Thursday 14^th June, 2012

With the OK from Apollo we drove over a gravel road to the Litchfield National Park. We stopped at the Cascades. The hike lead to a creek which flows over the rocks to the valley. A few people were sitting in the water to enjoy a refreshment. We wanted to do this at Wangi Falls. But unfortunately the camping there was already full at 3pm and we had to go to another one a few kilometers away. But there was no such refreshment.

Wednesday 13^th June, 2012

After a very lazy morning we drove in the afternoon to a crocodile park. They breed crocodiles to get meat and leather. Beside they have some other animals in the park. They are mainly local animals, but also a lion, a tiger and monkeys. We joined a feeding tour and could hold the meat in front of the crocodile's nose similar to a fishing rod. At the end the keeper showed us a 1.5 year old crocodile which we even could hold by ourselves. It is a special feeling to hold a crocodile.

After we drove to the beach and watched the sunset.

Monday 11^th June, 2012

In the morning we drove to the Mamukala Wetland. Here we made a short hike through the bush. We saw a big waterhole with some birds enjoying themselves. The area around the path was mostly burned down. It is normal here that the shrubs are burned down. This is done at the beginning of the dry season, also now. Next morning the fire will be put out by the thaw. Like this the Aboriginals clean every few years a part of the forest. This reduces the changes of big bushfires at the end of the dry season which destroy everything. The Kakadu National Park is owned by the Aboriginals. They leased the country to the government to run a National Park. There are more than 5000 places with rock art in the National Park, but only two of them are allowed to be visited by tourists. One of them is in Ubirr. We mazed at the many rock paintings and hiked up and up. Already in the middle of the hill and the more on the top we had a wonderful view over the country. Then we drove to the Bardedjilidji Walk. At the start we were informed that we should not go to close to the water as crocodiles have been seen lately at the river shore. We hiked through bush to the river. It was a nice hike and we did not meet a crocodile. After we drove back to Ubirr and listened to a ranger who told us about the plain and its history and significance. As the presentation was over the sun slowly set and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Sunday 10^th June, 2012

In the room beside us it was sometimes quite load because of the Football Euro Championship and I could only sleep badly. After a lazy start into the day we went to get our camper van. The kind lady from the rental office talked to us in a mix of high German and Swiss German. We learnt that she is from former Yugoslavia and lived for a long time in Zurich. She made a perfect handover and we got a nearly new camper with only 11'000 km. Next we bought food for the next few days. After we had everything packed we started. On the Stuart Highway we drove towards Kakadu National Park. In the Wetland region we made a short stop and visited the visitor center. We enjoyed the view into the wide country. It was already late afternoon as we reached Kakadu National Park and thus we went directly to the first camping site. From there we wanted to make a short hike. We asked at reception if the path is open. Unfortunately there is still to much water and so it could have salties there. So are the saltwater crocodiles, the biggest crocodile species, commonly called by the Australians. So we spend the rest of the day studying the brochures of the region. I met a slightly shocked Dutch when I went to the toilet in the late evening. She just met a frog in the toilet. Nothing new for me as on the west coast I had seen some frogs in the restrooms. When being in the nature you may see some animals you usually do not see.

Saturday 9^th June, 2012

We started today early after we spent the last evening in Sydney with the workmates of Konrad. Until this morning everything looked good with our luggage, but the last few things we had to push into Konrad's suitcase. As I brought the suitcase to the car, I realized that the zip was not holding at two places. So we started with the hope to be able to solve this problem at the airport. First we drove to the office of Open Systems to leave there the keys of the flat. After Yin, a friend from Tango, gave us a lift to the airport. Unfortunately there was no shop at the airport which would have solved our suitcase problem. Konrad opened the zip and tried to close it again and now it was holding. After I was caught at the security. Unintentionally I put my pocket knife from the big backpack to the hand luggage. The officer was so nice that I could go out again and so that I could send the pocket knife. As there was not a normal post office, I had to send it to the office of Open Systems and hope now that someone there can bring it home. As it was a present of my godfather I did not want to have it disposed. At the gate the plane was already waiting. “We are waiting for the engineer to give the plane free” were we told. But that did not happen and so we had to go to another gate were we boarded another plane. With a delay of more than an hour we started to Darwin. The flight was without problem and we marvelled at the Australian outback from above. After we checked-in at the accommodation we went to buy a new suitcase. I had warned Konrad already before that his suitcase will soon break completely. Now we did not want to have this risk again and immediately found a suitable suitcase on sale.

We went for sightseeing in Darwin after the put everything in the new suitcase and disposed the old one. There is not much in the city so we had soon seen it. But as there was a Greek festival this weekend we walked through the festival area and enjoyed a delicious Greek dinner. The sun was now setting and we walked back to the accommodation. Tomorrow we will start with the camper.