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Published: September 22nd 2010
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We arrived in Darwin at a ridiculous 3 AM. So ridiculous that we did not book a hostel and decided to sleep at the airport such as most of the other travelers. We moved to our hostel for the next evening at 7 AM hoping to receive the room earlier then Check In time. The german receptionist had no feelings for us and said to wait on the sundeck chairs by the side of the pool. We slept a bit then walked into Darwin to eat something and book our 3 day tour into Kakadu and Litchfield National Park. Back at the hostel we received the key to our awful tiny dorm with an air con making noise as an ice machine.
Luckily the next morning we were off for our 3 day tour. John, our guide, picked us up at 7AM and we headed straight to Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is the largest National Park in Australia where Aboriginals used to live before the arrival of the white people. It has a huge diversity of animals and plants and is totally different in winter then in summer when everything is flooded and has no access. Our first stop was
Kakadu National Park
Where is the crocodile? a typical petrol station you see in the movies with a bar full of truckers drinking beer and playing pool… it was probably 8AM… You had 2 cages just a few steps from the bar with Freddy the Fresh Water Crocodile and Brutus the Salty Water Crocodile. Salty Water Crocodiles are the largest and most dangerous crocodiles in the world. It can reach more then 6 meters long…
Our next stop was a billabong (lake) were we jumped into a boat to see some more crocodiles in real nature. Unfortunately, we saw only a small one measuring 2 meters. The guy from the boat said that the largest he had seen was 5.4 meters long… The nature was fantastic though! Back in the bus and we were heading to Jabiru and the Visitor Centre receiving explanations about the parc and then off to Ubirr.
Ubirr is a place where aboriginals used to live and where it is possible to see classic examples of ancient Aboriginal rock art from about 20 000 years ago and a spectacular 360 view.
The day was over. We went to our campsite in Jabiru where we had dinner and got to know
some of the other participants. The atmosphere was really relaxed with some nice australian white wine and some fish. All of them were really satisfied about their first day.
The next morning we woke up at 6AM and our guide seemed totally stressed out. We had to leave the camp at 7AM to be the first to arrive on our next stop, Nourlangie! Nourlangie is a bit similar to Ubirr. Also an Aboriginal art work site and an amazing view. Then loooong drive to Gunlom were we had lunch and had the opportunity to swim in a lake with a dried up waterfall. This was the last site in Kakadu. We were off now to Pine Creek, a former Gold Mine in the early 20st century, where we had to meet up our next bus to go to our next camp site on Mt Bundy and Litchfield Park!!!
The camp site was great... plenty of animals everywhere. Great sunset and sunrise. Wild wallabies jumping all around us during the night... really cool!
The next morning we had a slow start... 8AM. First stop was the Magnet and Cathedral Termite Mounds. Magnet mounds are totally flat and are
all facing from North to South. It is the most amazing insect architecture imaginable. The Cathedral Mounds are much higher but are all a bit different. The thing to know is that only 1/3 of the mould is visible. The other 2/3 is under ground!!!
We went afterwards to several waterfalls such as the Florence, Wangi falls or the Buley Rockholes. Litchfield is a quite crowded National Park due to it's proximity to Darwin. All locals come during their free days to have a swim in here and make a bit of a mess from this great place. They have no respect for nature and throw without thinking their beer bottles or chips bags by the side of the foot path...
The day ends and our tour as well...the bus brings us back to Darwin. We stayed 2 more days here and went to the impressive Art & Science Museum to check on the Aboriginal works and animal diversity in the Northern Territory. Otherwise, Darwin is a very modern little town that has been devastated by cyclone Tracy during the Christmas evening of 1974 and has not much to offer except for it's bars and restaurants. It is
said that it is here that Australians drink the most beer... probably due to the freaking heat and the extremely boring rainy season!!!
Next stop.... CAIRNS and the Queensland!!!
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