Darwin - Kakadu

Well hello from the Noerthern Territory!

In my last journal I promised to tell you all about my time with Jess in Broome. Well, I pretty much drank a lot, spent time in the town centre and sunbathed by the pool and on the nudie beach! I did visit the open-air cinema once again to watch The Devil Wears Prada, which was brilliant; and snuck in a few visits to the Buddha sanctuary. I loved it -apparently the statue of the Buddha is one of the largest in the world. The place was pretty special for me as I like to follow a bit of Buddhism and will be doing more so on my return to the UK. To me the religion just makes sense. So enough of Broome and onto Darwin.

Our three-hour flight from Broome to Darwin, stopping at Karratha, was probably one of the most terrifying flights I have ever been on. The little 30-odd-passenger plane hit some turbulence as we crossed the beautiful Kimberly’s, so much so Jess and I had to grab on to the seats in front of us! After we had settled, the Chief Crew asked if “we were all ok”, he added, “you were lucky, I was standing’. Good to have a sense of humour in times of near heart attack!

We arrived in Darwin safely, only to find that Adventure Tours had made a bit of a boo-boo with our booking. All good for us, as it gave Jess and I a chance to shop in Darwin for…..our brand new suitcases, with wheels! Horrah! The rubbish rucksack is gone (or at least rather in the top of the suitcase). We are now officially travellers and no longer backpackers. Laugh not, for we have had several admirers along on path, to the point that they are now going shopping for their brand new suitcases.

So, the day after the ‘Big Shop”, we climbed aboard our 4WD Adventure Tours bus to take us onto our three-day tour of the Kakadu National Park. I fell in love in Kakadu – it must be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my life (of course, apart from all those places that I have said that about since I left the UK).

Day 1:

Was spent driving for a near three hours to the Mary River Wetlands. There we set-sail aboard a pleasure boat, motored along the very big Rockhole Billabong to see freshwater crocodiles. Freshwater croc’s grow up to 2m’s and to be honest are not very exciting as they don’t move; it was however pretty special to see them in the wild.

We spent the afternoon driving to the Maguk. It was a fair hike to our destination, Barramundi Gorge, but on arrival we were greeted with spectacular waterfalls, plunge pools and underwater caves. I did not have the balls to cliff jump, so opted for the 5m drop into the plunge pool, escaping only through a 2m underwater cave. It was magical.

Andy, our driver, then took us to watch the sunset over the river at Yellow Water; birds took part in their annual migration as we sipped our wine. A perfect end to a perfect day. Or so we thought. After we had dropped of our belongings at camp, cooked a feast and enjoyed another bevoir, Andy told us to jump back on the bus. He took us back to the sunset spot, but this time it was dark and there we could see water snakes. I got to hold one of the beautiful little creatures, which unlike land snakes, does not have silky skin, but rather skin like a nail file. Fantastic hey!

Day 2:

Started at about 5.30am!!!! Immediately after breakfast we were whisked away from our campsite at Coolinda Lodge, first to Twin Falls and after that to Jim Jim Falls. The bus broke down on the way, but thanks to Andy and Irish Paddy, the bus was up and running in a matter of an hour and a half. Thank goodness, as it is hot in the bush!

Access to Twin Falls is only by boat – namely due to the presence of freshwater crocs. As with most sites in Kakadu, they do not come easy, as you have to do a bit of hiking before you get to see the spectacular sites. So, after walking along the edge of some smaller waterfalls and climbing over boulders, we were greeted with Twin Falls and oh-my were they beautiful. Located at the v-neck of a gorge, the falls plunge into a beautiful green pool, which meets the land via a white sand beach! How random. No swimming here, again because of the crocs. On our return, we were woken up a little. A traveller was being taken by the Royal Flying Doctors (via Helicopter) to the nearest hospital, since he was suffering from heat exhaustion. A good reminder to us to drink lots and lots of water.

We lunched at Twin Falls, before driving a fair few km’s to our next destination, Jim Jim Falls. The walk to the falls was a bit of a beast and consisted climbing over big boulders, all of various shapes and sizes. It was worth it though! Jim Jim falls, plunge through a huge steep side hole, approximately 30m across and 300m high; the sides of which have been made smooth and black by the flowing water. Very hot, I jumped into the pool like a flash and joined the rest of the tour gang on the far side of the pool to watch the likes of Andy and Paddy risk life and limb to get a thrill from cliff jumping. Fish also live in the pool, and one of the monkeys kindly bit me on the toe! What the hell, I was in heaven and in a matter of minutes I was lying on a rock, basking in the glorious sunshine.

So, after yet another fantastic day, it was time to start heading back the several 100’s of Km to our last night stay at the Mary River Camp, located closer to Darwin. We dropped of the two-day tour people, which left Myself, Maija and the Irish Clan. Yep, you can imagine what happened next! Drinking games. Beginning lightly with the Name Game and ending with Animal Snap. It was hilarious. I went to bed leaving Paddy, Liam, Kate, Ruth and Grace setting the world to rights.

Day 3:

Driving wise, it was an easy day to day. I say this, as Kakadu National park is the size of Holland. Over the past two days, we affectively drove to the most south-eastern corner. Today we were driven to Litchfield National Park, which is located on the most north-western corner of “Holland”, just one and a half hours south of Darwin. Because of it’s proximity to Dawrin, Litchfield is a lot more touristy, although it is still beautiful in it’s own right. We walked first to Florence Falls, and had a quick dip. Maija and I were saying how ungrateful we were at this point, because after 15 minutes we were racing to get back to the bus for lunch. All this walking must have taken its toll!

After a delicious lunch, a satisfied Em and Group were led by Andy to our second stop of the day, the falls without a name. There we had a lovely post-lunch swim, before, you will never guess… the heavens opened. Today was the first day of cyclone season in this area, and without a lie, the first day of rain for days and days. We rejoiced and danced in our bikinis in the rain, whilst the locals went wild. The sound of the clapping thunder was amazing, and every so often bright lightening blinded us. Fantastic!

So, that was the end of the tour. We were presented with our free dinner vouchers, for a local eatery in town and made the most of the time left on the bus home to sleep, only to be woken by the beeping of mobile phones as we entered a built up area. Jess and I agreed to meet Mija and the Irish crowd for dinner. The night started of very civilised, and then out came the Pink. A revolution in drink. For $3 you drink sweet fizzy white wine, which has a tinge of…..Pink, from a champagne glass (Jess and I have decided that this will be our drink for Christmas Day). It did the job, and by the end of the night, we had taken over the dance floor, and by 2pm I was in bed. What a corking end to a corking tour!