Hayes Creek

Rose drove us from Wangi Falls to Hayes Creek. We took the back road from Adelaide River which was very quiet but narrow. It took a little longer but we weren't on the highway.

Well Hayes Creek has to be NT's second best kept secret. There's a camp ground behind the pub, off the road, quiet, treed, green grass, a river behind, swimming holes (spring fed), clean amenities, and only $22.50/night powered... and the water tastes great. We came for a night and stayed for two.

I took a ride up on to the range today, not far (15k or so) and this is what I saw looking north.

Litchfield - Florence Falls - Termite Mounds

What an an amazing place...

The walk thru Florence Falls to the Buli Rock Holes was worth it.... once again it needs to be done early before the tour coaches arrive.

Buli Rock Holes...

 Termite

Litchfield - Wangi Falls

Had the car and van serviced in Darwin. VW cost just under $1000 for the 60,000k jobbie. Van service cost $350 for a bearings grease, pack and adjust, grease the suspension, and check the alignment, general look over, etc All was good. Another day in Darwin. Rose floored me, she said "You know I could spend a couple of years up here!" Go figure! Found the bike path behind the caravan park and tootled off to Casuarina, a round trip of about 35k. What better way to acclimatise to the NT climate.

We headed off to Litchfield about 90k south of Darwin. We went in through Batchelor. We were heading to Wangi Falls. They have a Parks campground there. Who could pass up $13:20/night....!!!!! We were told to get there early (before 9am... we don't get up before 9 now... this is going to be a struggle). Well we got there around 11am on a Friday and managed to find a spot about 300m from the falls themselves. Two nights became three, and then four. There is just sooooo much to see. The temperature was great, no mozzies and quiet until about 8:30 each morning when the tour busses pulled in.

 Before...

After...











Note for all you budding travellers out there. Whilst we can charge OK, our only real concern is that our 220a/h of batteries (2 of them) is not enough. We had to run the generator for an hour each day late in the afternoon, to make sure the fridge ran through until the morning. We didn't on the last day and our charger low battery alarm awoke us at 3am. We backed the Fridge off a notch in the evening, which did improve the situation, but not markedly. Knowing what we know now, we'd be looking at between 400-500watts of solar and probably between 300-500a/h of battery.

Aligator River

I forgot. Too many things happening. We went and saw some Crocs jump on the way to Darwin.

We had breakfast at Fogg Dam on the way. We drove across the dam wall, yes, getting confident now (... with the van in tow... following friends). The sign at the start of the wall said don't stop, don't get out, and definitely don't walk. They said nothing about turning around. I need 11m to turn. The wall was less than 4m wide. It was 2km long. A long way to back up I thought... but we managed.

We all wondered what became of the owner of this sturdy vessel!

There are three operators doing these trips now. We stopped by the "Amazing Jumping Crocodiles. I'm pretty sure that the same Crocs contract to all three. The ones we saw must have been swimming all day... nah... just kidding.


See for yourself. It's up close and personal.

Darwin

Bark Hut - Darwin was the goal. We'd arrived right in the middle of the Darwin Festival. Talk about busy. We scored a caravan site about 18k out of town at the Freespirit resort. $54/night/powered. Closer to town it went as high as $74/night.... is that gouging or what. But its the old supply and demand. Next time we'll stay at the Ross Robin Reserve slightly closer, no power for $25.We watched the sunset from the Casino, visited the Mindel Beach night markets, fish and chips at Stokes Wharf and of course THE DARWIN CUP!

Everyone was nervous this year... they cancelled last year mid program due to a fatality... all went well this year, it was a great day.


They obviously have wives with similar tastes...!

 Some of the Filly's off the course looked pretty good....!

The Bark Hut

We found a pub with some history halfway between Ubirr and Darwin. They had 6 powered sites behind the pub. We used them. The girls found a lady who had a pet bird. She'd had it for 9 years. She was European. They both spoke 3 languages...

Kakadu - Ubirr

Ubirr is the second highlight of Kakadu. It's about 60km's north of Jabiru on the way to Oenpelly. The road to Ubirr is bitumen and dirt beyond, although maps show it as 4WD only. It's been sealed for the past 15 years.

We stayed in a Park campground again. The facilities were good and just a short walk or drive to some amazing rock formations and to the East Alligator river.

These guys were fishing and catching Barramundi on the causeway between Ubirr and Oenpelly. It was close to low tide. At high tide the Barra cross the causeway and the crocs are there for a feed. There are 2 crocs in this picture. One in the shade, the other's nose in the foreground on the extreme right. Neither of these guys looked really fit. Note also these moved closer to the edge to allow cars to pass.  

Kakadu - Cooinda

There are 2 places in Kakadu that we were told we MUST see. One was Cooinda.

Cooinda is a resort in the Yellow River area. Yellow River Cruises take you out into some of the park wetlands which are stunning. The tours run at sunrise and sunset. Rose discovered her IPAD takes pictures and she took 300+ in the space of 2 hours.  This is one of her photos...

We stayed at the Park campground about 2km from the Cooinda turnoff on the Kakadu Highway. You need to arrive early (am) in holiday season. Good facilities, a boat ramp, hot, well luke warm showers. No drinking water available or bring your own.


We visited the resort a couple of times to use the pool.... well it was hot!