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Max & Dean Year Out 05/06
So...no fear everyone. We survived "Monica" - was all an experience though. The day after we'd arrived in Darwin we booked our 3 day camping tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. All sounded good - however the day before we were due to leave came the news that cyclone Monica was on it's way and was due to hit Darwin the day we went bush. Bearing in mind that Darwin was flattened in '74 by a category 4 and Monica was predicted to be a category 5 - it was all a bit worrying. And I started to wonder why I had persuaded Dean that it was a good idea to come here - Darwin really isn't the nicest place to get stuck. So - we decided to buy a few provisions in case we had to get to the shelter in town and wait to find out if our trip was cancelled. We were told that the trip was still on - the cyclone was going to hit Darwin and the national parks were a few hundred kilometres away -- so we'd be fine. Hmmmm - was sure that these things change course sometimes and being in a tent was not the safest place to be when gale force winds were blowing. So - us and another couple decided to wait until morning when we were to be picked up and see what the latest report was and ask the guide was he thought. 6.30am and the guide arrived - What's the lastest we asked. Dunno- he replied. ding a ling the bells rang in my head. Erm - well we've phoned the emergency helpline and they've said - don;t go - you don't want to be caught out in the open when it hits. Well - Ahm going to see what happens he replied. DING DONG DING DONG - bells got much louder at this point. We all agreed that he was stark raving and probably a storm chaser - but we agreed to go along to the office with him where he'd get the latest report and we could take ti from there. A 30 min drive from town (and with several other nervous campers) - we found out that we'd lose our deposit and have no easy way of making it back to darwin - so we agreed to go along as the cyclone seemed to be blowing itself out to a tropical storm and was forecast to miss us anyway. We'd just pass underneath it! Heck - we had a massive load of rain though...highest rainfall here in history. And bear in mind that this part of the world has 2 seasons - wet and dry - you can imagine - it was wet. But along with crazy John our guide and 7 others we had a really good time. Went bush one day - saw waterfalls - ate some bush tucker - including some green ants - saw aboriginal rock art - and even saw John perfrom a Jedi mind trick on a warden. We had braved a near collapsed bridge due to heavy rain (over croc infested waters) to get to the park and drove through orange "Do not come here" tape to try and get to a trail. We encountered a warden part of the way down - who said "Nah mate - you can't get down there - trees are down and the roads blocked - we're clearing it now" John replied - "Yes - I've been to the office and they said tht we could just see how far we can get through." "Nah - it's blocked - not open until tomorrow" "Yes - am just going to see" "OK - just don't drive around any trees - you'll get bogged!" Hurrah! We had the place to ourselves! John was a nutter - but totally cool. Now - back in Darwin until the wee hours of Sat morning when we fly back to Bris (our home away from home it seems!) and make our way to Cairns via the Inland Highway. It's all fun and games in Oz! Seeya xx
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