Trip to Northern Territories

After 9 months without more than a long weekend (well for me, not Steve), we decided it was time for a break and took a week off to go to the Northern Territories.

Day 1 - Darwin
We arrived in Darwin at midnight and within seconds of finding the hire car and jumping in, it absolutely belted down with rain, the rainy season had begun but it was still 29 degrees. We somehow managed to find our accommodation at Knuckey Lagoon, just outside Darwin and were greeted by the owners that despite the torrential rain were at the end of the drive way lighting torches that led to our accommodation. Even though it was dark the accommodation looked great and we didn’t get to sleep until after 2am as we were so excited our holiday had arrived, it was a shame we hadn’t bought a bottle of bubby to celebrate!

The villa was even better in daylight, with beautiful views over a lagoon and flocks of birds flying around. We were really thankful for the plunge pool because when they said it would be hot in Darwin we didn’t realise how hot and I think it’s the first time I have actually chosen to sit in the shade! Steve cooked up a delicious BBQ breakfast and we spent the morning jumping in and out of the pool to cool off.

We went into Darwin and our first stop was Cullen Bay, a lovely Marina with boats and restaurants, where we had lunch at Buzz Café, recommended to us by Andy. The barramundi burgers lived up to expectations as did the men’s loos but you’d have to ask Steve about those!

We drove up to East Point Reserve to have a look at Darwin from across the water but it was so hot we decided staying in the car with the aircon was the best option! The sea was beautifully blue, shame you can’t swim in it because if the box jelly fish don’t get you, the crocs or sharks will!

We headed back to the villa and jumped straight into the pool to cool off. We then spent the rest of the evening watching the sunset over the lagoon and taking photos of the birds flying past. There were a few resident lizards that were attracted to the flies around the lights, these were then accompanied by small frogs, then big frogs but the final straw was when the biggest huntsman spider I have ever seen appeared on our bedroom door. Fortunately it was outside not inside and after much deliberation over dinner Steve wacked it with his flip flop. This only semi killed it and it ran towards the roof where it sat for a couple of minutes before it was gobbled up by a hungry frog, well at least we assisted in the food chain!


Day 2 – Darwin
We had another lazy morning and then ventured to Parap Market as recommended by Reesy our friend from Darwin. There were some good stalls and we especially enjoyed an ice cold fruit shake. We wandered around Darwin and came across a newspaper headline “Croc Attack, tourist savaged swimming in billabong” which Steve found highly amusing, I wasn’t so amused as we were heading to the National Park where the attack occurred, in a couple of days! On the up side the tourist did survive so maybe tourists aren’t as tasty as the locals!

We spent the afternoon chilling by the pool and fortunately that night we only shared out evening with the lizards and the frogs.

Day 3 – Litchfield National Park (driving - 150km)
After an early start we went to the supermarket to stock up on 6 days of food (why did we forget bottle shops weren’t open at 9am?) then went to meet our home for the next 5 nights, a britz hi-top campervan! I was assured it was a top of the range model with all the mod cons and after a quick inspection decided I could probably manage the next 5 nights in our new home. Steve was happy as soon as he spotted the mp3 connection in the stereo! We were shown the fridge and warned not to put much food in it for the first 24 hours, unfortunate really as we had just bought all our food for 6 days but an ice bag in the bottom of the fridge seemed to cool it down pretty quickly.

We didn’t get off to a good start as after a few minutes on the road we realised we had left the fan behind. With no aircon in the main compartment of the campervan we headed back to Britz to pick it up.

And so our first big road trip began. Andy had provided us with an itinerary of where to go and places to stay so in true Alex and Steve fashion, we followed it to a T. It was the last day of the NT school holidays but the roads were surprisingly empty. We headed south along the Stuart Highway for 100km till we hit Bachelor and entered Litchfield National Park. First stop were the Magnetic Termite Mounds and my first experience with a long drop! I took one look at all the mosquitoes buzzing around and remembering an experience in Cambodia where I was bitten over 30 times on my bum, decided I would hold on! The termite mounds were huge and all aligned, pretty cool for an ant type creature!

With it being the last day of the school holidays, we thought everyone would have headed home but when we arrived at Buley Rockhole we realised we were so wrong! We were so hot and all we wanted was a dip but there were too many screeching kids to even attempt to get in so we made our way to Florence Falls. By the time I had made sandwiches in the hot campervan and clambered down to the bottom of Florence falls I was exhausted and the thought of swimming in a croc infested pool didn’t appeal so I sat in a strop while Steve went in. After ten minutes of seeing what fun he was having I soon forgot about being croc bate and joined him, it was so refreshing and just what we needed!

By the time we had got to the top of Florence falls again we needed another swim but decided to find our first campsite, Wangi Falls Tourist Park. It was pretty quiet and we got great pitch with no one next to us so we were happy. We setup camp, cracked open a beer and I spent the rest of the night beating Steve at Uno!

Day 4 – Katherine Gorge (driving - 280km)
Despite three trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night we managed to get some sleep and woke up bright and early for day 2 of the road trip. Before we setoff there were a few checks we needed to do; Water pump off – check, electricity unplugged – check, draws locked – not checked. It was the draws that got us every time and there is nothing worse than driving along with draws flying in and out as we went around corners!

In need of a wash we headed straight to Wangi Falls which was completely empty except for three tourists who were sat on the side nervously deciding who would check for crocs first. This did not faze Steve who was first in, the rest of us shortly followed. It was a beautiful swimming hole and Steve swam right to the other side and clambered up onto the rocks, I wasn’t so courageous and kept fairly close to the side….just in case!!

With our longest day of driving ahead (280km), we got back on the Stuart Highway and headed towards Katherine Gorge. The roads were pretty empty so we zoomed along the Stuart highway until Steve spotted blue flashing lights in his rear view mirror. It turned out that the garage and one shop we had just driven through was a town called Adelaide River and we failed to slow down! We hadn’t even noticed it was a town let alone there was a speed limit! After 10 minutes of waiting while she wrote out the form, we were advised we should have got 3 points and a $200 fine but because we looked like we were on holiday she reduced it to 1 point and a $100 fine. So we kept to the speed limit for the rest of the trip. We stopped at Hayes Creek for a quick sandwich then continued our journey south.

We arrived in Katherine about 3.30 and got a fab camp site with amazing views over the hills surrounding the gorge. As there were a couple of hours to go before it got dark we decided to head down to the gorge to the swimming area where you could supposedly swim in the gorge. After seeing no other swimmers and a crocodile cage opposite we decided a walk would be safer! We climbed to the top of this hill and there were amazing views over the gorge as the sun was going down. We were mucking around with the camera taking photos when we noticed a little girl walk past us again in a yellow I love NYC t-shirt. When we saw her earlier she had been walking down the hill (with a guy who later turned out to be her brother) but this time she was walking back up the hill on her own. Stupidly we didn’t ask if she was ok but she smiled at me so we assumed she was ok. On the way back down the hill we bumped into a frantic mother asking if we’d seen her daughter in a yellow I love NYC t-shirt, how bad did we feel. We offered to go back up the hill with her but she said she and her son would but if we could look out for her at the bottom. At the bottom we then found Granddad and the rangers arrived saying they had started a search. We ended going back half way up the hill just in case she came back down and missed her Mum. E waited for about 45 minutes and eventually the ranger came over and said they’d found her. Somehow she managed to do the whole walk and get back to the tourist centre before we had started the search. There were a few tears and we all agreed we’d never forget Katherine Gorge! Lesson leant, don’t leave children wandering around on their own!

We got back to the campsite, cracked open a well needed beer and then went for a dip in the pool which was lovely especially without the worry of crocs!! The campsite was one of my favourites and we enjoyed another BBQ in the bush.

Day 5 – Kakadu National Park (driving - 250km)
We got up early and went for a canoe down the gorge. We only did it for an hour and didn’t even make it to the second gorge but it was hard work and I don’t think we would have lasted half a day let alone a whole day! The scenery was beautiful and it was definitely one of the highlights! We were very tempted to stay another night in Katherine but we had Andy’s itinerary and thought we should stick to it!

We stopped off at Woolworths in Katherine before we got back on the road to stock up on another 20 litres of water we had already got through the 40 litres we originally bought. On the way we stopped at Edith falls and had a quick dip. A fish had a nibble on my toe which almost gave me a heart attack!

It was bizarre entering Kakadu as suddenly it became cloudy and we realised it was smoke, luckily I had read that there are a number of controlled bush fires as it is an aboriginal way of preserving the land. We drove to Cooinda and checked into Gagudju Lodge campsite. There weren’t many powered campsites and after changing our pitch 3 times we ended up back in the place where we’d started! We setup camp then went for a walk along the river. We were meant to be following a track that ended up at a viewing point but after following the track that was far too close to the croc infested river for 20 minutes and still not getting to the viewing point, we turned around and came back again.

We had a swim in the campsite pool then went back to our campsite to discover a load of Koreans had setup their dinner right in front of our campervan. After scowling them, they got the hint and moved back to their own space! We then followed out usual routine, beer, dinner, bed!!

Day 6 – Kakadu National Park, Yellow River (driving - 80km)
We got up at 6am as we were doing the dawn cruise down the Yellow River. We were a bit disappointed as the sun had already risen by the time we got on the boat but the light was amazing, we saw masses of crocs and a number of different birds including the rare small kingfisher and some jabirus. We had an awesome tour guide who was very knowledge and apart from the usual panic from me about the boat leaning to one side, it was another highlight of the trip.

By 9am we were starving and thoroughly enjoyed the English breakfast provided as part of the tour! After a dip in the pool we jumped back into the car and headed off.

We came across the start of the Mirrai lookout and decided to climb to the top. There were a lot of flies and it was boiling but the views over Kakadu when we got to the top were pretty cool. Steve was very thankful for the Fly screen hat Si had left, where was mine Charl??!! It was one of the only times on the holiday I stopped talking because I was scared I would swallow a fly.

We then went to Nourlangie Rock and wandered around the rock site looking at the aboriginal art. We hardly saw a soul walking around and it was mostly shaded which was a relief. Again when we got to the top there were more amazing views over Kakadu.

Our last campsite, which was our home for the last 2 nights of out trip was Kakadu Lodge. It was pretty empty and after driving round for about 10 minutes we found the “best” spot. We found the pool, had a swim and then chilled out at our campsite.

We were setting up the bed in the van when Steve and I went to turn the fan on, me at the mains and him on the fan. Unfortunately there was a loud bang, some blue sparks and that was the end of the fan! After few too many wines, I decided that there was no way I sleeping in the van and decided to sleep outside. This didn’t last long after falling half asleep, I opened my eyes to see dingo by my feet. I was in the van faster than you can imagine and fortunately it was one of the cooler nights.

Day 7 – Kakadu National Park, Jabiru (driving - 80km)
I woke up to find one of my flip flops that I’d left outside had been ravaged by a dingo, what a relief it wasn’t my foot! It had also had a nibble at the awning we had stupidly left on the floor that night. We had breakfast and then went for a drive around the north west of Kakadu by the border of Arnhem Land.

We just made it in time for the East Alligator River cruise which we thought would be pretty empty until a big tour group arrived and took over the boat. Again we saw masses of crocs and I wasn’t too happy when we moored up alongside the bank and got off the boat!! We were supposedly far enough away from the riverbank but I wasn’t convinced an aboriginal spear was going to save us from the crocs!!

We then headed to Ubirr, another aboriginal rock art site and hiked to the top. It was much easier in my geek shoes and even after 3 years they will still comfy! There were some amazing views at the top over Kakadu and we took loads of photos.

Back at the campsite, we had a swim and spent our last evening writing a few postcards. We made a delicious BBQ despite having to share the kitchen with “the miserables”!! Luckily it was a cooler night as there was no way I was sleeping outside with the dingoes again!

Day 8 – Darwin (driving - 260km)
After a fairly early start we started our journey back to Darwin. We stopped at Fogg Dam where we were going to have a walk across the dam however after spotting several signs (some of them hand written) about the saltie currently inhabiting the area, we drove across it instead and ate our picnic in the car!

We thought we would be back in Darwin really early but by the time we had found an internet café to check in (which didn’t work), found a post office to post the postcards and put petrol in the car it was 3pm and the car had to be handed back up 3.30. A quick inspection was carried out and we got our full deposit back despite the dingo incident!

We had arranged a sunset cruise around the harbour but it didn’t start till 4.45 so we had 45 minutes to kill until I walked past a spa, bingo just what my feet needed. So I left Steve to amuse himself and managed to fit in a 30 minute pedicure to get some of the ingrained dirt off the soles of my feet!

I made it onto the boat just in time and we spent out last evening sailing around Darwin harbour aboard Anniki, an old pearling lugger that featured in the film Australia. We drank bubby, watched the sun set and reminisced over what a great holiday we had just had.

Last stop was

buzz café for dinner and we managed to get the best table in the restaurant, right by the edge of the water. We both had oysters and some delicious barramundi which we spaced out over the evening as we had 3 hours to kill.

After a fantastic holiday we headed to the airport and got the night flight back to Sydney just in time for Kev and Hazel's wedding!

The Blog is reactivated

After two and a half years I thought I would reactivate the blog becuase my diary isn;t big enough to write about the places we have been to! Lets see how long it lasts!