I went on a 3 day tour to Litchfield and Kakadu which are both located fairly close to Darwin ( well they are in Australian standards at least!)

As well as the scenery the highlights of the tour have got to be the handsome tall tour guide and the posh camp sites! Oh yes we had permanent tents, beds wth matresses and proper tented kitchens with communal areas - wow or should I say ' sweet as'.

Catchphrases for all trips from now on are 'sweet as', 'no worries' and 'awesome' which you hear all over the place!

The scenery wasn't massively different from what I have seen before but the big thing for me was learning how the aborigines used to live and seeing their rock art. Kakadu, which is the same size as Israel, has now been returned to the aborigines but tourists are allowed access to approx 2% of it.

Aborigines are/were nomadic so we saw the caves that they lived in during the wet (or rainy season) they lived outside in huts during the dry season.I can't quite get my head around the aboriginal culture obviously their main daily routine revolved around the mundane ie hunting, cooking and survival but they are big into story tellng as a means of education. The women told stories by using strings whilst the men practiced rock art (which was likened to a blackboard as it was a teachng tool). They appear very spiritual and believe the world was created by the dreamng. All too complicated for me especially as you are not entitled to know the full story unless you have been initiated into the tribe - so we are simply told the children's version.

Now they have been stripped of their land and their identity it is very sad to see. Some people say 'why not just give them their land back?' but as white man has done so much damage, destroying plants, removing trees and killing off species which were important food sources it is not that simple!! Those who live in the national parks can follow some of their traditional ways of life but those in towns are less fortunate. Many in towns do not have jobs so hang around the town sociailsing and unfortunately drinking. Many now have weight and diabetes issues as they are eating western foods laden with sugar which their bodies can't process effectively.

In Litchfield park I saw some enormous magnetic termite mounds which are big houses for cities of ants that extend both above and below ground. The boss of the whole outfit is of course the queen who lives for approx 70 years whilst the males live for, ooh, that would be 6 months if they're lucky! Once the queen dies the mound empties and it starts to decay. The decay process can take as long as it took to build - so 70 yrs to go up and 70 yrs to come down!!

As it's the end of the wet season the park rangers are all out cleaning flood debris off paths & roads and most importantly removing all the saltwater crocodiles from the public areas. Apparently saltwater crocodiles are not that keen on climbing over things so they drift into these areas during the wet season and then won't move when the water subsdes hence the need for their removal in big croc cages.

We also took a river cruise down Mary River which was quite interesting as the wildlife is just starting to reclaim the area after the wet season. We saw both types of crocs, sea eagles, wallabies and loads of different types of birds (sorry no idea what type!!).

Here's a random one for you rugby fans - we were staying on a campsite 12km out of Kakadu which actually had a bar (quite novel for us seasoned campers) so we absolutely had to go and have a drink there. It had a few people in it and I ended up talking to one of the Leeds Rhinos coaches on a boys hunting and fishing trip. Sorry guys can't remember his name but he is Australian if that helps!

At the end of the trip we got a free meal ticket for 'The Vic', a bar in Darwin, and as we are all backpackers on a budget we were all up for that. As Evelyn, Miranda and Daniella are still in town I met up with them too. The night turned out to be a bit of a wild one which is a bit of a shame as I have to get up at 5am tomorrow morning - whoops!