The journey from Kununurra was pretty interesting as we had our lunc and dinner stops at two places that we had originally intended on stopping for a night, but had been warned off by people we spoke to in Coral Bay - thank goodness we changed our plans and had an extra two nights in Broome, that's all I can say! The first stop was Timber Creek and all that was there was a skummy roadhouse / hotel and the usual token half-cut Aborigini's lined up outside the bar. This would have been worse than Port Hedland! The second stop was Katherine, which we thought would be ok as the Katherine Gorge is a famous spot for some great kayaking trips. However a guy we met from Darwin in Coral Bay told us that it's not really safe to walk along the street there and we read something similar, hence changing our minds about this break too! All we did here was grab a bite to eat at the garage we stopped at and were probably only here for 40 minutes tops - this was enough!! In that time we witnessed what is apparently a regular Katherine scene . . . . There was an Aboriginal family in a taxi at one of the petrol pumps and outside of the car was an Aborigini guy shouting obscenities through he drivers open window, whilst the poor cabbie is sitting there waiting to drive off. He must be used to this and seemed to ignore it to start with, until after further shouting and throwing his arms around, the irate Aborigini hits the back window of the car with brute force as he begins to walk away! With this the taxi drivers patience is up and he jumps out of his cab and goes after the man, grabbing him byb the scruff of the neck and pushing him up against the side of the vehicle. The Aborigini guy doesn't appear to apologise, despite the near twenty stone driver having hold of him by the throat and with his free hand calling the police - instead he seems to be shouting back at the driver. Shortly after the phone call is finished the Aborigini falls to the floor in a similarly theatrical manner that a footballer would in the hope of a penalty. The motionless act doesn't last long though and before long he's up shouting in the car window and into the face of the driver again! Things were becoming quite heated and the police turned up just in time, quickly leading the man to the back of their truck. This made interesting entertainment, but I think if we hadn't have been getting back on the bus and were staying there we'd not have found it quite so amusing!

We arrived in Darwin at about 9pm and our first thoughts were that it looked like a cool, fun and lively place to be - alot different to the West Coast as it's been a very quiet and peaceful journey since Perth. It was good to be back in a city though and we were looking forward to checking everything out in the daylight! The morning came and we explored the city . . . lots of shops, cafe's, restaurants and bars. There's one main street that the main bars are on and it seemed just as busy during the day as it is at night. Something we quickly learned about Darwin is that they're big drinkers!! There's a ridiculous amount of beer drunk here - probably more than some of the much larger cities!

 One day that we were there, we hopped on a bus to a suburb called Parac, where there was a weekly craft market that I'd read about. It was a small market compared to The Rocks and Paddington in Sydney and Camden at home, but similar in atmosphere and stalls. Lots of clothes, jewellery, bags and so many amazing foods and juices! We'd stupidly already eaten so only managed a juice, but the smell of the Asian delights was great temptation for the next three months! I also saw a Tarot / Palm reader here, just for a bit of fun and was pretty happy with what he had to say - he was spot on with my IQ and said I had a double head line . . . at first I thought he was referring to my big forehead, but fortunately it means I'm rare to have two head lines (on my hand) and it means I have some kind of extra intelligence that I must use! Sounds alright to me!! After the market we went to the George Brown Botanical Gardens where my friend Debbie has a tree planted in her memory. We searched for hours, until we were completely exhausted and sufficiently dripping with the midday heat. To say I was disappointed that we hadn't found it was an understatement, but just as we were about to leave James had a quick loook in a different area and he called out the speling of the name of the tree and sure enough, he'd found it - my hero! It turns out the proper name tag had been taken off and a small silver marker had been attached with just the name of the tree, so it made it a little harder to find! I was so pleased though and we spent some time drawing a map of where abouts it is for Debbies Mum and taking some photos from numerous angles! I had a huge smile on my face all day after this! That night we went to a backpacker bar for free dinner and drinks with three German girls we got chatting to at our hostel. It was a good night, although I think for the first time during the trip I had one to many and have to admit felt pretty rough the next day - that'll teach me!!

On the day before we left we went on a day trip to Litchfield National Park. We were picked up at 7am, so an early start we haven't been used to, but refreshing all the same. On the way to the National Park we stopped at the Adelaide river to go on a boat trip to see some 'Jumping Crocodiles'! This was amazing and I wasn't anywhere as near as scared as I thought I'd be after watching that awful Ozzie film 'Rogue' (not for those who are afraid of Crocs!). The idea is that the guys on the boat hand some read meat off of the side on a large rod of some kind and when a hungry croc comes sniffing by and raises his head for a taste they lift the rod high in the air. The Crocs reaction is to simply jump up after it and sometimes the entire croc is out of the water! These things are up to 7 metres in length and they wouldn't hesitate to devour any one of us, so this was quite an experience, especially sitting by an open window on the lower deck, about two metres away from them when they jump!

Despite the bus losing a wheel bearing and them having to get another bus to us, we still had a great day and the hour waiting was spent at an Aboriginal art shop, where there were alsorts of animals wandering around including a tame Wallaby. After we left here we stopped to see some huge termite mounds that were about 6 metres tall! I've seen them all along the sides of the roads as we were travelling up the West Coast but didn't know what they were! At the park itself we did some bushwalking and swimming in the most amazing freshwater pools, under huge waterfalls. The only downfall was that these areas were packed, liked a public swimming pool. The highlight of this trip fo me, by far, was on the way home when the guide quickly pulled over onto the side of the road and ran back to a tree to get hold of a Frilled Lizard so we could see it and take photos. This thing was amazing! It looked and acted like a small Raptor (yes Jurassic Park Raptor!). When the guide went to let it lose he said it will either run away into the wild or try and go for him and as he let it go, it didn't move and just turned to stare at the guide. At this point, after the guide yelled 'watch this!' he jumped over the lizard and ran with the lizard chasing him snapping at his heels - I could hear the snapping too which was the point where I jumped back into the mini-bus! The end of a really good day!

 Darwin's a nice city, small but nice. It doesn't compare to Sydney or Melbourne when you're after city life, but it's a place worth checking out.