G'Day Mate!

Well I've now arrived in Darwin, after traveling for an uncertain amount of hours due to the fact that I've had to change my watch twice to correspond with the changing time zones. Finally got to my hostel at 5.30am, so glad that i had made a booking a few days earlier and incredibly pleased that they were not to busy which meant i could head straight for my bed! Upon waking up around lunchtime i found that this hostel has a pool,i'd some hoe missed that this morning when I walked straight past it but what a great surprise when i woke up. Perfect spot for researching the area with a cool drink....I'm not trying to make you jealous.....really i'm not!!

On my first full day in Darwin, I decided to hire a bike for the day and explore Darwin by cycling down the coastal paths, the views were stunning and considering it was the weekend there were hardly any people around. With those beautiful cycle paths I found myself dreaming about living in Darwin and cycling these paths all the time...it was a nice daydream whilst it lasted! I cycled about 10kms and lets just say it wasn't a soft saddle so i am suffering a bit!! I think the cycle hire guy was impressed when i gave the bike back in the same condition that I receieved, it i'm sure he thought I was going to fall off and hurt myself!!

Awaking the next day I decided to become a proper traveler and set off on my own in search of a local crocodile park, armed with my lonely planet, I headed for the local bus station. I only had an hour to wait for the bus... (it could have been worse....!!), as i got on the bus I asked the driver if he could let me know when we got to the bus stop that I needed. He was so friendly...like all aussies that i have met so far and he informed me when we had got to the correct stop. Now this is where the adventure began!! The 'stop' was the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, and 'all I needed to do' was walk across two fields across a car park and cross a main road that made the M25 look like a country lane! Ok no worries!!

As i set off across the first field, thinking how pretty it was in the middle of nowhere, I heard a rustling in the grass. At that moment I also remembered that I was in Austraila, home of nasty snakes and spiders!!!! I think i can safely say that i have never run so fast in my life!! I'm sure that anyone that had seen my panicked dash would probably still be laughing now 3 days later!! Crossing the road was a much less stressful experience as I guessed that the snakes and spiders wouldn't follow me onto the road.

I felt very proud of myself once I finally arrived at the Crocodile park, in one piece...bring on the next challenge! The croc park turned out to be a small zoo with many animals, although the main focus was obviously the crocs. I finally set my eyes on a wallaby, unfortunatley it was in a pen and not in the wild, but hey, i've still got alot of austrailia to see and alot more oppertunity to see roos and wallaby's in the wild! The crocs were amazing, I've learnt the difference between freshwater and saltwater crocs.....freshwater ones won't eat you!..seriously thoughI do think i am a little bit of an expert on crocs....well probably for the next few days before I forget it all! The tour guide in the park made the crocs jump up out of the water to eat which was incredible to see. Crocs can jump their body length...which is quite scary. Some of the saltwater crocs where 4-5 metres long...really scary! At the end of the tour we were able to hold a baby croc, which was amazing, it felt like a really soft sausage...not at all what I expected! Whilst at the Croc park i met a couple of Aussie girls who were really chatty and friendly, after talking for 10 minutes or so they offered me a lift back to town, as by now the heavens had opened. I was very grateful for the lift as after 2 seconds outside I was soaked through. On the journey back to town the girls mentioned that they were heading to Katherine the next day and if i was interested I could join them for there road trip. This is the thing I have learnt about aussies, they are so friendly and asking a random person that they've only met for 10 minutes to join them for a day out is apparently normal! Oh well as I had planned to visit Katherine anyway, I was very pleased with the offer and arranged to meet them early the next morning.....sadly excited to be traveling some where by car as for the last six weeks it has been every other mode of transport available.

So early the next morning I waited outside for the girls armed with a change of clothes (due to the wet season) and my packed lunch. Once the girls had picked me up we headed for the Stuart Highway, which is a single highway that goes straight down the middle of Austraila, from Darwin to Adelaide. Katherine was three hours down the highway and the trip gave me the perfect oppertunity to see some of the proper aussie bush. In the space of three hours until we reached Katherine, the only point of civilisation that we came accross was a tiny villiage, Adelaide River, other than then it is just a straight road, most of the time empty. I think I only saw about 20 other vechicles in the space of 3 hours, it was amazing how out in the middle of nowhere we were.

We decided to visit the Cutta Cutta Caves whilst in Katherine. We had a private tour of the caves and entered nervously after asking questions as to what types of snakes and spiders lived within the caves. I was glad to hear that the aussie girls were more nervous than I was! In reply to our question regarding the snakes, the only answer we got it that our guide had not seen on for 4 weeks or so......doesn't mean that there not there though does it??!!!

The caves were really incredible, with quite a few formations that have naturally formed over hundreds of years appearing to look like animals...this kept us highy amused, and the guide found it quite funny when we decided to break into a chours of Nelly the elephant whiist next to the elephant shaped formation.

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