“The Complete South Pacific”

Part 3

Darwin and Kakadu Park

 

 

Where we are now:

OK, let’s review where we are, looking at the tour map:

 

We have now flown from Alice Springs to Darwin, in the very north.

 

Saturday, March 2 (Continued):  the flight to Darwin arrived about sunset and we never saw very much of Darwin itself.  We got our luggage, found our bus and loaded up.  Our destination was the Kakadu National Park, a huge park east and slightly south of Darwin, two and a half hours away by bus.

 

Activities

 

Our driver and guide, Busbie, did give us quite a bit of information about Darwin as we drove though the outskirts of the city.  There is no major industry in Darwin and it is primarily a government and administrative center for the northern part of Australia.  We did see quite a bit of agriculture as we passed through, including several large Mango orchards, confirming that Darwin has a very tropical climate.  Unfortunately, it was not the season for ripe mangos. 

 

I had not realized that Darwin was actually bombed by the Japanese in the early days of World War II and the quick support of Australia by the United States helped cement the good relations between the two countries.  During the war, the US provided its industrial might and Australia provided people, land, and natural resources making for an effective team.  For a while there was a real threat of Japan invading Australia, but from what I saw of the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), I would not have wanted to be a Japanese soldier trying to invade Australia.

 

As planned, it took 2.5 hours to get to Kakadu park and our hotel, with a 15 minute restroom and snack stop along the way.  Our hotel here was the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel and while it was a bit rustic in some ways, I’m sure it was probably the nicest hotel in the area.  To make sure you know this is the “Crocodile” hotel, it is built in the shape of a crocodile, except that you would not know it unless you can view it from the air.

Seen from the air, it does resemble a crocodile.

 

It was after 10:00 PM when we got to the hotel, so everyone called it a night.

 

Sunday, March 3:  We got up and had the usual buffet breakfast at the hotel and we noticed that we were almost the only guests there:  Through our stay there, I don’t think we saw more than 10 other people at the hotel.  There was a little time before we were scheduled to get on our bus, so I took some photos of the tropical flowers. 

 

 

Just a couple of the local flowers

 

The diorama in the hotel lobby was also interesting.

 

It was surprisingly life-like: it just needed some more water.

 

We loaded up the bus and headed deeper into the park, stopping to tour the Bowali Visitor Center which served as an introduction to the geography and life of the park.

 

This carved and painted stone served as a welcome for the center.

 

After viewing the exhibits at the center, we continued our ride into the park and stopped at an area with trails to hike and interesting things to see.

 

Busbie first explained the history and geography of the area.

 

Although we were paying attention to Busbie, it was difficult to ignore a couple of parrots off to one side of the trail.

 

This parrot and another one seemed to be keeping an eye on us.

 

Busbie led us along a trail and then up and around some large overhanging rocks where there were a number of Aboriginal paintings, and he explained the stories behind the paintings.

 

Some of the rock paintings.  Some of them should have had an “R” rating.

 

After the paintings, the group split up with some taking the shorter route back to the bus and most of us taking a hike up to a higher area with a good overlook of the forest.  We stopped here for a while for several photos and this video. 

 

Panorama showing transition from flat forest land to cliffs and hills.

 

We rejoined with the rest of the group and headed for lunch at a small resort with rustic cottages and such, as well as the small restaurant where we were about 75% of their customers. Susan and I had a, you guessed it, pizza!  After lunch we all took a short walk to a dock along the river, which was well over its normal banks as this was toward the end of the wet season. 

 

This happened to be the river guide’s last tour to guide.

 

The guide on the boat warned us that there are few crocodiles around in such high water so we might not see any.  There were plenty of birds of all types though. 

 

These two guys were hanging out together.

 

Big bird, but check the tip of the branch behind him.

 

These two very different birds were together also.

 

As we came around a bend in the river, we spotted a crocodile: a small one (probably 6 feet), but a croc.

 

The croc was swimming away from us when we spotted it.

 

Look close for the croc’s head: two nostrils at the left, cat-like eye to the right.

 

On our way back we saw the croc again in the same area, so it had not moved far.

 

This cormorant was drying his wings after going fishing.

 

We made it back to the dock without being attacked by crocs or birds and loaded up the bus.  We had one stop on the way back to the hotel at the Aboriginal Cultural Center.  In keeping with Aboriginal beliefs, they requested “ho photographs” here, so the entrance below is all I have.  The Cultural Center did go in to more depth about some of the Aboriginal culture and beliefs.  I noticed that, in a number of ways, the Aboriginals of Australia had some similar beliefs as our Native Americans, such as believing that no human “owns” the land, we are just caretakers of it. 

 

The entrance to the Aboriginal Cultural Center

 

Back at the hotel we rested and got ready for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Susan and I went to the restaurant adjoining bar a little early and got a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.  A couple of our friends showed up (all the people on the tour were our friends) so we got them a couple more glasses.  Then a couple more friends, I got another bottle of wine, a couple more glasses, and so it went.  I think we ended buying 3 bottles of wine and got 8 or 9 glasses.  Thankfully, the restaurant was having a special on the wine so it was a good price, and pretty decent wine also!

 

Monday, March 4:  This was mostly a travel day, heading to Melbourne.  It was another 2.5 hour bus ride back to Darwin and on the way we stopped for another restroom and snack break.  This time someone realized there was a fenced in area with a white (albino) water buffalo.  While looking at it, we saw a Wallaby appear, then another one.  Eventually at least 4 Wallabies appeared, and not all of them were inside the fenced area. 

 

This wallaby was curious about us and came fairly close.

 

We had been in Australia for over a week and this was the first time we saw any of the traditional Australian wildlife.  The ladies really seemed to think the wallabies and kangaroos were very cute, as you can hear if you listen closely to this video.

 

We got to the airport, checked in and waited for our flight.  Once on the way we saw another rapid “climate change” from the wetlands of the Kakadu park to the utterly dry desert of the center of the country.  The colors of the desert were amazing though.

 

The center of Australia is dry, but also colorful!

 

 

 

You should now click on the “Back” button on your browser to return to the main section of the report, then click on “Part 4: Melbourne and Tasmania” to continue.