My third tour in outback Australia began in Darwin Wednesday morning. The guide Max was full of interesting facts. John McDowell Stuart was an explorer from Adelaide who discovered Darwin in 1869, meaning that Darwin is now 140 years old as a city. On our way out of Darwin, we drove by Humpty Doo Hotel (pub) which is known for a stubby competition to see who can down a 2L beer the fastest. The records are 53 seconds for a man, 1 min 2 sec for a woman, and 42 seconds for a bull who died of liver disease. Go figure. We passed baby wallabies and even a dingo crossing the road. We also came upon many road trains, as pictured above. Road trains are seen all over the Northern Territory (NT) up t0 70m long for trucks carrying fuel. Just to get some idea, there are 86 wheels on four trailers.
We also drove by this boxing crocodile. I just had to get the picture to encapsulate my boxing days in Oz.
Next stop? A Corobberee Billabong crocodile boat cruise! There are an estimated 85,000 crocodiles in NT.
Our first siting of a crocodile in the billabong.
The ducks all stuck together with a beautiful reflection in the water.
Our boat guide let us snap a few lotus flowers and lily pads from his endless supply.
Crocodiles open their mouths to regulate their body temperature.
There were heaps of different bird species inhabiting the billabong.
This is the only snake I ever saw in Australia, home to the most dangerous snakes in the world.
Another 4WD truck. They all look a lot alike, huh?! Here we are at the entrance to Kakadu National Park, the second biggest national park in Australia (Great Barrier Reef is the biggest). Tourists have access to only 1% of Kakadu. The rest is restricted for Aboriginals, said to be the oldest race in the world.
Our primary mission of the day was to visit Ubirr Rock, an Aboriginal art gallery with art ranging in age from 24-20,000 years old, some in an x-ray style. The above man with swollen joints functions as a health warning for the area ahead. Due to the perceived age of the art, it is estimated Aboriginals lived in this area up to 23,000 years ago. They lived primatively, carefully selected homes with natural shelter and seating.
The Rainbow Serpent, a large part of their tales. They crushed red and yellow rocks and mixed them with water to create paint, which was layered up to 7mm deep into the rock.
Art included fish, turtles, and kangaroo that they wanted to catch. They believed the paintings to bring them good luck. Other art taught morals about not stealing or stories of battles, etc.
This is the flat top rock from which Crocodile Dundee makes a phone call in the movie. Several scenes from the movie 'Crocodile Dundee' were shot in Kakadu.
We hiked up to Nadab lookout to survey the park.
Here I am at the top of Nadab lookout with a view of Kakadu National Park.
The view in another direction from Nadab lookout.
The view in yet another direction from Nadab lookout.
Arnhem land lies 30km beyond the field behind the flat top rock along the Kakadu border. Special permission is required to enter this sacred Aboriginal home land.
That night I was in for a great surprise. Little did I realize I'd booked into a luxury tour, well luxury compared to my last two tours. We stayed on a permanent campsite at Kakadu Lodge. I even got a bed!!!
There were two people per tent, but with an uneven number of people in the group, I scored my own tent.
The lodge even had a swimming pool and bar of which we took full advantage.
Michaela and I returned from the pool to a candle-lit fish dinner under the canopy with hor d'oeuvres and wine. What an upgrade, and good thing I didn't start with that!
