In 2002 a tour guide took a group of backpackers to a billabong in Kakadu for an evening swim. The guide checked the water for signs of deadly saltwater crocodiles and gave the all clear. They were all quite merry after having a few drinks but the party came to a sudden end. A croc brushed passed several people before dragging a German girl under the water and killing her. So where were we planning to go? Kakadu! We planned to explore the area for a few days...

Remember that I told you about how we washed and waxed the car? Do you recall also that I told you I thought it wasn't a good idea? Well, I was right. Having gone through the effort of doing all that nonsense in the 32-degree heat, we prepared to depart the next day, which was Saturday. We got up, broke down the tent and packed up all our gear. I settled into the driving seat, turned on the engine and depressed the clutch - only to find my foot meeting no re...

Many Australians consider Darwin to be a bit odd and the locals even odder. Maybe it's just us, but we found the place - and the people - to be refreshingly normal. We felt quite at home to see a mix of races and colours on the streets - most seemed to be from Asia, which isn't surprising given Darwin's proximity to that continent. It was also good to see Aboriginal Australians working and shopping quite normally, rather than wandering the streets in a state o...

Along the Stuart Highway between Katherine and Darwin is Litchfield National Park. It's popular in the dry season because it only has freshwater crocodiles rather than the deadly salties that are at Kakadu National Park. We had a photocopied map of the 1500 sq km area with points of interest labelled. We couldn't fit everything in during our two day visit so chose to see the termite mounds and picked out four of the best sounding waterfalls. Our first stop was ...

One of the things we had become convinced about while driving in Cape York was the need for some decent tyres. All the experienced 4x4 drivers had tread in which you could lose your arm; by way of comparison, the tread on one of our tyres was barely more than one of my chest hairs. We therefore bit the financial bullet and bought four new Bridgestone all-terrain tyres, junking the illegal spare and the two which were barely passable. We had mixed opinions about ...