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DARWIN AND KATHERINE.
Darwin was one of the places we were most looking forward to visiting as we had never been this far north in Australia.We had already booked Tumbling Waters Caravan Park ahead and when we arrived we found it nestled deep in the tropical bush about 65 km from the center of Darwin. Standing at the office we could see a crocodile enclosure nearby with at least 8 fresh water crocs of various sizes just basking in the sun, The enclosure was very secure and it is amazing how soon you get used to living in such close proximity to dangerous wild animals. Not so the Cane Toads !!! They are the most huge, ugly, repulsive thing you could ever see and the coating of their skin is very toxic, especially to other animals. They are obviously around during the day but you only see them after dark, trying to find insects to eat and moisture, hence they gather around the sullage hoses of caravans - yuk is only way to describe them. I have had a life time aversion to frogs and would never touch one in a pink fit. Imagine my horror when one night I woke
Trevor from a deep sleep with the cry "there is a frog on my leg". On went the lights and low and behold there was a frog sitting along side me in our bed. In one movement Trevor picked it up before it could jump and propelled it out of the door. After a soothing cup of tea to calm my nerves I eventually went back to sleep but every night since has seen me searching the caravan and bed covers for other frogs that may have made their way indoors. I am convinced it came inside in the toe of a shoe or in the washing, either way it was not welcome. While on the subject of nasties - I was only told when we were about to leave the park to move on that a death adder had been found in the men's ablution block the day before we arrive. Need I say more.
Darwin is a very clean city, quite easy to find your way around. Parliament House is in the center of the city, likewise Government House and the Supreme Court, all very imposing buildings. We visited the WWII oil storage tunnels which were built under
Parliament House. These were designed to keep oil safe from any invasion but in fact were never used and were opened to the public in 1992 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. At the time the cost of building these was just over 1,000,000 pounds and was done entirely by hand using picks, shovels and hand held pneumatic tools taking about 2 years.
Darwin features highly in WWII history being the first mainland site in Australia to come under direct attack when it was the target of 64 Japanese air raids, causing huge devastation to buildings, shipping, planes and docks and the loss of life for 432 service men and women and 63 civilians. The top end of Australia played a key role in the defense of Northern Australia and many gun emplacements, bunkers, military airstrips and lookout posts can still be seen in and around the city. We visited the Aviation museum where 1 of only 3 remaining B52 bombers is on show . It is hard to imagine how this huge machine got off the ground.
The recent film "Australia" was filmed in and around Kununurra and the Kimberley and is the story of
these Japanese air raids. One character in the film is an Aboriginal Elder named King George and while we were in a book shop in Darwin we were introduced to him and had our photographs taken with him. His name is David Gulpillil and we first saw him in a film back in 1976 called Storm Boy.
Darwin is near to Litchfield National Park and Kakadu National Park, both of which we visited. It is amazing to see the waterfalls, swimming holes and such magnificent sceneryin the middle of such huge expanses of bush. On the banks of the Alligator River we saw an enormous salt water Crocodile basking in the mud, extremely well camouflaged. While we were trying to focus the camera on it it took fright and dashed into the water, sorry no picture but you will have to take our word for it. So much water in the rivers and the sea and so hot but unfortunately NO SWIMMING !!!
We went to Fogg Dam (built in the 1950's to provide water for the Humpty Doo rice project, which later failed ) on the way to Kakadu and saw the breeding grounds for just about every bird
known to man. We saw Magpie Geese, Royal Spoonbills, Brolgas, Egret, Storks, Australian Grebe, Little Pied Cormorant and it is also home to Dusky Rats, File Snakes and Water Python, and of course our old friend the Crocodile. There were the usual signs not to swim there, and on the front of todays newspaper is a photograph of an enormous Saltwater Croc with the caption "He's back". He was seen there the day after our visit. It is estimated to be approx 80 yrs old and has avoided capture many times. A lucky escape for us I think !!Mindil Markets are held on Mindil Beach every Thursday and Sundays evenings, starting at 5.30pm and going through to 10.30pm. It has to be one of the biggest markets I have ever seen with the emphasis on food - from just about every country you could think of. The aromas are so very tempting and it is a real quandary knowing what to try. At sunset the whole market is deserted while everyone goes through onto the actual beach to watch the sun go down. The sun setting is a sight to behold and also the enormous crowd of watchers who then
then file back into the market to resume eating and buying goodies
Tumbling Waters Caravan Park offered Digeridoo lessons, Crocodile feeding and open air theatre and one evening we sat under the stars and watched Slumdog Millionaire, a film I had wanted to see but missed while it was on the big screen.
After Darwin we dropped down into Katherine and although only some 260 km south of Darwin and equally hot, the humidity was far less and some of our energy returned. The usual round of cleaning and washing but a big reward afterwards of a dip in the hot springs situated just a few minutes walk through the back gate of the caravan park. These are a constant 32 degrees and run all day, every day and are a series of pools of clear warm water with the beautiful Pandanus Palms hanging overhead. The heat and the minerals certainly helps rejuvenate you.
Everyone told us that a visit to Katherine would not be complete without a boat trip through Katherine Gorges which runs through the Nitmiluk National Park, owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal Tribe. They were absolutely right as the scenery was stunning. This is the dry season
so we took a boat along one gorge then had to walk over the rocks to the next gorge to take another boat. In the wet season all the gorges are joined together by the enormous amount of rain that falls in this region and makes it's way through the gorges turning them into a river. Along the route taken we could see banks of pure white sand with the huge footprints of female crocodiles and the disturbed sand where they had laid their eggs. Large numbers of canoeists can be seen paddling through the gorges enjoying the breeze and scenery. They are warned about the crocs when they hire the canoes but donot seem to be bothered when told that the freshies only eat only snakes, frogs, lizards and insects - not humans !!!!!!!
While we were in Katherine the famous Ghan train pulled in to give it's passengers a few hours in Katherine, so we went down to wave it off in the evening. The Ghan runs from Darwin through to Adelaide stopping at Katherine and Alice Springs taking 3 days to complete it's journey, then does the whole journey in reverse. Definately a must for that old bucket list.
In Katherine we stayed in the Riverview Caravan Park, very clean with all facilities in abundance. Recommended to any fellow travelers venturing this way.
Caravan clean, clothes clean, fridge stocked, fuel tanks filled - ready to take off again. This time we are off through the outback heading for Queensland.
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Dina
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crocs
Hullo happy travellers, Great to read your Darwin/Katherine news. Was a bit bemused by scary mentions of the Johnson crocs, but see they've been vindicated later on. We've swum with them on many occasions. NOT THE SALTIES!!! Thinking of you all, love the photos, keep pics and news coming, it's like I'm there with you (without the hassle of the real me!) Love and thoughts Dina xx