Kakadu Adventure

The final three days of our tour were spent in Kakadu and Litchfield national parks. I had heard loads about Kakadu and maybe was expecting too much from it.

Our lovely group of nine was expanded to a group of 16, which was the full capacity of the crappy 4WD bus we had. We managed to get the worst seats on the bus which were hot, cramped and smelly, and when you’re driving nearly 7 hours in the day, that is not ideal!! It was me and four big lads in a space that should really only be for three normal sized people with no legs!!

But anyway, despite the tiredness, the discomfort and the effort of having to be nice to new people (yeah, we’re awful, we were so content in our little group), we made the most out of the first day.

It being Steve Irwin’s first anniversary it was quite fitting that our guide ‘Clancy from ‘Stralia’ was almost a reincarnation of the man himself! He looks slightly like him and definitely has his character. He really loves Australia and nature and wildlife, and his enthusiasm was infectious. Within ten minutes of getting on the bus, he’d pulled up on the side of the road, and was climbing up a tree to catch this lizard to show us!!

First stop was a crocodile boat trip, and this sounds so awful, but I was actually so tired I was falling asleep on the boat! Plus, it was very similar to the crocodile trip I’d been on in Daintree last year. There was one exciting bit though when a 6 metre croc jumped up at our boat, so quick though that most people didn’t even realise til after it was gone.

Kakadu is a massive national park, probably about one third the size of Ireland, that is famous for its flora and fauna and aboriginal culture. On the first day we saw some pretty cool rock art that dates back thousands of years.

Campsites in Kakadu weren’t as good as the ones we’d been used to. We had to share 4-6 to a tent and share the showers and toilets with creepy crawlies!! But the food was still great. I would say I have put on so much weight on this tour, its non-stop eating!!

On Wednesday we made the long rocky 4WD journey to the idyllic Jim Jim Falls. This is the picture on every postcard of Kakadu. However, the waterfall only falls in the wet season but is not accessible then, so you can only actually get to the falling waterfall for two weeks of every year!! Still the waterhole is amazing, like paradise. We had to walk a long rocky walk to get there, so really felt we were being rewarded when we got to the end!

On Thursday we left Kakadu for Litchfield, and even though Litchfield is a lot smaller and less famous, its way nicer. Our group was down from 16 to 10 (us nine and a Spanish guy) so it was a lot more manageable and fun. Over the nine days our group really got to know each other very well, especially us and the Irish girls and so by the end we were bouncing off each other perfectly and all knew our way of doing things. It really felt like being in the Big Brother house, well actually no, a bit more like ‘I’m a Celebrity: Get me Out of Here’. We definitely feel like we’ve made some amazing new friends.

Anyway, back to Litchfield, we stopped in three waterholes, two of which were fantastic waterfalls. The water was so warm and the whole place looked like paradise. And yes, I managed to not injure myself, thanks to all the warnings, well I did fall flat on my arse on rocks at one stage, bash my knee in the water at another and fall over a tree stump at another, but nothing too serious like what happened to Ruth’s Denis there or Enda at the falls on the Great Ocean Road!

Thursday night we arrived back in Darwin and were all up for a mad night to celebrate getting through our nine days! We started off at the night markets in Darwin which are great. Half the population of the Northern Territory live in Darwin and all of them seem to go to these night markets every Thursday. Its right on the beach.

Our shithole of a hostel (The Cavenagh) has Darwin’s ‘best’ bar (doesn’t say much for Darwin) so started our drinking there, then the hardiest of us headed on the Kitty O’Sheas (of course) and the even hardier still ended up in the Vic, which has to the shittest nightclub in the world ever!! But we had a great laugh, getting pissed and trying to figure out the locals!!