RTW - Australia -Darwin
Door: Bart
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Bart
05 Oktober 2017 | Australië, Darwin
Hi everyone,
After a few years of silence I resuscitated my personal reports-website, and changed the name, so we can use it for our trip "Around The World".
(Focussed on the Pacific)
If you want to stay up to date with our adventures, you can always subscribe to the mailinglist on the lefthand side of the website.
Then you will get an automatic e-mail every time we post a new report.
We left Belgium on the 28th of September for a 5-month-trip.
We start with Australia (Darwin - Alice Springs - Cairns - East Coast - Sydney & Melbourne).
Then we continue our trip to New Zealand, where I will guide my anual trip for Joker ( a Belgian Tour-Operator) and Katrien will be 1 of the 11 participants.
After the group returns to Belgium, we continue our trip to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Easter Island, Chile, and we finish with Hawaii... :-):-)
Our first stop was Darwin.
When we arrived, we were really surprised by the size of Darwin. Much smaller than we expected. About 150.000 people.
Our first day we've spend there with just walking around, exploring everything, and trying to get a little bit used to the heat and humidity.
(Temperatures around 35 (even at night still 28); humidity around 70-80%)
The next day we were picked up really early for our 5-day adventure to some National Parks (NP). (Organisation: www.adventuretours.com.au)
We had a nice, small group of 8 people, and 1 Tourguide.
After meeting our group and leader Tom, we left Darwin and traveled into Wulna Country, where we receive a Cul Cul ('Welcome to Country') by the traditional owners of the land, the Limilngan-Wulna people. (1 of the Aboriginal- tribes) We learned about their ancient culture, got some didgeridoo demonstration and basket weaving.
Really interesting to get some more information about their customs, and way of living. And the difficult balance between their heritage and modern life.
Next stop was the Mary River wetlands system, which has the highest concentration of saltwater crocodiles in the southern hemisphere.
We went on a Corroboree Billabong Cruise, where we saw a lot of birds and about 8 Saltwater-Crocs.
(The largest one was probably around 3,5 meters)
Late in the afternoon we arrived at Ubirr, where we saw the vivid Aboriginal rock art that dates back over 20,000 years. Amazing to see these old Aboriginal paintings, with some interesting information from our Tourguide Tom.
In the evening we slept close to Jabiru, just inside Kakadu NP, in a permanent Bush Camp where we enjoyed a romantic night in a tent, while a heavy tropical storm came over our campsite.
Early the next morning we traveled to the Jim Jim Falls. Unfortunately on the gravel-road to the Jim Jim Falls Walk, we broke our gear-box. Luckily Tom was able to fix it himselve, so we only lost about 1 hour.
After a nice, rewarding walk, we arrived at the Jim Jim Falls for a refreshing swim.
Then we drove back to our camp for another swim, and a nice diner.
Day 3 we started with a nice, warm hike through the Barramundi Gorge (Maguk) and at the end, indeed, another swim.
(Bear in mind that the temperature is now everyday around 40 degrees, with still really high humidity. So we took every opportunity to swim, to get some refreshment in the croc-save-zone we could find)
So, in the afternoon, we drove to Leliyn, and had another swim at the Edith Falls.
On the way back to our camp, we had a short stop at the historic gold-mining centre of Pine Creek.
After another nice diner, we had a small campfire at our Bush Camp, at Nitmiluk National Park.
Day 4 we started with a nice hike at Katherine Gorge. (Without a swim :-)).
So, in the afternoon we had a stop at the Katherine HotSprings before driving to the edge of Litchfield NP for another Bush Camp.
Day 5 we did our best to do a few swims in a row in Litchfield NP.
We started with the Florence Falls, walked then 1,6 km to the Buley RockHoles, finishing off with the Wangi Falls.
Then we drove back to Darwin where we said goodbye to an amazing group, and Tourguide, who really made this a great trip for us, which we really enjoyed.
We finished the evening together with a few members of the group at the local Sunset FoodMarket at Mindil Beach.
The next morning we flew from Darwin to Alice Springs for our next adventure... :-)!
After a few years of silence I resuscitated my personal reports-website, and changed the name, so we can use it for our trip "Around The World".
(Focussed on the Pacific)
If you want to stay up to date with our adventures, you can always subscribe to the mailinglist on the lefthand side of the website.
Then you will get an automatic e-mail every time we post a new report.
We left Belgium on the 28th of September for a 5-month-trip.
We start with Australia (Darwin - Alice Springs - Cairns - East Coast - Sydney & Melbourne).
Then we continue our trip to New Zealand, where I will guide my anual trip for Joker ( a Belgian Tour-Operator) and Katrien will be 1 of the 11 participants.
After the group returns to Belgium, we continue our trip to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Easter Island, Chile, and we finish with Hawaii... :-):-)
Our first stop was Darwin.
When we arrived, we were really surprised by the size of Darwin. Much smaller than we expected. About 150.000 people.
Our first day we've spend there with just walking around, exploring everything, and trying to get a little bit used to the heat and humidity.
(Temperatures around 35 (even at night still 28); humidity around 70-80%)
The next day we were picked up really early for our 5-day adventure to some National Parks (NP). (Organisation: www.adventuretours.com.au)
We had a nice, small group of 8 people, and 1 Tourguide.
After meeting our group and leader Tom, we left Darwin and traveled into Wulna Country, where we receive a Cul Cul ('Welcome to Country') by the traditional owners of the land, the Limilngan-Wulna people. (1 of the Aboriginal- tribes) We learned about their ancient culture, got some didgeridoo demonstration and basket weaving.
Really interesting to get some more information about their customs, and way of living. And the difficult balance between their heritage and modern life.
Next stop was the Mary River wetlands system, which has the highest concentration of saltwater crocodiles in the southern hemisphere.
We went on a Corroboree Billabong Cruise, where we saw a lot of birds and about 8 Saltwater-Crocs.
(The largest one was probably around 3,5 meters)
Late in the afternoon we arrived at Ubirr, where we saw the vivid Aboriginal rock art that dates back over 20,000 years. Amazing to see these old Aboriginal paintings, with some interesting information from our Tourguide Tom.
In the evening we slept close to Jabiru, just inside Kakadu NP, in a permanent Bush Camp where we enjoyed a romantic night in a tent, while a heavy tropical storm came over our campsite.
Early the next morning we traveled to the Jim Jim Falls. Unfortunately on the gravel-road to the Jim Jim Falls Walk, we broke our gear-box. Luckily Tom was able to fix it himselve, so we only lost about 1 hour.
After a nice, rewarding walk, we arrived at the Jim Jim Falls for a refreshing swim.
Then we drove back to our camp for another swim, and a nice diner.
Day 3 we started with a nice, warm hike through the Barramundi Gorge (Maguk) and at the end, indeed, another swim.
(Bear in mind that the temperature is now everyday around 40 degrees, with still really high humidity. So we took every opportunity to swim, to get some refreshment in the croc-save-zone we could find)
So, in the afternoon, we drove to Leliyn, and had another swim at the Edith Falls.
On the way back to our camp, we had a short stop at the historic gold-mining centre of Pine Creek.
After another nice diner, we had a small campfire at our Bush Camp, at Nitmiluk National Park.
Day 4 we started with a nice hike at Katherine Gorge. (Without a swim :-)).
So, in the afternoon we had a stop at the Katherine HotSprings before driving to the edge of Litchfield NP for another Bush Camp.
Day 5 we did our best to do a few swims in a row in Litchfield NP.
We started with the Florence Falls, walked then 1,6 km to the Buley RockHoles, finishing off with the Wangi Falls.
Then we drove back to Darwin where we said goodbye to an amazing group, and Tourguide, who really made this a great trip for us, which we really enjoyed.
We finished the evening together with a few members of the group at the local Sunset FoodMarket at Mindil Beach.
The next morning we flew from Darwin to Alice Springs for our next adventure... :-)!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
