Break 2 Wrap Up

Our last morning on the Kakadu tour had a more leisurely start. First off we headed to Yellow Waters. There was a lovely boardwalk through the marsh with lots of birds - but we failed to spot any crocodiles or snakes this time round.

Next we stopped at the roadside for a wander through the termite mounds. They were quite similar to the cathedral termite mounds we had seen in Litchfield park, towering up to 12 feet or more.

Then we were off to Maguk, aka Barramundi Gorge for another climbing hike and falls. We had a swim up at the top pools. This waterfall was a bit different than the others. The top pool was sort of a deep elongated river with steep walls up the edge and underwater tunnels.

Some of the group did some rock scaling along the edges, falling back into the water when their grip gave out. Patrick joined some of the group who dove into a deep pool which had an underwater tunnel into the main stream. Steve had the whole group of us lay down across the stream and block the water from the waterfall also. It was lots of fun to then jump up and run over to the edge to watch the wall of water hit the edge and push the waterfall several feet further out.

After a quick stop for some snacks, we stopped at Fog Dam. This was an interesting place where they had built a dam back in the 1950's hoping to flood the land to grow rice. After a couple of years of limited return and several lost staff due to crocodile attacks, they finally gave up on the idea. But the dam is still there and the area is now a wonderful sanctuary for the local wildlife. The place was swarming with busloads of people. Some not so knowledged folks were wandering almost into the water where salties are rampant. Amazingly they all came out alive – especially the old guy who wandered far out into the marsh alone for bird photos. Natural selection failed on this occasion.

Our last stop was at aboriginal art store where Pat bought himself his 'big' souvenir - an aboriginal painting. The shop also had emus (babies running around), a baby wallaby, a pink & grey galah, a red tailed black cockatoo and lizards and snakes to entertain those who were waiting for the shoppers.

Then the exhausted bunch of us were back to Darwin to go our separate ways - and a much appreciated shower. The four of us were then off to dinner to Thailicious which fulfilled its name before an early bed.

We had one day left in Darwin - we slept in a little bit till almost 8am. We headed to Monty's (we tried to buy one of their custom t-shirts, but no luck!) for breakfast which was just outside of the local bookstore. Patrick was in line waiting for the store to open to pick up his copy of the latest Harry Potter. He thought it would be his flight reading material, but he had it finished by mid morning the next day! While Patrick read, the rest of us went off to do some shopping. We spent the day browsing around Darwin and just relaxing around the cafes. Kyle caught up on some of his internet access with his friends and Mike and I caught up on our diary and photo editing. Sunday morning we were up and off to the airport to return to Perth.

By the time we landed, Kyle was well into Harry Potter....