suite and killer view. (Who can blame me??).
- comments