Northern Territory

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So in Cairns now, so thought I would update you on the last few weeks! Will try and keep it as short as possible but have done so much! Darwin was okay...really small and not much to do! Obviuosly you can't go swimming because of the crocs, but when to the waterfront which was really nice. Went to Kakadou National Park for two days and camped which was really good fun. Highlights were definitely climbing Ubir and looking at all the aborginal art on the rocks and watching the sunset at the top was definitelt a highlight! The second day highlight was definitelt going to Jim Jim falls - we had to go on a 4 wheel drive track to get there which was bumpy to say the least! Took a 2 hour trek to get to the base of the falls which was good fun - especially as crocs inhibit the water! Was really worth it and the views were amazing! Normally you can swim in the top pool, but because of the large amount of rainfall this year, they think that cros got into the pool!

The day after we did a 3 day tour down to Alice Springs which was nice as some pf the people on the Kakadou trip were on this one aswell. Over the 3 days there was lots of driving involved - it's mazing how you can drive for 3 hours and not see anthing apart from trees and the outback! First stop was katherine, where we went to Katherine's Gorge - it was absolutely amazing - took a boat trip around the first two gorges which was really good - we gad some time to kill afterwards so we climbed to one of the look out points where the views were just incredible! Manage to take 150 photos, but somehow don't think they will do it justice! The second day was mainly just driving, but the highlight of the day was going to a 'town' called Daly - which had 30 people! It was literallly just a road, but had a pub and a petrol station - the essentials I guess!
Day three we went to a place called Devils Marbles - which is a bit like Brimham rocks - and climbed a few rocks and chilled out for a bit! Other highlights were stopping off at Wycliffe wells where they hold a UFO convention every year - it was slightly bizarre, but highly amusing - they had a whole cafe dedicated to UFO's! Also stopped off at the Tropic of Capricorn.
Alice Springs was even smaller than Darwin - for some reason I thought it was a large town?!?! Again not loads to do and didn't feel entirely safe, but hung around with some people I met on the tour which was good!

The two day trip to Uluru (Ayers rock) was really really good. On the first day, we took a 3 hour walk around Kings Canyon - was really really hot, but was really good fun, agina we had really knowledgeable tour guides who could tell us stories about how the canyon was formed etc! Had my first Ozzie BBQ in the evening - we ate camel sausages and Kangaroo steak which was interesting! We also slep in Swags which was good fun and we had a clear night so you could see the stars!
We had an early start on day two so that we could watch the sun rise over Uluru - it was really really cold, but we had an amazing view. We tehn walked around the base of the canyon which was fun and saw some one illegally climbing Uluru which was intersting - the ranger didn't seem impressed!
After we went to Kata Tjuta and did a walk roun there - it's an aboriginal site, so there is limited access to it!

Now in tropical Cairns - where it is really warm, but when it rains it rains!

xxx

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