Back into Darwin...

Saturday was a lazy day mooching around by the pool and doing a bit of shopping.

We also headed over to the Cullen Marina to have a look at it.  It was a lot smaller than what we anticipated and there was only really a couple of bars there and a few restaurants...  so we decided to go back to the Ski Club to celebrate a fantastic trip and Chris' birthday earlier in the week and we watched the sun set over the ocean from there. Yet again, a Darwin sunset was something special.  Plus lots of people were dressed up in fancy dress and there was a great party atmosphere at the Club.

On the Sunday morning we went on the Ride the Croc bus/boat trip. It was a bit cheesy, but it was great fun....  We had a bit of a guided tour of Darwin before heading out into the ocean and seeing the coastline etc.....  It is a new business venture in Darwin and definately worth doing if you have spare time there. 

Then we just lazed by the pool at the hotel before heading back to the airport to head back home and plan our next trip away.

Day Five - Litchfield

After searching in vain for a big python that had been spotted the previous morning we set off on the longish drive to Litchfield National park. Litchfied park has a much more plentiful water supply than Kakadu so the waterfalls were much more impressive to look at...

First stop was Buley rock hole, which had lots of small cascading waterfalls and plunge pools. We
also saw a big lizard sitting by the edge of a pool.  Again, there was lots of swimming.  It is a lot closer to Darwin than Kakadu and so there were lots more people here which was a bit of a shock to the system!!!  Apparently, we were lucky to be there on a Friday and not at the weekend which is meant to be manic!

Florence Falls were the next stop. These falls were very impressive from the top. On the walk down to the bottom we saw little rock wallabies sitting in the rocks. Then at the bottom, the obigatory refreshing dip in the plunge pool..

The final water fall of the day was Wangi Falls. Here we went for a nice circular 30min walk through the forest to the top of the falls and back again. This time we did not have a swim as we ran out of time and had to start the drive back to Darwin

On the way back to Darwin, we stopped off to look at some meridian termite mounds (also known as magnetic termite mounds). They are pointed exactly north - south to help keep the mounds at a constant temperature as the termites need a specific temperature to survive.

After a couple of hours drive we arrived back to Darwin again after a great few days travelling around in the outback.  Following a lovely warm shower and change of clothes which we more definately needed, we headed out for a steak and beer for dinner :-)

Day Four - Katherine Gorge

After breakfast we walked up to the top of Edith Falls and had yet another swim in the inviting pool at the top.  This pool was stunning and again had a waterfall to play in at the top.....  The water was pretty cold but that still did not stop us from swimming!!!!

We then drove to Katherine Gorge and were lucky enough to see some cool birds whilst we were eating our picnic lunch including a type of kookaburra.

Then it was off to canoe in Katherine gorge. The trip was quite long about 90mins slow paddling each way. But the gorge was so stunning in was worth the effort. Unfortunately we did not see any of the fresh water crocs who were hiding in their nesting sites or in the water... At the half way point we had a quick cool off in the river and a walk over to the other half of the gorge across some very hot sand before heading back again.  This canoe trip is one of the top things to do in Oz according to the lonely planet (so it must be true....  :-) ) 

On the drive back to the campsite we saw a wallaby with a joey which was cute!!

Then later there was another great sunset from the campsite followed by dinner, beers and chatting round the campfire reflecting on what we had seen over the last four days.

Kakadu Day Three

In the morning after getting a bit of sleep in the bus along with a few others from our group who got rained out of their tent, we awoke to a very soggy campsite and a paddling pool for a tent...  Plus we could not light a fire as the wood was soaking so there was no coffee either :-(

After some cold breakfast and clearing up the campsite, we went to an Aboriginal cultural experience (http://kakaduculturecamp.com/) in which we were told a bit about Aboriginal culture, bush tucker and we had a go at playing the digeredoo and throwing some spears at targets - although the animals would have been safe from us as we did not hit one target!!

Then onto look at the Warradjan cultural centre (http://www.kakadu-attractions.com/warradjan/index.htm) to learn some more about the Aboriginees and their facinating lifestyles.

Then we drove off to Baramundi gorge. After a short walk through some forest we came to get another pretty waterfall and plunge pool to go swimming in...

We stopped off to look quickly at some termite mounds which are pretty impressive feats of engineering...  There are Cathedral termite mounds.... 

On the drive to the campsite at Edith Falls we dropped off some of the group as they were on a 3 day trip.  Luckily, this gave us the opportunity to get some dry swags and tents for the next couple of nights from Darwin. Fortunately our tent had a raincover this time which was just as well as it did rain again...

We then headed to an awesome campsite which was located near the Edith Falls.

After a short walk up to the top of a hill near the campsite, we were treated to another awesome sunset... Afterwards the stars came out and were amazingly bright