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Hopefully you have come here after reading my three previous posts. If so welcome back! This is the final post of my Australian series, however not the last of my summer travel posts; there will be two posts from our stop off at Singapore for each of the two hotels that we stayed at, so fear not!
After having journeyed through Sydney, Cairns and Port Douglas, we caught a plane to our last location in Australia - Darwin!
On departing from the airport, we caught a shuttle bus with a bunch of partying backpackers and although they were noisy, it was very interesting to listen to their stories and their different languages and accents. The weather in Darwin was so hot but fortunately the hotel had great air conditioning and I will forever remember how refreshing it was to walk in to the hotel and be instantly chilled. We were also offered cookies and so the first impressions of the hotel were fab! After arriving very late at the hotel, we went straight to bed.
The first day in the city was our last free day in Australia and we started the day well with a nice all you can eat style breakfast in the hotel and then we went shopping down the road. I absolutely loved sharing the streets with the local aboriginals. They are so cool and I found them to be very friendly too. The culture of the locals, especially the aboriginals themselves, was something that I had really been looking forward to experiencing since we booked the holiday, so when first saw one I was absolutely delighted! I would like to point out that I don't view Aboriginal people as a tourist attraction, I think that they should be valued for their heritage and culture.
In the afternoon, after a long morning of shopping, we visited Crocosaurus Cove. I'll give you three guesses as to what might be there...
It was incredible. I never realised that crocs were so big! The ones that I have seen in wildlife parks and zoos were no where near the size of the ones here! At the cove there were opportunities to swim with crocs (I swam with the baby ones), get a picture taken with them (or in our case about 90 photos) and to see other aquarium creatures and reptiles. It was awesome.
The day after was another really cool one and a total dream come true. In the morning, we were woken by our alarm at about 6:30am and left the hotel on a bus to the Litchfield National Park. Our first stop off was at a cafe in the outback. We were greeted by the locals in a friendly way again... I don't think that I met one unfriendly Australian!
Afterwards, we went a little further down the road and came to a graveyard of termite mounds. They are, in my opinion, one of the most amazing works of architecture of the insect world. Inside each mound there is a network of tunnels carved carefully by the termites that look like white ants. There is also a queen termite that keeps the colony together and under control. The best mound that we visited was almost twice the height of my sister and I, and bearing in mind that I am about 165cm (5ft5"), it was very tall.
Further down the road, we walked down a cliff side and swam in a lagoon with some beautiful fish and a rushing waterfall that I swam out to sit under. This was a dream come true and another fear conquered. Walking back up to the bus was very tiring as we had gone down over 100 very steep steps but it was definitely worth it. Later on in the trip there was a boardwalk surrounded by trees packed with huge fruit bats and another lagoon/waterfall. Little did I know that there were actually fish eating crocodiles in there and I swam right across it! In the side of the rocks, there was a natural pool that had been formed around the same size of a hot tub, so I climbed the rocks and jumped straight in!
In the evening we were dropped at a market on the beach and after getting a Mexican takeaway, we sat as a family and watched the sun set. The sun disappeared so fast that by the time we ate our burritos, it was dark... and the party began!
The market came to life with the music of the didgeridoos and the laughter of the locals. The lights were switched on, the stalls were opened and the city was illuminated. There was a fire juggling duo, a world buffet of food stalls and a whole host of stalls displaying Darwin's culture. We probably spent the most we've ever spent at a market, buying jewelry, aboriginal art, food, instruments and a couple of other things. Although, having said that, we were trying to use up the last of our dollars before we flew to Singapore!
To finish off the night, we returned to the entrance of the market where a drum and didgeridoo double act were playing. To my delight it turned in to a bit of a street party and the local aboriginals came down and danced with us. Although a little drunk, they were brill! They absolutely made my day. When the music finished, we walked back to the hotel, packed our bags and went to bed to get some sleep, ready for the next leg of our summer adventure.
Arizona
