Aline's travel blog: August 31, Friday

August 31, Friday

Today I was doing one of the tours I had booked, so an alarm clock was required for 6 am to ensure I was ready and waiting for the bus by 6:50. By 7:10 I was worried since the bus still had not shown up, but two young women were also waiting as well and one of them used her cell phone to call “Wallaroo Tours” to find out if the bus was coming or not. No problem, just a few minutes later the bus pulled up and after one hour of going from one hotel to another all over Darwin, we finally left the city for Litchfield National Park. Ben, our driver and tour guide is really funny and provides ongoing information; a walking encyclopedia. I absolutely LOVE this.

Groves of mango trees !

Mango orchards: Ripen earlier than elsewhere in Australia and flood the market, bringing top prices. Many plantations owned by Australians but rented out to various Asian workers who tend to the trees, pick and package the fruit, and bring it to market. We were quoted an amount of $25,000 rent per year to the owner, but I have no idea how big the orchard is, or how much a crop can bring in as revenue.

The tour included a cruise on the Adelaide River to see the “Jumping Crocodiles”. There are 7 to 8 meter high tides in this area and the water levels are quite high while we cruise down the river.

In the boat for the crocodile jumping tour

They tempt the crocs with large bones that still have some meat on them

And crocs get to eat lunch !

This guy's teethe were awesome

Our guide changed spots on the river to ensure the same croc didn't get all the food.

These are really big crocs
Crocodiles are no longer endangered here since the population levels had gone back up and hunting them is illegal, but specialists do control births by raiding the nests and bringing these to crocodile farms. Why does crocodile taste like chicken? Because that’s what they are fed on crocodile farms, and that is the source of crocodile meat for restaurants. Yes, I did try a crocodile burger while I was in Darwin and it did have a taste similar to a chicken burger.

Peter (our guide and driver) tells us that the wetlands and mangroves cover a major part of the Northern Territory: 50 km wide and 600 km along the coast (other sources indicated only 100 km along the coast); during the rainy season the water levels go up 1 meter and submerges the entire area: the floodplains. If the rainfall is especially high, or longer than usual, they call it “The Big Wet”. El Nino and La Nina also have a huge effect on rainfall here. Very surprising to hear, but logical since they must affect the entire Pacific area, not just the western coast of North America, Central America and South America.

Is that a hawk or an eagle flying above us. Whatever it is..... that's a beautiful shot !

And the crocs keep feeding

This is the only one who actually "jumped" up to grab the meat; the others were quite lazy.

Even the "kytes" were fighting for scraps

Now this one is definitely an eagle

A huge spider web covering a bush

Back to the landing area

This is a "billabong", basically a watering hole that can appear or disappear according the to rainfall

These are the wetlands. At the bottom of the trees where you see the darker area... is water.

After about 45 minutes on the Adelaide river, Ben our driver and tour guide, got us back on the bus for the 150 km drive to Litchfield National Park. It is a 143 sq km area (1,500 sq km's) containing a variety of landscapes from monsoon rainforests, weather eroded sandstone outcrops, and abandoned tin and copper mines.

The scenery kept changing as we drove on, but it is basicly very flat land with lots of euchalyptus trees and gum trees

On the Stuart Highway; the pipe in the middle is to carry fresh water to the city of Darwin.
Water has to be piped in to Darwin from the Darwin and Blackmore Rivers, where dams have created large lake areas. Since heavy rainfalls occur every year, rain water is also captured and stored.

There are also pasture lands with cattle

and those are the tracks for the Ghan Train, heading for Alice Springs

Those are cycads growing in a recently burned out area. They do regulated burns to control the underbrush and prevent larger fires going out of control. Cycads are the oldest plants on the planet.

Kapok trees produce a fruit that looks like Kiwi, before they open up their pods of fluff (used as stuffing for pillows, I saw these in Java!) that looks like duck-down.

Our second stop was to see the termite hills. There are three types of termite hills, some are attached to the base of trees, usually dead one since termites only eat dead wood. Although some of the trees look as if they are still alive, we are told that the inside, or sections of it are dead.

The largest termite hill we saw today

A close up of what it looks like inside. Unfortunately, this was caused by some idiot who destroyed one of the butresses

Another large cathedral termite mound in the distance; as tall as the surrounding trees

Cathedral termite hills grass eating termites (5 meters tall and over 50 years old) “The structure of these mounds can be quite complex. The temperature control is essential for those species that cultivate fungal gardens and even for those that don't, much effort and energy is spent maintaining the brood within a narrow temperature range, often only plus or minus 1 degree C over a day.”

North Australian savannas have one of the most diverse range of termite mounds in the world: from the enormous buttressed“cathedrals” of spinifex termites, to the remarkably aligned “magnetic” mounds and miniature cities of columns built by various Amitermes species.

Magnetic termite hills, standing from 1 to 2 meters tall, they all line up from north to south so that it catches the sun’s rays all day long and keep the temperature within the mound at a regular temperature.

Part of the viewing platform was being oiled so we could not get very far. Chris, an American on our tour, asked why they would put in a wooden platform next to termite hills. Quite a valid question and Ben informed us that the wood used is pre-treated and is oiled on a regular basis to further protect it. Still, you can’t help but wonder why they aren’t using some type of synthetic product.

I saw many of all three types today and as the soil colour changed, so did the termite mounds: white sandy, grey shale, and red from the rich earth.

We were seeing three waterfalls today, the first of which was Wangi Falls.

Wangi falls with a few swimmers braving the cascading waters at the bottom

Doesn't look like much in this picture right? That waterfall on the right is the one from the photo above; THAT's how big it is.

Lots of people swimming in the natural pool at the bottom of the falls, despite the signs

Signs re freshwater crocodiles; thankfully no one saw any. During the wet season however, larger saltwater crocodiles can move into this area and swimming is then closed to the public.

We had lunch here at the picnic tables. Ben has done this many times before and he has this down to a science. Everything neatly packed in plastic bins, he prepared a feast for us of chopped veggies and cheese, cold cuts, lettuce and bread with a few condiments. One of the things Australians love in their sandwiches are beet root; a people after my own heart. They have tins of sliced beet, and I mean HUGE beets, the size of a hamburger bun. After lunch we started our drive back and our stop at Florence Falls. Unfortunately they were oiling the viewing deck here (must be the time of year).

Florence Falls: Double waterfall set in the surrounding monsoon rainforest. Could only get glimpses through the tree branches and the falls were too far away to get really good shots since here again, they were oiling the wooden outlook deck. We were only here a short time so there was no opportunity to take the staircase down to the bottom of the lookout and follow the path leading to the bottom of the falls.

From here, we could either get back on the bus for the short ride to Buley Rock Hole or we could hike the 2 kms to get there. I wanted to walk, but I did not want to do it alone. Luckily about half our group of 20 people also wanted to walk so I had company.

The walk from Florence Falls to Buley Rock Hole; following the stream that feeds both areas

It was a good path and I did not need my walking sticks

I left the path a few times to take pictures

This is a nest built by ants ! with leaves.

One of the clearings along the way

That's a cockatoo in the tree. A wild cockatoo ! Larry: I thought of you today. So amazing to see these birds in their natural environment and "free as a bird" !

Buley Rock Hole

Some were fast walkers and soon disappeared in the distance. I wanted to take pictures along the way so within a very short time I was left behind with one other couple where the husband was also an avid photographer. By the time we made it to the water falls at Buley Rockhole, I was ready for a dip in the cool water, regardless of the depth. I was literally baking in the hot sun. Unfortunately the natural pool where our group was located was fairly deep and I was trying to find a shallow place to get into the water. With some help from Chris (one of the people in our group), I made my way into the cool pool and swam over to the other side where I could sit on some submerged rocks. IT FELT SO GOOD to immerse my body in the water; head included to try to get my body temperature down. Ben had been talking about snakes all day so I knew that they were around us at every site we visited. This was no exception, there was a small one, measuring maybe two feet and the size of my baby finger on a tree branch just beside the water. It did not seem interested in getting wet, which was fine with me, but I still kept an eye out for it on a regular basis to ensure it was still safely on that branch. When I was ready to get out of the pool however I knew that it might be tricky, but again with Chris’ help I got across to the other side and found a place where I could try to get out of the water. Chris was ready to give me a shove up and could tell that I wasn’t feeling comfortable about that. He said “Don’t worry, I’m gay !” and I laughed so hard I almost fell back into the water. It wouldn’t have mattered who it was, I would not have been comfortable with anyone boosting me up from my bum. He was a true gentleman however and another young man who was already out of the water gave me a hand getting back up onto the surrounding rocks. I really to believe my grey hair helps !

Ben had prepared another treat for us: cut orange wedges and rich fruit cake, a very tasty combination.

Further up the stream, more places where it would have been so much easier for me to get in and out of the water

It was a great place to cool off

Further up along the rock holes were shallower areas, but by this time I was starting to dry off and decided not to re-immerse my body, although others were having fun jumping into the deeper pools.

After 45 minutes at the water hole it was time to head back to Darwin. Everyone was dozing off after our full day. When we got back to Darwin Ben drove on a boulevard that was the original airstrip in the city, built to receive the planes that landed here in 1919. “In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of 10,000 pounds for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. Of the six entries that started the race, the winners were two Australian brothers, Ross & Keith Macpherson Smith, with and their two crew.” The journey had to be completed within 720 consecutive hours (30 days) and be completed before midnight on 31 December 1920. The departure point must be either Hounslow Heath Aerodrome (for landplanes) or RNAS Calshot (for seaplanes and flying boats), with reporting points at Alexandria and Singapore, and final destination in the region of Darwin.” Song & Movie: “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” And this was only 16 years after the Wright Brothers had their first successful flight in 1903. {A second race, the MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race) took place in October 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The prize this time was $75,000.}

We headed for Fannie Bay to view the sunset while we munched on fresh prawns and drank Champagne. Well white bubbly wine, not really champagne, but very good with the HUGE prawns. Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the picnic table with all the food on it. Hopefully I got it on my camcorder.