1998
Lionel the Landcruiser
and Tap-Tap go Walkabout

Darwin at last!
Days 15 - 18
Kakadu - Darwin

Yellow Waters sunrise.

Well, I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that we have made it to Darwin in (almost) one piece and on-time! We are living it up in a really nice apartment on the 7th floor of a block in downtown Darwin and we've 'grown' two more humans as first Kirrily and then Stewart turned up to share, and even Mike came over for a cuppa and to deliver Rob's slides!

South Alligator River and Yellow Waters Billabong.

This morning's boat ride on the South Alligator river was not as dangerous as everyone made out - only saw about 4 or 5 crocs and they were pretty slow as it was morning and they had got a bit cool overnight. Saw plenty of birds though including Sea Eagles, Jabirus and lots of others. The guide was pretty good if a bit straight.

Sea Eagles at Yellow Waters sunrise.

After that we packed up and drove off to Angbangbang Billabong (try saying that fast three times if you can) and had a pleasant short walk around there with more birds. Was a bit worrying 'cos the billabong looked a bit swampy and the path wasn't a lot higher so at times it looked like the path went through rather than round. Should have had me there - I'm good at crossing water now!

A Cockatoo Tree!

By then it was close to 11 so we had to set off to Darwin to get checked into the apartment - via Jabiru again to fill up (we had put the last jerry-can in at Angbangbang so we weren't carrying extra weight). Lunch was a quick snack at the crossing of the South Alligator river next to some trees full of white cockatoo-like birds (without a yellow crest though so they weren't sulphur crested cockatoos). They made a serious racket though and most of the time they were sitting in pairs rather cuddly so they made an interesting sight.

Not much to say after that except that on the way into Darwin we went through a town called Humpty Doo - no kidding - check your maps just before the Arnhem Highway from Kakadu joins the Stuart Highway from Alice. Not much of a place but a silly name anyway. Driving into Darwin was a breeze - straight up the Stuart Highway till it ends in the middle of Darwin, then turn left and the apartments were on the right - easy as that.

Angbangbang Billabong. Not much water here!

The problem was that the car park had a height limit of 2m - with the roof bars and the spare wheel there was no way I was going to get in there so I had to park out the front - still don't get a nice place for me do they! The apartment is really nice though. A big master bedroom with en suite bathroom for Rob and Hild, and another room (with I suppose its own bathroom since no-one else uses it) for Stewart and Kirrily. Lovely views from the living room and the balcony (which goes round the corner of the living room) and a rather nicely appointed kitchen with a dishwasher and fridge-freezer! Basically better than our flat back in Perth - I don't think I'll be able to get Rob and Hild to leave!

My two humans and Kira were just finishing off a well-earned pizza when Mike Jones turned up to see if Rob wanted his slides, and in getting those we forgot to get Stewart from the airport so he got a taxi. Oops, but he managed to share with two girls so he got it pretty cheap. Then we all had ourselves a bit of a gossip before settling down to bed. Early start for most of them tomorrow - the bus leaves for the conference at 7.25, but me and Hild are going to have a lie-in and then find me a nice car wash to finally get some of this red dust of me. I'm really really looking forward to that. Afterwards I don't know what will happen as all the humans have a cocktail party to go to at Parliament House here, but I guess they will think of something for me to do - I'll let you know later.

Bye for now

Lionel