Darwin, Kakadu, Litchfield

It was sad to leave Mackay, but we also felt a bit guilty for staying at the newly-married Jon and Tegan’s house, so it was time to keep moving and give them some privacy. 

We flew from Mackay to Darwin on Monday evening and arrived very late, caught the shuttle to the hotel and fell fast asleep.  The very next morning we hopped in the rental camper, dropped off some luggage and George and Melanie LedichiIcan’tspellitdacious’s (I might’ve misspelled the last name) house, and headed out to Litchfield National Park. 

Oh, its a sweet ride all right

We’re doing the triangle loop of Litchfield-Kakadu-Darwin in 5 days.  I’ve debated about writing the events of each day with pictures and emotions vs. simply summarizing the trip.  What I’ll do instead is summarize the commentary and try to put up more pictures.  The park is located in the Northern Territory, where Crocodile Dundee was set/filmed and gave a very good overview of the rugged Australian landscape.

It was interesting to see the variety of landscape as it changed from unattractive bush, to wetlands, to tropics, to fields, to mountains, termite mounds, aboriginal rock art, with massive cliffs and boulders thrown in for good measure.  It was ever changing and really fascinating.  In Canada you’re used to seeing a gradual change in scenery, here it was very rapid.  And very spectacular.

Magnetic Termite Mounds

Regular Termite Mounds

One of many plunge pools

Another plunge pool

The hike was worth it

Rugged, just like in the movies

Relaxing dip... in crocodile infested waters!

A NT Walking Path

This was part of the Yellow River tour

This guy was part of the tour too!

This picture doesn't do justice to the size of the boulder

Sunset in Kakadu

Next time, bring a better camera

Upon returning to Darwin, we were able to take in a meeting, spend the next morning at the museum, then water park in the afternoon with George, Melanie and family, and cap off the day with the Mindi Beach Markets.   Off to Cairns tomorrow morning. 

I’ll try to have another update soon – Internet access has been spotty and expensive!  Special thanks to George for lending us his Cruiser whilst in Darwin, much better than driving around a huge billboard.