Darwin with Nic's Mum and Dad

We had a terrific 4 days with the folks in the very hot and humid Darwin and we got up to all sorts of exciting things.

We went to Litchfield National Park and saw this huge termite mound:

Here are some magnetic termite mounds. They all face the same way so that they get as little sun exposure as possible - amazing! They look like tombstones.

Here we are taking a dip in the lovely cool water at Buley waterhole.

Next we had a swim at the spectacular Wangi falls. We were surprised that the falls had so much water considering that it is the end of the dry season.

Next we visited another spectacular gorge and Tolmer Falls:

The following day we went on a Jumping Croc Cruise. They also fed this eagle that swooped down right in front of us to get the meat:

Here are two of the many crocs - they really do jump!

This one is called ZigZag and she has one arm missing. It was apparently lost during love-making!

Here is a kite - they also fed a group of these and it was amazing to see them swoop down and pick up the bits of meat from the surface of the croc-infested river.

To celebrate our one-year anniversary of travelling we sent on a sunset and dinner cruise around the harbour.


The following day we went to Aquascene and fed some of the hundreds of fish that arrive each day. Here is Marlene feeding a Bat fish.

The following day we had to say goodbye to Barry and Marlene which was very sad. We are now back on our own.

Animal Tracks Tour in Kakadu

We did a one day tour with a ranger and an Aboriginal Guide. We learnt all sorts of new things and had go at finding bush foods, including turtles, mussels and chestnuts.

Here's me having a go at finding mussels with my digging stick in the mud.

Here's Nic with some bark from the Paper Bark tree that the Aboriginal people used for all sorts of things i.e. mattress, bowls, cooking and for carrying babies in.

This is Patsy with a basket that she just knocked up in seconds.

These are green ants that we ate - they taste like lemons and are good for colds.

We had food cooked in the fire and this is Nic with a plucked magpie goose that we later ate.

Here am I with the other ladies making string from palm leaves. I think I need some more practice!

More amazing sunsets.

On the way back to the camp site we saw some spectacular bush fires. They burn a lot at the end of the dry season.

Another great day.

Kakadu NP

We visited Nourangie and Ubirr in Kakadu NP to see some rock art. Can you read what this spirit does - nice!
Here is the yam wielding spirit himself.

This is Cahills Crossing that you have to cross to get to and from Arnhem Land. The river that it crosses is full of very dangerous salt water crocs and we actually saw some really crazy Aussie blokes stood here fishing!!! The thing that you can see on the right in the river is a croc that is trying to cross to the other side.

We were lucky enough to see a few short-eared rock wallabies eating leaves.

This is a rock painting of a foreign gentleman. I hope he was nice and didn't kill any of the Aboriginal People but it is very likely that he did.

Alice Springs to Darwin via Katherine and Kakadu NP

We left Alice Springs on the 1st Sept and we've been very slowly making our way to Darwin to meet Nic's parents who are due in Darwin tomorrow.

It got hotter and more humid all the way up and it's now 34C everyday. This has meant a desire for air conditioning and hence a need to stay in caravan parks. This is therefore more costly but worth it!

We've been taking advantage of all the crocodile-free swimming holes and swimming pools to try and stay cool. Below is Bitter Springs - the water is a constant 34C. The current floats you down to a ladder and you can swim or snorkel down. We did both several times and we saw some river turtles on the way past.



In Katherine we went to 'Marksie's Stockman Camp Tucker Night'. This is Jeff Marks who hosts the event and we had some delicious bush tucker, including camel sausages. He also has thousands of very funny stories and the ones he told us I'm sure I'll remember for a long time.


We had a couple of nights at Katherine Gorge and we had a wonderful day canoeing through 3 of the gorges. It was also lovely swimming in the water to cool down.

We had an amazing week in Kakadu NP doing some really cool stuff and I've done separate blogs for this which I hope you enjoy.

Arnhem Land

We did a day trip from Kakadu NP into Arnhem Land to see some of the best rock art in the world. We had a really wonderful Aboriginal guide called Uncle Tomo, a very quiet, gentle and thoughtful person. He's lived in Arnhem Land all of his life and he told us some amazing stories and showed us some incredible rock art. We also saw a buriel site (a skeleton of a man) in a cave that was 30,000 years old. There was so much art that it was a bit overwhelming but here is a snap shot of what we saw.



This little guy in an echidna:



This is our lovely guide:

This is me under some rock art. There were no barriers which made it really special.

This is mimi, a spirit. There are good and bad mimis and this is a bad one.

This is our lunch spot. Rock art above us and an awesome view in front of us.

It was a very special day and it was difinitely one of the highlights of the trip so far