Kakadu and Lichfield National Parks

Rolling into Darwin was a relief, as a tour group we had amassed some serious KM’s after leaving Alice Springs. Again we met up for a farewell meal in one of Darwin’s nightspots before preparing for the final leg of my 10 day trip (a 3 day 2 night Kakadu and Lichfield National Park Safari). The weather in Darwin was humid and wet perfect for the “wet” season I suppose! Another early pick and my final tour group were soon on the road heading for the sights of the national parks. We were joined by a few Brits and an Aussy guy called Keith (aka Heath)!

 

 

The essence of this part of the trip was to really experience the wildlife of Australia and we were straight into the action with our first stop looking at some massive termite mounds! Our tour guide Nathan was basically a cross between Bear Grylls and David Attenborough and his knowledge was second to none. We did spend a lot of time in the bus on this part of the trip and designated points of interest where largely geared around swimming spots. The first day we made way to a beautiful natural waterfall complete with natural swimming pools and although it was raining the temperature of the water was perfect…. This combined with a BBQ for lunch was great way to spend the day and meet our new tour party. Or first  nights campsite came complete with pool and after anther swim we tucked into another BBQ feast.

 

 

The 2^nd days activities saw us head into the Kakadu park home to some of the world’s oldest rock formations on the planet (I won’t bore you with the background to it all but it was pretty impressive). Climbing up and around these rock formations we had lessons on ancient Aboriginal art at the ancient art site of Ubirr before climbing to the viewing point for an amazing view looking out over Kakadu and Arnhem Land we was truly amazing. It was not the image I thought I would see whilst being the outback…. It was so vast, lush and green. The photo shows an area where Crocodile Dundee was filmed too if you can recognise it???? After the trekking and photos we made where for our campsite for the night which would be my last one of the trip. Our tour guide managed to secure us air conditioned rooms constructed from Porta-cabins…Again there was pool which provided a great opportunity to cool off before heading off on our crocodile cruise!

 

The final day of my ten day trip was a bit of wash out literally. After days of rain most of our stuff was soaked through! So the fact we started a 3km hike in pouring rain and waded through creeks waist high didn’t really bother us and it was pretty cool. Unless you’re the Queen of the Amazon aka Sara/Saus who really wasn’t in impressed with the hike in her bright Pink Burberry rain mac PRICELESS!!!! The rain was so bad it had washed out or desired swimming spot but none of us were really bothered as the hike was so much fun especially as Nathan was grabbing all kinds of frogs and insects to show us on the way! The poor weather meant a detour to another Aboriginal art spot and a fantastic lookout before heading back to Darwin to dry off and relax….

 

 

 Arriving in Darwin wet and cold we still ventured out for a night on the town back in Monsoon (Darwin’s premier night spot). Wednesday meant it was ladies night and unfortunately Gaz from Geordie Shore was “in the house” this made all the girls weak at the knees… God knows why because he is a complete PIPE! After a brief intro to Gaz the night resumed and we all had a great night throwing some shapes and consuming lots of booze! I now had four days to kill in Darwin and to be honest I was hard work it’s pretty much  centered around two streets and a small man made beach and wave pool. Highlights were the museum complete with 5m stuffed crocodile and an unsuccessful Barramundi fishing trip (thanks Nathan).

 

 

Northern Territory trip complete now back to Sydney!

 

Photos FYI

 

One Love JH

 

 

Alice Springs to Darwin

Everyone in our tour group was now on first name terms and we lost Cara and Thaine as they had only booked a three day trip. We all met in the reception and I think it would be safe to say we were slightly worried by who would be joining us and what our new tour guide would be like. We were greeted by Kim an Aussy who turned out to be equally as good as Rohan even if she did insist on playing Aqua Barbie Girl through the bus stereo!!!!

The 2nd part of the trip was again 3 days however this part of the safari certainly felt more like just getting from A to B the sights were not as spectacular but we had just as much fun. It would be worth me pointing out that we visited lots of different cattle stations and truck stops throughout our trip and these are vital to the people which travel these routes on a weekly basis transporting many different goods around Australia! Without these businesses I don't think Australia would be able to exist as they provide a safe place to stop and relax when travelling these huge distances! 

Each pub/station has its own theme the most interesting being the Daly Waters pub where people leave behind all sorts of momentos most interestingly bras (some of them were massive!!!!). The first point of call was the tropic of Capricorn this signifies the change in the climate and weather we experienced. We were leaving the sauna and going into the steam room! Corny saying I know but that’s the best way to describe it! My new friend Sara gave a pretty poor description of it saying it was "Shit" admittedly it wasn’t much to see but the change was very noticeable and the whole flora and fauna changed to lush green plants, palms and trees!

The notable sights we took in were the Devils Marbles and Mataranka thermal pools which were awesome topped off by another swimming opportunity at the top of the Katherine falls within the Katherine national park! We had a small hike to the top of the falls to ensure we were not swimming in Crocodile invested waters OUCH!!!!

We slept one night in swags under the stars well i say we... it was a select few as the women within the group decided to take haven within the garage at one of the campsites due to the rain! This was a bad move as we were joined by another tour group who started to play music, only for them to be told to turn it down by Rach which was pretty funny! Not the best way to get to sleep in the outback i suppose listening to rhythm is a dancer!

The last night of our trip we finished off with a great meal and again a few well-earned beers in Darwin! This was a good chance chat with my new found Dutch friend Renee and Yorkshire Man Dave along with Queens of the outback aka Sara, Katy, Rach and Nineke before retiring back to the hostel for another early start for the final three days! Also shout out to Mrs Potato Head...Anne!

Again another amazing few days with some great people!!!! 

PICS FYI 

Peace and Love

 

Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon

WOW where to begin! The outback is truly the real Australia full of wildlife and history of the Aboriginal people and amazing sights such as Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon. My chosen method to explore all of these wonderfull places was by a bus on a 10 day outback safari from Alice Springs to Drawin and was accompanied by my housemate Racheal!

The flight from Sydney to Alice was pretty painless and were greated by 40 degree heat and loads of aboriginal folk walking the streets going about their business as if we "white folk" were not there. Already a bit of an eye opener. The city/town of Alice can be expolored in about an hour so as you can imagine it was pretty dead and the bulk of travellers are either starting, finishing or mid way through their safri trips to or from Adelaide or Darwin.

The first 3 days of my trip was awesome our tour guide Rohan was fantastic and the bus was full of great people (yes even you Katy and Saus if your reading). The first day and a 6am pick up we started our drive into the outback and made our way to Uluru and even spotted a Dingo within a few hours. I was quite surprised by how green it was! A brief walk around Uluru and the onsite cultural center was followed by watching sunset over Uluru and Kata Tjuta it was pretty awesome! Although it was slightly ruined by some dude within another tour group who i aptlly named "King of the Di**heads" (KofD) beacuse he was complete and utter pipe. The first nights sleeping arrangments were also explained after our Kangaroo spag bol, and again it was pretty cool. We all slept in swags under the stars taking in the constilaltions and shooting stars pretty cool.

Day two we rose at 3.30am to watch the sunrise and thank God the KofD wasnt there telling us all about his superstar ballerina girlfriend! The view was awesome! We then had breakfast and headed for a 7km walk around Kata Tjuta. For me this was better than Uluru itself and the walk was aweosme! BIG UP to Rachie for completing it even though she was ill! The walk finished complete with Kangaroo and lizard watching (almost lizard riding) for rach and we headed to out campsite fot the 2nd night at converted cattle station complete with swimming pool awesome!

Another early get up for the third day to explore Kings Canyon which required a walk up "heart attack hill" our group adopted an 83 year japanese guy who all the girls loved and wanted photos of! Anyway the hike was awesome full of fantastic sites and landscapes and after the 3hr hike we were all pooped and ready for our BBQ lunch before heading back to Darwin for a PARTY!!!!!

We all ventured out to Annies for dinner and we were soon greated some guy with a snake wrapped around him trying to impress everyone it was cool for about 5 minutes and then it just felt wierd who takes a snake into the pub??? We soon suitably smashed and playing a game of ping, pang, pong and the whole group really came together! My shark joke went down a treat along with some serious shapes on the dance floor which made for a great night out!

The fourth day was a day of rest so i just sat around the pool soaking up the 40 degree sun before another early get up to make our way to Darwin! Hopefully this write up conveys how good these three days were! I could write so much more but i dont want to bore you with every detail! Roll on the next three days!!!!

Christmas 2013

Quite possibly the best Christmas to date so much going on and to be joined by my parents for the first time in 9 months was a truly awesome expirence. I was so excited to see them i managed get totally gassed before realising i had agreed to meet them at the airport and then ended up half cut in arrivals without their flight details waiting for them to come through customs.... It turns out they were delayed so i trudged around and receievd some help from Bob over the phone trying to figure out if they would arrive at all.

Long story short they arirved on the last flight into Sydney and after the tears in the arrivals my Mum and Dad were soon living it up in Coogee. Even though i worked through the Xmas break i still met up with them most days and even stayed at their hotel one night!

Christmas in Aus in my opinion isnt really as "big" as it is in the UK i probably felt like this because it was warm and i worked but some reason it just didnt feel "Christmassy". Anyhow after my Mum had a brief incounter with Jason Donovan in the hotel, we were soon at the top of the Sydney Westfield Tower having dinner at the rotating resteraunt looking ou over the whole of Sydney; What a fantatsic way to see Sydney for the first time! Mum and Dad also met Bob and Sharon who had kindly given my parents the use of their aprtment while they were enjoying their Xmas break in South Australia. THANKS AGAIN BOB AND SHAZZA!!!!

The days wipped by with the parents and we managed to see lots of the Sydney sites such as the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach, Coogee Beach the Opera house and so on. We spent Xmas Day on a very wet and windy Coogee beach having a BBQ and beers in true english style under a Gazeebo! The great weather and oatcake breakfast on boxing day made up for the poor weather the previous day it wasnt long before we were partying it up on NYE at the opera house bar.

NYE 2013 i dont think will ever be beaten! Water level in Sydney Harbor smack bang in front of the bridge sipping beers watching the stunt planes, boats and fireworks was absolutly amazing! Sharing this with the rents also made it extra special hopefully the photos do it justice.

Like i said the Xmas period was so busy it seemed to fly by i also managed a few nights out in Newtown...Also I unfortunatly managed to get a ticket to the cricket which was hard work as the Aussuies were just tearing us Pommis to shreds!

So all in all a great christmas thanks to everyone who made my Mum and Dad feel so welcome and to Bob  and Sharon for the apartment. Also to Matt and Claire for opening up the "party house" i think you will agree we had a great few weeks!!