At 6:20am, pickup in front of hostel by a big 4WD truck (same kind as previous one for the Uluru tour, a bit bigger a newer).
Ramona, Kaori, Linda & Julie from the previous days are also on the same tour.
The driver is Nathan, nicknamed "Behemoth", a tall guy (he's a bit of a show off, but his knowledge is incredible, and in the end he's an excellent guide).
The truck is almost full, in total we are 16, plus Nathan ... (there's no seat left, someone even has to sit in front next to the driver)
The group is composed of :
- Ramona, Kaori, Linda & Julie
- Giulia, from Switzerland
- Katrin, from Germany
- a girl from Canada, French speaking (forgot her name ...)
- Martin, from Germany
- "Princess" and her parents, from Sweden
- 2 couples of Australians, from Victoria (around 50ish)
So there's quite a lot of Ozzies, which is always a good thing !
Once out of the city, we drive to Litchfield NP, where we head to the Tabletops Ranges area.
(everywhere along the road we can see some huge Termite mounds (from Cathedral Termites), ranging from 30cm up to 8m !
We also see some dingos along the road.
Our first stop is at the Florence Falls.
The place is beautiful, with really nice waterfalls. We go for a swim there.
The water isn't too cold, and the current is quite strong, making it challenging to get to the waterfalls.
We stay there for a while, it's really nice.
(we get to see a lizard on the way to the falls, which apparently is quite rare to see, we're lucky - a Black-Headed/Freckled Monitor)
Our next stop is at Buley Rockhole, where we go in the Pools (it's a set of basins linked to each other by small waterfalls, where the water seems to be sparkling like champagne ...).
Again we go for a really pleasant swim.
(and again, we get to see the same rare lizard ! - we're definitely lucky)
The next stop is at Termite Mounds, called like this because it's a place where we can get really close to ... termite mounds ...
There, there's a mound of 8m high, it's very impressive !
Nathan explains us the difference between "Cathedral Termites" and "Magnetic Termites" (both types of mounds can be seen on this site).
(there's also some termites living in tree trunks)
After that, we leave Litchfield NP and go for lunch at the Banyan Tree Cafe.
We're having hot dogs.
We then hit the road to the Wetlands.
(in the truck, we're now listening to Kaori's iPod, there's a lot of Japanese music ... lol ... It's quite funny ... There are also a lot of good songs)
We stop at the "Window On The Wetlands", which is an aboriginal cultural centre, explaining and showing many things about nature, life and traditions here.
There's a guy explaining the origins and how to use didjeridoos and clapping sticks, a girl showing how to create ropes and make some bags, etc.
It's pretty interesting.
(even if the guy speaks so quickly, it's really hard to understand, even for the Ozzies !)
When leaving the centre, we see a lot of "beautiful ugly" spiders in the trees just in front of the entrance ...
Along the road we see many wallaroos.
The next stop is at Corroboree Billabong, where we're going for a cruise on the Mary River, which is apparently known to have the record of the most crocodiles per square meter in the world !
And we will indeed see quite a lot of them - and some from very close !
(as well as some nice birds, and a beautiful white eagle)
Later on, we stop for fuel, and for those who want to go to the toilet or buy some drinks.
Right next to the station, there are 2 crocodiles in enclosures, a fresh water one, and a salt water one (the salt water are the big ones, that can be as big as 6-7m !)
We then stop at Annaburroo campsite, where we will stay for the night.
We're just on time to go up the hill and watch the sunset.
It's beautiful.
After shower, we're having dinner : marinated kangaroo steak (delicious), buffalo sausages, and salad.
Then, we going back in the truck to go on a trip to find snakes in the dark.
We will not see many of them, just a few along the road, "sliding" away as we approach ...
Back to the campsite, we go for a walk to try to find some animals.
We will not find snakes, but spiders, frogs, lizards, and wallaroos.
Nathan gives us a lot of information about everything, very interesting.
We then go to bed.
I have a tent for myself.
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