Bound for Darwin

On Thursday 11 June we went on the Wangi Falls Walk.  The first part of the walk was on a boardwalk through a monsoon forest where many of the plants are evergreen.  It was cool under the tall dark green trees.

We climbed up some steel stairs to go across the top of the Wangi Falls.  There were red berries on the Carpentaria Palms and a sign said that pidgeons gobble up the red berries and then when they poop it out a new palm grows.  I also caught a fat brown leaf hopper. 

At the top of Wangi Falls there is a prohibited access sign because only Aboriginal women are allowed in this area.  The Indigenous people believe that if men go there then something bad will happen to them. 

View from the top of Wangi Falls

When I was walking across a steel bridge I accidentally dropped my bottle into the water that goes into the bigger falls and I felt really bad so I went down onto the rocks and luckily I got it.

  

We left Litchfield after our walk and drove further north on a really bumpy, shaky, rocky road.  It felt like the motorhome was going to shake to bits.  We had to go really slow and it took ages to get back on the sealed road.  We camped for the night by ourselves at Finns River Crossing.  We made sure we stayed away from the creek.

The next day we called in at Berry Springs for a swim.  The water was crystal clear and sparkly and with my goggles on I could see Archer fish which can spit water out at flying insects.  When the insect is wet it then drops onto the water and GULP that is the end of the insect!  They trap the crocodiles so it is safe for swimming.  The water was thermal and really warm and at the waterfall I put my head under the back of the waterfall so the water went in front of me.  It was fun!  I learned that the World War 2 soldiers came to the springs to take time off and relax.  I really liked the springs!  They were fantastic!

Berry Springs main creek pool

After our swim we went to see a World War 2 airstrip.  There are heaps of airstrips in the Northern Territory.  Pop and I had our photo taken in a model of two World War 2 planes, the Kittyhawk and the Spitfire.

In the afternoon we drove north for 128km to Wagait Beach and went for a walk along Imaluk Beach where there was a warning sign about box jellyfish.  You could get stung by a box jellyfish if you went swimming and they can be deadly.  There are so many deadly things up here!  I collected a couple of white spiral shells for Nan but when I was in the cab of the motorhome a crab stuck his head and legs out of the shell and tried to crawl away.  I let him go and put the shells back on the beach just in case he wasn’t by himself!

Imaluk Beach - Darwin could be seen in the distance across the water

While we were at Wagait Beach we bushwalked for about 3 km to see the complete wreck of the World War 2 plane called Milady. The six men who were in the plane died.  They don’t know why it crashed but they think it the pilot didn’t have enough experience flying.  All the men were from America.  It was interesting.  We could see most of the bits of the plane and I saw the front and back gun turrets.  While we were looking at the wreck we heard the noise of a propeller plane in the background and Pop said it was the ghost plane :)

We then went to Mandorah jetty where we could see Darwin in the distance. 

While we were on the jetty two men caught huge Queen fish which were nearly one metre long.  They had lots of spikes on them.  A friendly man called Bob gave me a large fillet off the Queen fish for my dinner.  It was really tasty and the best fish I have ever eaten!

Bob and his Queen fish

On Saturday 13 June we final got to Darwin and we have a camp spot right near the Aviation Museum and airport.  It is about 10km from Darwin city.  From our camp spot I saw a huge military plane (I think it was a Titan) and several Black Hawk  military helicopters.  I also saw heaps of passenger jets taking off and landing in Darwin airport.  The Royal Australian Airforce Base is right near us too and at night we have been hearing the deafening roar of FA18 military fighter jets as they take off and soar through the sky.  We can see their after burners blazing out the back of them.  They were too quick for us to get a photo but I am going to get a recording of the sound they make.

Yesterday we went to Rapid Creek Markets where there were lots of Chinese fruit and vegetables.  It was really packed with people.  We had yummy fruit smoothies.  I had a pineapple, honey and icecream one.  DELICIOUS!

That night we rode our motor scooters to the Mindil Markets in the city.  We tasted lots of different foods from different countries and watched a nice sunset over Mindil Beach. 

 

Today Pop is doing some work on the motorhome and I am catching up with schoolwork and my blog while we have internet. Tomorrow we are off to the Darwin Botanic Gardens.

Totsiens (Afrikaan for goodbye)