Returning to civilisation after our outback adventures coming west from QLD, we stayed in the Kakadu National Park and stopped in Cooinda for a three night stay. From here it was a good base for exploring the national park areas that were only just reopening after the late wet season up here this year.
Kakadu is an adventurers delight. Lots of extended walking trails, and remote watering holes to reward you for making the trek to see them. We were lucky enough to be there the day they reopened Maguk (The famous Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls, two of the most popular attractions at Kakadu were unfortunately still closed while we were there), and we took the dawn cruise over Yellow Water, and absolute must do in Kakadu.
Kakadu National Park
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| One of the first things to greet you in Kakadu National Park - warning signs you should pay special attention to! - Maguk, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| After a long drive through rough tracks, then a trek through creeks, climbing over rocks, and through scrub, with the kids, we arrived at the beautiful Maguk waterhole. After opening only that morning, and even though we were assured Maguk had been cleared of estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles, we were still wary and so sent Damien in first for a swim! - Maguk, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| A long trek in, means a long trek back out again. Damien helping our brave little adventurer Cooper over the rocks - Maguk, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Walkways still underwater on our way out - Maguk, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Scenery between stops - Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Heading out on the sunrise cruise while the Kakadu wildlife is waking up - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Sunrise - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Lillypads in the foreground as the sun lights up the trees in the background - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| A snake curled up in the trees waiting for the warmth of the sun - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Kingfisher catching dragonflies - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Sea Eagle - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Waterlillies - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| An Estuarine (Saltwater) Crocodile waking up. These guys can hold their breath for one hour underwater by slowing down their heart, and can disappear and reappear silently. Not great news if you are in their sights as prey! - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Blaire and Damien sharing a special father/daughter moment together - Yellow Water Cruise, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Normally Jabirus will keep their distance, but we were lucky enough to see this one scavenging a catfish within sight from our boat - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| Ready for flight - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
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| White egret coming in to land at the waters edge - Yellow Water Billabong, Kakadu National Park, NT |
As far north as we could travel in Australia is the NT capital Darwin (pop. 136,250). Darwin is one of Australia's most modest cities having virtually been rebuilt twice, once after Japanese Air Raids during World War II (1942) and again after Cyclone Tracy (1974). We spent a full day exploring the museums as well as the famous Mindil Beach sunset markets. The reminder of our trip was spent exploring the Darwin surrounds and making the most of the warm winter days over 30'c.
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| Mindil Beach sunset markets are a hugely popular tourist attraction. We made it just in time to grab a quick bite to eat and take a seat on the beach to watch the sun going down. Yes, Mindil Beach faces West, not North as you may expect! - Mindil Beach, Darwin, NT |
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| Securing a place on the beach with the many other tourists - Mindil Beach, Darwin, NT |
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| We stopped in for a few nights with Damien's former workmate, Neal and his wife Karen, at their new place in Howard Springs, 30kms from Darwin centre. With 20 acres of land, there were lots of toys for the boys to play with. Here Cooper and Damien were taking a ride with Neal's gorgeous shepherd - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Neal and Karen have many birds, which were great fun to phptpgraph. Here is their Major Mitchell Cockatoo (left) and a Sun Conure (right) working out the pecking order - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Neal helping Blaire to feed the birds some crackers - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Damien having fun playing on a very vintage Massey Ferguson tractor with grass slasher behind. And once he got slashing, do you think we could get him off it.... yes, ok we did, but only once the sun went down! - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Neal helping out Damien on the John Deere - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Damien took the kids for a quick ride (and to sneak in a bit more grass cutting) on the John Deere mower. Both kids were having a great time - Neal's Place, Howard Springs, NT |
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| Bill and Marge are old family friends of the Newbolds, and we headed over to their place for a beautiful meal and to share stories of Damien and Gerard's trip there 20 years ago, and meet their extended family - Howard Springs, Darwin |
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| Our last full day in Darwin we headed to the Adelaide River to go on the famous jumping crocodile cruise. There is controversy over whether the practice of feeding crocodiles this way encourages predatory behaviour. I have to say, the behaviour of these few crocodiles is very different to those found in the Kakadu billabongs. In Kakadu you catch a glimpse before they disappear, however here on the Adelaide River they will approach the boat in anticipation of a feed. Statisitics don't demonstrate that more fatalities by crocodiles occur in this part of the river. In fact most deaths in the NT are fairly evenly spread amongst the water systems, and are due in large part to human error or misjudgement. Either way, the message was made very clear on our cruise, stay away from the edge of the boat, and don't ever, EVER, lean over for any reason. |
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| A medium size croc lining up for some buffalo meat. The sound of their jams snapping together sounds a little like an large heavy book being snapped shut. It's a dull thud with a lot of power behind it - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| The kites have also been trained to fly in for some buffalo meat. Note the paddle the meat rests on, as you don't want to be anywhere close to those razor sharp talons - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| Learning about the river ecosystem from our guide - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| One of the largest croc's on the river, meet Brutus. Estimated at over 5mtrs in length and nearly 100 years old, Brutus is known to raise his head and cruise past the boat looking for spare hands (none donated to date). I included this photo because as the boat floated in the current, I swear that he was tracking Blaire's movements on the boat... scary - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| Check out the difference in size of Brutus' head and shoulders compared to the smaller crocs. HUGE!!!! With head raised he cleared the safety bars on the boat easily. Made me rethink how safe I would feel cruising around the waterways in a tinny, which by the way, anyone is allowed to do!!! - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| This little guy is known for how high he jumps. Its almost like he was saying "woo-hoo!!" Amazing, but makes you feel a little unsafe on this river - Adelaide River Experience, Jumping Crocodile Cruise, Adelaide River, NT |
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| We took a short visit to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. There were some amazing exhibitions on (free!!! Darwin is awesome for this!), which includes a permanent display on cyclone Tracy that levelled Darwin in 1974. Pictured is an original photo from the aftermath - sheets of corrugated iron wrapped around a telegraph pole - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT |
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| There is something very resilient in the Australian sense of humour when it comes to tragedy. Another original photograph of damage caused by Cyclone Tracy - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT |
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| Ute set up for hunting, including mean looking hunting dogs in cages, on the outskirts of Darwin, NT |
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| Allready for an early morning swim. It's 27'C at 9am in the morning in the middle of June, gotta love Darwin! - Howard Springs Caravan Park, Darwin, NT |
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| One of two amazing waterparks, with full watersides (not pictured) run by YMCA that are FREE to the public in Darwin. Nice one Darwin!!! Perth...take notice! - Palmerston Water Park, Darwin, NT |
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| Damien playing water games with the kids - Leanyer Recreation Park, Darwin, NT |
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| We took a visit to the Darwin Military Museum to check out some of the old war memorabilia and history of the World War II bombings that levelled the city at the time. Really interesting place - Darwin Military Museum, Darwin, NT |
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| Propoganda poster depicting the QLD bombing in World War II of the hospital ship 'Centaur' where 11 out of 12 nurses abroad lives were lost. Posters like this were used to encourage people to support the war effort. Displayed at the Darwin Military Museum, Darwin, NT |
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| World War II Memorial - Darwin Military Museum, Darwin, NT |
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| This is a Dummy Gun. As the name suggests, pieces of equipment like this were used to convince the enemy's reconnaissance aircraft that the Australian forces had more artillery that they did. They were constructed from scrap and junk, and were very useful in convincing the Japanese, and later the German forces, that Australia had higher numbers of artillery pieces than they did or in in different locations as a decoy - Darwin Military Museum, Darwin, NT |
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| Blyth Homestead (est. 1928) was a smaller outstation of the larger Stapleton Homestead 60kms away, and was used by the oldest children of the station master as a base for running the Mount Tolmer Tin mine (set 1888 and located just 50mtrs behind the homestead). The station, and mine, was abandoned in the 1960's, well before the Litchfield National Park was established in 1986 |
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| A cathedral termite mound very common throughout the grass plains within the park. This one dwarfed me at well over 4mtrs high - Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| Something to love about Litchfield is the accessibility to the waterfalls and rock pools within the park. This gave us the opportunity to visit all of the sights we wanted to see and to be able to take the kids with us. This is the spectacular Tolmer Falls, the cave at the bottom (left) is home to the rare Ghost Bats and Orange Horshoe Bats. There is no access at the bottom of the falls so that their habitat is not disturbed - Tolmer Falls, Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| There are many reasons you should't feed wild animals, including that they become dependent on being fed instead of hunting for their own food. Case in point, this wild boar who has now become a pest at the Wangi Falls day area. I stayed well away as they can be very aggressive - Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| These cute looking little guys are Green Ants and are common in Northern Australia. Apart from being amazing builders who live in nests built of leaves in the trees, they are also known for their bite. Classed as a squirting ant, meaning that rather than sting, they grip on to you with their 6 legs, bite a hole in your skin, and then manoeuvring their abdomen to squirt formic acid into the bite. They then chew on the wound to mix the acid further into your skin! One Northern Territory experience we were lucky enough NOT to experience! - Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| Florence Falls, Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| Cooper and Blaire enjoying a morning visit to the Buley Rockholes - Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| On our way to visit the magnetic termite mound we came across another huge cathedral termite mound, this one over 5mtrs high and estimated at over 50 years old. Blaire was instructing the other tourists on how to poke a dry grass strand into a hole in the mound to find termites. Although we don't let the cute piggy tales fool us, she had them all in the palm of her hand - Cathedral Termite Mounds, Litchfield National Park, NT |
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| The Magnetic Termite Mounds are slim from a side angle (not pictured) and are constructed in a north-south orientation in order to minimise the effect of the hot sun on the temperature inside the mounds. The worker termites are actually blind and so they rely on an in built compass in order to orientate their mounds north-south rather than relying on the movements of the sun. |
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| During the day hundred of bats roost in the river gums right next to the balcony of the Nitmiluk Visitors Centre (Katherine Gorge) - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Blue Winged Kookaburra - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Trees roots finding any space for purchase - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Lots of red cheeks at the rest stop on the steep climb to the lookout over the gorge - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Views from the lookout over Katherine Gorge - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Views of the escarpment from below on the 3.7km loop walk - Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine, NT |
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| Just before crossing the border into WA,a we had one last stay near the NT border at the Zebra Rock Mine and campground. These guys mine 600million year old Zebra rock that is unique to the Kimberley region. They were also kind enough to let the kids handle their python, who was very patient with all the attention. |
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| Blaire, in her party dress, was right in their with handling the snake. No fear at all from our miniature biologist - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| Loved the expression on the kids faces in this one. Cooper and Blaire posing with this other lovely young boy (I couldn't remember his name) who was also fascinated with handling the snake. |
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| Bearded dragon on a piece of 1.2 billion year old (yep...BILLION) primordial rock they also mine here - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| Reflections at sunset on the drive to the lookout - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| Cooper racing up the track to see the sunset from the lookout over the Lake Argyle catchment area - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| Sunset over the Lake Argyle Catchment Area, from the nearby lookout - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| One of the great things about staying at the campground is that fossicking for zebra rock and amethyst crystals in the nearby creek bed is free, and you can keep whatever you find there (access to the mine is restricted of course). Although we didn't find anything in the creek bed, the kids had amazing fun on a homemade swing with other kids staying at the campground - Zebra Rock Mine, NT |
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| The only state/territory border to have such serious security checkpoints when leaving or arriving? Yep, WA! - NT/WA Border |
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