Living it Up in Litchfield

After visiting the termite mounds in Litchfield National Park, we checked out the lookout platform over Tolmer Falls. You can't go to the bottom of this waterfall, because colonies of rare bats live down there. It's one of the tallest waterfalls in the park, and though the water volume wasn't large while we were there, the height of it made it quite impressive.

Can you spot the swimmers under the waterfall?

Next, we stopped by Wangi Falls. There were tons of huge spiders in the plants along the banks of the plunge pool, so Zack took lots of pictures of those (he's obsessed with spiders). Wangi Falls is a popular swimming spot; many people from Darwin take day trips here to cool off.

These Aboriginal girls talked to us for a little while. They were very interested in where we were from and why we were in Australia. I asked them if they had ever seen crocodiles in this swimming area. They nonchalantly replied, "Of course, but just freshwater ones," and they didn't seem to be worried about it at all!

There aren't many food options in the park, but we found a place called Litchfield Safari Camp where we could get some dinner. It was a family-run operation. The Australian bloke showed us our options on the whiteboard out front, his wife cooked our burgers out back, and his daughter and son helped run the "camp." We felt like total tourists, especially as I snapped pictures of these kangaroos while we waited for our food.

Our last Northern Territory sunset.

Our original plan was to camp back at Wangi Falls, but the heat was so intolerable that we knew we wouldn't get any sleep. Sweat was literally dripping off of our faces. Plus, we didn't have any sleeping bags or pillows (the rental car company was supposed to supply them along with the tent but didn't), and we were tired of sleeping on our clothes. So we drove and found a cute little place to stay for the night, and on our steps, we saw this cool green tree frog. Actually, there were several huge toads around the grounds.

There's one other story about camping that I forgot to mention back in the Kakadu posts, but I want to remember it, so I'll put it here. We had set up our tent at an area called Mardugal after doing the Yellow Water crocodile cruise. There were various signs about crocs in the area (though you see those pretty much everywhere in the Northern Territory), and we were literally the only ones at the campground (low season). So we were lying in the tent, trying to get comfortable and get to sleep on top of our clothes and in the heat, when we suddenly heard noises. Not just normal noises...noises of something moving. Something (or someone!) was taking a few steps, stopping, and then taking some more steps. I promise that this wasn't just the breeze or regular camping noises; trust me-we camp a lot, and I know! So Zack and I, who if you'll remember had just seen over a dozen deadly crocodiles a few hours earlier, started panicking a little bit. Here we were in the middle of a deserted campground and something was definitely out there. So Zack, who I think had watched too many YouTube croc videos, decided we needed to get into the car to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, the noise was coming from the direction of the car. This meant we had to make a run for it! So we made our plan: Zack would unzip the tent, and we'd both make a mad dash for the driver's side door and jump in as soon as he got it unlocked. And that's what we did! I ended up on his lap, as there was no way I was going to run around to the other side of the car and get in that way-that's where the noise was! Then there was the dilemma of getting our tent into the car and getting out of there, as we knew neither of us would sleep well after hearing whatever we heard. So we backed the station wagon right up to the tent with the lights on, Zack quickly jumped out and shoved the whole thing into the trunk, and we drove off to the much more populated (and therefore safer!) Gagudju Lodge campground for a decent night's sleep. Well, as decent as can be had when sleeping on the hard ground in 85+ degree temperatures. I actually ended up moving to the backseat of the car for the early morning hours, because my back and hips hurt so much. Anyway, we'll never know what we heard out there in the wilderness...it could have been a wallaby or a big bird or even just a frog hopping around. But we like to think we escaped certain death from a crocodile dragging us off never to be heard from again!

Kayaking Katherine Gorge

After leaving Kakadu National Park, Zack and I headed to Katherine Gorge, also known as Nitmiluk National Park. We spent a full day kayaking, hoping to get as far as the fifth gorge, but the low water levels prevented us from getting past the third one. No worries though; we still had plenty of fun and adventure along the way!

There were cool birds along the shore...

Bugs on the rocks (note the spider below the dragonfly) and snakes in the caves to steer clear of...

Harmless Banded Tree Snake-also known as a Night Tiger.

Flies to avoid while walking along the banks of the river (we grew to love our head nets)...















And lots of beautiful views...

But the craziest thing of all happened on our way back to the drop-off point. We had been kayaking along the edge of the shore all day, reading these signs about crocodiles nesting and avoiding certain areas. I knew that there were no saltwater crocodiles in Katherine Gorge, and those are the dangerous ones that will attack and kill you (the type we saw in Kakadu). But freshwater ones live in Nitmiluk, and they can become aggressive if cornered or threatened.

Well, we had just started to kayak into a small cave (like we had when we found the snake pictured above), when we suddenly heard what sounded like a mix between a loud hiss and a growl. Zack paddled us backward quickly; I thought it was a snake for a second. But it was a crocodile!!! That's right, we almost cornered a freshwater crocodile in a cave while we were sitting just inches above the water in a kayak all alone out in the middle of the gorge! It had reared its head up a bit, so its body was kind of slanted while it eyed us. It was pretty big! We stayed at a distance and tried to get a few pictures and a video, but you can see they didn't turn out so well. Anyway, it was wild, and we've been recreating the sound it made ever since! 

Katherine Gorge itself wasn't that impressive compared to some Colorado or Utah scenery we've experienced (I know I sound like a snob, but it's true), but the kayaking was a nice way to spend a hot day, and the crocodile encounter made it worth the trip! Oh yeah, and there was some more cool aboriginal art to see, but that'll be in tomorrow's post...

Crocodile Rock

The Yellow Water Cruise in Kakadu National Park was by far one of the coolest things we've done in Australia. We both ranked it up there (but not quite equal to) our time at the Great Barrier Reef. We did the two hour sunset cruise, and the Yellow Water Billabong is an incredible place full of all sorts of plants and wildlife. The main reason we were there was to see the crocodiles, and the cruise did not disappoint!

About thirty minutes into the cruise, this big guy started swimming along next to our boat!

He was so close, I was able to get some great photographs. How cool are these creatures?

Here's a video of this dude swimming alongside us...

On our way back up the river, we ran into him again!

As the sun started to set, we began to see crocodiles everywhere! There was this little one...

And this yellowish one...

Yikes-check out those chompers on this close-up!

These two were quite close to each other. Friends, perhaps?

I just can't get over how prehistoric these things look...

Never smile at a crocodile...

This one was climbing up the bank. It was cool to see it move.

Apparently, crocodiles regulate their body temperature by keeping their mouths open like this. They don't have sweat glands, so they release heat through their mouths.

Zack was happy to finally fulfill his Australian dream of seeing a crocodile in the wild!

Two hot but happy crocodile hunters!

This cruise wasn't just about the crocodiles, though that was our favorite part. My next post will show you some of the other cool things we saw! I'll leave you with one more croc picture, just in case you didn't get enough...

Croc Clues

Guess what tomorrow's blog post will be about?!

Yup, the crocs are coming!

Down Under in Darwin

We started our long weekend in the Northern Territory by flying into Darwin on Thursday night. I knew it would be a smaller city than Melbourne, but it's actually very small. You can't swim at the beaches there because of the threat of crocodiles and jellyfish, so they've created this lagoon down by the wharf. It seemed to be a pretty popular place to hang out, and there are several restaurants in the area.

We had dinner and watched the sunset at The Jetty Restaurant, which had a seafood buffet. It was nice to finally be in some warm weather and sitting by the water while we had dinner.

Darwin (and the whole Northern Territory) is so different from Melbourne in so many ways. News is dominated by crocodiles, most people seem to work in the mining or construction industries, the Aboriginal population is huge, and the weather is always warm and humid. It really felt like the Australia most Americans probably picture when they think of this country; it's certainly more similar to what we expected upon moving here.

I got a kick out of seeing road trains. These triple-trailer semi trucks go on forever...up to 50 meters long! It's especially scary when you have to pass one; they say to leave a full kilometer of passing room.

Yes, there is a third part to this truck that you can't see in the picture!

We spent the night at the Travelodge, where they had a really nice pool with a waterfall that we enjoyed in the evening. The next morning, we got some groceries and picked up our station wagon (camping and cooking equipment included) and started our drive to Kakadu National Park. More to come soon...