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Published: October 31st 2005
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Wild on the Top End
What is that in the distance? The following is a Six Day Combined Entry detailing my time spent in Darwin and Kakadu National Park from September 11th-September 16th.
Day One A line in an Elliot Smith song goes, "Happy and sad go in quick succession." That is never more true than when you are traveling. Last night was a battle with uncomofortability, a cold/cough, the top bunk, and restlessness and not wanting to wake up my roommates. This morning I was still sick. The lock to my room wouldn't work. I didn't have any drugs or soap, and I couldn't get any money changed at first. And as a result of having no sleep I walked around like a zombie.
I grabbed myself a lunch of barramundi and chips in order to make it through the day. There is a sense of the frontier here in Darwin. It is very hot and there are loads of Aborigines walking about. It also feels like a bit of a backpacker ghetto. When I arrived back at the hostel an Asian woman talked me into a three-day tour of Kakadu. The day turned around for me in the evening when I took a couple of tinnies
Jumping Croc
All I can say is, Wow! of XXXX beer down to the pool. I was finally able to relax and enjoy myself. Settling into Darwin has been tough, but it is a challenge that I relish.
Day Two This was the day that I embarked on my Kakadu Dreams tour. I woke up early and six in the morning and prepared for the three day journey. I met all the people who would be on the tour with me in the van. There was a 23-year-old girl and her 25-year-old boyfriend from Sheffield. There was a 38-year-old English woman. There was a young 19-year-old Norwegian kid. There were also three hilarious Dutch guys and an Aussie dude. I think we also had the only tour led by an Aussie chick. Pretty cool.
We saw some great things today. We saw crocodiles jump out of the water on a boat tour. We saw a whole bunch of aboriginal art at a site. For lunch we made our own sandwiches. I made sure to put beetroot in mine just like the Aussies. It is not as hot as I thought it would be, but the bush flies make you legally insane.
Nighttime was
Aboriginie Site
It is amazing how old these things were. so atmospheric in an Australian kind of way. The whole group took a moonlight swim in this glade type thing. As I swam in my cargo shorts I felt like I was on a true adventure. After that we settled down for a campfire. We had a Kangaroo Stir Fry. We drank some beers and some rocket fuel wine. I capped it with a "bit of the bundy", Bundeberg Rum. We went to sleep under the stars. The moon was directly overhead as I drifted off to dreamtime. The outback folk song, Rum and Raspberry, filled my head.
Day Three This is going to be the main day in Kakadu. We did a big time rock hike up a mountain just in order to have our breakfast, which was bananas and cereal. Then we climbed down "The Chimney." We played under waterfalls. I sat under one particular waterfall for a Zen-like massage for a good 15 minutes. The Aussie dude led people in engaging in the sport of rock diving. On the way back I had a run in with "The Chimney". For a few moments there I thought I wasn't going to make it. After I
Kakadu National Park
The tour was a fantastic experience. came through I sat down dazed and exhausted. The hot English girl sat down next to me to see how I was, which was nice.
As we walked along to the next activity the older English women kept nattering on at our cool Aussie chick guide. This and the flies buzzing around my sweaty head were great!! We then had a 1 km swim to the Twins falls. They promised there weren't any crocs, but after seeing those one's jumping around in the river yesterday I still keep a wary eye out.
For dinner we had steak. We are really getting along as a group. It is actually kind of fun. After running out of alcohol we hook on with another group. We all sat around a big campfire passing a special weed around. People are singing songs to the guitar. The highlight was when our guide sings a beautiful rendition of "My Island Home." I go to sleep peacefully under the moon and the shadows of age-old Australian trees.
Day Four This was the last day of the tour. We woke up early as usual. We had breakfast at camp. We then walked
Baby Roo
One was able to make friends of all shapes and sizes. to the plunge pool. We swam with barramundi and other big Australian fish. We snorkeled some. The Dutch guys are a non-stop comedy routine. They ran into a Dutch girl and pretended to be British, asking her questions like "where are your wooden shoes?", and "where is the marijuana?". On the drive back we stopped at a termite mound. We decided that because of the bumpy van ride Kakadu Dreams should have a slogan of "Numb Asses Guaranteed." We bought our guide two bottles of wine as a present.
At night back in Darwin we all went out as a group to the Hotel Victoria. We played pool. I actually managed to come out victorious. We walked back to the hostel, I with my Red Bull in hand. I wound up sitting and talking with 2 Poms and an Irish guy late into the night about topics ranging form the amount of guns in America to the different slang words in Cork.
Day Five Yesterday, I woke up at 11:30 and went into Darwin center. I checked my e-mail for about an hour. I got an interesting e-mail from a girl from back in America. Hmmm. It so peaceful here in this part of Darwin, purely tropical. That feeling remained with me a long time. I bought some Northern Territory's own Ice Coffee and met the young English couple from the Kakadu tour next to the hostel pool. We arranged to all go out together at 5:30. We met three English girls that they knew there, including one super-hot blond girl. It was a good bar, not too backbackery.
We watched the Olympic opening ceremony. The parts I liked were the main Abo guy, the Colonials on the big tricycles and the rabbit cage. It was cool to see the parade of nations. I was particularly paying attention to Great Britain, USA, Vanuatu, and Australia. It was so cool to see a big NBA star like Kevin Garnett so obviously in awe of the whole ceremony. Kathy Freeman capped it off with her watery torch.
Day Six Today I said goodbye to Darwin. I really enjoyed Darwin. You so get into the Tropical way of life. There are a whole lot of long stayers that just do about an hour of activity and then nap and lounge by the pool. Saving their energy to go out at night. There are a lot of Pommies around too I am noticing. Now I'm off to Katherine, deeper into the Territory I go.
Note: The Aussie Diaries are a XX part series. The entries come directly unabridged from the journal I carried around with me on my first post-university adventure to the southern hemisphere. They are a bit on the rough side. added october 28, 2005
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