Crown Princess Postcard #22 – Darwin, Australia

As we were coming into Darwin this morning at 5:30 I was just about coming to but at 6:00 we were roused from our bed by the Rick Wakeman of didgeridoo players who proceeded to launch into some pretty impressive tunes along with a hearty “welcome to Darwin” at the end of his performance.

After an early breakfast it was back to the cabin to gather our things for our excursion today. Our meeting point was just outside the terminal at 8:00 am with a company called Lichfield Park Adventures who like us arrived almost bang on time. There were 19 of us on this tour today with one guide who was also our driver. His name was Aaron and he quickly established the fact he was going to be a great guide as we made our way to Lichfield Park.

During the journey he gave us some good information about Darwin and the local area while at the same time being very entertaining. The drive to the national park took just over an hour and a half through the bush along lots of pretty much deserted straight roads. We paused a couple of times to view some of the wildlife and in particular Wallabies and Wallaroos.

There were three stops in the park today and at all of them there was the opportunity to go swimming. So, our first stop was at Wangi Falls which was pretty spectacular even though it had not rained much in the last 7 months.

Aaron showed us some of the native trees and explained some of the details about them some of which had certain medical uses. I decided not to go in the water at the first one choosing to explore and take a few photos but Nicole made straight for the pool and was soon enjoying a cool dip. I found some impressive looking webs with spiders and there were also lots of Fruit Bats hanging from the trees.

After about an hour we travelled another 22 km to our second stop which went by the name of Buley Rock Hole, this was a series of plunge pools and this time I succumbed and followed Nicole into the water.

We enjoyed 45 minutes here and then gathered near the car park where Aaron had prepared a picnic lunch for us all. It also gave us time to dry off which didn’t take long at all.

Our next stop was only a short drive and probably my favourite, it was about 4 km down stream and another spectacular place called Florence Falls. There were two options for getting down to the pool and we took the shortest one which involved 100 or so steps down a metal staircase.

The other route being flatter and much longer which is how we got back to the bus afterwards. This was the busiest of the three places and easy to understand why as it was an amazing setting and the water was cool and refreshing on the skin. I quickly took several photos before eventually joining Nicole in the water. Like the first stop there were lots of Fruit Bats hanging in the trees presumably making the most of the cooler temperature near the water.

Once back to the bus it was time to make our way back to Darwin with a couple of stops along the way, one to visit some Magnetic Termite Mounds, one for a refreshing drink at a small town called Bachelor and lastly a quick one to look at a Bowerbird nest which was absolutely fascinating. Built by the male in order to attract a partner. We were told that if you moved stuff around, it would end up exactly in the same place when the Bowerbird returned.

We were back onboard just after 6:00 and ready to eat, the ship wasn’t due to leave until 10:00 but we decided that by the time we had changed and got ready, had something to eat it wouldn’t have been worth the effort as most of not all of the places we wanted to see would have been closed long ago. As it happens another medical emergency happened and we didn’t set sail until nearly midnight.

A fantastic day today and great fun.

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