Kimberley and Top End Last Days of Tour -Darwin

After watching the birds of prey we walked through the Wildlife Park until we came to the Nocturnal house, where the daylight and night time have been reversed for the night animals so that we humans can enjoy seeing them hunting for food. No photos as it was dark and flashes would scare the animals. Next we visited the Aquarium.

The Cat Fish

Turtle

Sword Fish above the walkway tunnel.

A crocodile smile.

Then it was time to return to our bus at the entrance of the park in this little train.That evening we had the last dinner with our tour companions.

The last sunset over the sea.In the morning we went for a walk through the city. Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory. On Christmas Eve, 1974 Darwin was hit by tropical cyclone, "Tracy." The city was wiped out. 80 percent of the houses were destroyed, 71 people died, 30,000 people were evacuated from a total population of 49,000. There was 837 million dollars worth of damage done. The whole city had to be rebuilt.

Consequently, Darwin is Australia's youngest city. The Mall is above.

House of Parliament

Lovely parkland along the harbour foreshore.

Interesting park benches sheltered by Bougainvillea

The final tour of the trip was a visit to the Museum where there was an excellent display and talk about Cyclone Tracey. Then we had a coffee at the museum overlooking the water, which was our last magic view before heading to the airport and home. It was goodbye to our wonderful tour guides, Kim and Ben. They both had an in depth knowledge and love of the outback, it's flora, fauna, people and geology. They drove the bus, fixed the bus, cleaned the bus, and packed the bus. They took us on guided walks, administered first aid and prepared our lunches and snacks.

And it was good bye to our new found friends. It was a dream come true for me as I had wanted to visit this part of Australia for many years. 

Kimberley and Top End-Territory Wildlife Park, Darwin

On the way back to Darwin from Wangi falls we stopped at the Territory Wildlife Park. It is a huge park set in the natural bushland, with a roadway circuit on which a little train takes passengers to a variety of of wildlife displays. Our tour guides had booked us into the Flight Deck to watch a spectacular free flying display of Birds of Prey. We weren't disappointed. There were two young female bird keepers who showed us how the birds caught their prey by simulating their natural habitat. They also gave us an entertaining and fact packed commentary. They are all native Australian Birds.

The Red Tailed Black Cockatoo.

The birds are kept in pens but are released to fly freely for the demonstration, I was amazed that they didn't fly off into the sunset, but I guess they are too well fed here.

The Rufous Owl

This one was the class clown. He came strutting out and looked very cheeky. It is an Australian Buzzard.

He eats Emu eggs. Look he has found one, but he can't crack it open with his beak so........

........he finds a stone and picks it up in his beak and then throws it with a forceful thrust of his head and hits the Emu egg. He does this time and time again until the egg cracks enough for him to get his beak in and rip it open.

After his feed he comes to say goodbye to us as another huge eagle is perched high in a tree nearby.

It swoops down to the keeper.It is a Wedge Tailed Eagle.

He was very big and handsome.

The keeper threw a fish into the pond and suddenly an Osprey Eagle dived into the pond and....

...went completely under the water to catch the fish.

Soon it emerged from the water in full flight with it's prey tightly secured in it's talons.

It flew towards us, it was a brilliant sight ........

...then it perched on a branch holding down the fish and started to eat it.

Then came my favourite, ambling by the billabong. She is the magnificent Jabiru.

She is dressed in her finery, orange legs, iridescent blue neck, gold eye shadow, a polished beak and a beautiful black and white dress. She is quite elegant until she ........

...tries to lift her huge heavy frame into the air.

It is a struggle to get up but she makes it to the other side of the billabong and tries a graceful landing.