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Published: January 14th 2009
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We made it to a hot hot australia from nepal for a relaxing xmas in Darwin!! It was weird though lying by the pool sunbathing on xmas day, its just not right is it, and there was no turkey or xmas pudding either!! Just one big barrrbie!! After xmas we hired a chubby van and began the mammoth the long drive through the northern territory... we started off going via Kakadu national park, Steve got to act like the wildlife good guy he is by rescueing a long necked turtle from the road, there is amazing wildlife everywhere!!...
We arrived the first evening and jumped out of the van at our free camp site to be bombarded by stinging and biting insects while we tried to set up camp. We were head to toe in bites and thought oh my god what have we done!!! Anyway, Steve (who is the chef as i'm the driver!!) managed to knock up some pasta and we fell asleep in the boiling hot van at about 3am when it cooled down!! The next day we drove to see some 20,000 year old aboriginal art which was amazing and then we hunted out for a
better place to camp!! Being a bit quicker to set up camp on day 2 we didn't get badly bitten and could hard under some tarpaulin when the stingers came out!! Steves night or horrors began as he got up for the toilet about 11pm in the pitch dark and saw lights and torchs near the van. He was convinced the killer in the trench coat had arrived and slept with a carving knife, when daylight arrived we discovered it was someone else arriving very late to the desserted camp ground, strange as you are not supposed to drive at night!!!
The next day we took a boat trip on the yellow river to hunt for crocs and birds!! As its wet season in the NT croc spotting is tough as the waters really high but we did get to see 2 in the wild which was really cool, they look much scarier then the gharial in Nepal! Then we remembered it was new years eve so we splashed out and paid our $25 for a camp site to see in the new year with 2 girls from Barcelona and an Australian couple. Steve got a bit bevvied
and managed to drop my trainers out of the van before he retired. A Dingo decided to run off with them so he had to hunt for them in the morning and amazingly found them although they are very chewed and smell of dog!!
To rid ourselves of a hangover, we got up early to do a 12km bush walk...it was amazing following bits a ribbon tied to trees, we did get quite lost at one point which was a bit scary as we didnt see a sole all day, the place is vast and its absolutely beautiful. If you go to Australia don't miss out the NT, it is huge and the whole state only has a population of 200,000 people!!
Back on the road we began the drive to Alice Springs. We wanted to go and bathe in the thermal pools there but sadly they we all flooded out due to really heavy rain!! Not sure I would have dared go in there anyway as its right next to croc infested waters!! On the plus side though, I have braved swimming and can now swim, lots of pools here are salt water as the sea is
not ok for swimming due to crocs and box jellyfish!! We went to a cool wildlife and landscape park in Alice springs to learn more about the terrain etc to try and get some idea what we were looking at. Yes it is a lot of desert out there but it is not in anyway boring to see as people try to tell you (they probably havent seen it for themselves!) there is wildlife everywhere, especially lizards, birds and snakes, (and bloody flies!)!!
Our next stop of on the way to Uluru was the home of Jim and his famous sinigng dingo at Stuart Wells. This is a great place to stop as its free, and theres a singing Dingo!!
The next day we finally arrived at The Rock for sunset, it really is a spectacular sight, it glows many different shades as the sun drops. Is looks huge, and has more texture to it than we thought. We awoke early for sunrise and walked the circumference, once out of the coach party section of the walk we didn't see anyone and it was really amazing just to be there on your own with this giant rock!! Even
in a small area the landscape is really varied from trees and waterholes to more scrub like looking desert. The walk was really great and definitely to be recommended, anyone who turns up on an organised trip missed out on all this stuff which is why you come in the first place!!
That afternoon we drove up to the Olgas, a rock formation about 50 kms away to take a short walk and cool down in the cars aircon!!! The next day we returned to the Olgas to do a longer walk, they are really beautiful, the viewing points don't at all do them justice and the walk is spectacular as you really walk through the rocks and see them close up. When you look out into the distance the green goes for miles and miles, we never expected the NT to be so green!!
We took a last look at the rock as the next morning we headed out for Kings canyon about 200km down the road. This is amazing and defininetly worth the detour. You climb up to the top of the canyon and walk along the top. The rocks are amazing and stretch for what
looks like miles. There is a water hole called the Garden of Eden where we stopped for a swim and a cool off from the intense heat. Steve reckons its his favourite place in the world (on that day anyway!!)...
Thats a breif overview of our time in the NT. It was absolutely brilliant!!!!!!!!!! Our plans then had to change. We wanted to head back North and across to Carins (back via Barrow creek where Wolk Creek was filmed!!) but it was all flooded out so we had to head South to Southern Australia and the delights of Adelaide!!
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Gary
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Kings Canyon
I certainly agree about Kings Canyon. Absolutley fantastic. Unfortunately there wasn't much water in the Garden of Eden when we were there in september