The Top End

We arrived in the Northern Territory in late April, just at the end of the wet season when the roads and 4wd tracks are drive-able, the waterfalls are flowing and it is still very hot. For about 3 weeks we didn’t see temperatures drop below 28 deg, even at night time. For us camping in the car, that meant a ritualistic struggle with ourselves deciding whether to open the doors and let the air in, or close them to keep the mosquitoes out. We usually lost this argument in both ways and ended up sweating all night and waking up covered in bites.

Litchfield National Park is full of gorgeous waterfalls and gorges (as if we hadn’t seen enough of those already!) Some were inaccessible because we arrived so early in the season, they hadn’t had a chance to be sure they were clear of crocs. Some however, were declared croc free and we enjoyed the day lounging by the rock pools.

Up in Darwin I decided to go check out the crocodile park in the middle of the city to see this beast that inhabits all of the good swimming spots. I can’t say that I fully agree with the concept of keeping large predatory animals in small glass boxes, but apparently the ones they keep there are those that try to eat fisherman so it’s better for everyone. The nice thing about seeing salt water crocodiles in this setting is a) they are behind a very thick wall of glass b) you can see their sneaky tricks through the clear water c) you get to watch them attack their lunch!
They even have baby crocs who like to float around by their heads and leap the entire length of their bodies out of the water to catch a meal.

Later we visited the museum, which has a large variety of ‘poisonous things that can kill you’ on display. I inspected the snakes to memorize which are poisonous and which will strangle you to death. As it turns out, they all look the same. I also tried without success to identify the friendly spider, Peter we called him, who tried to share my bed the previous night. He was greyish, a bit fuzzy and no smaller than the size of my hand!
The museum has a display of a preserved box jellyfish, one of the deadliest things in the ocean that like to hang around northern beaches from November to May. We had heard that there were Irukanji in the water at Broome, and not knowing what kind of stingers these were, we decided not to swim. Well, I sure am glad for that decision. They are just as deadly as the box, but only the size of my pinky fingernail, and completely transparent.

After learning about all of the painful ways we could be attacked by living creatures in the Top End, we spent the evening at the Mindle Beach Sunset Markets before planning our route south. It would take us 4 days to drive the 2500kms of nothingness from Darwin to Townsville in Northern Queensland.