Darwin and Western Australia

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I arrived in Darwin airport in the evening and found a lady to share a taxi with. Hostel was nice and because I had to make my own bed the girl there bought me a drink, very nice. The next day I had booked to go on a tour of Kakadu National Park, which in hindsight I wish had been on a different day so that I didn't have to get up so early but it was a lovely day. Went for a drive around Jabiru, a town that has a hotel shaped like a crocodile, then to Bowali Visitor Centre to learn about the people and the flora and fauna and the way of life that has been prominent in Kakadu. I met a couple of people on the bus and we had a good day chatting. We went to see some original Aboriginal rock art at Anabangban. It is fading because it is painted on porous rock which is a shame especially because that particular tribe no longer exists. There was a lady in our group who had the not-so-helpful suggestion of just getting someone else to touch it up. no. We also went on a wildlife cruise on the Yellow Water billabong, which wasn't very yellow if you ask me, but luckily they didn't. Then on to the South Alligator River, which has crocodiles not alligators and lots of birds like sea eagles and igrits and the flood planes were flooded so there was water everywhere and we had to drive through 2 foot of water just to get there. When we got back a few of us had some quiet drinks and went to bed, very tiring day. My plan for the following day was to sleep until lunchtime and have breakfast for lunch, which was successful and I went for a walk along the Esplanade and the waterfront, ate some cake. In the evening I went to Mindil Beach markets which was great, lots of food stalls and arts and crafts, massage, clothes etc but I was very restrained and only bought a watch. I went to Lichfield the next day (another national park) to see jumping crocodiles and 3 different waterfalls. Florence Falls was my favourite and on the walk on the way down I saw a very big snake, me and the girl I was with just let it cross the path and then we carried on, it was a big snake though. I had gone to step over it then thought hold on that branch is a bit scaly, has a head, is a snake. I had to be up early the next day to catch a bus to Katherine Gorge.

In Katherine Gorge I stayed in a Tent Village and had my own private tent with a bed in on a very nice site with a pool and bar. I didn't go for a long walk because it was really hot but had a peek at the gorge and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. Had a nice dinner and there was some live music entertainment for the evening but once that finished it was pretty much bed time because it was so dark and there was nothing else to do. It was a lovely place to spend a few days if I had them, but I didn't so the next day I caught the bus again to Broome, Western Australia. A really long way later I arrived, had coffee, showered and went to town to see what's there and I booked to go on a camel ride on the beach at sunset. It was really good fun, I had never been on a camel before so it was a new experience and watching the sun set on Broome beach was fabulous, beautiful. That evening I went to the beach with a group of people and some bottles of cider and had a fun evening chatting round the fire and being bad at the digeridoo! Met 2 Irish girls who were great fun too. The next morning I had arranged with another girl I had met in the hostel to go for a walk so dragged myself up and went for a walk from the lighthouse at the other end of Cable Beach to where we live, which is a really long way and we had lots of cold drinks when we made it back. Went into town with a couple of the girls in the hostel to get some food, chilled out, made a yummy dinner and went to watch a film called Bran Nu Dae at the Sun Pictures, an open air cinema. It was a really funny film, filmed in Western Australia so I have since seen some of the sights in the film. Got back and went the beach again but didn't stay as late. On my final day in Broome, I went to the beach and went swimming in the Indian Ocean, spent the rest of the day trying to organise myself for the tour I was about to start down to Perth. In the evening I met a girl called Caitlin and we went to the beach to watch the sun set and had a great chat. As it was the last night I decided to got to the beach and sit around the fire again, it was nice.

10 day Broome to Perth tour
The first day was a lot of driving and we stayed at a place called Indee Station in swags (sleeping bags inside a padded, waterproof lining, sounds weird but it's cool beacuse you sleep under the stars). There was a random donkey hanging around though which Jonny made friends with but the rest of us were a bit wary of it Eveline even asked "do you think the monkey will get us?"
The next day we drove to Karijini National Park where we set up camp for 3 nights. We visited Joffre Gorge and a few of us went for a swim, the water was freezing, so cold it was shocking when you first got in, we are all mad. The next two days were spent exploring, swimming and relaxing in the magnificent Karijini gorges. One of the oldest landscapes on earth. Karijini was cold at night though, especially if you were outside in a swag, which I was. Brrrrrrrrrr. (and i mean actually cold, not just cold for Australia cold)
The day we left Karijini I was sitting in the front and we drove into a bird, which cracked the windscreen in a big way, poor thing, and scared the life out of me! It was a really long drive and we got to Exmouth at dinner time and then went to look for kangaroos in the rain. There weren't any.
A few of us went on a boat trip to hopefully see Whale Sharks, the sea was really choppy and dangerous so conditions were pretty bad for seeing them but all but 2 of our group saw one for a little bit at least. It was a really nice day as well, relaxing on the boat and we went snorkelling on the reef too. Drove to Coral Bay that evening and I bumped into Ina from my Great Ocean Road tour at the hostel there which was really nice and we had a good catch up. In Coral Bay I went on an Eco Cruise and we swam with a Manta Ray and saw turtles and went snorkelling on Ningaloo reef, which is gorgeous. I accidentally ended up in the boat lane because I followed a turtle. No boats came and ran me over though, thankfully.
Leaving Coral Bay we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, visited Shell Beach for an hour or so and arrived in a town near Monkey Mia. I wasn't very impressed with Monkey Mia. There are too many people and the dolphins seem very reliant on getting fed there. We had a nice bacon and egg breakfast there though and some proper coffee. We then visited Shark Bay but didn't see any sharks or anything else. The people who went in the aquarium saw some but having just spent two days in the ocean I didn't think an aquarium was worth it. We also visited stromatolites - the oldest living organisms in the world - they live in the sea and are all different shapes, I'm not really sure what they are still and they looked like rocks. We also went to see Nature's Window, a very interesting rock formation. In Kalbarri we went for a walk in another gorge and looked at the views. We all went to the Pinnacles, some other rock formations. Different theories exist to explain why they are there concluding that they don't know. It was fun there, it had stopped raining and we took some fun pictures. Then it was time to drive the rest of the way to Perth. Said goodbye to some people and most people were staying at the same hostel so we went and found it and went for dinner and drinks. Some of the boys had decided that they wanted to go and watch the Champion's League Final later on (2am) so went back for a nap and the rest of us stayed out partying and then met them and went too. The casino almost didn't let a couple of them in, but it was all ok in the end. Rubbish football match though. When we got back at 5.30am there was noone in reception to let us in and I'm pretty sure that if the guy hadn't turned up a couple of the guys would have broken the door down. I went shopping for some necessities for Asia and met people for dinner again. By the time we decided to go out all the bars were closing so, realising we were on a losing mission, we went back and went to bed.
The next day Klause, Sandra and Philipp left on different tour of the South West, I couldn't have faced another tour but each to their own. A group of us went for breakfast and shopping then I did some sightseeing with Maike. We went up to King's Park, which has a good view of the city and had a good walk. She had the idea of all the people who live in the city and work outside either swapping homes or jobs with all the people who live outside the city and work in the city, it would solve a lot of traffic problems, stupid people. Brilliant.
My last day in Australia, Francesca, Jonny, Peter and I went out to Scarborough to visit Sally and Julia (also from the tour) who were staying out there. It was a lovely day there and we had a walk on the beach and fish and chips for tea. It was a lovely day. Sat chatting when we got back to the hostel and went to bed, I was up early to catch my flight to Bali!

Bye bye Australia! I'll be back...

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Comments

[sally]

wow
Hi jenny Another amazing journal - you are such a good writer, and your entries will be a brilliant and detailed memory book. The snake and jumping crocs sounded terrifying. The pic of the ancient rock art is fab. Enjoy the Orient! love s