The northern town of Darwin is known for it’s proximity to two national parks, Litchfield and Kakadu (love that name). Unfortunately, due to timing, I was only able to visit Litchfield.

Before the tour, I spent a day wandering around Darwin, enjoying the man-made beach, taking a nap in the grass and making new friends. There was a night market by another beach that night, where crowds gathered to watch the sunset, taste local and remote food, and buy locally made artisanal crafts.

Afterwards our group went to a couple of bars, where I quickly learned that despite it’s small size, Darwin is a big party town. Lots of bumping and shoving, as international egos kept trying to outdo each other. It also didn’t help I was still carrying my daypack around, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

The day tour of Litchfield started with watching crocodiles nearly jump completely out of the water to grab dangling meat. It was impressive to see them lift their huge bodies so high out of the water. Apparently they naturally learned this technique in their youth to reach low hanging birds in trees by the river. Some interesting facts about crocodiles:

  • They can lower their heart rate to 1 beat per two minutes
  • If a limb is severed during combat, they can stop blood from flowing into that region, and thus survive without the limb
  • 99% of crocodile offspring are eaten in the first year after birth, sometimes by their mother

The next stop was a massive termite mound, which took the little guys dozens of years to build. Not much else to say about that.

The remaining stops were waterfalls, starting with a beautiful double waterfall into a clear pool of water. We paid no attention to the “Beware of crocodiles” sign and gleefully jumped into said pool. The last stop were cascading waterfalls, were you could relax in one of several pools and enjoy a water-based back massage.

Darwin marks the end of a month in Australia, and I really enjoyed my time here. Despite it’s distance from Canada, there are many similarities but the climate is much better. In fact, you can spend the entire year circling the country while always wearing a t-shirt and shorts. How awesome is that?