Very hot and humid...
After we left Asia behind us, we continued our journey to the red continent Australia, strictly speaking to Darwin, in the Northern Territory. The weather in the North is tropical hot, we had around 37°C with high humidity. During the mid-day it was almost impossible to do some activities outdoor, it was just too hot for us. We stayed in total 6 days here in the North, 2 of the days we spent at the Kakadu National Park and the rest in Darwin. During our stay we rented a car, it was such a big difference towards driving in Indonesia, ha…ha… The streets and parking places are wide, just few cars on the roads and everything is well regulated, just like we know it from the West. The people here in the northern part of Australia are quite relaxed, they do not bring themselves into stress situation and they are pretty friendly.
We visited in Darwin some beaches, promenades, a local weekend market and the Indo Pacific Marine, a teaching exhibition about the marine ecosystem of Australia. During daytime we also went to some shopping malls to just cool down ourselves from the heat and humidity. We also enjoyed the sun set in Darwin and surrounding, it was very lovely. What I didn´t know about Australia was that during the Second World War, some cities were attacked by the Japanese, Darwin was one of them, you can find around the city some historical relic of the Second World War. Culinary we enjoyed the fish & chips here, the fishes are fresh and taste really nice, and they are affordable. We enjoyed our stay in Darwin, this city is green, not too big and has some nice National Parks around.
We made also a one day trip to the Territory Wildlife Park in Berry Springs, about 50 km South of Darwin. There you can learn about the animals living in Australia. Mery was totally happy when she could petted the kangaroos, they are really cute. Once a day they provide a birds flight show, some of the birds are really well trained, it was nice to see.
From Darwin it took us 3 hours to get to the Kakadu National Park by car. We stayed for one night in Jabiru, a very small town in the middle of the national park. On the way to the park from Darwin you really have to be careful not to run over some wild animals. There are a lot of birds like cockatoo picking food beside the streets and smaller birds flying across the street just at the height of your car. And of course there are the kangaroos, they sometimes are hopping across the streets, really scary when you are driving are car. When we were in the park, we did a scenic round flight, we had luck that we were the only guests and had the whole little plane for us. The flight was really cool and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery from the perspective of a bird. Those who know the movie Crocodile Dundee II will see a lot of the movie scenery here in this park. We made also a river boat trip at the East Alligator River to see the crocodiles and to learn a bit about the Aboriginal culture, luckily we were also the only guest and had the tour for our own. Our guide Nigel, an Aborigine, explained us about the Flora and Fauna of this area and also about his culture. For a short time we were invited to step over to Arnhem County, the largest reservoir of the Aborigine people in Australia. Usually non Aborigine need a permission to get into this area. It was a fascinating trip, but unfortunately it has also a negative connotation for me...I lost my glasses in the East Alligator River…well I guess that’s bad luck…and I really didn´t want to look for it in the river because there are plenty of crocs there, not really healthy ;-)
Our next destination will be Cairns, at the North East coast of Australia. We are going to fly there and not driving. As usual, we will keep you updated :-)
