Week 21: Darwin NT - Litchfield National Park NT

 Stats Overview

Km's Travelled: 489

Km's Hiked: none - we have been very slack!

No. of Campsites: 3

The Adventures

This week has been our slowest week of travel to date, which we both agree has been a nice reprieve to the action packed last few weeks! However, even though we have been spending less time in the car, we have still had a fun week of adventuring in the Top End.

We started the week still in Darwin where we enjoyed our time exploring the area further, visiting more museums, landmarks and beaches. We couldn't spend time in Darwin without doing the iconic Mindil Beach Markets, and we had a great time getting to eat our freshly bought dinner on the beach while watching the sun go down...along with a thousand other people (that is not even an exaggeration!). However, our favourite adventure while in Darwin this week, was getting on the ferry to go on a tour of the Tiwi Islands. We spent the day on Bathurst Island where we got to explore some of the community and history of the Tiwi Islands, while also learning about Tiwi culture from some of the locals. We had the best time while we were there and it was so interesting learning about the culture and way of life of the locals. We got to participate in a smoking ceremony, they demonstrated and explained some of their dances and also some of their cultural practices such as skin groups and funeral practices.  As the Tiwi Islands are quite isolated from the mainland, their Tiwi culture and language is unique to them and is quite different, compared with their Aboriginal neighbours inhabiting the continent. The only downside to the experience was the ferry ride back, where I spent the 2.5 hour journey very seasick wishing for it all to be over! Will thought it was very funny - I was not of the same opinion...although I can laugh about it a little now. Needless to say there will not be any boat rides for me on the trip anytime soon!

After Darwin we headed a little further west to Dundee Beach, where we spent a few days camping right on along the beach. After the busyness of Darwin, it was really nice to go to a quiet and secluded beach where we could spend our afternoons fishing and exploring the coastline. Dundee Beach is the best campsite we have had on the beach for the whole trip, with the only downside being unable to swim in the ocean. As it was so hot and humid while we were there, it was really hard spending all day staring at the water! Although, there were certainly a few times we considered taking our chances with the crocs to jump in the water and cool down! We have now arrived at Litchfield National Park where we have been enjoying being able to escape the heat by swimming in the waterfalls and plunge pools. The temperatures are currently reaching highs in the mid 30's and we have to keep pinching ourselves that this is "winter" in the NT! We are going to spend another day or two exploring Litchfield before we start making our way across to Kakadu.

Kodak Moments

Dessert with a sunset on the beach...livin' the dream - Mindil Beach

Relaxing on the beach after eating too much food at the markets - Mindil Beach

Anti-ship cannon built for war but never used because of the changes in warfare in WWII (planes not navy) - Darwin Military Museum

Smoking ceremony - Bathurst Island

Some of the Tiwi locals teaching us their dances - Bathurst Island

Inside of the unique Tiwi style catholic church (it features in the movie "Top End Wedding") - Bathurst Island

The Tiwi Islands were so beautiful (although apparently a big croc inhabits the water you can see) - Bathurst Island

Will made me put this photo in... I was not living the dream! - in the seemingly endless ocean between Tiwi and Darwin

The view from our campsite was unreal! - Dundee Beach

Still no luck catching any fish, although something had a good feed on my bait! - Dundee Beach

There is something so magical about a sunset over the water - Dundee Beach

29 isn't looking too bad! - Dundee Beach

The NT knows how to do a waterfall - Florence Falls

So nice finally being able to go for a swim to escape the heat - Florence Falls

Even got treated to a spa in Litchfield! - Buley Rockhole