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Flying into Darwin we noticed it’s a lot greener and thankfully hotter. As we were walking through the airport to claim our luggage there were cameras everywhere. I started wondering how they knew we were arriving today .... then the cameramen started to get excited as we were walking towards them but they weren’t looking at us, the bloody Parramatta Eels football team were behind us ... ?
After getting our bags we hopped into a taxi so we could pick up our traveling home for the next week ... a Maui 2 berth Camper.
I was a little shocked by the size of the camper and worried it would be to hard to drive.
After a lesson on all the vans features I was let loose on the roads. We started easy and headed for a Woolies to get some supplies ... yes that included a visit to the BWS. No more $40 6 packs for me besides there hasn’t been enough drinking photos for my cousin Sandy to complain about.
We were booked into the Hidden Valley Caravan Park our first night. I went all out and got a powered en-suite spot ... I couldn’t believe they have spots
with your own toilet and shower to use. I know the van has a toilet and shower but I’m on holidays and I didn’t fancy showering over the toilet and of course maintaining the two. We did make a rookie mistake by not turning on the hot water switch for our en-suite so we had a luke warm shower the next morning ... it reminded me of my showers in Samoa when I first visited Toni. I just wish it was as hot as Samoa.
I successfully drove us out of Darwin and onto the Arnhem Highway. We stopped into the Window on the Wetlands to learn more about the region. I was surprised by the amount of wild buffalo that roam the wetlands. Unfortunately they do a lot of damage alone with the wild pigs.
There was crocodile wise signs every time we went over a bridge or a flood causeway. I couldn’t imagine what Kakadu would look like in the wet season by all the flood signs we saw. We were staying at the Cooinda Lodge in a powered site in Kakadu. Close to Yellow Water Cruises. When I checked into reception I noticed they had a special
on cruise bookings. As everyone knows we love a good bargain so Mum and I booked ourselves onto the sunrise and sunset cruise for the next day.
With our tours organised we were then free to go and enjoy happy hour at the resort bar that went for 2 hours. Four beers later and we’re ordering the Kakadu to Share platter for dinner that included Water Buffalo, Grilled Crocodile and smoked Kangaroo loin..
With no wifi I thought we would miss seeing the Souths game but I was able to get it on one of the TV’s at the bar.... we copped a bit of slack as everyone were AFL fans.
Needless to say mum and I slept really well that night after all our beers. I don’t think that’s what they mean by keeping hydrated. We weren’t to rusty the next morning and made our early shuttle for the sunrise cruise. It was very misty around the jetty and looked like a good setting for a murder mystery.
We didn’t see too much till the sun started to rise then the wetlands came alive. There were birds everywhere and they made a lot of noise. My favourite was this
little father bird that had four chicks that were about two weeks old. (The mother leaves the father to raise the kids.) When he thinks there’s danger around the chicks get tucked under his wings for safety but you still see their little legs. Dad looked like a mutant spider with so many legs. (they did tell me the name of this bird but I can’t remember it ?)
We didn’t see a lot of crocodiles as it was still too cold for them to get out of the water. As we were doing the sunset cruise we didn’t mind. Late morning we were back at the resort for a breakfast that was included with the cruise. By midday it was heating up so we retreated to our air conditioned van, we had thought about going for a swim but it was over run by kids and we’d heard the water temp is very cold
Our sunset cruise started off with a brown undies moment, our guide was giving the safety briefing of how to use the life jacket but if we go in the water it won’t save us, that they have a reel on board to get you
out of the water ... well the bits that are left of you etc and I noticed some rather large spider legs on his hat ... there was a f@&#%?g LARGE huntsmen on his hat. I would have got a photo had I not been paralysed with the fear it would jump on us. I must have been the first one to spot it and tried to tell mum in a whisper but she didn’t hear me ... once the guys in the front rows started squealing I knew they’d seen it and I wasn’t dreaming it. The guide just casually flicked the huntsmen off onto the jetty (the one we have to leave the boat on ?) after he’d done that I said ‘so it wasn’t your pet and you brought him to work?’ .... everyone had a chuckle.
Nothing could phase us after that we came up and close to a lot of .. I’ll say it lazy crocodiles. Our guide would take us into the banks to see the different ones. Being late afternoon a lot of animals were coming closer to the water to drink. We saw wild buffalos, whalers, wild pigs, heaps and heaps of
birds. Just like sunrise the sunset was very colourful and spectacular.
I hadn’t allocated enough time in the Kakadu and didn’t get to see a lot of the attractions. We enjoyed what we did see. Hopefully one day we’ll be back again.
Next stop .. Katherine
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Michele
non-member comment
Spectacular
Hey Rae and Jo, love the photos - the sunset looked glorious!! The crocs less so! Enjoy your mobile home, and watch out for the wildlife!!!!!!