Darwin is the closest city to Southeast Asia and as such is a significant military stronghold. During a single attack in World War II, more bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbor. The United States has a military base in Darwin and our soldiers often come to train with Australian soldiers out in the bush in The Top End (the Northern part of the Northern Territory), due to it’s extremely harsh conditions.
Darwin is also considered the “redneck capital” of Australia. One week before I arrived they had super car races at the Darwin Speedway and this coming weekend they are having the Beer Can Regatta. It’s basically a giant party down at the harbour with the main attraction being a boat race. The catch is that these boats are made out of empty beer cans. It sounds amazing and if I was still going to be in Australia, I would have been there for it. It was actually my initial reason for wanting to go to Darwin when I started planning this trip a year and a half ago.
I arrived around 1:30 and got settled in my way too small hostel. Rooms were small, kitchens were cramped and there were 4 toilets and showers in the whole place for like 50 people. The common area would have been ok, except there is nothing to do in Darwin most nights other than drink so if you didn’t have a seat outside by 2 or 3 in the afternoon, there were no seats left. I didn’t have a single drink in Darwin, which would surprise anyone who knows me and has been there.
I explored the town the first day for a couple hours, got dinner and then relaxed at the hostel all night. The next day I spent a couple hours walking along the Esplanade and through the park overlooking the ocean. I tried to start my souvenir shopping, but there wasn’t even much of that in Darwin unless you wanted to go to the shitty, tourist souvenir stores.
After dinner that night, I ended up going to see the new Tupac movie “All Eyez On Me.” It was pretty good.
The next morning, my tour guide from Tasmania, Chrissy, picked me up for her Wetland Cruises Corroboree Billabong Cruise. Back in Tassy, she had already known she was leaving for Darwin and I knew I’d be in Darwin in June so we made plans when I had finally booked that part of my trip.
During the drive down we stopped across the street from the Humpty Doo Hotel, which became rather famous for it’s “Darwin Stubby” beer drinking competition that began in 1988. A Darwin Stubby is a 2.25 litre beer, though they are no longer produced. The man who won it the first year drank a stubby in 60.6 seconds. After a couple years, a local man entered his bull, Norman, in the competition. Norman went on to win that competition every year until he died from liver sclerosis. He once downed a stubby in 47 seconds.
We stopped at a tavern to pick up the rest of the tour group and the lunches. At the tavern they had a few animal enclosures. They had a freshwater crocodile, saltwater crocodile and an albino buffalo.
We made 3 more short stops on the way to the billabong to check out the wetlands and wetland birdlife.
Finally, we got to the billabong and boarded the boat. A billabong is a branch of a river flowing away from the main stream but leading to no other body of water. Billabongs can be temporary and many only hold water during the rainy season. There’s a famous Aussie song called “Waltzing Matilda,” about a jolly swagman camping by the billabong. And now ladies and gentleman, Mr. Slim Dusty…..
That kinda felt like a Family Guy, Conway Twitty cutaway, didn’t it? I wonder if Seth needs a new writer.
If you look at the related videos, there’s one of Johnny Cash performing the song in concert. Andy first introduced me to the song when we were camping in our swags in The Outback.
Anyway…..the cruise was about 2 1/2 hrs long and we ate lunch on the boat while Chrissy talked to us about the billabong and all the wildlife. We saw quite a few crocs, but there were also so many different kinds of birds. I have pictures, but I don’t remember all the names. Sorry…..
I timed this picture of a white-bellied, sea eagle perfect….except for one thing, but I think it’s pretty funny.
I spent most of the day chatting with Chrissy and a girl from Toronto named Elizabeth. It was a great, peaceful day on the water. All it was missing was a cooler full of beers.
Chrissy dropped me off last and we hugged goodbye. It was great to see her again. Her energy is infectious and she takes such joy out of life. I got some dinner and spent the rest of the night relaxing.
The following day I was up before the sun for my trip to Litchfield National Park. My tour guide was named Joey, which meant I already had an in because Elizabeth had done this tour 2 days earlier with him. We drove around the city making the tour pick ups and then made an unplanned stop at the wharf as the sun was rising. The Top End is known for the beautiful reds and oranges that the sunrises and sunsets produce. They were pretty great, but I’m still giving the edge to Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
We stopped at the park entrance for pictures and then drove on to the termite mounds. There are many types of termites in Australia, including piping termites which hollow out the trees that are eventually used to make didgeridoos. The ones we were focused on were the Cathedral Termites. These termites build huge, cathedral mounds and spend most of their lives inside them and underground. This mound is around 50 years old and houses millions and millions of termites.
Joey talked to us about the termites for a few minutes and then made a small hole in the mound so that we could watch the workers come out and start fixing it. He grabbed a few and put them in his mouth and then asked if anyone wanted to try one. Mine was the first hand up. They tasted a bit like pepper.
Our next stop was Mangi Falls. During “The Wet,” saltwater crocs can roam free throughout the flat land, so before opening the swimming hole for “The Dry,” authorities go in and remove any salties that made their way to Mangi Falls. They leave the freshwater crocodiles alone though, since they are mostly harmless…….kinda.
I swam for about 20 minutes before walking up to the treetop lookout.
Mangi Falls and water
We had a bbq lunch and then drove to Florence Falls. We climbed down the 135 stairs and then swam for about 30 minutes at the base of the falls.
Florence Falls
Next we were off to Buley Rockhole. While most of the group went to the crowded, tourist area, Joey took me and a younger kid further downstream on what he calls “Joey’s Barefoot Adventure.”
We walked down a path and then barefoot off into the bush. Joey told me, “It’s best to walk barefoot, that way if you step on a snake you can feel it underfoot before it bites you.” Hahahaha. We walked past a green ant nest and we all ate some. They taste like lime. We got to the stream, lowered ourselves in and started swimming slowly and quietly downstream looking for wildlife (snakes mostly).
After about 10 minutes, Joey stopped along the bank and told us the area we were in was a freshwater crocodile breeding ground (breeding season is over) and showed us where the females lay their eggs on the bank. He also told us that not long ago, he was doing the exact same thing with another group and a king brown snake slithered into the water and across the stream a few feet behind them. Why don’t I have that kind of luck?? 😔
Another 10 minutes downstream and we climbed out of the water and walked back to the tourist area. We dove in a few times there and then headed back to the bus and back to Darwin.
During the drive back, we drove right past some controlled bush burning. They do a lot of controlled burning in Australia to help avoid huge bush fires, especially in certain parts like the Top End. They do segmented burning so that the animals have a place nearby to hide until they can go back to their homes.
When we got back to Darwin, I walked down to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. I was looking for souvenirs and quality food truck food, but it was so crowded that I didn’t get either. I did get a beautiful sunset on the beach when I arrived at the markets though.
The next day my plans included Crocosaurus Cove and the Cage of Death!! This was the 2nd reason I wanted to come to Darwin, because if you have something called the Cage of Death then I want in.
I spent a lot of my day at Crocosaurus Cove, but my Cage of Death session was scheduled for 1 o’clock, so I killed time watching a couple other people do it, checking out the other reptiles and watching them feed the aquarium fish.
This guy looks like royalty.
At Crocosaurus Cove, the salties are the big attraction (literally). They have some of the largest saltwater crocodiles in captivity in the world. They also have a crocodile named “Burt” after Burt Reynolds because he’s a movie star and he knows it. Burt was featured in a few movies, most notably Crocodile Dundee!!!
Burt.
Finally it was time for my safety briefing, which was basically just signing an indemnity waiver.
“Yea, yea, if somethin bad happens, you’re not responsible. Where do I sign?”
They also explained the picture package options to me and the guy told me that normally people end up with 50-150 pictures, but the record is 435.
Now it was time!!!! I got in the cage and they lowered me into the water with a croc named Chopper. He is a 5.5 meter (17′ 10″), 790 kilogram (1,743 lb) saltwater crocodile. The 2nd biggest croc at the cove and that’s only because Wendell weighs 10 kgs more. They are both 5.5 meters long. I spent 15 minutes in the cage. The first 10 mostly underwater and the last 5 in shallow water as they tried to get Chopper to bang against the cage by dangling chicken in front of him. IT WAS AWESOME!!
When I went to pick up my pictures, the photographer told me, “I couldn’t stop taking pictures. You’ve been the best model all month.” She took 404 pictures. I missed the record by 31!!! I only got to pick out 2 prints, but I bought the full video and picture package, so eventually I’ll get around to uploading those to my computer back home and posting more, but the two I picked are pretty great (if I do say so myself).
After the Cage of Death, I watched them feed Burt before I left.
Later that afternoon, I walked down to Stokes Hill Wharf to watch the sunset.
I’m gonna miss the Top End sunsets.
I was on a plane back to Sydney the next day with only a handful of days left in my trip. I had already done most of what I wanted to in Sydney, so a lot of my time has been spent shopping for gifts and getting ready for the trip home. There were 2 things left I wanted to do though: Walk across the Harbour Bridge and get the best picture I possibly could of Sydney Harbour.
Last night I walked across the bridge for sunset and tonight I went to Mrs. Macquarie’s Point for sunset. I have some pretty great pictures from the 2 nights. I’ll try to narrow this down to my favorites though.
Tomorrow is my last full day here before I fly to San Fransisco on Thursday (Wendesday in the U.S.) for my cousin Brian and his fiancee Amanda’s wedding. It’s bittersweet. I’m super excited to see my family, but sad that the adventure is ending. There will still be a a few more posts about San Fransisco, general thoughts and one that is mostly just pictures once I load my digital camera, Crocosaurus cove disk and skydiving thumb drive on my computer back home. For now though, I will leave you where I started…..with my favorite book, Into the Wild.
An excerpt from an Everett Ruess letter as quoted in the book:
“In my wanderings this year I have taken more chances and had more wild adventures than ever before. And what magnificient country I have seen…”
Kickin It With Kangaroos 