DIARY/PHOTO JOURNAL - Page 11
Week 16 - July 02, 2018 - July 08, 2018
Darwin, part of the Top End of Australia and it has a little something for everyone. We had hoped to take a breather and be stationary for a few days but alas, we had a couple of repairs that we wanted to make to Cinderoo and as John and Michelle also had a tweak or two for their SUV, we found ourselves being each other's Uber to go back and forth to mechanics and into town.
We did make a little time to enjoy a few of Darwin's attractions and we were pleasantly surprised by the Crocosaurus Cove. Crocosaurus Cove had several of its namesakes along with a multitude of other reptiles. Some of the saltwater crocs (salties) were 4-5 meters in length or 12-15'! One croc named 'Burt' was the crocodile that was featured in the movie Crocodile Dundee and he was impressive. We had a lot of fun being up close with these dinosaur-cousins without risking our own skin.
Oh, and before anyone cries crocodile tears about these captive crocs, each one of the big guys has a rap sheet. From stealing fish to roughing up boats, from sneaking into the freshwater rivers to snatching dogs walking with their person on the beach (right off leashes sometimes). It was either this or the final alternative, so I would say these crocs are in a better place. The smaller crocs are part of a release program in order to increase the number of salties (as they almost went endangered due to unregulated hunting many years ago).
We even got to hold a crocodile
Different crocs: salty, freshy and the American crocodile
Amazing creatures and huge
Burt was impressive
Cool manta ray
Goanna drinking water
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer
In between some vehicle shuffling, we were able to enjoy a quick trip to a WWII Oil Storage Tunnels while Michelle was enjoying her birthday spa treatment. Gerson, John and I wandered through tunnels built in 1942 with the intent to store oil and fuel during WWII. The tunnels were never used; however, they were quite an impressive undertaking.
Gerson and John in the WWII Oil Storage Tunnels
A bit of poolside music for Michelle's birthday
Darwin was a tad bittersweet as this was where we and John and Michelle were going our separate ways. We headed off to Kakadu and they made a beeline to their home in Melbourne.
Saying goodbye to John and Michelle (for now)
What happens when you do not secure the paper towels and you drive a windy road
Not far from Darwin is Kakadu National Park. Encompassing about 20,000 square kilometers, it contains some of Australia's richest and most accessible repositories of rock art which date from recent to approximately 20,000 years ago. Although Kakadu was a nice park and easily visited, the cost to enter ($40 each) was quite excessive for what the park offered. Nonetheless, we enjoyed what we came for and that was to view some of the landscape and of course, the rock paintings.
The rock art was quite vivid
Painting of a Tasmanian Tiger (or wolf), extinct since the 1930's
The rock art was painted on the walls of the caves and on the underside of rock overhangs. Paintings of fish, kangaroos, lizards, crocodiles, birds and even an extinct Tasmanian Tiger (or wolf).
Rock art on the ceiling
Beautiful views across Kakadu
Where seeds were crushed in the rocks
Probably a more recent rock painting
We enjoyed the rock formations and those tree roots were intimidating
Cool formations
No crocodiles seen in the East Alligator river
Some cars did not make it across the river apparently, but the eagle enjoyed its
bath
With Kakadu being so large, we had to drive from one
end to the other to see the different (sealed road accessible) parts of the
park. Although the rock art would seem to be repetitive, each site
displayed its own 'personality'. The paintings are of what was
important to the indigenes people and that included fish, kangaroos, reptiles,
birds and quite noticeably, men's genitalia.
Fish and Kangaroos were very important
One of my favorites, some sort of ceremonial/god depiction
Gerson having a bit of fun
Beautiful painting of a dangerous spirit Nabulwinjbulwinj (try to pronounce that
name)
Pair of Rainbow Bee Eaters
Blue Winged Kookaburra - metallic blue wing - beautiful
Kakadu was our last jaunt in the Top End of Australia and we pointed Cinderoo south for a three-day drive to get to Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park.
Australia must have seen us coming
We enjoyed a nice crab meal before we made our push south