Finally Blending In

mmm buffalo meat
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So I got on the plane and the next thing I knew I was waking up two hours later. I had no idea we even took off. I napped a little bit more at the end of the flight (the empty seat next to me was very helpful) and then got on a shuttle to the city when we landed. The place I'm staying is ok - I'm honestly not excited about going back to dorm living after having my own bathrooms for so long. It happens though. I bought a pair of jeans that fit! I can't tell you how exciting that is after my size not existing in Asia. I also bought some stuff at a camping store that I need - sleeping bag, waterproof bag etc. I went to the tourist information office to book a trip into Kakadu National Park, which was expensive, but it's supposed to be incredible. So I booked that and then took myself out to dinner where I read a book until 8 when I dedcided it was respectable for me to take a shower and go to bed. Anyway, the first night I was there I went to bed super early and ended up sleeping for about 13 hours. Apparently I needed to play catchup.

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Tuesday I just wandered around the town looking for socks and shorts. I really didn't do anything. I had to reorganize my whole packing system because I needed to bring a small bag out into Kakadu, so I had to rearrange everything, which was horrible. I have such a system of how everything goes in my bag that reorganizing sucked. I got it done though. I went to a medical clinic to get a new prescription for the last of the antibiotics which are working I am happy to say. I had to wait an hour for a three minute appointment and pay A$70. boo. I didn't get back from the doctor until 8:30, and I was supposed to meet two of the girls from my room at a pub at 7:30 but I decided food was more important. So I had dinner, showered, and got in bed early - the trip leaves at 6:30am.

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Wednesday I got up at 5:45 to get to Kakadu. I can't tell you how painful that was. I packed up all my stuff, stored my big bag in the hostel, checked out and waited for the tour. We got picked up by our self-proclaimed "super guide in the super truck" Nick. He had WAY too much energy for that early in the morning. Especially because I couldn't find any coffee. After picking up another few people and dropping off our receipts, he drove us to the beach where we met two aboriginal guys. They were actually mixed aboriginal, australian, and filipino, but they taught us some traditional things from their culture. They gave us coffee also. Thank god. I wouldn't have survived. We learned to play the digeridoo, which I am really bad at, but I kind of want to buy one and learn. They are made in trees being eaten by termites, so the branch ends up hollow. The legend is that they cut the branch off and blow the termites towards the sky to get them out and that's how stars are formed. We also learned a traditional contraceptive method which is gross and painful sounding - they drill a hole in the base of a mans penis so he has to cover it for things to come out the end.... otherwise they come out the top. I would think it would be terribly painful. I'll leave it at that. Then we learned traditional spear throwing, which I am worse at than the dige. It was fun, and we threw as many as we could before a massive storm rolled in and caught us on the beach. While it was POURING we learned how to make traditional necklaces with shells. By the time Nick came back to pick us up we were totally drenched. Some people changed, but I figured my clothes would dry better on me than in my bag. From there we went on a jumping crocodile cruise. We took a boat up the Adelaide River, and the driver would put buffalo meat on the end of a wire and stick and make the crocs jump out of the river to get it. He also tossed some into the air for eagles and kites to catch. Crocs are SUPER creepy and damn can they jump out of the water. So from there we drove to where we were going to have lunch - a wetland east of the South Alligator River, but the road was closed, so we went to a picnic spot in Jabiru instead - a uranium mining town. Our lunch was good - we had sandwiches with tons of fresh vegetables. After lunch we got ready to go for a hike and drove over to Anbangbang billabong. We hiked up Nawurlandja Lookout, which was beautiful. The first leg we did was on the trail, the trail being a giant flat rock with no shade at all, which was deathly hot. Then we went off into the bush. Nick took us to see some aboriginal paintings that are very far out of the way, so few people go there. We sat there under the rock they were painted on and rested before doing the final leg to the top of the lookout. The top was in the blistering sun, but it was beautiful. It looked over Nourlangie Rock and Anbangbang Billabong - it was a 360 degree view waaaaay above the rest of the surrounding land. And it was hot. I can't express the amount of hotness. We stayed up there in the shade of a tiny tree for a while and then started the trek back down through the bush. From there we drove over to Nourlangie Rock, where the touristed aboriginal rock paintings are. While we were there looking at the paintings we saw reddish brown ants with a green butt. When you squeeze their upper bodies and lick their butt it tastes like lemon. I licked an ant's butt! You can eat them too but mine bit me before I could get it in my mouth so I dropped it. Oh well. It really did taste like lemon though. We were going from there to a swimming hole which was a long drive away, but we didn't make it before dark. We made it in time to a lookout for the sunset near where we were staying. We got to the Mary River Roadhouse, put our stuff in the dorms and I took a MUCH needed shower before helping to get dinner together. We had burritos which tasted incredible. Then we sat outside and looked at constellations, frogs, and other nighttime critters. The stars were amazing - I saw the southern cross and the milky way was incredibly pronounced. Something about being in the absolute middle of nowhere. I went to bed at 11 not excited about the 6am start.

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So 6am came way too early for me. Our room was so cold I couldn't sleep (stupid A/C being on too high) but apparently the other room had someone who kept turning the A/C down and it was hot and smelly. So I think I got the best deal. I got up and packed up my stuff before shoving down some cornflakes and coffee. We drove about 45 minutes to the Yurmikmik area to start our long hike. We went by the base of the trail to Motorcar Falls and headed into the bush. We went through the bush for two and a half hours in the blistering heat. The end was a good reward though - we got to an incredible swimming hole. It was in a really big flat rock with a 30 foot waterfall coming into it and a HUGE waterfall flowing out of it. The water was perfect. Unfortunately there was no shade, so we swam and ate some fruit before heading back the way we came. The way back felt like it took much shorter, which was good since it was probably 100 degrees. We went to Motorcar Falls for lunch, which was breathtaking. It was the most perfect swimming spot I've ever seen. And I've seen some nice places. Two sides were 150 foot cliffs, and a waterfall ran down the middle of them into the enormous, clear pool. The other sides are surrounded by big boulders and rocks (keeping the crocs out) and there are nice rocks to lie on and plenty of shade. It was deep enough to dive right off the rocks. It was perfect. The flies weren't even that bad. We had lunch there and swam and lay on the rocks for a few hours before hiking back out to the truck. The hike back out was torturous. Most of us were exhausted and unhappy when we got back. After being nice and cool from swimming the long walk out in the sun sucked. So we drove to another waterfall which was supposed to be an easy walk in. We went the wrong way though, so we ended up climbing up over the rocks to get to it instead of on the beaten track. I love climbing near rivers and stuff, so it was great for me. The waterfall was much smaller, but was gorgeous. The flies were awful. They try to get in your ears, nose and eyes and are SUPER annoying. I was laying on a rock with my feet in the water, and I can deal with the little flies, but then I got bitten by a big-ass marsh fly - it drew blood! So I thought maybe I could trick the flies if I went across the river and lay on the other side where there weren't any people. It worked for about 45 minutes and then the big sucker found me again. So I found a spot in the river where I could sit in the water in the sun with my back against a rock and fell asleep. Yeah I fell asleep in the swimming hole. It was awesome. From there we went back to the truck and drove to another swimming hole with a waterfall which was also incredible, although we didn't have time to swim because seven of us had to head back to Darwin, while six were staying for another day. So the seven of us crammed in the back of a landrover with all of our stuff and sideways facing seats which was nice and squishy. We did it in two legs; after an hour and a half we stopped for a much needed leg stretch since we couldn't really move while we were in there. We got back to Darwin a little after 9. I checked back into my hostel and went to the grocery store with one of the guys from the trip to find a small dinner before showering and passing out. Kakadu was AMAZING.

jump croc jump!
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Friday I woke up with a nasty cold. My throat was so dry I thought it was going to crack and crumble (stupid sleeping with my mouth open with A/C) so I didn't do much. I went out to breakfast, got my flashlight fixed, and went to the park to catch up on my journal. The park was awesome, I brought some fresh plums and sat overlooking the harbor (in the shade. I like shade) and caught up on my journal. I went for my free dinner with a bunch of people from the tour and had a few drinks before going to bed early - just as I was leaving we won a $50 bar tab... but my cold told me to go to bed! I checked out Saturday morning, had breakfast and got on the bus.