FRIDAY 2 - MONDAY 5.08.2013: Spoke to a fellow Port Stephens traveller (Anna Bay), and he suggested we stay out of Darwin at Tumbling Waters Holiday Park at Berry Springs. Have to say that every second person we speak to is either from Newcastle or Port Stephens! One of the best pieces of information received - excellent! We booked in for two nights and plan on staying nine! Palms, tropical gardens, licensed café, restaurant, resident crocodiles, deckchair cinema, Sunday markets, billabong trails, fishing and for this time of year - site fees were cheaper than elsewhere.
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| TUMBLING WATERS VAN PARK |
THE BONUS - Shayden has found himself a new home, we could not be happier for him. Angela (Shayden's angel), was recommended as a dog minder. Fortunately for us we were on a site diagonally across from Angela and her husband Simon. WELL, Madison and Shayden were minded on consecutive days, but when we arrived home on day one we had difficulty extracting Shayden from Angela's van (must say that we did not put a great deal of effort into coaxing him out!) Should mention that Angela and Simon have three dogs and Shayden coped with all of them.
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| ONE OF THE RESIDENT VAN PARK CROCS |
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| VAN PARK ENTERTAINMENT |
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| EVENING MEAL AT THE OUTDOOR RESTAURANT |
Our first outing was to Kakadu with Darwin Day Tours - meet the bus at 7.00am on the corner of Stuart and Arnhem Land Highway and as an afterthought - at the Wishart Siding. As per our usual planning we drove out on the Sunday to find the area and time our trip. Monday dawned and we know there will be sceptics, BUT we actually rose at 4.45am - yes, in the morning! Handed Madison and Shayden to Angela at 6.00am and headed off into the darkness. 6.45am we are sitting on the corner of the highways waiting for the pick up - 7.10am, the abusive phone call, where are you? We dutifully explained and at 7.20am the bus pulled up. Out jumped the female version of Crocodile Dundee and a greeting of "how did you expect me to pull over here?" That sorta kinda set the tone for the day. We received a chilly response from the other day trippers as we made our way to the back of the bus (never a positive reaction when it is believed that you are the cause of the hold up). We did finally have an opportunity to explain our story to Michelle Dundee, but never did quite appease the fellow travellers and to date we have still not found the siding! Our first pit stop was at the Bark Hut for morning tea, then on we went to Kakadu and the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre. 
Kakadu National Park is a world heritage listed area which covers about 20,000 sq km and is jointly owned by the Aboriginal owners and the Director of National Parks. There are more than 2,000 plant species, alongside almost a fifth of Australia's mammals, 20 plus reptiles and several rare and endangered animal species. Went on an hour and a half hour cruise down the Yellow Water Billabong and after lunch, a stop at the rock art.
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| WHITE BELLIED SEA EAGLE |
There were three tiers of climbing to make it to the top of the lookout and view all the art. The Leyland mountain lions made it gingerly up and down two and a half tiers, then rested!
The rock art of Ubirr tells two different stories. For archaeologists, the story is one of changing artistic styles. For Aboriginal land owners, the paintings tell the story of their country and their culture.
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| BROLGAS |
We dramatically underestimated our timeframe for Kakadu. You need to drive there and spend a minimum of three days, but of course the puddles are an issue. The problem is that the tour attempted to squeeze too much in the day - a 4 hour drive to reach Kakadu and you felt rushed the entire day which was a 7.00am start - 8.00pm finish.
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| ROCK WALLABIES |
FRIDAY 2 - MONDAY 5.08.2013: Spoke to a fellow Port Stephens traveller (Anna Bay), and he suggested we stay out of Darwin at Tumbling Waters Holiday Park at Berry Springs. Have to say that every second person we speak to is either from Newcastle or Port Stephens! One of the best pieces of information received - excellent! We booked in for two nights and plan on staying nine! Palms, tropical gardens, licensed café, restaurant, resident crocodiles, deckchair cinema, Sunday markets, billabong trails, fishing and for this time of year - site fees were cheaper than elsewhere. 
Kakadu National Park is a world heritage listed area which covers about 20,000 sq km and is jointly owned by the Aboriginal owners and the Director of National Parks. There are more than 2,000 plant species, alongside almost a fifth of Australia's mammals, 20 plus reptiles and several rare and endangered animal species. Went on an hour and a half hour cruise down the Yellow Water Billabong and after lunch, a stop at the rock art.
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