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Category: Travel and Places
My big holiday: Melbourne/Alice Springs/Darwin/Kakadu/Katherine Gorge/Mataranka + more!: Friday 18 Sep - Sun 11 Oct 09
Part 3: Darwin, Kakadu and Litchfield: Sunday 27 Sep - Sunday 4 Oct 09
Day 17: Sunday 4 Oct 09
This was a day off in a sense, hence the late end the night before. I really had precious little to do, so slept in happily, did some washing and then decided to work out what to do on Friday, my one remaining day free. Should I have that as a day off? In the end, it was a toss up between doing a half day trip to the nearby Territory Wildlife Park, which would cost about $59, and doing a huge trip to the Tiwi Islands, which would cost $229. After exhaustive searching, I discovered that there were no trips to the park on this particular Friday, and the Tiwi Islands trip was actually $229 for the airfare + $220 for the trip itself, so $449 total, which hurt my wallet just thinking about it. Nonetheless, after a lot of thought, I booked it in, and decided to go to the park on the way to Katherine on the Monday, if my dad agreed. I worked out that we would have about 4-5 hours spare on our way down and could easily drop in on the way down. If not, well, I had been to the Desert Park in Alice Springs which I was sure would be similar, so it was no big deal to miss it entirely.
We went to the Mindil Beach Markets again for dinner, after having an aborted dinner with one of dad's friends, who then became disorganised in not answering her phone, so we just went elsewhere. I had thought that we would see the Nightcliff Markets, but that was actually Sunday morning, so was not an option.
Just as I got home, I got an SMS from Karen, as I was thinking that I wouldn't see her at all and was quite upset about that. I rang her and she said she was available right then and there, immediately. It was quite good timing really, as I had a bit of spare time, although it would mean being tired for Monday. Naturally, I went around, to meet Karen for the first time. She said that it had been 7 years that we had been talking, over the internet and over the phone, so it was a big deal to meet her. She is the first person I have met who was living overseas when I first talked to her. Karen was lovely and we had a good time talking and listening to music. She is just like what I thought that she would be like, both with looks and personality. Unfortunately, by the time we finished up it was 1.30am and we were going to get up at 6am the next day, which was a bit hairy, but it was worth it to see her. Such a pity that I couldn't have seen her on Friday or Saturday or earlier on Sunday when it would have been more convenient. Just the same, it was good.
Part 4: Darwin, Katherine gorge, Mataranka and Tiwi Islands: Monday 5 Oct 09 - Sunday 11 Oct 09
Day 18: Monday 5 Oct 09
Getting up at 6am after being out until 1.30am the night before is always hairy and having to pack up all of our belongings to go to Katherine made this doubly difficult. Thankfully I wasn't the one driving. We left a little later than planned as my dad was being considerate of my being tired.
We decided to spend a mere 3 hours at the Territory Wildlife Park, which was a little disappointing, but we left late and dad wanted to get to Katherine well and truly before it got dark and before the shops shut. The park was a mere $20, and compares well with the comparable Alice Springs Desert Park. It was obviously different in that this was tropical while the Desert Park was, obviously, desert, but it had many similarities. They did it very differently though, with a kind of bus train, that looked like a train but was actually a bus, that took you around the park every 30 minutes with commentary and personalised discussion by the guides, a different one every trip. We went to most of the exhibits and to both the Birds of Prey exhibition and to the ray and archer fish exhibit, where the archer fish shoot water straight at your hands. We also went to the aquarium, to the disappointing nocturnal house, and to the impressive monsoon walk. We didn't do the other 4 walks though so they might have been impressive too. I did think, overall, that the Desert Park was slightly better. Both were good and well worth the tiny entrance fee but the Desert Park was just a bit more professional, had a bit more to offer and was just larger. It was nice to do both. Unfortunately, the park is a bit out of the way (unlike the Desert Park) so is probably best to do on the way to somewhere, e.g. on the way to Katherine, Litchfield or even to Alice Springs.
We are in Katherine now, staying in this luxurious Knott's Crossing Resort. I upgraded our rooms so that we would have Austar so that we can watch the cricket tonight (the final of the ICC Champions Trophy - Australia vs New Zealand). Sadly it is on 11.30pm-7.30am our time, which is a bit annoying. We had wanted to leave early tomorrow to go to Katherine Gorge but we will see how we go.
7:53 AM
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