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Hello folks!
We started our blog writing with so much gusto but sadly we have faltered in the last few weeks! Oops. As most of you know now we have settled in Sydney, found jobs and a house to live in however I'm going to rewind a few weeks to when we visited the Northern Territory.
The 'top end' couldn't be further away from our life in Sydney. As it pours down here in Sydney we baked in the heat firstly in humid Darwin and then the dry, baking Red Centre.
We landed in Darwin leaving a very rainy Perth behind us and instead found hot, baking sun to greet us and very high humidity. We made our way into the city and found our youth hostel 'Chilli's'. An interesting place.... We had a roomie called Michael, an Aussie law student who after saying hello and finding out we were from England said "unlucky for you." a nice introduction!! "it's so depressing over there" errrr ok! We then found out in our general chit chat that he wouldn't recommend anywhere in oz to go either so add Australia to his hate list I guess.... We felt sorry for the Darwin ladies he was off to pull that night and decided to crash as we had an early start the next day to drive to Kakadu National Park.
After picking up our hire car and stopping for supplies, the next morning we headed off to Kakadu. On the way we stopped at a Croc park. Apparently Northern Territory and Queensland are in the middle of a "croc off" (ie who has the biggest!) After meeting Crocodile Dundee (no not really!) we saw some of the crocs they have being fed and then had the chance to hold a baby croc....Thankfully they had their mouths taped shut! It seemed very wrong after seeing these amazing creatures that you could then walk into the gift shop and buy not only a croc handbag (every woman's essential accessory) but also croc meat BBQ packs. Apparently when Australia was hit with the bad floods this year they discovered one of the biggies in the frozen meat department of the local IGA supermarket. Foolishly the staff hadn't emptied the freezers before deserting the area! oops! That would have been a bit of a shock if you were the first into work!
So onwards we trekked to Kakadu. Our journeys in the NT where long and pretty uneventful, we were saved on our long road trips in WA by a mix tape of Bec's but in our hire car we had nothing especially after we lost radio signal. We did however manage to find one station....and what did it broadcast.... horse racing.... Continuously!
We eventually made it to Kakadu and found our broom cupboard... Sorry I mean bedroom. It was so spacious I was confused there. Yes these little huts with bunks were a little small but at least there wasn't Michael on the bed opposite! We had a nice relaxed day by the pool and then drove to see some of the sights of Kakadu including some rock art which was estimated to be around 10,000 years old. Holly excelled herself by complaining about our food that evening which took nearly 90 mins to arrive and secured free deserts and drinks! Woohoo! This victory was only bettered by watching ireland beat the aussies in the world cup with an irish couple we met. Sadly there weren't enough aussies to rub it in....
Kakadu was beautiful with stunning wetlands however it was just so hot you couldn't venture out between 11-3 but we did manage to see a veritable feast of wildlife courtesy of Ranger Gary who took us on a walk through the area. He probably thought we were stalking him as he did all 3 of the talks we went too!
Our next stop was Katherine and the National Park there. After another tedious car journey (we lost the horse racing as we ventured further south!) we arrived at the hottest point of the trip. Katherine was roasting in 38 degree heat and it was a blessed relief there were so many water holes in the parks we could stop at and swim in. All apparently "croc free"! We decided to go out and take a boat trip down the Gorge in the National Park. There are actually around 13 gorges all interlinked however as this was the end of the dry season water levels were quite low that the gorges were separated so we had to walk between them at points and keep hopping in and out of boats to get to the separate gorges. The main gorge was magnificent however you could see the high water mark left on the rocks from the floods at the start of the year far above us.
The final stop on our round trip to Darwin was Lichfield NP. I have to say at this point I was probably reaching the end of my tether travelling and moving every day or so and the sights in Lichfield didn't do much to revive my flagging soul! Holly was very excited about going to a Butterfly Farm however this ended up being a little walk around someones back garden....Determined to keep going we stopped at number 3 in the guidebook's top sites.... A set of Magnetic Termite Mounds. Yes you heard me the first time! I fully admit they are massive and amazing how they are aligned perfectly north/south so with the sun rising the termites get half the day to bake in the sun and then rest of the day the mounds are hot from the suns rays. However at this point I wasn't amazed .. Ha ha! I think there is a photo of me next to one looking decidedly unimpressed!
The rest of the National Park was beautiful and we had plenty of opportunity to swim in the falls and waterholes which helped cool us down from the heat! Sadly we found our favourite spot just as we had to leave the park to head back to Darwin....
The next day we flew to Alice Springs which was in the midst of terrible wildfires and it wasnt until we were just about to touch down that we could clearly see the ground as the smoke was so bad. It did feel like we were walking though the film set of 28 days when we arrived as the town centre was dead! After eventually sorting out possibily the worlds most expensive hire car to get us to Uluru we made it to our Youth Hostel. Quite stupidly and clearly a money making scheme no car companies offer you unlimited km deals when you hire a car in Alice Springs. You are given 100 kms a day free and pay on top of this 35 cents for every extra km you drive. Hiring the car for 4 days would give us 400km free - or a third of the way on our trip to Uluru!!!! Given the distances between places are so much you would have though at least one company would have offered a deal on unlimited kilometres! Anyway once sorted and another England victory in the rugby secured we headed back to our Youth Hostel which used to be an old outdoor cinema. Continuing the theme they play a nightly film under the stars and we made it back to watch Wall-E! A Holly favourite.
After leaving Alice Springs we drove to Kings Canyon where we stayed two nights. Having been to the Grand Canyon I wasn't sure how this could compare however I think we were both surprised at how beautiful the Canyon was. Getting up early we embarked on the 8km walk around the rim of the canyon which had amazing views of the steer edges of the cliffs.
400km further on was Uluru, our final stop on our Northern Territory adventure and one of our most anticipated sights. I don't think you can forget the moment you see this massive red rock suddenly rise from the horizon, truly awe inspiring!
It was a bit of a strange first few hours at Uluru. All accomodation is now based on a big resort a few kms from Uluru which they relocated along with the airport. It seems crazy that until the 70's you could literally fly into Uluru and land on the runway which was then 100 metres from the rock and then set up at a campsite right at the base of the rock.
After checking in we found our room which was another 4 bed dorm room. I think we walked in on our Japanese roommates in the middle of a rather compromising situation. In fact I don't think in the two days we stayed there that they left their beds.... I remember Holly just saying "we'll come back in 10 minutes..." After that hasty retreat we drove into the park where the police where doing breathe tests right outside the entrance. Having never had to give one before, it was a random place to have to do your first! I know alcohol is a major problem in Aboriginal communities and the driver in front of me who had been pulled over was clearly very much worse for wear.
Uluru was spectacular and we decided to explore and drive along the road that takes you around the rock. Neither of us realised because all photos seem to be from one position that in places there are huge holes in the rock. We tried to see the famous sunset on Uluru and lined up expectantly with many others hoping to see the rock 'glow' but I think we are destined never to see a great sunrise /sunset at a famous landmark as just with the Grand canyon a rogue cloud blocked the sun. It made me feel better when I met a friend who said she had been to Uluru 3 times and never seen the sunset on a clear night!
The next day before flying out of Ayers Rock we decided to get up at 6am and do the base walk which takes you right up to the rock in places. The walk which circumvents Uluru was about 10km in length and was great to do and we just had time for a quick shower back at the resort before we had to rush off to the airport and return our Ferrari ... Sorry for the price it should have been something far better than a Toyota!
The airport at Ayers Rock was the smallest I have ever seen with this sizeable check in area but then once through screening this tiny departure area. Everyone also seemed to multi task with their jobs. The cafeteria lady was dressed in her high visibility tabard and at one point closed up service so she could wave off a plane from the runway! I'm not joking! The takeoff was blooming horrible however once up you were left with magnificent views as it circled Uluru - certainly something that will live long in the memory!
So now we are in Sydney but I will save those tales for another time and blog...
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