Day 47 - Saturday - 23rd May
Katherine to Darwin 300kms.
We are both feeling a lot better, so our week in Katherine was well worth it.
We departed Katherine about 9:15am. Our first stop was Pine Creek a nice town, next stop was at Adelaide River, the townsfolk held a market in their main street,
as usual we contributed to the local economy. Marg bought some body butter and some things for her feet. Anyway, she was happy.
We got to Howard Springs about 1:30pm, we chose a shady site, setup camp and went to the local supermarket for supplies.
I don't need to setup my Sat Dish, as the local TV has all the usual digital channels.
Tomorrow, we plan to drive to Darwin and find the Sunday Markets.
Weatherwise great tending to a little humid for us. Healthwise, we are nearly back to normal.
I washed the mighty Navara this morning. While washing it, a guy came up showing serious interest in the Navara, so I told him all about it.
Around lunchtime, we drove into Darwin, via Palmerston Shopping Centres, visited the CBD and wharf area then went to Mindil Beach to see where the market is. It just happens to be next door to the casino, aptly pointed out by Marg, strange that. On the way back to camp, we visited Casuarina Shopping Centre (yes, waz it is huge).
We have listed what we want to see in Darwin.
- Crocodylus Park and Zoo.
- Thursday Night Mindil Beach sunset markets
- Territory Wildlife Park.
- Casino for Marg.
- WW11 Oil Storage Tunnels
- Visit Casuarina Shopping Centre. - Done
- Aquascene
- Australian Aviataion Heritage Centre - Photograph the B52.
Tomorrow we plan to be at Crocodylus Park and Zoo for the 10am guided tour.
Weatherwise great tending to a little humid for us. Healthwise, we are nearly back to normal.
Left camp at 9:20am to be at Crocodylus Park and Zoo by 10am for the guided tour. We made it naturally.
What a great place, there are crocs everywhere. The zoo breeds crocs for meat and skins. The guide fed some of the crocs and showed their jumping qualities.
After the tour, Marg and I browsed around the zoo, it was very good.
During the afternoon, we went for a swim at the CP's pool, very refreshing, we will probably do it daily.
We have listed what we want to see in Darwin.
- Crocodylus Park and Zoo. Done
- Thursday Night Mindil Beach sunset markets
- Territory Wildlife Park.
- Casino for Marg.
- WW11 Oil Storage Tunnels
- Visit Casuarina Shopping Centre. Done
- Aquascene
- Australian Aviataion Heritage Centre - Photograph the B52.
Tomorrow we plan to goto Territory Wildlife Park and then do some shopping at Palmerston.
A resting Croc.
A croc going for a swim.
Where's lunch.
One mean dude.
Crocs galore.
Crocs galore.
I love you.
Nice teeth.
What do you get when you mate a croc and a tortoise.
Weatherwise great tending to a little humid for us. Healthwise, we are back to normal, apart from a bark.
I let Marg sleep until 9:30am, cause she was tired. We planned to visit the Terrirory Wildlife park, but we had a change of plans, right on the death. We decided to give the Wildlife park a miss and we went to Palmerston shopping instead, while shopping, I thought that we might go and see the 'jumping crocs' we expected to do this when we visited Kakadu, but as they are only 50kms from camp and 200kms from our Kakadu camp, we went today.
It was an uneasy feeling, being in a boat with 2ft gunwales and crocs that can easily climb over the sides. There were about 15 people in our group, so we took the smaller boat. Our first croc was a 'small' 3m female, our next was 'Hannibal" an estimated 80year old, arrogant croc, he was over 6 meters and bloody huge, covered with numerous battle scars. Today he was well behaved. Thank God.
There were about 15 crocs that we motored upto, see the photos, they were right beside and under the boat. Our $35 each again well spent.
During the afternoon, we went for a swim at the CP's pool, very refreshing, we will probably do it daily.
We have listed what we want to see in Darwin.
- Crocodylus Park and Zoo. Done
- Thursday Night Mindil Beach sunset markets
- Territory Wildlife Park.
- Spectular Jumping Crocodile cruise. Done
- Casino for Marg.
- WW11 Oil Storage Tunnels
- Visit Casuarina Shopping Centre. Done
- Aquascene
- Australian Aviataion Heritage Centre - Photograph the B52.
Tomorrow, Marg is catching the 9:20am bus from the CP to Skycity Casino and while she is away, I am going to Australian Aviataion Heritage Centre.
Marg waiting to see the jumping crocs.
Here they come.
Hannibal approaches. He is big.
Hannibal bites.
A big leap over 2.5m out of the water.
A nice river for a swim. I think NOT!
Another big leap.
Nice teeth.
How close.
Weatherwise still great but a bit humid. Healthwise, we are back to normal, apart from a bark.
Marg was chaffing at the bit by 9am ready for the Casino bus, which arrived at 9:20am, there were a total of 5 on board for the casino.
I left about 9:25am for the Austrlian Aviation Heritage Centre, after paying $12 to get in, the first thing that strikes you is the B-52G Stratofortress. Gees, it is huge. Length 160ft Span 185ft Height 40ft 5inches. That is one bloody huge plane, it takes up the entire shed. They had to remove the tail to get it in the doors.
I left the Aviation Centre and drove to the wharves, where there were lots of fishing boats and pearlers who usually hunt pearl off Broome but were docked at Darwin, there were a couple of boats registered in Melbourne, after talking to the guys, they are tug boats and are here because this is where the work is, they were from Lakes Entrance.
Then on to the Darwin wharf where there are cafes and restaurants, I was going to pick Marg up from the casino and take her to the wharf for a coffee, when we got there it was packed, so we went to Fisherman's Wharf Fish and chip shop. After the wharf, I went to the WW11 Oil Storage Tunnels, Darwin built these to hide their oil from the Japanese, but the war ended before they became operational. I then went and picked Marg up from the casino, she lost.
We ended up at the Fish and chip shop, we had fried Barra and chips, it was yumma. Now back at camp and it is 31.7 in the van, so we are about to go for our daily dip in the pool.
We have listed what we want to see in Darwin.
Tomorrow, the only thing planned at present is, we are booked on the 5:20pm bus from camp to Mindil Beach Sunset market.
Home of the B52.
Cockpit.
After it landed in Darwin.
Tug boat from Lakes Entrance.
Pearling Boats.
Pearling Boats.
Darwin's wharf.
Tourist part of the wharf.
Our Customs Boats.
WW11 Oil Storage Tunnels.
These tunnels are large.
See how big they are.
Weatherwise still great but a bit humid.
Today, we only have the Mindil Beach Markets planned for tonight, so we tried to install MynetFone to my PC, bad idea, didn't work.
Travelled to Palmerston Oasis shopping centre, a small shopping centre with a Woollies, visited Donut King for a coffee and donuts.
Back at camp and it is time for a swim, we stayed about 1 hour, just floated around, it is very relaxing. I could hear the F18 Hornets but I couldn't see them. Damn.
We wandered down to reception about 5:10pm and there were 8 people already there, waiting for the bus. Bang on 5:20pm, our bus arrived and we were first on, as we booked last Sunday, we were first on the list. There were 39 people from Howard Springs CP, then we went to Boomerang CP and picked up a further 19 people. The bus arrived at the Mindil Beach Street market about 6:10pm, we parked in a special area about 50 meters from the first stall, a prime location, we were told to be back at the bus at 8:25pm.
The first thing we did was walk over to the beach and what a magnificent sunset, there were hundreds of people just sitting on the beach, now it was time to check out the stalls. It is like your normal street market but on steriods, there are approx 60 food stalls and 190 non food stalls. Marg was in her element, checking out every stall, she was very restrained, she only bought a fancy hair clip, I bought a stubby holder for something different. Since we went to Crocodylus Park earlier in the week, I have been very keen to buy a stuffed crocodile, not a tired croc, but a ridgy didge croc, there was a stall here with prices ranging for $250 to $600. I also saw the dude who runs Spectacular Jumping Croc tours and he agreed that the price was about correct. This made me happy, but I wanted to buy my croc from Crocodylus park. Anyway, back at the market, we bought some food for dinner and sat on the beach watching the sunset as we ate. Very beautiful. Back on the bus at 8:20pm and back to camp by 9:15pm.
A great night and an excellent way to visit the market, for $10 each this was the best way to visit the markets.
We have listed what we want to see in Darwin.
Tomorrow, we have to buy Cyril and do some food shopping and start to pack up.
The start of the market stalls.
People everywhere.
There is even entertainment.
Weatherwise still great but a bit humid.
Today, I drove back to Crocodylus Park and Zoo, to buy Cyril. I wanted to buy a 60cm stuffed crocodile, as it turned out, they had sold quite a few crocs this week, so my choice was very limited, but I did manage to purchase a 61cm @ $6 a cm, total price $366 and he is a ripper. Cyril and I arrived back at camp and showed Marg Cyril, she was impressed.
At lunchtime Marg and I drove to Palmerston to do our food shopping, then back to camp and mid afternoon, it was time to go for our daily dip. After our dip, I started packing up, as we are leaving tomorrow for Jabiru. A quiet night.
Tomorrow, we drive from Howard Springs to Jabiru.
Cyril the croc.
Weatherwise still great but a bit humid.
We left Howard Springs about 8:30am for the 230 odd kms to Jabiru. We stopped at Bark Hutt Inn and South Alligator Rest Area, both very nice areas.
We arrived at Jabiru about midday and booked into Kakadu Lodge and Caravan park, as it is the only park with a swimming pool in Jabiru. As the temperature rose to 34c, that pool was bloody refreshing. We are currently sitting in the van with the Air Con on and it is quite pleasant.
Tomorrow, we are booked into the 9am Yellow Waters cruise.
Weatherwise still great but very humid.
We left camp about 8am for our 9am booking at Yellow Waters about 50kms away.
We waited with the other passengers about 30 in total. Margaret was our driver/guide, we slowly cruised up and down the South Alligator river, when we noticed
something interesting, she would stop the boat and get as close as possible and take photos. We saw about 5 crocodiles, heaps of birds and lilies and water flowers. It was a very relaxing cruise, highly recommended to all at $74 each it was dear but it was 2 hours and very interesting.
This afternoon, we are back at camp in the van with the Air Con on and I am watching the V8s, Jamie won. It is 32c outside and we are about to take our daily dip.
Tomorrow, we leave Jabiru and head for Batchelor for a couple of days at Litchfield National Park.
Picture perfect.
Dancing Brolgas.
A Great Egret.
I'm waiting for you.
Magic views.
Magic views.
