Last views of NT

These are termite mounds. Looks like a cemetery doesn't it?

The Victoria River crossing where we had a last night of free camping in the NT before crossing over to WA. It was a very nice spot. The river itself is not swimable with crocodiles but this shallow part with rocks was fine and we could not swim exactly but waddle in the heat of the day.

Aboriginal rock art on our walk at Joe's Creek.

Nikki sitting on a big rock on the same walk.

Goodbye NT - we enjoyed it all.

Litchfield National Park

Lovely Lichfield Park right on Darwin’s doorstep 120kms, is a miniature Kakadu wonderland. We spent 3 days there and explored all waterfalls bar one. Viewers of the blog may tolerate two more shots of waterfalls we visited.

The above photo shows Wangi Falls which are lovely but always always full of tourists. Because of its easy accessibility, unlike other waterfalls, I was told that the total number of tourists visiting Wangi Falls annaully are equal to the total annual visitors to Kakadu as a whole.


The Lost City. This impressive site is known as that and reminiscent of the ruins of an ancient civilisation. But no, it is a formation of sandstone blocks and majestic pillars formed and weathered by the elemtns not humans.

Andrew insisted on driving into Surprise Creek which is on 20 kms of 4WD dirt road. Photo shows the two lovely waterholes below the waterfalls.

There were numerous water crossings with the deepest one 700millimetres – photo shows. I just can't resist taking a photo of these crossings. We had separated Max and Priscilla especially for this occasion.

Mindil Beach Markets - Darwin

Going to Mindil Beach Markets and watching the sunset on Thursday and/or Sunday afternoon/evening is du rigeur in Darwin. There are stalls selling craft, clothing and a multitude of items, as well as yummie food stalls of all ethnicities and performance art such as the a phenomenal twosome of drums and didjeridoo. Mindil Markets together with Parap Market on Saturday morning and Rapid Creek Market on Sunday morning are all Darwin institutions.

The above photo is of two people on stilts at the market. Brought back memories of Venice :-)

The sunset on the beach - the primary reason for being there.

And to prove we were.

Darwin - a fun, buzzy city

This is the new harbourside development in Darwin. It is all on reclaimed land and it is full of nicely proportioned, modern buildings on a harbourside setting.

This is the wave pool on the same development, situated just to the left of the first photo. It costs $5 for half a day and $10 for a full day. The waves are run every fifteen minutes, lasting 20 minutes.
Large palstic tubes are freely available and great use is made of these.


Below is the Deckchair Cinema. There is a showing each evening at 7.30pm. I could not capture both the seating and the lovely view of sea on the left hand side.

Parliament House, Darwin. I believe it is the second most expensive Parliament House after the one in Canberra.

Relaxing in Darwin

We caught up with Sue and Ken Moffitt in Darwin and had lunch at a lovely place I think called Buzz Cafe in Cullen Bay. I had a marvellous jumping prawn pie but we had not bought the camera so I cannot share a photo of it which is a shame because gthe pie was topped by the most enormous prawn any of us had ever seen. We retrieved the camera after the meal to capture the moment after all.
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Another view from the restaurant.

This is me slaving away updating this blog. Life can be so hard at times :-)

Kakadu trail - Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls

We spent two days exploring Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls. These are the two famous waterfalls in the NT that are touted on all tourist brochures and many 4WD tours come to the two falls bringing tourists. The photos of the two falls however are taken in the wet season from a helicopter showing the two great waterfalls but the reality in the dry season is somewhat different.

The above photo is of Jim Jim and as you can see the fall of water is completely non-existent as a waterfall at the moment. The gorge is nice and so is the plunge pool at the bottom but you have to scramble over 900 metres of large boulders to get there. I think both Gunlom and Edith Falls beat it for beauty.

This is Twin Falls. Twin Falls is nice too but for my money Edith Falls and Gunlom waterhole are more worthwhile to visit. Since 2004 swimming in the gorge leading up to Twin Falls is forbidden. I was lucky enough to have visited some 12 years ago and swam there and paddled up the gorge on air mattresses. The presence of saltwater crocodiles is the reason given for the swimming ban these days but I understand that it was discovered that the rare blue nosed turtles nest here and the tourist trampling everywhere disturb their habitat. You are now ferried on a small flat bottom boat almost up to the falls and you have to go some 300 metres over rocks and smaller boulders than at Jim Jim.

The gorge leading to Twin Falls.

We climbed the escarpment above Twin Falls, a 6kms round trip and we swam in the glorious water hole above the falls and admired the view which made it all worthwhile. The waterhole is always in the sun and is therefore much warmer than most freshwater holes generally. It is glorious after a long hot climb to plunge into an inviting body of water and wallow for a bit and then descend the escarpment in wet swimmers. This is taken above the falls on the escarpment.

Kakadu trail - Yellow River boat cruise

The Yellow River is one of the jewels of Kakadu and we took a sunrise tour on it. The birdlife is magnificent and you also see quite a few crocodiles. That is one of the highlights of Kakadu the amazing variety of birds on the wetlands. There are tours right through the day but the sunrise and sunset cruises are the most popular and that is when most wildlife is out and about.

A jabiru.

A kingfisher

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And another crocodile - a salty. The Yellow River is full of them.