Several giant leaps for crockind

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Smaller than Kakadu, but closer to Darwin, is Litchfield National Park. It doesn't require 4WD nor does it contain any crocs, so it represents a much "easier" experience than Kakadu. I plumped for a day tour with a company that Darren (the Kakadu guide) had recommended. The group was a real mix, from some pensionable-age Aussies down to a pair of Danish teenage girls. One of the Aussie women turned out to originally be from Redcar, from where surprisingly she had emigrated.

The guide was Pat, a Darwin-born chap with an unkempt beard that looked like it had been stolen from the chin of Gimli from "The Lord of the Rings". He delivered a barrage of info during the day - the only times he wasn't talking were when we were swimming, or he was playing his favourite Rolf Harris songs.

First stop was at the headquarters of the tour company where Pat gave us a tour of a crocodile's anatomy, aided by a small (and unwilling) croc that had had its jaws secured with hairgrips to ensure no tourist finger-removal incidents.

This was followed by a Jumping Croc Cruise. I'd initially thought this would be a complete gimmick, but apparently crocs do jump in the wild - not for pieces of meat on a string, but for birds and other creatures that have decided to take a perch on a branch overhanging the river. Having said that, each cruise has its own set of crocs that it feeds, and the crocs are now so accustomed to this that they can recognise the sound of the motor of their particular cruise, and will swim out from the bank to meet it.

One bonus for choosing the particular tour company I did was that they had their own boat for the cruise, rather than us having to jam onto a boat with ~100 other people.

We saw 6 or 7 crocs in total, all of whom leaped around while Pat expertly tugged the meat just beyond their reach. The sound of their jaws snapping shut created an impressive pressure wave, that was felt as much as heard. Our final croc was a whopper, being about 5m long (i.e. the length of the boat.) Pat didn't encourage it to jump, as it could've capsized the boat if it had fallen on it, but its head and jaws were enormous. Some eagles had also tried to join in the fun, and at the end Pat threw bits of meat out of the boat, which the eagles did a good job of grabbing mid-air.

I dropped my lens cap into the river, and the choice of whether or not to go in after it really was a life or death decision - but fortunately an easy one to make.

After the cruise we trundled along to some termite mounds. The cathedral ones I'd already seen in Kakadu but the magnetic ones - aligned so that the midday sun strikes neither side of them - were something new. Termite mounds maintain a constant internal temperature via heating/cooling techniques that are now being incorporated into (human) buildings.

Our first waterfall of the day was Wangi Falls, which was a zoo. The plunge pool was nowhere near as good as Jim Jim, but the much easier access to Wangi had brought in people in droves. Since we only had a short time there, I didn't even bother going for a swim, electing to visit a nearby fruit bat colony instead. Our second (and final) waterfall visit was to Florence Falls, whose plunge pool was at the bottom of 185 steps. It was also crowded, but I could hardly come to Litchfield without taking a dip so in I went.

My overall impression of Litchfield was that 1 day isn't enough to see it - camping there would enable you to beat the crowds to the more popular pools.

The journey back to Darwin involved the aforementioned Rolf Harris medley plus assorted Australiana (e.g. "Redback on the toilet seat" and "The pub with no beer"), none of which I necessarily need to hear again.

The final part of the trip was a stop at a beach just outside of Darwin to drink "champagne", eat prawns, and watch the sun set. Pat ended the day with the startling story that, after Ned Kelly's execution, his scrotum had been cut off and fashioned into a tobacco pouch. This seems a little more interesting than having one's ashes in an urn on some descendant's mantelpiece, so I think I'll be adding a new clause to my will when I get home ...

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Photos

Life after ZZ Top
Cigarette break with the latest fashion accessory

The Litch mob
Belgian, Belgian, Aussie, Aussie, Robin, Aussie, Danish, Danish, Pat, Vance, Aussie, Jude. My memory for names ...