Wow!! Had to write this entry early on morning of 26th as we had no light in our little tent @ Kakadu campsite last night!
We were collected from Banyan view lodge at 7am and met our guide and team. Barny was our guide, a German couple Axel and Annette, a Taiwanese Girl Mia, a Japanese girl Chica and 3 more Germans Ines, Karl and Sandra.
Stopped off to meet Kakadu dreams tour boss in a car park (they closed office recently hence the car park!) and got our sleeping bags for 10 bucks each then we set out to see the real Oz!!
Got to know the group quite well en route..After Carol told them most Irish teachers got 3 months vacation on summer, i think they started to hate us. But, I was quick to point out I was not a teacher so they would at least like me :-)
First stop was the jumping crocodile cruise! Had tea / toast before boarding the boat, quite big boat so I'm safe in the knowledge the crocs could not board it!
This was truly one of the most amazing experiences ever watching these reptiles jumping 5/10 feet out of water to get a piece of meat with 5-10 feet of me. Got some awesome pics. I remember thinking how bloody mental that crocodile Steve fella is (Was!).
We left there for a looonnggg ride to Kakadu national park stopping only for the custom 'Welcome to Kakadu' sign pictures and for quick sandwich during lunch. Then I thought our 4 wheel drive had begun through unsealed roads. They were rocky and bumpy orange dusty roads. My ass was not having a good trip!
We stopped about 50 miles into trip to get fire wood..our guides instructions were simple..'get firewood and watch the snakes'. What the f***??!! So trying to be the man I went looking for 'untermited' wood (wood which had been eaten away by termites) in my f***ing flip flops and shorts. Snakes must have been thinking christmas had come early.
Luckily I didn't see or get bitten by any just then!
We made it to our campsite after about 2-3 hour drive (trips in Oz are class but most of them involve lot of travelling because everywhere is so far away) where we set up camp (me and carol had 3 man tent to ourselves - www.benefitsofmarriage.com) and once we were done, the guide shouted "c'mon let's see the real Oz".
As I thought before that our real 4WD had begun, I got a stern wake up call. He unhooked the trailer, got everyone in, pressed play on his music player and why came on "welcome to the jungle" by Guns'n'Roses..how appropriate. It was the best most uncomfortable ride of my life. I loved it. We parked about 1km from jim jim falls, and took on a wall through rocky mountainous terrain. Walked alongside a crocodile infested lake (which was not yet cleared by the rangers yet) and I thought "why the hell are we doing this???"!! It seemed insane but as we came upon jim jim falls, it was worth it 100%. One of the best views yet, 2 waterfalls split about 10 feet apart which only show for 2 weeks every year. Got some good touristy pics and now it was time for swim in previously croc inhabited waters (no matter how safe it is I always have feeling that I'm gonna be bitten / killed by croc in these waters).
Had swim for about an hour, water was freezing but you could not come here and not swim. Too nice.
Ventured back to car park after swim, got back to camp for about 6pm where we started to prep dinner-buffalo sausages, stir fry of 9 veg and finally kangaroo! And beers of course (Carlton mid).
Ate dinner and exchanged some banter before moving to camp fire. Barny got a digeridoo from his truck and showed us how it was done. He was class. Myself and carol were bad in the 1st 2 rounds but in round 3, we got it knocking. I had sore cheeks after it!
After my 'didge' playing, barny said I was too good (joke) and said he wanted to take us to the main camp entrance to star gaze. En route to entrance barny let me borrow his head light and showed me how to hunt spiders..the light has to be at eye height and you should see glistening at the top of the spider. There were spiders all round so had no trouble finding one which was cool. We reached the main entrance to camp site and I sat down, then I heard, 'ok guys before you sit down check for snakes on the road' I thought 'f*** that, I'm outta here!'. I got up, the folk with lights shone and saw no snakes but barney said they camped last week and a snake wandered into their camp site section. Yikes!
So, coast clear, we sat on road and barney/carol gave us guided tour of all the stars. Can't remember names but I remember thinking 'wow'.
After about 5 mins we saw shooting star which stayed in sky for ages then split into 2.(may have been asteroid). It was absolutely amazing.
Got day 2 of trip tomorrow, absolutely so looking forward to it given the dah we had today! Not sure my ass can handle anymore rocky roads though!