After the night flight to Darwin we bedded down in the wrong guest house for 2 hours (good old Lonely Planet Guide did not realize that the YHA had moved so we were phoning one place but asking to be taken to another). The annoying little man in the wrong hostel tried to tell me that it was 'no worries' but I did not really want to pay twice for one night. Hmm. This did not deter us, however, and we headed off for a walk round the area and down to the beach. We had been told about problems with Aboriginal people's alcohol abuse but we were still shocked when one of the first things we came across was a big group of Aboriginees with bottles in their hands stumbling about and shouting a lot: we later found out, however, that these are the outcasts from the communities and they are not representative of most Aboriginees. The water was tempting apart from the box jellyfish which plague the seas at this time of the year in this area. No wonder the beaches were deserted! Instead, we made use of the soothing waters of the hostel pool and headed for bed early after a long flight and before the Litchfield trip we had booked on for the next day.

We had an early start and first off was the 'Jumping Croc Cruise' which sounded a bit tacky and was, but was good fun! We started off with some brekkie - what else but Vegemite? We then had the opportunity to hold some (non-venemous) snakes, although I was only allowed to pose as I had put sunscreen on before realizing we would be able to do this and without knowing it was harmful to them! We then headed out for the cruise, joined by several others including an Indian family with their baby. I'm not sure I would have taken a baby on what was essetially a meat eating frenzy, but that's just me. We did not have to wait long until we were being eyed up by some hungry crocodiles and then the games began: meat is held out on sticks and the crocs jump for it. There is a reason for doing this but I won't bore you with it.

The rest of the day involved swimming in beautiful waterfalls, seeing strange 'magnetic' termite mounds and following thunderous rainclouds across the outback. We were a small group and got on well, this combined with a free meal ticket for a local pub saw us all congregate later in the 'Vic'. We were having a nice evening but all of a sudden it got rather tense as a winning ticket for a competition meant Dave had to compete against a girl for a $50 bar tab. The task? Be the first to eat 26 marshmallows! Unfortunately the girl did not stand a chance as Dave sat there looking very happy, stuffing the marshmallows in to his gob! She gave up and victory was ours! The rest of the evening was spent in the company of much champagne and lager.

The next day we got up a little later than planned but still got up the energy to cycle round Fannie Bay and out to East Point, stopping at the museum to soak up some Aborignal art and many, many other things. It was a race against time and the weather to get the bikes back but we made it and settled down for the evening before our next destination: Alice Springs.