the last post............unfortunately..............

this will be my last post for this journey, as unfortunately i have to hop a plane and return to reality tomorrow. Darwin is a great place with beautiful weather and scenery and i could definitely get used to this weather. today's post will be some of the sights around Darwin. Darwin has an interesting history, being firstly flattened by the Japanese launching sixty bombing raids on Darwin during world war 2 and secondly cyclone Tracey. quite ironically the defences forces expected invasion from the sea and the Japanese came by air, most of the defences, gun turrets underground oil storage tanks etc weren't completed until after the bombing raids.

i have enjoyed this journey around some of this magnificent country and will return again, i have seen some amazing sights and met some amazing people, like the young tasmanian bloke and his girlfriend i spoke to at victoria river roadhouse, cycling from cairns around the gulf to normanton and boroloola across to katherine. when i saw them they were heading to do the gibb river road to broome, and the surfing saltwater croc on the east alligator river. scenery wise my favourite would be the victoria river region and the carr boyd ranges around lake argyle. these areas are far more scenic and awe inspiring than kakadu (and a lot cheaper)

in general i have found the caravan parks oportunistic and the national park campgrounds underwelming, too expensive for too little and pretty poor value.

$35.00 plus a $50 deposit for an unpowered site for one in darwin is nothing short of theft, and $10 per person per night for unpowered kakadu (free?) sites with all you get is a luke warm solar shower if you are quick enough otherwise it is a cold shower. on the other hand i would recommend cullen bay resorts in darwin, katherine gorge park campgrounds, springvale homestead at katherine and lake argyle resort as value for money.

the wicked camper has performed well, but in hindsight you really need a fridge in this climate as $7.00 for a bag of ice is a little over the top!

good bye from the top end in 09 (i will return)

now what do i keep out of the suitcase? tomorrow darwin 32c arrival in melb probably about 6-8c hope my central heating still works........................

kakadu to darwin

i arrived back in darwin this afternoon travelling through the wetland areas of the mary and south alligator river areas including fogg dam. i will spend the last of my holidays in darwin visiting mindal beach markets sunday afternoon, cyclone tracy museum etc before cleaning up the wicked camper for return on monday. the snaps i have included today are some very virile ducks(i couldn't believe how many ducklings these two had ! ) some magpie geese and some mud skippers. sorry it's been a quiet picture day...............

ubirr rock

ever seen a croc surf? i have

this big saltie was lurking around downstrean of cahill's crossing into arhnem land just waiting for the tide to turn followed shortly after by a very brave mitsubishi outlander driver

onwards i trek

after leaving fenton airfield i went via pine creek into the bottom of kakadu (aboriginal meaning- home of massive mossies that spray does not affect) . i did the boat cruise on yellow water billabong last time so skipped it this time around. i was going to stay at merle campground at the east alligator river tonight but decided that since i am heading back to darwin tomorrow i had better stay in jabiru and get some laundry done. i did go out to ubirr rock and cahill's crossing though.

newsflash - cold snap hits northern territory

locals where aghast this morning and the radio airwaves were abuzz with talk of this terrible cold snap which hit the northern territory last night. on lady phoned the radio to tell them she had to dig out her old beanie and look for her doona, a man rang saying he did not take his dog for it's morning walk because it was too cold.
it got down to an astounding 12c last night....................but it still got to 30c today lol

fenton air field

this was a major base during the war, but unfortunately the japs found it and bombed the be jesus out of it, it is a pity the japs weren't there to show me the way as the sighnposting is terrible, i have camped for tonight just outside yellow water in kakadu in a national park campground. tomorrow i am heading out to merl campground on the edge of ahrnem land at cahill crossing, when i was here two years ago i visited ubirr rock there and it was spectacular, so heading back this time to get it at sunset. since heading back north into kakadu the mossies are bigger but the nights are warmer.