SYDNEY BROOME TRIP 2006 - Saturday 27 May to Friday 2 June

SYDNEY BROOME TRIP 2006

Saturday 27 May to Friday 2 June

Darwin

Blog 5

We spent a day at Bathurst Island which is one of the Tiwi Islands just a 30 minute flight, on a small plane, north off the coast of Darwin. We had 2 local guides for the day and a bus driver. You can’t get onto the island unless you are on a tour and even then you need a permit. It was a great day and we learnt about their history, dreaming, art and culture including their 4 skin colours and their strict rules for marriage and interacting with the opposite sex. We saw a smoking ceremony and watched their dancing which is a really important part of their lives. In true fashion we bought a few bits and pieces mainly because it was such a nice day. They are totally separate from the Australian Aborigines and originally their only association with the mainland was in war. The people are very friendly, still strong in their culture and still live with a lot of their traditional ways including the food they catch and eat.

Over the next few days we decided to explore the outer areas of Darwin.

Howard Springs is a beautiful national park with lakes containing LOTS of fish including large barramundi, yellow faced turtles and a variety of other fish whose names I can’t remember. We walked through the lovely cool rainforest which followed along the river for most of the walk. We then headed off along the Arnhem Land Highway with its many mango and banana plantations along the way, to the wetlands of Fogg Dam.

There were lots of water birds including magpie geese, little egrets, white faced herons, white necked herons, pied herons, radjah shelduck, royal Spoonbills, Jabiru. We also saw 2 water monitor lizards trying to hide amongst the grasses The wet lands were beautiful and spread over a large area. They have the greatest density of snakes (water pythons) in the world.

The next stop was the Wetlands Visitor Centre on Beatrice Hill which gave a great history/explanation of the wetlands and had a tower from which there was a great view of the area.

We just couldn’t resist the crocodile feeding cruise on the Adelaide River which has about 3500 crocodiles in that area. Towards the end of the cruise they also feed some of the birds in the area mainly black kites and whistling kites. It is all amazing to see.

Our exploring continued as we headed down the Stuart Highway and turned right, (west) towards Dundee Beach which is on the Timor Sea. It was an unsealed road but a very good road. Dundee Beach was beautiful and isolated and we were the only ones there. We stopped for morning tea and just soaked up the beautiful scenery including the hermit crabs. We are always vigilant for snakes, crocodiles and never go swimming in the sea because of the boxed jelly fish!!!!

Next we headed off to Dundee Lodge which is a little further north on the coastline and is another idyllic spot and a fisherman’s dream.

We then headed down some more dirt roads to Crab Claw Island which is not really an island but rather a peninsula, in Bynoe Harbour.

Our last stop for that day was Mandorah on the Cox Peninsula. Mandorah is a small place which is ferry ride from Darwin across the bay or as we did it hours to drive around to.

It was time to explore some of the 4WD tracks around Darwin so we headed off with our trusty GPS system so that we could always get back home if we got lost. We headed north past Howard Springs and then took the Gun Point Rd to Gun Point. It was a perfect spot for morning tea beside the river flowing into the Beagle Gulf. While we were sitting there one of the fishermen caught a large mud crab in the river and little birds had a nest in the sand and were busy bring food to their babies that we could hear chirping!!! I tried to identify the birds but they refused to be still long enough for me to get a good view. Everywhere that we stop there are mangroves and we are ever vigilant for crocodiles and snakes. We then headed north, along a VERY narrow track with a creek crossing, to Fright Point which is at the top of a little peninsula. When we got to Fright Point through isolated country other people were camping and fishing there. We stayed for lunch and then headed home with the help of our GPS.