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Published: February 19th 2010
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Welcome to Darwin
The port office at the dock welcomes us. Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of about 120,000, making it the largest and most populated city in the Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia capital cities.
Over time Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia’s most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes it an important Australian gateway to countries such as Indonesia and East Timor.
The region has a tropical climate, with a wet season and a dry season. Having been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974, the city is one of Australia’s most modern capitals.
After pulling into the Darwin dock we boarded a bus for an hour drive to our Jumping Crocodiles Cruise on the Adelaide River. After boarding the riverboat and slowly heading up the river, we began seeing the crocodiles leave the bank or swimming down the river. These are not jumping crocodiles, but crocodiles that jump. One of the crew was on the open deck on top and
Close As I Want to Get!
This is outside the entrance of the Original Jumping Crododile Cruises. would bangle pig’s meat on-the-bone on the water or just above. The crocodiles would see and smell the food, carefully approach and wait for the right time to come out of the water to get the meat. As they started to go for it the crewmember would raise it up and the crocodile would recoil and come out of the water for it as seen in the photos.
WOW…we saw some very large male crocodiles and some smaller females go after the food. It was mating time, so our pilot and guide felt we’d see more males as many of the females would be on their nests protecting the eggs. They lay about 50 eggs a year, but only about 20% survive. The females will not hunt for food when they on the nest. We were told they can survive for months without new food. Game animals and other crocodiles will eat their eggs if they are not there to protect them.
After a fabulous time on the river, we stopped at the Windows on the Wetlands Visitor Center, not far from there. We were able to go up to the viewing area and get good views of
Great Flower
Just can't stop from shooting a great flower. the surrounding wetland area and take photos. The bus driver then returned us to Darwin and dropped some of us off in town to walk around and shop, while taking the others back to the ship. We spent several hours walking around downtown, had a fish & chips lunch at Salvatore’s, and Doug got a haircut at Hair Dudes. We had seen the Hog’s Breath Café from the bus, so we walked back there to get Doug a T-shirt. After that we slowly walked our way back to the ship for our Bon Voyage from Australia.
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