Outback Odyssey

Oceania » Australia
September 18th 2009

Published: October 21st 2009

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TheMacs

Welcome to Territory Wildlife Park

Located about 30 mins drive from Darwin and well worth the visit. Plan to spend at least 3 - 4 hours here

Day 2 - Out and about in Darwin & surrounding area

I don't like to sit around when I'm on holiday because I figure that I can do that at home and it doesn't cost me anything. So we do what I call "the buffet tour" when we're on holiday - it's a little bit of this and a taste of that and if the kids want to come back later in their lives for seconds then it's up to them!

So today we got up early and set off for Territory Wildlife Park which is at Berry Springs, about 30 minutes drive out of Darwin. They have a number of static displays such as aviaries and a nocturnal house but they also have a number of talks/shows at various times throughout the day - the timetable is posted on their website. You can catch a bus between the displays which is just as well because it was very humid the day we were there and the temperature was well up in the 30's by late morning. The buses are timed to drop you off and pick you up from the shows and deliver you to the next show so

Waterlillies at the Billabong

The Billabong has a fewfreshwater crocodiles, barramundi & pelicans who all come looking for a feed when the ranger arrives.

if you get there early, you can see all the shows in order then spend the hottest part of the day in the nocturnal house and aquarium where it's a lot cooler. There are some truly amazing sights to see - I liked the different tropical birds but the kids really loved the reptiles and Kevin thought the Archer fish were really cool. If you wiggle your fingers above the Oolloo Sandbar billabong, the Archer fish think they are worms and will shoot water at your fingers. Their aim is incredibly accurate considering that they have to account for the way water refracts the light. Apparently they shoot down insects this way.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that Berry Springs were right next door - a great place for a picnic and to cool off. The springs themselves were just beautiful and it was such a hot day but we hadn't brought our swimmers with us so sadly we missed out. Next we headed back into Darwin because we had to pick up the four wheel drive vehicle and drop off the car we'd hired from the airport. We'd hired a four wheel drive camping packing from Britz which included

Pelicans at the Billabong

a tent, sleeping bags and mattresses, sheets/towels, fridge, crockery/cutlery -in fact everything, including the kitchen sink. It took longer than we expected as we had to watch a DVD which showed us how to put the tent up and how to check the oil etc. in the car. Funnily enough, I knew the guy on the DVD!

Once we'd sorted out the cars, it was quite late so we decided to take a short stroll through the George Brown Botanical Gardens. I wish we'd had more time as there were so many interesting tropical plants in flower - some of them were quite bizarre. The old Weslyan Methodist Church is on display there right next to the children's playground which has a large fort wrapped around a tree.

It was so hot we thought we'd head back to the unit for a swim. Amazingly, we hit peak hour traffic!! Apparently there was a car that had broken down on the road that we had to travel on and we got caught in the traffic which had backed up.

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