Merry Christmas

I have had a bit of free time....ahem. So I have been spending it, uh, productively.

Here's our Christmas:

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And here is the Foster Family Christmas this year:

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Here's what my idealized homecoming to Ottawa would be ;-)

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We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest

This has been a week of exploring - mainly under the waves, and in the rainforest.

On the 13th, we were up early for our pickup by the Poseidon crew, who took us to the very nice catamaran-type boat on which we were to tour the reef. The Great Barrier Reef gets prettier as you head farther north, and the boats leaving for the Agincourt ribbon reefs from Port Douglas go farther than any other charter day trip. Paul and I were separated as he was snorkeling, and I was diving. We spent most of the ride out to the reef(about 75 minutes) getting briefed about the boat, sea-sickness, diving rules, etc. The diving group got all of our gear on, and when we got to the site, took a giant stride entry in!

As soon as you enter the greeny-blue water, you are first struck by how clear it is. Then by the beautiful colour, then, when you stick your mask underwater for a peak, by how many fish there are. The fish are everywhere, in beautiful silvers and blues. We spent the day going to three sites - the Bommie, Turtle Cove, and another whose name I can't remember. There wasn't a lot of time between the sites. I spent most of the first dive just remembering to breath and keeping up with the divemaster, and trying to keep my buddy in view. She hadn't been diving in a while and was having buoyancy issues, and when she kept popping to the surface, I stopped following. At least we weren't down very far.

At each site the fish were the best part. We saw a little shark hanging out on the ocean floor, we saw a little manta ray, and some fabulous starfish. The best parts were when we saw sea anemones with clown fish going in and out. I also loved all of the butterfly fish and angel fish. The colors were blues, yellows, purples, blacks and white. Some of the little fish that seemed to like to school were black and white striped and looked like zebras. The silver fish were brilliant and look so much better swimming next to you than on your dinner plate. I think that I managed to see almost all of the Nemo characters (fish wise) except Dory (no whales, or big sharks or turtles either). Most of the fish dart in and out of the corals, and the coral comes in many shapes and forms. Some is pointy and sharp-looking with blue or green-colored tips, and others form rock-like structures that look like they should be spongey to touch, but aren't. You do spend a lot of diving time being mindful of not actually touching the corals, particularly with a rogue fin. One of the best parts of the day was the Maori Wrasse at the Turtle Bay site who decided to hang around and see what these divers were all about. She was really friendly, coming right up to you, kind of like a little puppy-dog...will you be my friend, huh, huh?


At the end of the day's dives I bought some of the pictures taken by the boat's photographer, since I figured that they would be about 100 times better than the ones we took with our point and shoot that need to go in for developing. As a result, I haven't actually taken any of the reef shots included in the blog, but have only posted fish or reef that we actually saw.

That night we ended up at a place called Rattle'n Hum for a delicious dinner of an avacado salad, and then spent the night posting pictures. Paul spent the night nursing a very bad burn on the backs of his calves and his back. Although we had sunscreened him twice that day, the sun was too powerful, and anything that generally pointed up and wasn't covered was bright red.

On October 14th we headed out on Tony's Tour of the Daintree rainforest. The tour was pretty good, and we saw a lot, but it was all a bit rushed. Also, we were definitely the youngest people on the tour by about 25 years. The tour started with a walk into Mossman gorge. Not exactly a strenuous walk, as it is mainly along boardwalk. The guide, Dave, was really good and stopped to tell us about lots of birds and animals. We heard an adolescent Riflebird and its call, the Wompoo pigeon who makes a Wom...poooo sound and was beautiful greens when it flew overhead. We saw the orange-footed scrubfowl (they seem to be everywhere), and the brush Turkey, who did not look like he would make a good Thanksgiving dinner, given his thin appearance, and constant rolling in the dirt to get rid of lice.

From Mossman gorge, we headed up to the Daintree river, in the rainforest, and took a boat tour down the river. Ostensibly looking for crocodiles, we only saw two with their heads poking out. I was more impressed with both the green tree frogs and the miniature little crabs scuttling along the beach. Also, there was this bean hanging off of a tree - it was HUGE!!! The bean species is apparently the larges in the world, and from our vantage in the boat, it looked like it was 4-5 feet tall. The guides pointed out the mangrove trees, and the mango trees, and we learned that the trees living near this salty, tidal river, have adapted to shuttle the salt into certain specific leaves that then turn yellow and drop off. Ingenious.

The river is only crossable by car ferry, and you would NOT want to swim across because, although we didn't see many crocodiles, they are everywhere. We met our tour guide and van on the other side, and headed into the Daintree forest. It was a very twisty road, but with amazing canopy coverage, and beautiful views of the ocean on the other side.

Our first stop the Alexandra lookout...nothing particularly special, though it offered good views of the ocean. The first real stop in the Daintree was Thronton Beach. The beach was gorgeous - a little white-sand cove, surrounded by palms with rainforest hills in the background. Swimming, however, was not advisable because of the undertow, the crocodiles, and the jellyfish. So, we dipped our feet, had morning tea, and headed off to the next beach at Cape Tribulation, so-called because James Cook had a bit of a ship wreck there. The Cape is beautiful. It is said to be the only place in the world where two heritage listed sites meet - the Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. We had some spectacular views of the ocean, the beautiful beach, and the mangroves surrounding the beach. I could have stayed for the entire day, just watching the little fish in the tidal pools and enjoying the views of paradise.

Alas, we headed out to our next stop, called Noah Valley, within the rainforest. It seems to be where most tour groups take their parties for lunch which is prepared on large bar-b-ques, which the guides bring salads and fruit for desert. The benefit of Tony's tour was that we had our own little dining area, and weren't under the large tented area. Lunch was rather amazing, actually, with steak and yummy fish. After lunch there was optional swimming. I was the only person in the group to take up the offer and join the guide in the water, and was glad that I had. I've never seen clearer water. You could see the river snakes, and little tadpoles and fish swimming along. It was a large rock bottom, so you couldn't stand well, but that is what made the water so pristine. We also managed to see two Ulysses butterflies while we were swimming! So beautiful! Apparently they have to be because they only have 12-14 days to attract a mate before dying.

After the refreshing swim, our next stop was a walk through the rainforest. The guide pointed out the strangling fig trees, and showed the trees with buttresses used by aboriginals as swords and shields. We were shown plants that you could and couldn't eat, and those that look harmless but that you wouldn't even want to touch. We saw a musky rat kangaroo, a little marsupial that is ancient (from before Australia was a lot of dry grass and animals had to learn to hop to get places quickly), is active in the day time, and walks instead of hopping.

The last stop of the day was the Daintree Ice Cream shop. They make ice cream only from tropical fruits and nuts. The flavors of the day were wattleseed (tastes like coffee bean), jack fruit (tastes gross), raspberry, and macadamia nut. I then proceeded to sleep most of the way home in the back of the van going around twisty roads. It was either sleep or throw up.

Since we had had a huge lunch, we just got some sausages and bar-b-qued for supper.

The 15th was not an early morning. In fact, we spent the day doing nothing in particular. I talked with the fam, Paul checked up on his stocks, I left him in the apartment to do some shopping (soooo much nice summer clothing here, and I do love summer frocks). Supper was fish and chips at a pub, and then we went to see cane toad racing. This requires a bit of explanation. Cane toads were introduced to Australia in the 1970s from Hawaii, by a farmer who though that the toads would eat the beetles that were destroying the sugar cane crop. Problem was, beetles lived on the tops of the canes, toads couldn't hop that high. But, with no natural predators, and poison glands preventing anyone wanting to eat the toads, the toads have multiplied exponentially and now are estimated to number in the billions. They are the number one pests in Australia. But this guy keeps the ones he finds in his back yard as pets. They are kinda cute. Then he brings them to the pub and puts on a big show of finding toad jockeys amongst the crowd who have to pick up their toads and give them a kiss before racing them. The race consists of leaving the toads in the middle of an oval table, and getting them to hop to the edge and into a waiting hand. The encouragement for the toads to hop - those party favours with the curled paper that you blow and that make noise while straightening out. It was kind of cute. We paid our $5, watched for a while, and then headed back home for more lack of productivity. What a great day!

On the 16th, Paul stayed home nursing his sunburn and doing some reading/work?, while I headed out to the reef again. It was also with Poseidon, and the diving was even better. The conditions were perfect, with winds less than 10 knots, and we hit 3 different sites. It was absolutely amazing; and almost indescribably feeling to be swimming among the beautiful fishes, and seeing the incredible corals. I think that I enjoyed it more because I was much more comfortable with the actual diving. We saw a Grey reef shark circling at one site, and that was the biggest shark I'd ever want to see diving. Our dive master was really excited. I was sufficiently concerned to be glad that he didn't stick around long. We saw some beautiful corals, more little clownfish, and some crazy schools of large yellow fish that seemed to split into groups of 30 or so and hang out, and then of one mind all switch direction and hang out in exactly the same spot. It was funny to watch, actually, and I have no idea what was driving the positioning.

I wandered home from the Marina along the waterfront, looking longingly at the beach, and the warves with boats, and wishing that I could live in a tropical place like Port Douglas. It's laid back, warm and sunny, not too big, and on beautiful ocean. I think I could be very happy, if it just wasn't so far from home.

Port Douglas and Cairns

Paul and I have found a little piece of heaven in northern Queensland. We have an apartment for 9 nights in the pretty little seaside town of Port Douglas, and I love it here. The apartment is perfect - everything you need with a pretty view out the balcony so that I can sit and eat breakfast and enjoy the weather and the birds while Paul sleeps. That said, I'm not letting him have many sleep-ins. Today we were up at 7 so that we could get to Cairns for me to do a dive refresher, and tomorrow we'll be up at 7 again so that we can go out on the reef with a boat.

We arrived at the Cairns airport on the 10th, and headed to the car rental agency. They pick you up at the airport, which is the only good thing about the company. Called, "Older Car Rental Cairns", we had expected cars that were 5-10 years. What we got was a beater. The price for the rental of this little Ford Fiesta ($500 for 9 days including insurance, though goodness knows why one would ever need insurance)was more than what they could ever sell it for. The car had no safety features, and so we were feeling rather gypped. We had to take the car for 48 hours, so we drove off with it creaking and groaning the whole way. Our Trip Advisor report will express our displeasure.

The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas is amazing. Ocean to your right, green hills and mountains to the left. Much of the drive is around twisty road as it follows the coast. The beaches are beautiful with white sand. I knew that I'd like it here. We stopped in a swishy town called Palm Cove for lunch and paid way too much for sandwiches, and then headed to our accommodation in Port Douglas. After checking ourselves in, we did a bit of grocery shopping, had dinner of takeout pizza, but generally spent the day relaxing and reading on the balcony. THIS is vacation!

On October 11th we slept in and then headed to the Port Douglas Sunday market. It was held in a park, with each vendor under their own white tent. There was a disappointing amount of fresh product, but a plethora of local crafts. There were also a lot of masseuses doing massage on people lying in little tents with a view of the ocean in the background. Very hippy, much of it, but rather enjoyable.

We headed to 4-mile beach next. It's a beautiful white-sand beach, made more attractive by the mangrove trees partially submerged, the rocks around the edges, and the spectacular mountains in the background. We clambered over the rocks for a while, and enjoyed the surf and then found a yummy ice cream. We got the stuff needed for supper and headed to the apartment to relax, and then have steak on the bar-b-que (the apartment building has a communal barbie). Night was spent relaxing while I did some reading up on scuba diving skills.

On Monday ,the 12th (Thanksgiving in Canada), we were up early to head to Cairns. First, we picked up a new rental car, at a credible agency, and then dropped off our piece of junk. The diving course was excellent - a much appreciated review after a few years above water. I was taught by this Canadian from somewhere 3 hours north of Edmonton, who must have been only about 22, but somehow has gotten to be a dive instructor. He said he feels like he gets paid to go on vacation, since he spends a lot of his time out on the reef scuba diving with tourists. Not bad.

We hit the mall to eat lunch and get Paul some Crocs so that he can be on the boat without being in his hiking boots, and then did a bit of Cairns sight-seeing. Cairns is a bit of an icky town, actually. The water-front isn't really charming. There is a long boardwalk, which is nice, and there is a huge saltwater pool which is attractive and seems to draw a huge number of sun-seekers. I also really enjoyed watching the egrets and pelicans congregate on the edge. But the water is murky, and the other side of the boardwalk is lined with ugly shops. There is nothing quaint about Cairns. The inner streets are livable and practical, but there is nothing there to recommend the city. The very best part of the city, and the one thing that I'd suggest people see, is the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful! Tropical greens and flowers everywhere, a lily pond, guinea fowl-like birds and turkeys that scampered away whenever we came near. Of course, they made more noise and were more conspicuous trying to hide than if they had just stood on the path in front of us. The little fowls make me laugh, the way that they dig at the ground throwing away anything in their path to lunch.

We spent the evening having supper at a nice place called 2 Fish, and then Paul had to go to a take-away joint to fill the rest of the holes. Now we sit watching TV and relaxing before another early morning heading out to the Great Barrier Reef...Yeah!!!

Australia's Red Center

We weren't sure that we really wanted to see Uluru (well, that we wanted to spend the time and money to go see Uluru...we want to see everything). But, since it is THE symbol of Australia, and a site of Aboriginal significance, we figured that we ought to see it while we are here.

We flew out on Saturday, the 26th, and were able to catch planes all the way to Uluru where we picked up our rental car, somehow scored an upgrade and 1200 extra free kilometers (really nice guy working at the counter), and headed to Yulara. Yulara is an alternate reality. When you fly into Uluru there are beautiful views of the rock, of the Olgas, and of vast expanses of red desert. Then, out of the sand, pops Yulara. The entire town is either resort or housing for people working at the resort. There are about 6 hotels/hostels/resorts and a campground. You never see the housing for the workers - apparently hidden behind the cheapest hotel. There is a "mall" at which there is a supermarket, a deli, a restaurant, a post office, and souvenir shops. All very surreal.

After we set up our borrowed tent, courtesy of one of the doctors at the Children's Hospital, we headed out to take some pictures of Uluru. It is just a rock, but what a rock.


It is special because it is all one stone. Walking around Australia, I have come to realize just how rare that is. Most large "rocks" are actually conglomerate rock, or made of several stones together. This is just one large piece of sandstone, and it actually extends under the earth for kilometers. By comparison, the relatively nearby Olgas (Kata Tjuta) are made of conglomerate rock that was laid in a different time period than that of Uluru.



Then we headed out to the Sounds of Silence Dinner. We were told that this was pricey, but worth it because you got to eat dinner watching the sun set over both Uluru and the Kata Tjutas at the same time. Alas, this was not so. We did get to stand on a dune with a glass of champagne and watch the sun go down over both sites, which was nice. But dinner was a very chilly affair, and we could only see the Olgas. The company was good, though. We met a French Canadian couple who were happy to let me practice French, and they practiced English, and the guy wanted to talk stocks. Paul was a happy camper.
The food was pretty good for being prepared entirely out at the desert, though cold by the time you got it back to your table. I did discover that crocodile is pretty good! The didgeridoo player was amazing. He was a white guy, which is not to say that non-aboriginals can play the didgeridoo, but did re-emphasize the lack of Aboriginal involvement in the resort, tours and pretty much everything having to do with Uluru.

We had a chilly night camping and the next morning were up bright and early to head to Kata Tjuta, where we did the Valley of the Winds walk. It was a pretty amazing 2.5 hour hike through rock formations with amazing views. Scrambling up some of the "paths" was a good challenge. There are always really pretty flowers in the desert, and this was no exception. Most impressive, though, were the huge expanses of sand dunes, rocky hills, and no human influence.




From here we headed back to Uluru to go through the cultural center that describes the Aboriginal connection to Uluru/Kata Tjuta and it's spiritual significance. Then we headed down the Lasseter highway towards Kings Canyon. The drive is quite beautiful, with red sand and dunes all around that put PEI to shame.


We had quick stops at Mounth Conner (frequently mistaken as Uluru when people are driving from Alice Springs to Uluru) and Curtain Springs for the toilet and a gawk at the emus.



We spent that night at the Kings Canyon Cattle Station, a reasonable option for those tired of resorts (the only other accommodation around, including camping, is at a place owned by the same people who own Yulara). It's a working cattle station with millions of acres of land, and they operate the front as a tourism business. I liked out little permanent safari-type tent. Actually, I really liked the atmosphere of the whole place. We watched sunset from a place called Tank Hill and then made dinner on the bar-b-que.

Next morning we were up bright and early to walk around Kings Canyon. The hike was supposed to take 4 hours. It only took about 2.5, but was one of my favorites in Australia to date. It starts with a bit of a brutal climb up to the top of the table, and then involves a hike around the rim of the canyon. But it isn't just a straight walk looking down into a canyon the entire time. You weave in and out of rock dome formations, with amazing views alternating with sheltered expanses. It felt a bit surreal, but in a magical kind of way. Anyone going to Uluru should definitely take the time to go north to the canyon.











After our hike, we headed back out to the highway, and on to Alice Springs. The coolest thing about the ride - we saw a group of 6-7 feral horses as they ran across the road. Even more surprising was the camel we came across eating from the top branches of a tree. Crazy!

We stayed at a charming little B&B in Alice Springs. I had booked it because of the promise of seeing animals, and we weren't disappointed. In this lady's backyard are Kangaroos and the most beautiful cockatoos called Gullahs. I spent part of the morning while Paul slept in our little sunroom just watching the kangaroos (including 2 moms with joeys). Definitely a trip highlight. The animals are all wild, and you can't get close to them - they are super-wary of humans, but are still happy to come into her back yard when she leaves out food!

Our walkabout in the outback

Sleeping under an indescribably beautiful and star-packed night sky with more stars than I've seen since being in the middle of the African desert; very early mornings; many hours of bumping up and down over less than ideal roads in a big 4WD; sunsets galore; ancient rock painting; crazy crocodiles; gorges, gorges and more gorges; termite mounds in all shapes and sizes; swimming under waterfalls - these were just some of the highlights of our amazing trip to the North of Australia. We wanted to get a sense of "the real Australia". So, we booked our tickets and accomodation, and on the 30th of June were off for 2 weeks of travel.

Day 1 - Flew from Melbourne to Perth and transferred to a small flight to Broome. I was post-nights, and exhausted. The day was mainly a blur of tiredness and nausea. Lovely. Arrived in Broome to be greeted by tropical weather (yeah!!) the wonderful proprietor of our B&B - Shane of The Courthouse B&B. He drove us around town (really only 2 streets), and showed us our room and we crashed.

Day 2 - Tour of Broome. A very small town with a history as a Pearling capital. Voluntary Japanese and not-so-voluntary Aboriginal divers gave life and limb to bring some of the most amazing pearls in the south pacific to the surface before aquaculture started. We got our first sight of the beautiful frangipani tree, which is my favorite tree in the whole world, at least for now. The town now is very touristy. Lots of pearl shops. Also some good and not-so-good aboriginal art stores. I think we went into most of them before the heat got the best of us and we went back to our paradise of a B&B to relax in the afternoon.




We caught a bus out to Cable beach for the evening to watch the sun go down over the Indian Ocean, and had a crazy expensive supper of real British fish and chips before heading back to bed.

Day 3 - Early day as we got on our tour that took us from Broome to Darwin (about 1500km away). Paul was less than impressed with the tour for the first few days: getting up most days at 5:30; traveling with other people; going wherever the tour took us; all that hiking; having to let someone else drive ;-) ...he was pretty determined that he was going to hate it. Of course, by about the 3rd day he realized that he liked the people and the places we were seeing, and was glad that neither of us had to drive the crazy 4WD tracks that we were going down (we crossed some pretty big rivers!), and we both agreed that the tour was very worthwhile. Our tour guide's name was Duncan, and he was very cool. Knowledgeable, nice, hearty, a good camper, and a great cook! We did all the cooking, but it was his recipes. He told great stories at almost every point we visited, and knew all about not just history, but geography and the flora and fauna.

On that first day we stopped at a couple of roadhouses, which we were to discover are a staple when driving across the Outback and there are no Irving Big Stops around.

We went down part of the Gibbs River Road, a dirt road that used to be used for driving cattle across country. We saw the Prison Boab tree, a huge Boab tree that the settlers used to use to chain up the Aboriginals they had taken into slavery on their way to either the pearling industry or the cattle stations.




We had lunch at Windjana gorge and heard the story of Jandamara, an Aboriginal man with many skills who originally worked for white men tracking and killing rival Aboriginal groups, and then turned completely and started trying to free his people. Of course, the settlers weren't so happy and hunted him for years, killing his entire family and all of his friends to get to him. He eventually let them kill him, when all of his loved ones were gone. Windjana Gorge was pretty. Most interesting were the fresh water crocodiles.








Next stop was Tunnel Creek, where we walked through knee-deep water inside caves to get out to the river. I thought it was a cool walk. Unfortunately we didn't see bats in the caves. More impressive, though, was the level to which the water can get in the dry season - there was grass in the trees at about 8-10m high from when the river flows at its peak.



We spent that night making dinner around a campfire, and headed to bed soon after dark...a night spent marveling at the stars, since the group's resident snorer made sleep difficult.

Day 4 - A LOT of driving. We started with walking around Geikie Gorge, a huge gorge! Not so much wildlife, and lots of walking along sand.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Purnululu NP, with stops in a couple of small towns for lunch and pee-breaks.


The 2 hour drive from paved road into the NP goes through a cattle station, and was crazy bumpy, though we did get an amazing sunset that reflected beautiful light off of the red rocks.


Day 5 - Exploring Purnululu NP, aka "The Bungle Bungles". First was a walk around Mini Palms Gorge, a nice cool walk to start the morning.


Next walk was through Eichidna Chasm, with a very cool suspended rock, that looked a bit precarious. From here we hiked up to the lookout of the Osmand Ranges.



After lunch in the hot midday sun back at our campsite we headed to the south of the park to see the highlight - the Domes. The crazy structures are striped because different layers of sediment had different levels of porous clay. In some of them, cyanobacteria make their homes and turn the layer black. Where the clay wasn't porous, they don't live and the rock stays red. We walked through some of the domes to Cathedral Gorge, which was beautiful and had nice echos.
Although none of the places in the park were packed with tourists, there were other walkers, and in the gorge I met up with one of the nurses from the Children's hospital. Crazy small world.



We ended the day with a trip out to a peak for a gorgeous sunset that reflected off of the Osmand range, turning bright red.



Day 6 - We left Purnululu (or course, that took a good part of the morning), and headed back onto the Gibb River road (at the other end of it) towards El Questro cattle station. This station is apparently famous, though it is hard to find it in the guidebooks. It has a campground, for the lowly people like us, and there are more permanent places to stay - the safari tents cost $650/night. One can only imagine what the lodge costs. It is a million acres, and caters to the rich and famous, complete with spa, and $100 tours to see the sunsets. We definitely did the cheaper version, but certainly saw the best of the area. First stop after lunch was Emma Gorge, one of the highlights of the trip for me. After a walk through arid palm trees, and then scrambling over the large rocks of a dry river bed, we came to this tropical oasis. There was a huge waterfall into the gorge, and a beautiful swimming hole. The water was absolutely freezing, as in Atlantic ocean freezing, but so refreshing after 4 mornings with no shower. Lying on your back you could look up to the fresh water dripping on you from the foliage hanging above. It was marvelous.

After the swim and subsequent scramble to get back out of the gorge, we set up camp and then our tour guide (Duncan - good guy who makes tour guiding a bit of a life, and knows a hell of a lot about everywhere we went, and who went out of his way to take us to the good sunset spots, which was not included in the tour description) took us to his favorite spot in the entire world to watch the sun set. After our beautiful sunset it was back to the camp site for supper and showers. Hallelujah! It was getting kinda smelly.

Day 7 - Our earliest day. We got up at 4:30 so that we could pack up quickly and go to Zebedee hot springs. It was worth it. The springs were a series of small pools, with little waterfalls between. You could even find your own secluded little pool and lie there. The water temperature was like a hot bath. Amazing to lie in, hard to get out of.


We then had breakfast of bacon and eggs in the parking lot (which was still buried in the bush) and headed out of El Questro, away from the Gibb River road, and on the main highway toward Darwin.



First stop was Kununura, where we saw the Ord River dam project, and ate lunch near lake Argyle.
Knowing that the lake is only huge because of a dam did detract, somewhat, from how pretty the area is. The rest of the day was a lot of driving toward our camp site for the night. We stopped at a war memorial in the middle of nowhere and heard the story of the ANZAC soldiers who patrolled for Japanese invaders during WWII, and stopped at a bridge to see the corellas (noisy white parrots), and saw some interesting villages during the roadhouse stops (how can people live out here??? Everything is sooooo expensive!), and then camped at another site that had showers!

Day 8 - Last day of the tour. We were up bright and early to the sound of the corellas, and had our last breakfast around the campfire.


and headed down the road for a few hours to Katherine. First stop was the Katherine Hot Springs (yawn...not even worth it after Zebedee springs), and then we continued on to Edith Falls, part of Nitmuluk national park. The walk to the falls was short, albeit all uphill, and the view was spectacular.

The water was wonderful and not too cold. Made for nice swimming. We had our last meal as a group and got back on the road. Before getting to Darwin, we had a nice stop at a little town called Adelaide river, where we got to see a somewhat morbid stuffed Charlie the Bison from the Crocodile Dundee movie. More nice frangipanis, though, and an ice cream under the shade of beautiful flowering trees.

Then it was back on the road for the drive to Darwin. Paul and I stayed at a hotel that wasn't worth mentioning, and had yummy Thai food for supper and then had a great sleep off of the ground.

Day 9 - We spent this day doing laundry, and journal writing, and picking up groceries for the next part of the trip, and getting our rental car, and walking the Mitchell street strip of Darwin. This highlight of the day was didjeridoo lessons. We walked into a store that we thought would be another art store, and were greeted by a very cool, very enthusiastic Aboriginal man who tries to teach everyone who comes into the shop how to play. Most go along with it for 5-10 minutes. Paul and I tried for over an hour. I think that we played every didj in the store. Paul was a natural! Of course, neither of us have the circular breathing bit down...that will come. So, after much humming and hawing, we got ourselves a didjeridoo and an antique carved boomerang. We watched one of the most beautiful sunsets over the Darwin harbour and after wandering the town a little bit had a Turkish supper. Something a bit different, though their hummus wasn't nearly as good as the real stuff.

Day 10 - We drove out of Darwin and along the Kakadu road and stopped at Jumping Crocodiles. All of the rivers and estuaries around the Top End potentially have crocodiles in them, so the only way you can go on water is in a boat. We decided to do it the organized tour way, though this was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision. The pre-booked tour was full, so for all of us slacks who just showed up they put out an extra boat. What fortune! The pre-booked tour was in this huge river boat with about 50 people. Ours was in a much smaller pontoon boat with about 12 people, and a very cool guide who has made friends with a crocodile named Stumpy. They feed the crocodiles, but only once a day, and only small amounts, and only meat that they would eat anyway (unlike in the farms where they feed them chickens, which they don't otherwise eat). Crocodiles will come a long way out of the water for some food. More impressive was that they respond to their names, and that one of them (Stumpy), knows to come alongside the boat of this particular guide for a scratch (with a pole, not a hand, obviously). The river we were on was beautiful, and we had some pretty good looks at the big birds - Kites and White Breasted Eagles.

We drove onto Kakadu, and checked into our lodge for the next 3 nights. We were not impressed. Our Trip Advisor Review reflects that...it was expensive (everything in the top end is expensive, but this was even more so) and the quality was less than you would find in the average motel in a backwoods. But, there aren't that many options, and location, location, location. So, once we got over our extreme anger and annoyance, we headed out to look at the local attraction - a Billabong called Yellow water. It is certainly aptly named. As the sun sets, you get the most beautiful colours.

We ate supper that night at the only option - the restaurant associated with the lodge. It was cafeteria-style serving, and we didn't even find a table, but had to eat at bar stools, and the cost of 2 hamburgers was $44. That was the cheapest menu option. Ouch. The next two nights we had Mr Noodles in our room. Sad.

Day 11 - We drove into the town of Jabiru (named for a type of stork-like white bird found in the vicinity) to have breakfast and meet up with our day tour to Arnhemland. This is a huge part of the Northern Territory that is controlled by the Aboriginals and is only accessible by 4WD, and with a permit. Hence, we decided to skip the hassle and let someone else figure out the logistics.

The tour was led by a tall country-boy named Dan, who was clearly a favorite of the locals, especially the children who seemed to like to hang off of him and climb on him like a tree. He was a big man. We went into the town of Gunbalanya, where they have an arts center, and picked up a local guide. Then we spent much of the rest of the day clamoring around a large rock formation, which I think is called Injalak Hill, looking at and learning about Aboriginal rock art. They paint for the process, more for the result, and a lot of their paintings involve either dreams, morals, or ancestral stories. I particularly liked the paintings that involved Mimi spirits.



Lunch was on the rock, with an amazing view of the surrounds of Arnhemland and the town off in the distance.
The tour guide was a neat guy, Joey, who did all the climbing barefoot, and knew an awful lot about rock art. He is an artist himself, and we had watched him do a rainbow serpent painting back in the town. He was able to tell us a bit about ceremonies, and rearing of children, and culture in general.


After coming down the hill, we headed to a billabong, down a very sketchy "road", for tea. Paul and I and one of the other tourists ended up stranded on the side of a road for a little while, as the tour guide helped some of the locals get back to the village when their vehicle broke down, and we volunteered to give up our seats for them. All in all, the tour was pretty relaxed, which was nice. In Jabiru, we did some grocery shopping (for above-mentioned Mr Noodles) and then headed back for the night.

Day 12 - We spent this day touring ourselves around Kakadu. First stop was the Nourlangie rocks, site of more rock art, great views, and some short interesting walks. Next we headed to the visitor's center for lunch and to wait out the afternoon heat for a little while with an IcyPole (the Aussie version of a popsicle).

Then we headed to Ubirr, one of the highlights of Kakadu. Around the site are birds, and lots of the pandanus palm tree, which seemed ubiquitous in the Northern Territory.

There were some really good examples of rock art, much of it over 5000 years old. The highlight of this site, though, was climbing to the top to see the sunset.

We had some amazing sunsets on this trip, and Ubirr was no exception.




Day 13 - First morning stop was the cultural center, to learn about Aboriginal culture, tool making and use, relationships with the environment, and life since western invasion. It was a really good museum, actually, and should be one of the first stops for anyone going to the Northern Territory. Then, we headed out of Kakadu, passing a lot of purposely burned bush in various stages of regrowth, and back towards Katherine. Although we had gone around Katherine on the tour, we had missed the gorge, so this was the destination. On the way, we stopped in Pine Creek, a funny little town with crazy pink parrots, for lunch. In Katherine we hit the very nice and useful tourist bureau, booked out boat tour for the next day, and headed out to the Cutta Cutta caves. These caves are about 30km outside Katherine. We walked through the bush and karst landscape for about 15 minutes before coming upon the tour guide, and a well hidden little set of steps down into the caves. They are millions of years old, and have great stalactites and stalagmites. Unfortunately, the camera couldn't really capture the sparkliness of the rock formations.
Although the caves go back for about 750m, we only walked the first 300. Apparently after about 450m the oxygen gets pretty sparse. We were disappointed not to see any bats, but did see lots of snake skins, and a few massive moths.


Our accomodation for the night was about $200 cheaper than where we stayed in Kakadu, and was actually nicer (just a Best Western). Figures.

Day 14 - We were up early to get to Nitmuluk national park, where we saw their version of an interpretation center (good info on the formation of the gorge, and the local flora and fauna), and then got on our boat tour. It was a large group (about 40), but the views were spectacular. We had to walk a bit and switch boats between the first and second gorges, and it was the second gorge that was the most amazing. Absolutely beautiful and very long. These gorges were much bigger than the ones we had seen in the Kimberleys...huge enough to have a big river running through, while the ones in the Kimberleys were just big enough to walk through.
We saw some cool swallows and their funnel-shaped nests, and I love the yellow flowers that grow on trees everywhere in this country.











After the boat ride, we had a short lunch of peanut butter and jam (this was our lunch every day, which was far cheaper and more convenient than the local restaurants) and hit the road again to drive to Litchfield National Park. The ride was nothing worth writing about. We stayed in the town of Bachelor, just outside outside the park, at a place called Rum Jungle Bungalows. For $120 per night, for a little bungalow, we were happy. It was quite tropical, and I loved the place, though the proprietoress was less than pleasant. So unfortunate. Supper that night was at the Butterfly inn and cafe, next door. It is a tiny little place with lots of teak furniture, and they have a butterfly farm out back. Though it was understated, they had the best food in the Northern Territory. Absolutely amazing. If you ever go here, try to stay at this place!

Day 15 - This was our day of exploring Litchfield. We started with the 60km drive into the park, which led first to Wangi falls. It was busy, since the kids were on school holidays, but still beautiful. Though the falls were really gorgeous, the best part of this section of the park was the monsoon rainforest. We did a short walk through mainly palm-covered forest, and got to see a preying mantis and massive spiders. The smell was wonderful...damp foliage.


Next stop was a place called Tolmer falls. The walk to the falls was spectacular. The vast expanses reminded me of parts of Africa. The falls would have been more impressive if we could have seen them well, which I suspect is easier in the wet season, when these very tall falls (must be about 200m) are flowing at full capacity. As it was, we were in the dry season, and the falls weren't much more than a trickle, and so were a bit hard to see looking across at them from high up. But the walk made it worth it.

Next we went to the Buley rock pools, a popular spot for waders and swimmers. These were a series of small (3 feet or so) waterfalls going into small (2-5m diameter) rock pools. They were refreshing looking, but we decided to do the 1.5km walk through the bush to Florence falls. The walk was hot, and Paul was cranky by the end of it, but the falls were worth it! They were beautiful and the swim at the end was very refreshing.


On the way out of the park we stopped at the magnetic termite mounds. All along our trip, from Broome to the Northern Territory, we had been seeing termite mounds. They come in all shapes and sizes, and colours too, depending on the colour of the soil. The magnetic mounds are so-called because the are narrow, and face in a perfect north-south direction. This is done to best modulate the temperature for the termites. Nearby were also some mighty cathedral mounds, huge termite mounds over 4m high.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Bachelor having lunch (PB&J of course) in the park, and then relaxing at our little bungalow. I found a nice little hammock, and watched the birds and butterflies. Dinner was back to the Butterfly cafe.

Day 16 - Last day. We drove back to Darwin, and spent the morning exploring the waterfront and the impossibly huge houses (there is some serious money in Darwin). Then we had lunch (the last of the PB&J) amongst the ibises and spent the early afternoon wandering around the Botanical Gardens and their particularly nice rainforest section.













Then it was off to the airport to return our car and await return to a normal schedule.