We were up early this morning after an early night and we headed off out on the coach. The coach is only half full which means there's loads of space - that's handy considering we were told today that we're covering 4500km in 11 days!
We stopped on the way out at a garage type place to get breakfast and pick up some lunch. We also got introduced to the coach anthem which Jara the tour guide plays loud first thing every morning. Joy.
First stop was Litchfield National Park and the termite mounds. Some of them took hundreds of years to make but I don't think I really appreciated that when I was there. I was too busy wiping the condensation from the lens of my camera! Oops. After this we headed further into the park to Florence Falls. We took a short walk down these steps, through all the woodland area and down to the base of the waterfall. On the way down we stopped and over looked the waterfall which was pretty impressive. Even more impressive was the rock wallaby that jumped through the bushes just beside us. Unfortunately I couldn't get my b****** camera out in time but luckily he stopped and perched on a rock and bit further up and I managed to get him then. It did highlight the fact that I clearly didn't know the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby but I was soon put right! We carried on down to the waterfall where we sat and had lunch. The walk was amazing even though it was so hot and humid. After we'd eaten we went for a swim which for someone who isn't an overly strong swimmer, wasn't such a great idea! The current was quite strong which meant I was flailing about trying to stay in one place - when asked if I was ok I, casually brushed it off as enjoying the water. I think it worked. Needless to say I didn't stay there long and proceeded to get swept sideways, all the way back to the edge. Panic over. Mr rock wallaby was still there on the way back up, which almost killed me in the heat. Back on the coach we then headed back into Darwin to the national museum and military reserve. On the way we had various admin stuff read to us, followed by what I can only liken to a blind date style get to know you session. This involved going up to the front and answering 10 questions about yourself to the rest of the group. Fantastic. Was a good opportunity to pick out the squares though!
The national museum was fairly interesting, as was the military reserve. Lots of photo opportunities but nothing that interesting happened. Oh, I did learn that one of the girls from Londons dad supports Fulham - she told me after seeing me wearing my Fulham shirt to cover up my sunburn (yes mum, I did get burnt on the first day)!
We headed back to the hotel to get changed and went to Monsoons for a first night group meal. Was a nice evening but sitting outside meant it was flipping hot and uncomfortable, although this didn't stop me finishing my pizza.
Tomorrow we head out to Kakadu National Park which will be cool. Although having said that, we were told that phone signal and internet are non existent out there which is gonna be testing times given that I rely on both on a daily basis! The accommodation is also going to go rapidly down hill and a major culture shock apparently. Small price to pay though to see a champagne sunset over Uluru, meet aboriginal families, spend a night sleeping under the stars, take a cruise down the Katherine Gorge and a camp fire with marshmallows, amongst heaps of other stuff. It's gonna be a busy few days.....