Due to the A/C issues we were late to our first stop which was the Rock Holes so the time there was pretty short. Our time at Florence Falls was short as well. However, both places were beautiful and relaxing and the water was refreshing in this humidity.
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| Rock Holes |
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| Florence Falls |
We had a quick lunch of hotdogs and then headed to an Aboriginal experience. The daughter did a welcoming which involved her putting water from their billabong in her mouth and then spraying it on our heads while saying welcome in their language. She then took us on a short walk and taught us about the different uses of different trees - medicine, bowls, cradles, ropes, water, food, instruments, etc. She also showed us a ground oven and a berry they use as an antiseptic for teeth pulling. Her dad taught us about different instruments like didgeridoos and clap sticks. He also taught us about the different paints and colors they use and how they get the natural colors. He taught us about totems as well - an animal each person is assigned at their birth that kept showing up while the mother was pregnant or in labor. Then his daughter taught us about the weaving they do and how each type of dilly bag has a different purpose - flat strap means it is a regular hand bag, round strap means it is to go around your neck and hang in front for collecting leaves and fruit and things like that, multiple thin straps means it goes over the top of your head and hangs behind your back for collecting things while swimming. Her wise words of advice about collecting things while swimming was if you get a snake, kill it before you put it in the bag. She showed us some toys her grandmother had weaved as well as baskets. Some of these woven items can take months to make as it is all collected, dyed, twisted, and woven by hand.
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| Round Strap - Left, Flat Strap - Middle, Multiple Straps - Right The stuff behind her that looks like hay, that is what they use to weave these items |
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| "Snake Bird" |
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| "Jesus Bird" |
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| MY FIRST WILD CROCODILE SPOTTING |
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| Eagle |
After the cruise we headed for our campsite. Everyone unloaded their stuff and then it was time to make dinner. Sean volunteered Severine and I to help cook (and one other person). We didn't mind though, because cooking means you don't have to do any cleaning. It's really cool that meal times often function as a group effort and taking turns. I made the coleslaw, someone made potato salad, Severine made a salad, and Sean cooked the meat. Three other people volunteered for the cleaning. This time we stayed in permanent tents. Swags aren't as popular in the top end due to the mosquitoes and cane tones (extremely poisonous). After dinner most people took a shower, but I knew it would be pointless because of how hot and humid it was so I sat in front of the fan in the kitchen. Later I went to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom before bed only to discover the bathroom was covered in beige lizards about the length of a middle finger with beady black eyes. It took me about 7 minutes to work up the courage to lock myself in a stall with a lizard or 2 and turn my back on them so I could use the bathroom, but I made it in and out alive. Once I was in the permanent tent I became even more aware of how uncomfortably humid and hot it was. I laid my sheet on top of the plastic mattress and stripped down to my bathing suit boy shorts and a sports bra and laid on my back with no part of my body touching another. It was so disgustingly humid. I bunked with Severine and we stayed up for a bit chatting about anything and everything. It was so beautiful to fall asleep to the sound of the crickets. It was weird though because about an hour before it was time to get up I was absolutely freezing, like shivering freezing, so I opened the sheet and got under it but at the same time I was still sticky from the humidity so I didn't really want the sheet touching me. I've never been so cold in such a humid environment... it was really throwing my brain for a loop, especially at 4am.
Another morning up before the sun. I went to shower and turns out it is more beneficial to shower in the morning because the heat isn't in the air yet, so while it is humid at least you don't sweat as soon as you get out and while there are less lizards... there are still lizards, so I had to work up the courage once again. Turns out if you make a really loud noise like stomp your foot, bang the door, smack the wall, etc they will scurry away. So I wasn't eaten by a lizard this time either. While I wasn't really feeling the lizards or the humidity of the Top End, I was pleased to finally be aware from the fine layer of sand that covered everything in the Red Centre and all the flies there as well. After breakfast we made our lunches, packed them, then loaded up the 4WD and headed to Kakadu for the day, but not before I grabbed my 4 bottles of water out of the freezer. Sean has the same rule Jen has (it's actually a company rule) - No water, No walk.
Our day started at Ubirr where we got to see tons of authentic Aboriginal rock art. It was really cool to learn the meanings behind different symbols and pictures and hear some of the stories they had drawn. It was so incredibly hot though. Everyone had sweat through their shirts and was looking for the tiniest bit of shade to hide themselves in. Towards the end it became difficult to enjoy because I felt like I was choking on my own breath and doing everything it took to keep from just collapsing. This point was because we were on top of a hill of rocks right out in the open heat on hot rocks. Then we all found out that we were going to eat our lunch outside, which was frustrating because all anyone wanted was the A/C in the "bus". Luckily, we had shade during lunch and watermelon. It was also near a bathroom so we wiped ourselves down with cool, wet paper towels. Once lunch was over though we all practically ran back on the "bus" and thank God for A/C in the 4WD because it rejuvenated us all for the next hike.
After Ubirr we went to a place called Maguk. It required some hiking to get to it, but it was worth it. Nothing like a good old crocodile warning sign to start you on the hike to somewhere you'll be swimming. Also on the hike, I got attacked by a Pandanas shrub which has hundreds of little thorns all up and down the sides of each long skinny leaf. My leg was bleeding and it was stinging so bad to where I was in tears. One of the other people poured some water on it which helped a bit but it still stung. Unfortunately if I turned around and went back to the "bus" I would be alone and it wouldn't necessarily stop the stinging, so I just kept going. It hurt but I breathed through my teeth and went on. My effort was rewarded with beautiful rock pools and mini waterfalls at the top of a massive waterfall. I sat in one of the rock pools and pulled out the little thorns that I could, which was about 3. The water stung at first, but after that initial sting it didn't hurt anymore, so I swam the rest of the time. Maguk was a magical place. There were 3 massive pools connected by mini waterfalls. At the bottom of that were several shallow rock pools that lead to a massive waterfall. Cliff jumping there was so unreal - even on top of the cliff/rock I couldn't see the top of the cliff/wall in front of me. The guys that went before me warned me not to jump too far out or I'd hit the rocks in front of me, but also not to just step off because you'll hit the rocks right below me. They said to make sure you put your feet right on the edge and take one massive step off the edge. The impact when I hit the water was much more intense than I expected. It didn't hurt necessarily, but it wasn't comfortable, however it was comfortable enough that I decided to jump again and again and again. I hung out under one of the waterfalls for a bit because there was a natural rock seat beneath it and the waterfall was like a natural massage.
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| Pandanas Shrub - The one that attacked me was much smaller and much drier and brown |
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| Sean, Our tour guide |
The hike back was awful because there were so many flies constantly flying around my head (and everyone else's). I was one of the first people back to the "bus" and the whole time I was just trying to escape the flies. I discovered if I swung my bag around my head and in front of my face constantly and quickly then they would stay away. Being soaking wet from head to do though kept me nice and cool at least. After some time Sean arrived and opened the "bus" and it was so nice to finally be away from the flies. We had two more stops before heading to camp for the night. The first stop was the termite mounds. They are all over on the sides of the roads up here and some are extremely massive, so we stopped to see some up close. Another first for me. The second stop was a place called Yellow Waters which is like a marshy, wet lands type area that has lush plant life and we were lucky to get to see the sunset and a crocodile!
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| Termite Mounds on the sides of the road |
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| Yellow Waters |
When we arrived at camp, Severine and I were off cooking and cleaning duty so after choosing our permanent tent, which had a real bed with a real mattress and a provided sheet, we walked down the onsite souvenir shop and I bought an Aboriginal children's puzzle and some clean, cold bottled water. We came back and hung out at the tables with several other people and just chatted. I also tried to pull some more thorns out - this time I only got 2. I realized now that most of them were below the surface of the skin so there is no way I'd be able to do it, so I gave up. Dinner was so yum - Green curry and chicken and rice!! The only problem is the meal is temperature hot and also spicy hot so now everyone's insides were as hot as their outsides. From all the sweating and swimming I felt gross so I went for a shower which was nice because there were no lizards and there were fans in the bathroom, which kept the air circulating and kept you cool with the air blowing on wet skin. I left my hair wet to keep me cool and didn't need to do it since I knew we were just going to be swimming some more tomorrow. We all hung out and talked for a bit more and then turned in for the night. It was still hot and humid, but the wet hair helped with the level of uncomfortability.
In the morning we got up before the sun again, packed up all of our stuff, had breakfast, made our lunches, packed those, loaded up the "bus", got my 4 bottles of water out of the freezer, and we continued our Kakadu adventures, but this time it would be rough riding 4 wheel driving. It was also day number 3 of having no cell phone service or contact with the outside world really. The world could be ending and we would have no idea. We couldn't check the day's weather (however, we had been blessed with absolutely perfect weather). No one checked or cared what day of the week it was, what the date was, or even what the time was. It was really a new experience to be this entirely removed from technology. I found that I actually enjoyed not constantly checking my phone or typing something or posting or uploading something. It was really nice to just enjoy the nature and the company of those around me and just go with the flow. The bus really becomes something you are attached to. You spend more time in the "bus" than anywhere else so it becomes like "home" while you're out doing all this adventuring. When I got back to the hostel at the end of this trip I felt so enclosed, like there were too many walls. Anyways, I digress...
We headed out to Twin Falls where we would hike to the base, but no swimming because of crocodiles. By this point the crocodile signs were like yeah, seen that, next. Crocodile signs were absolutely everywhere we had been while on this tour. The drive to Twin Falls was incredible. It was a one lane, windy, sandy road with steeps hills and rocks. I was for sure the trailer was going to come unhitched or someone was going to have whiplash! The best part was when we went through the water that was like a meter deep!! I was for sure we were all and all of our stuff was going to be soaked! The trailer didn't come unhitched but everything did have a nice layer of dust all over it and luckily the water stayed out of the "bus". The hike wasn't too bad, since it was accompanied by a cool little boat tour through blue blue water and a cool floating bridge thing, but I sure was hot by the time we had reached the non existent falls. The cliffs they should be tumbling over were there, but there was no water. Seeing waterfalls in the Top End is really hit or miss. You have to come at the right time during the right season. They only have two seasons here - wet and dry.
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| This was a tad unsettling... |
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| We swam all the way to far wall, About 150-200m |
We drove back to our campsite up and down the hills, over the rocks, through the water, around the bends. Once we arrived it was time for me, Li, and 3 other of our new friends to say goodbye to everyone else. They were all continuing on for another 2 days to Katherine Gorge and the 5 of us were headed back to Darwin. It was sad to say goodbye to Severin after having just spent 3 straight days with her from sun up to sun down and the time in between. She became a fabulous friend and one I hope to see again soon. At least now I have an excuse to visit Switzerland!!
Our bus/van back to Darwin was from their fancier line of tours and there was no one else on it, so we got to ride comfortably through the back roads of the Top End to Darwin. Big cushy seats, a place to put my feet up, somewhat smooth ride. It was nice to finally be able to relax and fall asleep on the bus for the first time on this tour. When we got back to town the bus dropped us off way far away from our hostel and I was simply exhausted with too much to carry. Luckily the other people I was with offered to carry a thing or two. I didn't book a room because I was only staying for a few hours before heading to the airport so I went to Li's room with her. I got a shower, put on some fresh clothes, and prepared to throw away my beloved tennis shoes. I have had these shoes for about 8 years and they have now been with me through everything, but they were dirty, falling apart at the sole, and were wet. After saying good bye to my shoes, Li and I went out to a nice dinner before I had to go to the bus stop. She walked with me there, waited with me until the bus came, and then we said our goodbyes as I hopped on the shuttle to the airport for my flight back to Melbourne - the last leg of this Northern Territory adventure (which I almost missed because I fell asleep at the gate of the airport, which is fair considering my flight was at 2am after a full day of exploring Kakadu starting at 5am).
**Also while driving in the Top End we saw a lot of road trains which have a semi truck cab carrying 2-4 (and sometimes more) trailers usually filled with mineral ore**:
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