We drove from the Red Centre of Central Australia to the more tropical Top End and it got indeed warmer (finally warm evenings so we could eat outside!), unfortunately they have the mosquitoes to go with it and the rivers got some water in them and aren't as dry as the ones we passed on the Red Centre.
First we went to Nitmiluk National Park (close to Katherine) and here we enjoyed a dawn cruise in the Katherine Gorge. There are actually 13 gorges (narrow passageways for a river through rocky area), but we only saw the first two. The Top End has two seasons the Dry (approx. April/May till Oct, from Oct till April is called the Wet). In the Wet sites are often closed as roads can be flooded, as recent as 6 weeks ago the gorges we went through were under a couple of meters extra of water!
A couple of years ago the streets in the town of Katherine where three meter under water and when they where clearing the local supermarket they had to fight off a three-meter long crocodile who apparently found a new home there....
In the dry you can explore the gorges by canoe as well but as the Rangers haven't given the 'clear' yet (meaning that all the saltwater crocodiles (=dangerous to humans) that went into the gorges during the wet have been caught and releases elsewhere and only freshwater crocodiles (=if not provoked not a danger to humans) are left).
We saw a crocodile during our tour and marvelled at the stunning scenery.
We had clear blue skies and finally the girls had a change to swim! Well, they did that near Uluru as well but the water was way to cold for York and me to join them. Now a dip in the pool was nice and refreshing!
Australia is inhabited by lots of native animals but also by lots of different animals that were introduced here by the settlers to liven things up, for sport or for business. The camels we rode in Alice Springs were brought to Australia between 1870-1900 to be used to build the railway between Adelaide and Alice Springs. When the work was done the animals were set free and now about 100,000 camels the deserts in Central and Western Australia (apparently the only place in the world where one-humped dromedaries exist in the wild).
In Nitmiluk National Park there are buffaloes grazing the plains and wild horses.
From Nitmiluk we continued to Kakadu National Park.
This beautiful park is owned by the local Aboriginal people who have lived here for at least 25,000 years.
The park is 20,000 sq km, which almost half the size of the Netherlands. You can imagine that there are several different areas (eg woodland, wetland), with lots of animals and rock art.
We took a Yellow River wildlife cruise and saw lots of birds and about ten 'salties' (saltwater crocodiles).
Despite the heat (approx 34 degrees) we resisted the urge to take a swim this time.....
In the gorgeous Litchfield National Park there are several waterfalls and plunge pools where it is safe to swim, which we did of course. In the water of the famous Wangi Falls there are fresh water crocodiles, but as there are not a danger to humans (they would try to avoid us anyway) so we dared go in the water.... and we didn't see a freshie anyway (to Cleo's relief as she was trying to spot them as we were swimming towards the waterfall).
Florence Falls, but only partially seen from this direction.
Now we are in Darwin, our last stop in Australia before we head off to Singapore this Sunday. We loved the Mindil Beach Market, where we sampled international dishes, enjoyed a fire show and just hung out on the beach watching a beautiful sunset.
Our girls are not used to the hot weather yet, so they are in for a treat in Asia.....
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