Getting up close with Crocodylus porosus (aka the Saltwater crocodile)

Darwin, NT

Friday 2nd - Tuesday 6th September

Darwin is a place both Daniel and I feel we could live, and by the end of our 4 days here both kids felt the same. The weather is great, the town is well set up and the whole place just has a nice feel to it. We did a few of the touristy things, in between catching up on some of the jobs we needed to get done and enjoying the pool and splashpark at the caravan park.

We had a fabulous time at Crocosaurus Cove, where we visited all the attractions and saw every presentation. Our highlights were:

• seeing several huge saltwater crocodiles getting fed
• feeding juvenile crocodiles using bamboo fishing rods with meat attached on the end
• watching a python eat a rat (whole)
• when the kids got to hold a python and a blue tongue lizard (Emilia built up the courage to hold the snake the second time it was on offer, whilst Jackson was right up the front both times!).
• watching a barramundi get fed (they suck their food in and make a very unusual noise)
• holding a baby crocodile 

After Crocosaurus Cove we headed to Mindil Beach Markets, where we enjoyed meandering through the market stalls before the difficult task of choosing what to eat for dinner from the many vendors displaying their tempting and delicious smelling food. We ate listening to live music before watching a great juggling act with our dessert. Both kids spent some of their pocket money on a memento and I got a few presents. It was a great day and night.

Monday consisted of more jobs and running around, then in the afternoon we headed over to the NT Museum and Art Gallery where we learnt about the devastating impact of Cyclone Tracy (including the sound room where you experience the roar of a cyclone) and viewed the winning pieces from the recent National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards before heading to the saltwater lagoon for a swim. The kids couldn’t resist the appeal of the Aqua Zone course so, whilst I caught up on some work, Daniel and the kids exhausted themselves on the blow-up water park. They came back an hour later bright red, puffing and panting, but with huge smiles. That evening we had dinner while watching the sunset over the ocean at Sunset Beach (very aptly named!).

We left early in the morning, hoping to make it halfway between Katherine and the NT/QLD border…..however our water tank didn’t stick to the plan. About an hour out of Darwin we stopped at some roadworks, then a lady came up to Daniel’s window and said, ‘There’s water leaking from under your van, I think something is wrong.’ Indeed something was very wrong! The bracket holding the water tank up had broken and the water tank was dragging along the asphalt. Daniel did some magic with a few ratchet straps and we made it to Katherine. We stayed the night at Katherine and luckily a steel fabricator was able to make new brackets, which Daniel fitted. There were no replacement water tanks around (the nearest one was in Broome) so Daniel patched it up with some special glue (that will hopefully hold!). Whilst he was working on the van the kids and I cooled off in the pool then we walked down to Katherine River, where Jackson joined the local kids sliding down the slimy rocks into the rapids. We left very early the next morning, hoping to make up the time we lost!

Enjoying the view on our first night in Darwin.

We went out for Thai (our first dinner out in a long time). My scallop entree was incredible.

The kids loved their Pad Thai but their highlight was definitely dessert...banana fritter!

You could go under one of the tanks at Crocosaurus Cove and get a very different view of a crocodile.

The juvenile crocs were very inquisitive and kept coming up to the glass to look at us (Jackson did notice there were lots of scratch marks on the inside of the glass so I think they'd like to do more than look if they could).

Dinner time..I just couldn't get over the keepers. The only thing they had for protection was a colleague holding a broom handle!

The crocodile above and below is Burt - he starred in Crocodile Dundee. He is over 80 years old, 5.1m long and weighs a whopping 700kgs. In the past they were hoping he would help their breeding program, but he ate 3 of his potential mates!!

Juvenile crocs- so funny how they lay all over each other!

Feeding the juvenile crocodiles - when they bit you had to yank the rod up fast, they certainly already had a lot of power in their bite.

We all took advantage of the opportunity to hold a python and a blue tongue lizard.

Both snakes that we were allowed to hold showed a lot of interest in Jackson...must be his glowing blonde mullet!

She finally built up the courage to hold one (as long as we were close by).

Then we all got to hold a baby crocodile, it was surprisingly heavy.

No. 1 on Darwin's Must Do List - Mindil Beach Sunset Market

Mindil Beach was the place to be for sunset....there were so many people! Everyone clapped when the sun set (which we thought was quite strange).

Enjoying dumplings for dinner

Followed by a huge icecream

This street performer was very entertaining.

After an hour on the Aqua Park - red faced and totally exhausted!

The view with our bbq dinner at Sunset Beach.

Wading over Katherine River.

Jackson copied some of the local kids letting the rapids take them down then river before grabbing onto the tree and swimming back up to do it again.

These are my favourite frangipanis - they look and smell amazing.