Western Australia and the Northern Territory

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Well, since the last time I wrote I’ve been lucky enough to make it almost all over Australia. It has been a wonderful experience. I know I have mentioned it before but this place is massive and has so many different landscapes...from dense forests to desserts to tropical rainforests and wet seasons to amazingly beautiful beaches that you would expect to see in the islands to huge mountains...in many ways just like the states. I for one did not expect the variety it has to offer...I was a bit naive in that and it has been interesting to learn differently.

That being said let me tell you about where I have been...the last time I wrote I had just finished camping in the outback and swore I was done with that nonsense...well not quite but more on that later.

I spent a few days in Perth in Western Australia and its suburb of Fremantle. Both lovely little places but please refer to previous blog on cities...anyways, went south to southern Western Australia and saw a few more rocks and a few more waves along the coast and some giant trees before making my way back through the Margaret River area, one of the wine making regions of Australia...lovely wine they have there.

Then headed north along the coast of Western Australia and seeing some beautiful scenery and doing so great stuff:
The Pinnacles - rock formations in the dessert
Sand Boarding - on giant dunes that look out on the spectacular blue ocean
Abseiling - in Kalberri National Park
Monkey Mia - where a family of dolphins comes to feed every day
Snorkeling - on Nangaloo Reef at Turquoise Bay

Western Australia was a fun and an action packed time...but back in Perth to fly to Darwin to see some crocodiles!

In Darwin, I decided to do a 5 day trip into the National Parks of Kakadu and Litchfield and yep you guessed it...we had to camp...but luckily this was not quite as primitive as the outback camping and we actually got to take showers every other day and actually had little stools to sit on around the fire! But what I failed to realize was what exactly "wet season" meant...yes I had decided to go camping during the start of the wet season in the Northern Territory of Australia...well there is a good point to this and a bad point...good first...it means that some of the beautiful waterfalls that you see in all the postcards may be flowing just a trickle and that if you time it just right before they close the four wheel drive tracks then you can hike in and see them and get to swim in the billabongs beneath them. Which to my luck was what happened! They were beautiful and amazing!

But first let me back up and tell you about the trip…our trip started with a boat ride on the Corrobarre Billabong off the Mary River…well you know how sometimes you get in your head that things are more dangerous than they actually are…the outback for one…not so dangerous just drink lots of water, snakes…really what are the chances of seeing one…anyway, this was the way I was feeling about crocodiles...how bad could they be really…well let me tell you…you know how locals are when you ask them about a local animal or something…usually like “yeah, can’t really hurt you…not as bad as everyone thinks…misunderstood, etc”… well let’s just say this guy was pretty much yelling “DO NOT put even a finger nail outside this boat. These crocs will come up and eat you in a second and not even think about it!” Now I have a good friend who is really actually scared of alligators and crocodiles (I keep sending him postcards of them just to torture him)…and I really thought it was funny but now I get it…I was scared…I don’t like crocodiles now either…they are creepy...(and I’ll stop sending the post cards but there is one more on the way…sorry)

That being said we did see quite a few in that billabong and even one with a big fish in it’s month…come to find out crocodiles are opportunistic killers. They will kill anything at any time even if they are not hungry and just keep it laying around until they are ready to eat…there are stories of crocs taking victims out of the water and then rangers finding the victims 2 days later laying beside the crocodile completely whole with only a couple of teeth marks where they grabbed them and drowned them…again creepy…ok enough about crocs…I’m creped out just writing about it…

Off to Kakadu national Park and the famous Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls. This is what people come to Kakadu to see (those and the place where crocodile Dundee is looking out over the vista pointing to where the girl gets taken)…anyway, as I mentioned before more than likely when you come to Kakadu you will either see nothing coming out of these waterfalls (during dry season) or you can’t get to them because the 4wd tracks are closed (wet season) and have to take a helicopter ride to appreciate the beauty. Well I got lucky and even though it was wet season we got to go in and hike up to Jim Jim (but not Twin) and see it flowing a little and then swim in the billabong underneath it. Which was pretty amazing. The waterhole is surrounded by shear cliffs and just floating on your back and looking up at through the walls was an awesome feeling. Much of the rest of my trip in Kakadu and Litchfield was like this day…swimming in billabongs and looking at waterfalls and aboriginal cave drawings with a few hikes thrown in for good measure…and some giant termite mounds (don’t ask).

After all that talk about crocodiles, you may wonder about all the swimming and I can assure you that I was worried myself but being the self preservation type that I am…I was never first in the water! But we were assured that all of the areas that we swam in were crocodile free (or at least they were the day before because you just never know)…what they do is clear the streams and rivers of crocs at the being of the dry season and then when the creeks and rivers dry up for the season the crocs can’t get to the pools that have formed in the beds of the creeks and rivers so they are reasonably certain that no crocs are in the pools (again…never first in the water!).

Also, during the trip we got stuck in the worst thunderstorm one night…again wet season…I really should have looked that up in the dictionary…crazy rain started around 7:00pm…we managed to get a tarp up and our tents pitched and managed somehow to keep a fire going long enough to cook dinner…at about ten when it slacked off enough we all made a mad dash for our tents and tried to sleep…well this worked until about 3:00am when I was awoken by some crazy wind whipping my tent around, rain coming through the tent walls, and the loudest thunder I have ever heard (and I grow up in the country!)…so I decided this is just a little more than a poor girl from South Carolina can take and I scurried for the land cruiser and huddled in there for about 15 mins when everyone else decides to bail and 5 of us end up spending the rest of the night in the land cruiser…wet, tired, smelly and at some point just a little giddy from the craziness. All in all one of my more memorable evenings…we awake the next morning to find one tent completely collapsed, the tarp half ripped off the truck and my tent with 3” of water in it…good times, good times…we all decided that we wanted to decamped and get out of that place as fast as possible so we head to Katherine Gorge stopping along the way for coffee (which I proceed to spill all over me…again, good timesand can it get any better than this??). We make it to Katherine Gorge and find the parking lot is closed because of a film crew…of course me being the People Magazine girl I am I run around trying to find out if anyone famous is in the movie and guess who it is…hunky Michael Vartan of Alias…he is dreamy…my luck is turning…maybe just maybe to make up for the last 24 hours I could just catch a glimpse…but of course no…not me…with so not the luck of the Irish…completely missed seeing him…oh well…the gorge was pretty.

Now I am off to the East Coast to Sail the Whitsunday Islands and Dive the Great Barrier Reef…I am really excited about both of these and can’t wait…although it is going to required several 12 hour bus rides!

Anyways, my next blog will be my last…I’m home in 3 weeks just in time for Christmas.
As always, thanks for taking the time to keep up with me and I would love to hear from you. Take care and be safe.

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Comments

[P. Martin]

Pictures
Stacie I would love to see all your pictures when you get home. Let your Mom show them to us one evening for "show and tell". I just envy you so much as this trip has really been awesome. I've enjoyed keeping up with you.

[Adrienne]

Please bring home some of that great Wine for our tasting to see if we have the same appreciation for GOOOD Wine...Glad to hear you survived the Crocs. Hurry Home, miss you bunches. Any Christmas Request? Oh yeah, we are not having a GALA this year. Darn it!!!!

[regan]

where are the pics of the crocks?