We are now in the northern most town of Australia, Darwin, after having travelled around some of the nearby National Parks, for a few days. Darwin has a much more tropical climate than the centre of the country, so whilst the temperature has reduced by 7-8 degrees, it is a lot more humid and uncomfortable. There are only two seasons here; the Wet and the Dry. Currently it is coming towards the end of the Wet. Whilst on our travels around the local area we experienced the wet season for real with some of the most awesome thunder storms we have ever seen. Thunder and lightning here are frequent visitors with an average 80 lightning strikes every day, even when there isn't any rain. In fact, this area has the most lightening of anywhere in the world. Named after Charles Darwin, the town is very remote. In fact it was only during the second world war that a paved road was build connecting Darwin to the rest of Australia, noticably Alice Springs about 1,000 miles away. Darwin was the northern outpost of Australia in the second world war and was attacked by 188 Japanese aircraft in February 1942; the same aircraft that attacked Pearl Harbour only three months earlier. Darwin was attacked because it was a port and was used as a large oil storage facility supplying Allied ships and aircraft. The town was virtually decimated in 1974 when Cyclone Tracey hit, destroying about 90% of the town. All around here is wild bush land which is protected and designated as a number of National Parks. The other key thing the area is known for is being home to thousands of freshwater and saltwater crocodiles. They are big business over here not only to see them in the wild but also as they are farmed for their meat and skin, both for Australia and also to be exported to Asia. With the aim of seeing these prehistoric creatures in their natural habitat, we took a boat journey along the Adelaide River with an experienced guide who was able to spot the crocs in the water, though only their nostrils and eyes are visible. The key to this trip was getting the crocs to jump out of the water, so that you could see them in their full glory. They did this by tieing a chunk of red meat to a pole and dangling it over the side of the boat. Hungry for lunch the crocs would discreetly swim to our side, with hardly a ripple in the water and then with one giant sweep of the tail launch their whole body out of the water and with jaws agape would grab the meat from the pole. They were also pretty keen to get into our boat as you can see from the photos. Needless to say Carol was pretty nervous as the huge snapping teeth came very close to us. They can open their mouths very wide and close them with such force that just one bite can crush the skull of a pig. The saltwater crocs are the ones that are dangerous to humans and are also the ones that live the longest, up to 70 years. We saw a lot of stories about people hunting killer crocs; the largest ever found being 40ft long. With one big breath of air the can stay under water for up to an hour, by slowing their heartbeat down to 2-3 beats per minute. The scales of the crocs are very hard on top and very soft on their under belly, and most that we saw were covered in scars from fights with other crocs, as they are very territorial and viciously guard their portion of the river. They have no real preditors once they are fully grown, but only 1 in 100 will make it to the age of five as preditors such as the large baramundi fish will eat small cros. Kakadu National Park is the largest in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Known for its wetlands in the Wet Season, many tracts of land were completley flooded from the heavy rains in the area. This is a lifesaver for many breeds of fish, birds and insects, providing respite from the searing temperatures of the dry season, when drought is the order of the day. Further south we visited Katherine Gorge, which is actually a series of 13 interconnected gorges developed through tectonic activity. We had planned to take a canoe through some of them but found that it is prohibited at this time of year due to the startling changes in the river level that can happen at very short notice. The highest ever recorded flooding of the river through the gorge, was an amazing increase of 60ft overnight, putting the gorge under water. With flash floods like that we were happy to take a pleasant boat trip through a few of the gorges. Carved from sandstone, the rocks reflected beautiful shades of orange and red light as the sun bounced off the rock faces. The sandstone is also porous and through the wet season soaks up the water from the engorged river only to release it very slowly over the dry season, enabling the plant life clinging to the rock face to survive the disabling heat and drought. In Lichfield National Park, further north towards Darwin, we were able to get close to the magnetic termite mounds which frequent the area. To stabilise the temperature in their homes, they build them no more than 5 inches wide like a perfect block of stone with the broad faces always pointing towards the east and west. This way one side gets all the heat from the sun when it rises in the morning and the other when it sets at the other end of the day. Locally it is called the termite graveyard as it looks like a series of headstones. Further on we were able to visit one of the delights of the park on a hot day - the rockpools. A series of pools in the river that descend over a 10 metre drop, the rockpools are one of the favourite weekend swimming locations for Darwinians. It was fun to be able to sit in the temperate waters, warmed by the heat of the mid-day sun and have the fish nibble at your toes. Still, we kept a close lookout for the crocs! For a land so arrid and barren, with huge distances between any forms of civilisation we feel like we have seen and done a lot in this part of Australia. We have really enjoyed it. The real travelling adventure begins tomorrow, once again, as we start five months in a new continent where once again we don't speak any of the various languages! First stop Malaysia.