Darwin: Day Twenty-Two (10 November)

Our last day in the Northern Territory! We visited a local war memorial and went swimming in three different croc-free places - Florence Falls, Buley Rockholes and Wangi Falls – and enjoyed a nice walk along Shady Creek which lived up to its name: hurrah. (As my profile says, I love sunbathing but 46 degrees Celcius is a bit too warm for someone as furry as me, especially when it’s humid too).

Our final stop was at the Banyan Tree before we began the long drive back to Darwin, showers without cane toads and air conditioning. Heaven!

We went out for pizza with some of the people from our trip and then went to bed as we flew to Cairns in the morning to visit Miss Berry, who used to teach at Claremont.


Barnaby

Kakadu: Day Twenty-One (9 November)

Tents do not have air conditioning (unless you leave the flap open, which is not an option in the Australian outback)! After three days of temperatures averaging 45 degrees Celcius, I was accused of having of B(ear)O. Unfortunately they do not make deodorant for teddy bears (well they do - it's called Febreze - but we didn't have any with us).

Today we visited the famous Katherine Gorge which has now been renamed Nitmiluk, after the Aboriginal tribe from the area. Our guide for the tour was a member of the tribe and told us lots about it, including showing us how to play a didgeredoo.

Australia is the only country to have freshwater crocodiles as well as saltwater crocodiles. Freshwater crocodiles are not meant to be dangerous to people (unlike what the Aussies call Salties: the ones we saw on our first day). Nevertheless we decided not to go swimming with the ones here but waited till we got to the nice thermal pools later.

John, our guide, described tonight's campsite as rustic. That turned out to mean an ants' nest on my bed (he gave us a new mattress) and poisonous cane toads in the toilets and showers. The men checked they were safe before we used them.

We've enjoyed our Australian adventure but are looking forward to going back to Darwin and our 4* hotel tomorrow.

Barnaby

Kakadu: Day Nineteen (7 November)

We were travelling to Kakadu by minibus so we were only allowed to take one bag. (We left the rest of our luggage - and Zippy and Gerald - in the hotel in Darwin). Behind the minibus was a trailer with all the food for the trip because we were going camping. (We thought the travel agents had booked for us to stay in lodges but that turned out not to be case. I was worried because I don't like English creepy crawlies very much and Australian ones are poisonous).

We stopped at an interpretation centre outside Darwin and then drove for a long time to reach Kakadu National Park where the first thing we did was go on a crocodile cruise. I was very nervous as the French tourists in the group did not stay seated or keep their arms in the boat as they were told to and I thought it might capsize. Crocodiles can also leap a long way out of the water. Then a big male crocodile blocked part of the river and we had to wait for him to move before we could return.

The aboriginal rock art at Ubirr Rock was much less scary but it was dark by the time we got to the campsite. It was a bit of a shock after staying in 4* hotels but at least the tents were permanent ones with hard floors and proper beds and mattresses.

There was a big thunderstorm that night so I didn't get much sleep.

Barnaby

Our guide, John, a Scot who has lived in Australia for years but still has a broad Scots accent, did all the driving and cooking as well as telling us about everything. We were the only British people on the tour: the others were Danish, Dutch and there were eight people from France

Darwin: Day Eighteen (6 November)

Our last day in Western Australia. Today we fly on to Darwin, which is the capital of the Northern Territory, right in the middle of Australia at the top.

Our flight was not till the afternoon so we spent the morning by the pool and then had lunch with a nice couple from Broome whom we met on Safari. They were in South Africa on honeymoon.

After lunch they took us to Broome Airport, which is quite small. It was only a short flight to Darwin but we had to put our watches forward by half an hour. We were now 9 and a half hours ahead of the U.K.

We went to bed soon after dinner because we had to leave Darwin early the next morning to go to Kakadu.

Barnaby