Jumping crocodiles 🐊 Need we say more!

First some history: WWII was the first, (and thankfully only), time the Australian mainland has been attacked by a foreign nation when Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin Harbour. We were surprised to learn they were the same force that attacked Pearl Harbour just ten weeks before- but they dropped more than twice as many bombs on Darwin!

Today, Darwin has a beautiful waterfront and the highlight for the kids was the massive inflatable floating whatchamacallit…

A morning full of crocodiles 🐊 at Crocodylus Park, an afternoon thankfully crocodile free at Berry Springs Nature Park. Both places were fantastic! The kids got to feed a croc each at Crocodylus, as well as hold a baby croc and a python. The park was also a pretty impressive zoo, with a great primate section as well as lions, tigers and plenty of native Australian animals. Berry Springs had a lovely massaging waterfall at the top and a couple of large swimming holes further down. There was also a picnic area, bathrooms and a kiosk. A great day, and we haven’t even gotten into Darwin yet!

We enjoyed our time in Kakadu, but being restricted to only travelling on sealed roads with the Motorhome we know we missed a lot. Still, at Cahills Crossing on the Alligator River, (the guys who named these places made some mistakes 😂) we got to see our first in-the-wild crocodile lurking near the bank. We also completed some hikes and saw Aboriginal shelters and cave art, and the views from any hill or peak were always amazing. Then, while we were enjoying a walk around Anbangbang Billabong we were happy to see pelicans, jabiru and emu, but the highlight of Kakadu was getting to see a crocodile attack, catch and then start munching on a huge snake…. 🐊🐍

Not a whole lot of variety with the weather here in the dry season either!

What a stunning spot! About 60km north of Katherine, Edith Falls is the type of place where you arrive in the morning and then somehow the sun is setting and you don’t know where the day went. The 2.6km Leliyn trail is a looped hiking trail which takes you to the upper pools and then back down to the lake at the base of the falls. You MUST put this on your travel list, one of our best days yet 😍

A few big days of driving saw us leave the blue of the Pacific and return to the red of Australia’s centre. The cure for all that driving was wallowing in water that matched the air temperature! We visited 3 such places- Mataranka thermal pool, Bitter Springs thermal pools and Katherine Hot Springs. All three places are natural thermal springs, roughly 34°C all year round.

Mataranka was our least favourite. It was basically the size of a large swimming pool and surrounded by palm tree detritus. It was the warmest of the 3, because it was the smallest area and the water was very still. It was also the most popular- a very safe environment for families with small children and older visitors who may have difficulties getting to places off the beaten track. Katherine Hot Springs had separate pools and there was a better water flow bringing the temperature down a few degrees… which in fact was much more pleasant. Being the dry season the water was quite low in places and you had to scramble over the rocks in shallow water to get to the next pool. Bitter Springs was the best of the three. It had a nice current and good depth- you could enter the water at one end, float down the length of the Springs, climb out the other end and repeat!

It is time to say goodbye to the Pacific Ocean and the east coast of Australia. The west beckons…

NT and WA suggestions welcome 👍

So around 90 years ago, a Spaniard named Jose Paronella decided to build castles, bridges and gardens in the rainforest and use the waterfall next door to create hydroelectricity… as you do. Unfortunately, as he was neither a builder or an engineer, his concreting wasn’t up to scratch. Combine that with the amount of rain and regular cyclones North Queensland gets every year and it’s pretty amazing anything is still standing today. But amazing is definitely the right word to describe this place! We booked an overnight stay which gave us access to the grounds, a day tour of the park, entry to the museum, a tour of the hydro station and a night tour of the park which ended with a performance by the String family with synchronised lighting in front of the castle. Another stop we highly recommend.

PS How’s the casual racism from The Sunday Mail in 1935! (Last 2 pics)

A couple of months ago, the World Rafting Championships were held on the Tully River, today it was our turn to take on the rapids! The Tully River is Australia’s premier rafting location, with grade 3-4 rapids and stunning views of world heritage-listed rainforests of the Tully Gorge National Park. Big thanks to Raging Thunder Adventures and our guide, Angelo… this was definitely one of the best days we’ve had on this trip 🌊🚣‍♀️

Fitzroy Island is a 45 minute cruise off the coast. On the way out heavy rain dampened more than spirits but by the time we got to the island the rain had stopped and as morning became afternoon we saw more and more sun. We kept ourselves busy with a bushwalk, glass bottom boat tour, bouncing off an ocean trampoline, kayaking and snorkelling around the rocks at Nudey Beach. The day flew by! Upon our return we thought it only fair the fish feasted on James’ feet at the Cairns night markets.