Arriving in Darwin

Set off from Berry Springs for Darwin which is about a 45 minute drive, along the way we came across a WWII airfield which is alongside the Stuart Highway. Strauss Airfield was used by Spitfires and P40, most of the actual runway is still there, there was another one about 10km down the highway. It was then onto the Big 4 at Howard Springs, we got a nice site close to the pool and amenities, after a cooling dip we ventured into Darwin to have a sticky around.

Adelaide River jumping Crocodiles

Today we drove to the Adelaide river just past Humpty Doo to go on a Jumping Crocodile boat tour, this was the original tour started and is still the best, very personalised, 25 max on the boat not 75 like the other two.

 We firstly went downstream and saw a couple of medium sized females, the chap that runs it has named each croc, because they are very territorial he knows each one.

Along the way he stops and has a couple of Kites that he has trained to take meat from the boat and also catching it in flight.

Then it's back upstream to where the big male croc's are, today only one came out, it is the largest and oldest in this part of the river, "Brutus" is a bit of a celebrity having made the Northern Territory Times a couple of weeks ago when he was caught on film catching and killing a wild pig. Brutus is over 5 meters long.

Then there are the smaller ones, this one is about 4 years old.

Then there where some more medium sized females.

And I didn't feed Chris to the croc's.

Berry Springs - Northern Territory

Thursday - Today we moved back into partial suburbia, having left Litchfield we headed towards Darwin and ended up at Berry Springs which is about one and half hours southwest, we cannot get into the caravan park at Howard Springs until Saturday, when we did the planning we didn't realise it was NT school holidays so we thought it safer to book as we will be in Darwin for 5 nights, booking somewhere does leave you with less flexibility in your travel plans. We booked into The Lakes CP which is not that flash, they write them up better than what they are, but we only need a place to sleep so we will put up with it.

We decided to go to Mandorah which is on the western side of Darwin Harbour, as we found out there is not much there except a pub and ferry terminal. The pub was the go for lunch, the Barra and salad was pretty good and the beer was cold, you know your in the top end when they ask if you want a "cooler" (Stubby holder) with your beers.

On the way back we came across a WWII site of a crashed Liberator Bomber, it crashed on a  training run in 1942, only the previous week it had encountered and shot down 2 Japanese fighters whilst returning from a mission to Java. You had to go a fair way into the scrub to find the site.

On our way back we went to Berry Springs Nature Park, there are swimming holes, one thing you can say for the NT Dept of Conservation, they look after their parks. It was well set out with plenty of BBQ and areas where families could picnic, also access to the pools was excellent with concrete steps and proper access ladders. At 4.30pm the temperature was still 30 degrees so the swim was very refreshing, tomorrow we are going to head out the Arnham Hwy towards the Adelaide river to look at the jumping croc's and other touristy things.

Touring Litchfield

Wednesday - today we where tourists like the 100's of others driving around, we had to get used to having so many people around us again.

 Firstly we visited the magnetic termite mounds, standing up to 2 meters in height, they are in a north-south orientation and only found in this area, This acts as a built in temperature control mechanism, allowing only the least possible surface area to be exposed to the heat of the sun. Other types of terminate mounds are called cathedral mounds.

Next it was Florence Falls which has a spectacular double waterfall set amid a monsoon rainforest.

Next was Buley Rockhole which is a series of small waterfalls and rockholes that provide a perfect spot to have a cooling swim, it was surprising how deep some of the pools where, Chris crossed off her bucket list a swim under a waterfall. The temperature again today was in the low 30's.

Next leg on the tour agenda was the Lost City, only accessible on a rough track by 4wd. Reminiscent of the ruins of some lost civilisation, it's a formation of sandstone blocks and majestic pillars guarded by a stone centinal ( you have to use your imagination a bit).

Last stop off today was the ruins of the old Blythe Homestead built in 1928 by the Sergeant family as an out station to the main homestead some 25km away, it was used by the children as a refuge whilst they worked the adjacent Tin mine  which was established in 1888. To get to the homestead you travel along a very rough track only accessable again by 4wd, and required two deep creek crossings, certainly giving the 4wd a workout. The homestead was eventually abandoned in the 1960's.