Darwin and Kakadu National park, NT, October 26 - 31, 2011

We spend an exciting short vacation after Deepavali in Northern Territory, Australia. We have a four-hour night flight on JetStar to Darwin. The cabin is freezing and seating not too spacious, but service and food are unexpectedly good. At 5am. we land at Darwin International airport, about an hour late. A chatty German taxi driver takes us to our hotel Darwin Central in no time. We get a spacious room with a narrow double bed. The hotel room is also freezing.

After a five-hour sleep we get up and start exploring our neighborhood. First we head to the Bicentennial park that faces the Timor Sea. We question the artistic vision of whoever designed the park benches, but then realize they must have some recreational value since most of them are occupied even at the hottest time of the day. And yes, it is starting to get really hot in NT's Spring, close to +40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon.

A view to the Timor Sea.

Cyclone Tracy destroyed over 70% of Darwin's buildings in December 1974. One of them was Palmerston Town Hall whose stone structure could not stand the strong winds. Darwin is not a new town but it looks like one since it has been thoroughly destroyed so many times recently, first by WWII and then by the cyclone. Lacking historic neighborhoods, it is not particularly attractive city. However, it is very laid back, which we like.

Smart advice, indeed.

Pedestrian bridge to Waterfront.

New housing in Darwin Waterfront Precinct.

Wave lagoon.

Darwin Convention Centre.

Community art project of decorating old fridges. Part of Darwin Fridge Festival.

Pedestrian walk on the breakwater to Darwin Cruise Ship Terminal.

Darwin Wharf Precinct. We don't visit it this time, but we read that it is a lively destination with a number of restaurants and food stalls.

Between the Waterfront Precinct and Bicentennial Park there is some un- and under- developed land.

More of the fridge project.

We don't really understand what this building downtow Darwin is. It looks like a night club by day, but then again we don't see it open at night.

It has posters posted and graffiti painted all over it.

After a long stroll through downtown shopping areas we are back in Bicentennial Park to spot some birdlife. This is sacred ibis.

The park is empty --- it is late afternoon and really hot outside, even if it does not really look like it.

Thunderstorm avoids the town.

Doctors Gully.

After the dinner at the Moorish Cafe (great Mediterranean cuisine) we take a short walk in the quiet downtown of Darwin.

The Mall, pedestrian street at night. (with free WiFi)

Foodcourt on the ground floor of our hotel at night.

Thursday morning (Oct 27) opens with clear skies and we start it with a run in the Bicentennial park. The park has several drink fountains and one spot for refilling water bottles. Way to go, Darwin. We use all of them since it is very hot even it is early morning.

As if the 45-minute run is not enough exercise, we decide to walk to Botanic Gardens. It is a long walk and we do not carry any water. Luckily the garden's visitor center has a vending machine that sells water bottles, and another one that serves hot cups of coffee.

From the Botanic Gardens we continue to NT Museum & Art Gallery.

Before immersing ourselves in the museum collections we have lunch at the museum cafe: Thai fish cakes, and duck and spinach salad, with some Aussie Riesling.

We enjoy the (free) museum exhibits on traditional and modern aborigine art, the effect of cyclone Tracy on NT and Darwin, and the territory's fauna.

From the museum we walk to Mindil Beach and then to town.

We have never been keen on being able to name the animals we see in our travels. Of course after encountering the same animals over and over again we are more proficient in recognizing them. But still we can't name them. But we don't care. This is one of the bird species we see a lot in Darwin.

We return to the hotel briefly to do some laundry, and then head to Mindil Beach Market on its last night this Fall. The place is already full, and all the best spectator spots to admire the sunset are taken. We concentrate in finding some food. First we have a kangaroo sausage and a crocodile skewer --- both chewy and tasteless.

Many world cuisines are represented, among them are the most common ones like Japanese, Chinese, and Thai, and then there are stalls for chips, fruits, kebabs etc. We end up having some spicy potatoes and beef vindaloo with vegetables from a Sri Lankan stall. Delicious.

We stroll around the market some more and buy some spiced nuts and jewelry. Then we take a taxi back to town.

The town is really quiet even if it is not 8pm. yet. We walk back and forth Smith St. looking for Manoli's Greek Taverna. Once we find it we are seated by the window, but the blinking outdoor lights are really disturbing, so we find another table. We order just little something, pita with dip, salad, meatballs and marinated octopus. We feel full even before starting. We enjoy Greek beers and some Barossa Valley wine with the dinner. We are not allowed to take the unfinished wine with us, so we finish it. We are back in the hotel before 10pm. Tomorrow we'll go for safari in Kakadu National Park.

Next morning (Friday, Oct 28) the alarm goes off at 5am. We pack, shower and have a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant's buffet. At 6:30am. Emma, our guide and driver, picks us up. After picking up a few more people -- two Iranian women and a New Zealander, an American - Cayman Islands couple, and an American/Aussi(?) couple --- we head to our safari in Kakadu National Park.

After a short breakfast break at a crocodile park, we go for a billabong cruise.

We see a lot of birds, and both estuarine (salt-water) and fresh water crocodiles. The whole safari is pretty much defined by crocodiles; we are told that Australia's Northern Territory has the highest crocodile concentration in the world. This is the place where you just can't t jump into any pond to swim.

Here is the first one we spot. Or actually the cruise boat driver spots for us. We can't tell a crocodile from a log. Neither can he always.

We are told that these birds are monogamous for life, and when one of them dies the other one follows in few days or weeks, just like in some human relationships.

A wallabee.

This guy's parents are on watch in the next tree.

After a billbong cruise we stop at a information center/store to buy us some drnks for the dinners at the campground. Emma also explains our safari plan.

We have lunch at Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

After lunch we go for a swim in Maguk (or Barramundi Gorge), but on our way stop to view some huge termite mounds.

Our 4WD.

Boardwalk to Barramundi Gorge.

Still waters. Deceptively. Some crocodiles can be down there.

An approaching thunderstorm chases the swimmers away. If we remember right, Northern Territory has the some strongest thunderstorms in the world.

Despite the approaching storm (which actually never reaches us), we do a short hike to take a look at the bottom of the gorge.

This is another view from the bottom of the fall. On our way back to the camp we collect some firewood for the evening's BBQ. And finally at the campground we have a shower!

For the BBQ we have kangaroo, buffalo sausages, potatoes and onions, with cole slaw. After cleaning the dishes we are ready for a good night's sleep at 9pm. A major storm sweeps over during the night and makes us slightly wet in our mesh-walled, canvas roofed cabin/tent (Aussies certainly have a name for these, but it escaped us).

Next morning (Saturday, Oct 29) we are up before 6am., fresh from the shower we enjoy a quick and light breakfast --- coffee, juice and cereal, and and experimental Vegemite on toast (that's never going to turn into habit for us). Then we hit the road. After about 45 minutes on a paved road we have a 9-kilometer section on 4WD: it is a very bumpy and wobbly ride. Emma does a good job in keeping us on trail

After the 4WD we take a short boat trip and a rocky hike to Twin Falls.

We are adviced to stay at least 5 meters away from the water because of crocodiles. And if you look at the beach, the foot steps closest to water are about 5 meters away.

Tomi took a picture --- of the seat in front of him.

We cross this river twice on our 4WD.

From Twin Falls we have a short ride back where we came from before we take a hike to a viewpoint. Then we have wraps with last night's BBQ leftovers for lunch.

Another tour bus crossing the river.

From Twin Falls we go to Jim Jim Falls for a swim.

Again we have a rocky hike ahead of us.

Some of the ponds before we reach the falls are off limits because of crocodiles.

At the Jim Jim, there is not much of a fall, but a turquoise bowl of luke warm water, filled with a number of tour groups we have seen earlier. In general our tour has been quite nice, and have not suffered of too much crowding at the sites we have visited so far.

The sun is excruciatingly hot and it reaches pretty much every corner of the bowl.

After the swim we hike back to the vehicle and we are all sweaty again.

The last stop of the evening before the dinner is the sunset.

Magpie formations.

More magpies.

Tei & Tomi

The two Iranian women and the Kiwi. The one in the right is Amini and the guy in the middle is Richard, we think.

Our tent/hut in the bush campsite at 6am. on Sunday, Oct 30.

The camp fire in the morning.

After normal morning routines, breakfast and taking down the camp, we visit another billabong.

We do not spot any crocodiles this time,

but a number of small kakadus. We also got to taste green plums which taste sweet and are rich in vitamin C.

From the billabong we walk up to a viewpoint.

It is quite an uphill hike.

From there we have a great view around.

Emma tells us a tragic moral story of breaking aborigine incest laws.

Our last destination of the Safari is the rock art gallery in Ubirr. Some of the paintings are thousands of years old, and some of them have (re)painted quite recently.

This rock formation looks like ruins of an ancient temple.

From the gallery we walk up to the Ubirr rock from where we have a 360-degree panoramic view over the surrounding flood plains.

After Ubirr we visit a crocodile feeding site; this where the estuarine crocodiles come to prey fish. Note, this is not a river flowing into the sea, but a tide water gushing from the sea to the river.

We spot this fellow who is very persistent, and patiently searches for an optimal spot to catch his meal. Emma tells us that at best she has spotted a dozen or even more crocodiles at the same time. This time we only see two other besides this large one.

See how cool he looks. Before returning to Darwin we have a hot dog lunch at a fancy BBQ site. Emma drops us at Adventure tours office on Mitchell, but the office is closed. We use the nearby hostel's internet to find our way to our last night's accommodation at Darwin city B&B, also known as Steeles at Larrakeyah B&B. There we finally meet our lovely hostess Janette who organized all accommodations and the safari for us. For the dinner we choose Yots Greek Tavern in Cullen Bay. We have excellent service by a German server who does not know Riesling (we don't blame her, she is from Bavaria). We have barramundi and snapper with Jaenerette Riesling from SA.

Our last morning in Darwin starts late and lazy. First we have a nice and light breakfast in the patio of our lovely B&B: some cold cereal. home made yogurth, toast, coffee and tea. Then we head out to stroll the quiet streets of Darwin once more. We visit an art gallery, an outdoor store, and have coffee at a nice coffee shop, name of which we forgot, and then take the bus #10 to Casuarina Square mall.

The mall is boring and full of dull (and unknown to us) fashion boutiques with trashy clothes. And then there are the Christmas decorations. We are done pretty fast and take the next bus #10 back to town. (the reason we got there was an outdoor store, which turned out to be pathetic)

When back downtown and the waterfront, we have time to check the WWII Oil Storage Tunnels before the museum closes at 1pm.

I guess these great old photos speak for themselves.

To see the whole caption, download the original photo.

To see the whole caption, download the original photo.

We end our Darwin adventure with a posh pizza lunch in Il Lido restaurant at Waterfront: caprese salad to start with,

and then Pizza Bianco with wild mushrooms and dates. Super delicious.

After the lunch we take a quick walk to the Wharf Precinct, which is quite dead at this time of the day.

However, we read that in the evening its food establishments are quite lively, and lovely.

Our last pit stop before returning to the B&B to shower and pick up our luggage is at Fox Ale House on Mitchell for an afternoon beer (this is just something that many Darwin bars and cafes advertize)

At Darwin city B&B waiting for the taxi to the airport. We end up having a very hippie driver in a huge van that is some 20 minutes late. Way to go. We have really enjoyed this laid back town and the Kakadu National Park.