Tuesday 2/5/2008- Friday 2/8/2008:
After successfully keeping Jill awake for the whole day, we headed back the Sydney Airport to board a plane bound for Darwin in the Northern Territory (i.e. land of Crocodile Dundee). Every time we mentioned our trip to Darwin to other Aussies, their response was always one simple question: Why? We were hoping to prove them wrong for downplaying the wonders that Darwin offered.
During our seamless 4.5 hour flight all the way across Australia, Katie ran into one of Aussie friend’s sister, Megan—who just happened to be the first class flight attendant. (No we weren’t in first class…) Megan told us of her and her partner Rob’s recent trip to Europe for the past month, and how she wasn’t even supposed to be working the Sydney to Darwin flight! She took very good care of us with much free wine and snacks—and before we knew it, we were settled in the only five star beachfront hotel in Darwin.
We landed sometime around 11 p.m., got a taxi to our hotel and went straight to bed. We managed to find an online deal for SkyCity, the only 5-star beachfront casino/hotel in Darwin. The hotel was very nice and Jill was very happy to see a bed where she could catch up on some sleep and truly begin her adventure down under.
The next morning Katie and Jill soon discovered why everyone was question our choice to visit Darwin. They picked up the rental car downtown and realized that there was very little to do. The "city" was not why we came to Darwin, though, so we were not yet deterred. We asked our concierge what he recommended to enjoy Darwin-- and he said with a stern face "Stay Inside." The first day we all kind of just lounged around the pool. Dermot played a round of golf with some locals. The locals were more impressive than the course and Dermot thoroughly enjoyed his round. We decided to try Pee Wee's on the point for dinner. We learned that it was not a playhouse and chairee was not there-- but it was a very tasty 3+ hour dinner in the humidity.
The next day we jumped in the rental car and pursued the real reason why we came to Darwin: nature and crocodiles. We made our way toward Kakadu National Park, with a pitstop on Adelaide River to catch a jumping crocodile boat ride. Afterwards, we stopped off to a crocodile farm at 'feeding time', Fogg Dan Conservation Reserve, and lastly Litchfield National Park.
All were impressive, but he crocodile attractions were by far the best. We saw crocodiles jump completely out of the river and snag pieces of bait hung 6 feet above the water. The croc farm had crocs ranging in age from a couple of months to 100 years. They even had the 'rare' American Alligator. Ha. The ‘farm’ was rather run down, as we learned they’ll be moving into Darwin next year, so they are not doing any updating or maintenance to the facility. Many of the ‘fences’ left room for a wise croc to make their way out… including one female protecting her eggs and snapping at us for being too close to the fence. Even our guide was scared, so I think that says enough.
Also, unlike anything you’d see in the states, we saw where crocodiles were bred so that all those ladies in Manhattan can have their crocodile leather wallets. They nicely say that “Crocodiles will be used for their commercial value once they reach 1.5 meters.”
We got a great tour of many man eating crocs, and we learned how female crocs have an unfortunate forced anorexia. Male crocs are always bigger and fatter, as they never let the female crocs get any chooks (chickens). We met “Snowy,” one of only three white crocodiles in captivity as well as “Bert” who starred in the Crocodile Dundee movies.
Due to rental car mileage (or kilometereage?) restrictions were didn't make it all the way to Kakadu, but were still happy with what we got to see. Another highlight was the lunch stop at an Outback bar, Humpty Doo Hotel, for aussie outback tucker. We don't think the restaurant will be receiving an Michelin stars anytime soon, but getting to eat a burger with a schooner of beer along side locals was definitely worth the stop. We saw one mate take a 'roady' with him when he left, as he wasn't finished... we also learned that ordering your burger with 'the lot' includes almost everything in the kitchen: beet root, mayo, ketchup, lettuce, pineapple...
To end out outback adventures, we went to a similar park to Kakadu, but it was a good 250 km closer, called Litchfield National Park. This park is known for its huge amount of magnetic termite mounds, which grow up to 6 meters tall.
On our last morning in Darwin, our hotel lobby showed our flight to Cairns delayed from 7:00am to 11:30am. The concierge and hotel staff tried to help, but said that it was too early to call Qantas, since it was 5:30am. We missed 24-hour customer support….
We miraculously returned the rental car with exactly 400 km… looks like the money conscious fairy was riding shotgun! We get to the airport to find that our flight is in fact delayed due to mechanical difficulties, and we had to wait for a replacement airplane from Perth. Qantas has never had any fatal crashes, and you can see they take their flying seriously…. They gave us a printed out letter of apology, as well as shuttled all of the passengers over to Darwin Airport Hotel for breakfast.