Darwin and Kakadu National Park

Morning everyone - it's 4 a.m. at the Changi Airport in Singapore, and the internet here is free, so I thought I would try and catch us up.

We left Brisbane having once again changed our schedule to delete Cairns. Australia is so big; you really need more time to get a good feel for it. After waving Maggie and Mike goodbye we headed out to the airport (where there was a huge - by Brisbane's standards - back up of traffic due to a crack in an off ramp) and made it by the skin of our teeth onto a plane to Darwin.

Now, this wasn't just any old plane to Darwin, this was one that was going to give us a 6 hour layover in Cairns. So armed with credit card, once we reached Cairns we hired a car and drove into town for lunch (and a side trip to the mall to pick up some well deserved "bling" for Lynne). As you can imagine, this short layover turned into an expensive side trip! Then on to Darwin airport.

We piled all the cases (6 of them) and the backpacks (3 of them) and the two laptops and digital camera (plus lenses of course) into the car, leaving a small space for Fiona and headed out to the Darwin. Darwin has the largest increase in population over the last few years, mainly in 18-25 year olds, so lots of nightlife but not too much else. The hotel we stayed at was not really customer friendly and next day we left for Kakadu National Park on our own.

Note to self: Next time, rent a 4WD!

We drove for 2 or 3 hours to get into the park and on the way passed the sign John had been waiting for - no speed limit. Yes, that's right you can drive at any speed you like, which John did with glee. He topped the car out at 185 kilometers per hour before I was able to overcome the "g" force and ask him to return to a more reasonable 160 kph. (Check out the picture).

We once again chose a Youth Hostel, although this time it was a two bedroomed air conditioned bungalow. You can see how grand it. Fiona had her own room at last! The bathroom and shower was outside in a separate room to keep all water thirsty creatures away from the inside of the house. We only took one organized trip this time and that was on the yellow river, where we saw a few crocodiles, but masses of birds.

This was the day where we saw both the sun rise and the sun set. It was a spectacular day and Fiona had an epiphany that day. While we were sitting atop Ubirr rock (having walked around and been told about the aboriginal art work and their rock/cave homes) Fiona said "there’s a lot of world out there". She was looking out on the bush, as far as the eye could see and the sun was setting and she had just heard great stories about the rock art of the aborigines, and it came to her that we were on the other side of the world doing this! Out of the mouths of babes.

I mentioned that we only did one organized trip, but our hostel manager suggested that we go out to Cahill Crossing, as we hadn’t seen many crocs on our Yellow River trip. We took off and we rewarded by a dozen of these huge beasts – one even crossed the road in front of us!

I could go on about what we saw and learned in Kakadu and how it changed us and our attitudes, but we'll save that for when we come home. One of the amazing natural sights was the termite cathedrals. These are huge (over 6 feet high) termite castles that are everywhere. They just look like cathedrals on the side of the road. Some of the small ones were also in rings, much like Stonehenge. Mother Nature is wonderful

I will also say that when we drove into the park there were fires everywhere and the "American" in us thought that because of this, the park would be closed. But Aborigines look at these fires very differently, as almost a season, and by the time we left we had more of an appreciation of how they lived with the land, and when we saw the fires burning, it actually made us smile. This was just the land regenerating itself.

Back to Darwin, and it happened to be the last Mindil Beach night market. So we drove over. This is like a farmers market with music, and on the beach! As we walked over we heard a didgeridoo being played. It turned out to be five different didgeridoos! We listened to the band (Emdee) for a while, and ended up buying their CD - Nikki, you will love it; the lead singer was very much like a young Gwen Stefani. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the camera, so it was only mental pictures. For those of you wondering - here’s some info on didgeridoos.

WHAT IS A DIDGERIDOO?

The didgeridoo is a long wooden flute, perhaps the oldest musical instrument on earth.

Traditionally, an Aborigine would go into nature and listen intensely to animal sounds, not just voices but also the flapping of wings or the thump of feet on the ground. The Aborigine would also listen to the sounds of wind, thunder, trees creaking, and water running. The essences of all these sounds were played with as much accuracy as possible within the droning sound of the didgeridoo.

10 DIDGERIDOO FACTS

1. Possibly the world's oldest musical instrument

2. A wind instrument originally found in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia.

3. Is made from limbs and tree trunks hollowed out by termites.

4. Is cut to an average length of 1.3 meters and cleaned out with a stick or hot coals.

5. Was used as an accompaniment to chants and songs.

6. Produces a low-pitch, resonant sound with complex rhythmic patterns.

7. In certain tribal groups only played by men.

8. Traditional various forms at the didgeridoo were found in Central Australia around Alice Springs.

9. The Didgeridoo is the sound of Australia.

10. If the earth had a voice it would be the sound of the Didgeridoo.

Whilst at Mindil Beach, we watched the most amazing sunset on the beach along with 500 other people. It surprised me that no one clapped at the end - it was so beautiful.

As John and I were admiring the sunset and thinking how lucky we were, Fiona had found a juggling stall and it turned out that the guy owning it was going to do a fire show later on. We stayed for that, which was great. We also ended up buying a picture at the market which all three of us fell in love with - it reflects our feelings about Australia. When we get back you'll have to come by and see it.

Note to Pat Marr and Gibb: Imagine going to the Rooster on the beach! This was what this market was like, it was singing and dancing (mainly kids) and eating, drinking and good company - you would have loved it.

Well, that was our final day in Australia - we left the next morning for Singapore. Australia was great, and we will be back. It’s not just the country, but the people and the way they live on the land that touched us most. Definitely not to have been missed.

………………Lynne