Darwin back to Daly Waters

Sunday 17th July to Wednesday 20th July 2011Darwin back to Daly Waters: Left Darwin and travelled along the Arnheim H'way stopping at Fogg's Dam, a lovely billabong in the wetlands, then stopped at The Wetland Information and research centre. Crossed the Adelaide River and stopped for lunch at the Cooroborrie Pub. We then travelled back to the Stuart H'way and found a lovely spot to spend the evening.
Monday 18th found our way back into Katherine to stock up on groceries and have a counter lunch, however the local pub didn't look to inviting so went to 'The Coffee Club' for lunch. Went for a swim in the Katherine Thermal springs then busted out of Katherine and stayed the evening just south of the Cutta Cutta Caves.
Tuesday 19th: Waited at 8.30am gate opening time to the Cutta Cutta Caves for the first 9.00am tour of the cave, finally the tour guide turned up to open the gates (9.20am) so the first tour we went on was 10.00am. Never mind we enjoyed the cave. Continued back to Mataranka and went for a swim in the beautiful Bitter Springs then travelled onto South Warlock Rest area for the evening, settled in and enjoyed sundowners with other travelling folk.
Wednesday 20th: Back in Daly Waters to send a postcards to our g'daughters and a mail message to my friend Kathy Bowe who celebrates a birthday on the 26th - and we are not counting!
From here Chris and I will spend the next few weeks travelling east across The Savannah Way to Borrolooa and then across Northern Qld to Atherton and Cooktown. Will be next blogging early to mid August. Cheers for now, Marea.
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The beautiful scenery at Fogg Dam...........

The birdlife plentiful and many different species Waterlillies
Crocodile catcher Travelling across the dam wall at Fogg DamCommonwealth of Australia Dept of Defence Transmitting Station
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The Window on the Wetland Centre.......................................................................... A spider's web ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the Corroboree Pub on the Arnheim H'way to Kakadu...............An albino buffalo
Pigs and piglets - Oh! the smell. Turtles
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Along the Stuart H'way a WW11 Memorial............ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cutta Cutta Caves .. one of two interesting and beautiful caves with limestone formations.......................

DARWIN NT

Darwin Wednesday 13th July to 17th July 2011: Amazing warm and sunny days around 31 degrees with very high humidity. The night temperature drops to a very comfortable 20 degrees.
Over the few days enjoyed this vibrant most northerly Australian city (population 100,000). Its been a number of years since I was last in Darwin and the waterfront precinct which includes a hotel, appartments, a swimming beach and a wave lagoonis is all a buzz. It is mid year school holidays and because of the beautiful weather this area is extremely busy with locals as well as tourists. I'm sure half of Australia's southerners are enjoying the warmer weather here as home has been and is quite cold.
Chris and I visited Matthew and Cathy Bourke and their delightful four children. Matthew is a good friend of our son from school days in Newcastle and have been living up in the territory for a number of years now.
Helen and Laurie, the parents of a very good friend of our youngest daughter, are travelling Australia and was expected to be here in Darwin about now so we contacted them and joined them for a coffee. Was great to meet them and chat about their travels so far.
My nephews wife's parents, Pauline and Charles have also been travelling around Australia and they too are in Darwin at this time, so we caught up with them and enjoyed afternoon drinks and travel tales.
We enjoyed lunch on the waterfront at Fiddlers Green and walked around the waterfront and wharf area. The esplanade has a beautiful park and is close to the city CBD.

Government House has magnificient views overlooking the bay.

The gardens were very attractive and colourful.
Darwin was bombed 42 times during WW11

The Waterfront precinct - Man made 'City Beach' an extension of the harbour.

Wave Lagoon

One of the many apartment blocks near the Waterfront precinct.

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The Town Hall Ruins -

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Views from Fannie Bay - the day was very hazy - apparently there is a lot of controlled burning off during the winter months

Views looking back to the city from East Point

Adelaide River and Litchfield National Park - NT

Adelaide River is a small town on the Stuart Highway south of Darwin - The War cemetery is the third largest in Australia. The grounds are immaculately kept and there is an air of tranquility and peacefulness.

The highway bridge and rail bridge over the Adelaide River - the following photo taken from a low level bridge.

The crossing today........

........ AND - the crossing in the late 1800's ...........

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Chris and I spent 5 days exploring the Litchfield National Park. The park is an ancient landscape shaped by water. It features numerous stunning waterfalls which flow all year round and cascade from the sandstone plateau of the Tabletop Range. The park covers 1500 sq km. We enjoyed our camp at the Litchfield Safari camp.

Enjoy some of the sites......

Magnetic Termite mounds

Cathedral Termite mound - a large spinifex termite mound

The two different termite mounds in the

foreground - a magnetic termite mound and in the

background a spinifex termite mound

===========================================================....... Florence Falls .......

View looking down to Florence Falls
====================================================================........ Buley Rockhole ........

A great spot to relax and enjoy the pristine waters cascading along to

Florence falls

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....... Tolmer Falls .......

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....... Shady Creek walk from Buley Rockhole to florence falls .......

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....... The Bamboo "Old Tin Mine" .......

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....... Chris enjoying a dip in the water at 'The Cascades' .......

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........... WANGI FALLS ...........

High in the tree tops at Wangi Falls......

Daly River - NT

Thursday 07/07/2011: An encounter of the worst kind!
Merrily, merrily taking photos.......I pictured Chris at the front of the Daly River Crossing which still had a lot of water flowing over the crossing due to the heavy summer rains this year. Chris then walked closer to the water over to the left and called me over to look at this pipe that was at an unusual position in the water - as I walked over I spotted movement out the corner of my eye to see this salt water croc moving closer over the crossing....I immediately called Chris to come quickly "croc" in water....we moved very fast indeed and looked back to see the croc had frozen like they do...after a few minutes the croc slid under the water and we watched and watched and then spotted him waiting near the pipe where Chris was standing....he firmly had his eyes on us as we did have our eyes on him.

4x4 wheel drive crossing the swollen Daly River crossing
The swollen Daly River -
normally in the dry season you can see the concrete low level crossing

Chris having his photo taken in front of the Daly River Crossing

Click on photo to enlarge - do you see what I see - yes 'a salty'

Click on photo to enlarge - yes 'the salty' a good five or so minutes lying in wait at the pipe where Chris was standing!