Sunday 1st July 2012 Merl Campground (Kakadu) to Darwin (Lee Point)

Trip Meter Reading Start – 5143            Trip Meter Reading Finish – 5432

Total Km Travelled –  289km

Fuel Costs & Consumption
Fill up at Humpty Doo
Unleaded $154/L  66.93L  $103
Comments -  Luke Baker
On the way to Darwin we went on the Adelaide River cruise, this is where we saw crocs jumping out of the water. They hold a piece of meat out on a rope. The largest was about 6.5m!
We camped at Lee Point in Darwin. At night we watched the fireworks for the celebration of Northern Territory day and went to the markets. We saw crocodile belts, hats, teeth and skulls. We also saw these shirts that beat to the music, they were cool!

Comments – Dad and Mum

Time to leave the mozzie’s behind first stop was the Mamukala bird watching hut situated on the edge of a large wetland full of lotus lilies. The hut has lots of info on the varied wildlife as well as pics. Along the way past the South Alligator River bridge there was a very large croc heading against the tide at a fair rate of knots which was awesome to see. We called into Bark Hut Roadhouse Hotel where we had lunch and Luke beat me in a game of pool. That’s not hard but he is definitely getting better. Off to the Adelaide River for a one o’clock crocodile cruise on the River Queen. The biggest croc was about 6.5m and was good to see up close especially when they jump up for their feed. You can wander up or down stairs depending on the view you like. The crew where very friendly and informative. This is the original family owned and operated business running for 27years. Still not sure if it’s a good idea to teach crocs to jump though. Don’t think i would fish this stretch of water. On the way into Darwin there were fireworks signs everywhere. We found out that it was Northern Territory Day and that fireworks were on in the harbour. This made it hard to find accommodation and all of the caravan parks are a long way out of town. Luckily we were able to get into Lee Point Park, so we booked in for a week. We quickly got set up and went down to the Mindil Beach markets which I have always wanted to visit to try the varied cuisines. Luke wanted a croc skull but due to being so busy I advised that we would come back for the Thursday markets in case it gets damaged. Nic went to get a cross section of foods while Luke and I found a good vantage point on the sand dune to watch the sunset and fireworks. The fireworks were on par with Sydney’s new years eve they were that good. The locals were insane with fireworks being shot out of car windows, loud bungers going off, it was just a free for all everywhere we went. You could look in any one direction and watch them going off, this is definitely not a kill joy state like NSW but safety was a bit concerning. There was good music playing throughout the markets one of which was a drum kit and a multiple didge player cranking out modern versions of this instrument, it sounded excellent finding it hard to leave. We checked out some things we liked and would come back on Thursday to buy up.