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.

Kimberley and Top End -Litchfield National Park-Darwin

In the evening we arrived in Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory. It was a very comfortable hotel overlooking the harbour. We still had another day and a half of the tour left. Early next morning we drove to Litchfield National Park named after one of the first European explorers in this area. It is 1,500 square km and has a diverse environment. Sandstone escarpments, monsoon forests, waterfalls and pools as well as........ ...magnetic termite mounds. They look quite eerie or like being on another planet. These thin mounds are all aligned north to south to minimise exposure to the sun. Some scientists believe that the termites use the Earths magnetic poles to help them position them north a to south.

Built by termites, the mounds are amazing architectural feats complete with arches, tunnels, chimneys, insulation and nursery chambers. Like bees and ants, termites have a very well organised society. There are millions of them in one mound, mostly in the centre or underground unless the workers, guarded by the soldiers are repairing the mound on the outside.

There cathedral termite mound is also seen here in the background.

They can grow up to 6m/about 25 feet. They last for about 20 years. ( ugh that daggy hat!) Florence Falls were easy to see from the lookout but there were hundreds of steps to get down. If you look hard you can see some swimmers under the waterfall. We didn't go down but went onto.......

...... Wangi Falls, and a great crystal clear pool for swimming and no crocodiles (I hope) Sensible people relaxed in the shallows on the sand bar.......... ..............or took video shots, but one stupid person decided to swim to the waterfall, forgetting that she was 67 and not 17 anymore...........

It looked a lot closer than it was but I was determined to make it, which I did but ..........

....on the way back I was getting very puffed, however the silly old girl made it.

When I got my breath back I practiced taking arty shots of the waterfall. 

Kimberley and Top End-Kakadu-Ubirr-Mamukala

After the Yellow Water Cruise we drove through Kakadu National Park to the township of Jabiru, where we stayed at Gagudju Crocodile Holiday Inn. As you can see the hotel is shaped like a crocodile, reception and restaurant are in the head and the rooms are along the sides with a swimming pool in the middle.

Early the next morning we took a scenic flight over Kakadu NP and Arnhem Land Plateau. Kakadu's traditional aboriginal owners, have leased their land to the Director of National Parks to be jointly managed. The Bininij/Mungguy people have lived and cared for this country for tens of thousands of years. Their spiritual connection with the land is globally recognised in Kakadu's World Heritage listing which honours one of the oldest living societies on earth. We flew past the Ranger Uranium Mine which borders Kakadu. It is one of the world's leading Uranium producers. The land is leased from the original aboriginal owners and will be rehabilitated and become part of Kakadu when it finishes production around 2012.

If you strain your eyes you may see a natural arch near the left hand corner.

The dominant sandstone escarpment of the Arnhem Land Plateau ranges in height from 30m to 300m. It is criss crossed with gorges where monsoon forest grow. The river system is called South Alligator River and West Alligator River named by an early explorer who thought he saw alligators but in fact they were crocodiles. In the wet season these rivers overflow and cover the lowlands in water. Some of the water stays throughout the dry season forming pools and billabongs where the .....

..birds flock in clouds and the crocodiles lurk beneath.

After the flight we drove to Ubirr Rock which is an important aboriginal historic area. The rock art represents one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world. The pictures tell stories of their past, of their hunting trips and it was a way of teaching the younger generation. The act of painting is more important than the painting itself so ......

...many earlier paintings are covered by more recent ones.

Many pictures tell of the Creation Ancestors and the changes in the landscape over thousands of years.

We climbed up to the top of Ubirr Rock where we had 360 degree views of this ancient land.

We could see hills, ridges and forests and.....

...floodplains. Then it was time to head for Darwin, our destination, but there was still more sightseeing to do.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Mamukala Wetlands Bird Hide. There were hundreds of birds.

A Magpie Goose fussing over a gang of Plumed Whistling Ducks.

The Three Wise Ducks hear nuttin', saw nuttin' and said nuttin' to the Swamphen policeman.

I'm not sure what it is. Some kind of heron I think.

As the duck landed we took off for Darwin.