Hey, everyone! The past few days has mostly revolved around getting to Darwin from Alice Springs and getting acquainted with the “Top End” of Australia. I had a couple of days in Alice before taking a Greyhound to Darwin, and spent the days hiking around walking trails near the city.

Larapinta Trail & Various Other Hikes

Larapinta Trail is actually a pretty large trail that can last a week or more if fully hiked. It begins near the Telegraph Station. I wanted to venture there before dusk to increase my chances of wildlife sightings. The hike was actually really wonderful – not incredibly steep, but it provided excellent views of the ranges around Alice.

The only bit of wildlife I saw along the way was a wallaroo/euro. They are sort of like smaller kangaroos – practically pademelons (remember them from Tasmania?). So many damn marsupials to keep track of! Oh, and I forgot another type of wildlife that frequented the trail… Flies! My favorite. I know I have whinged about them before, but MAN. They are truly, truly relentless. I could flail my hands around at them for five minutes straight, and they would return in a fury. They are awful – and disgusting.

The following afternoon, I was planning on returning to the Larapinta trail, but I took a different way to get there and ended up finding a whole network of trails on the other end of the Todd River. A lot of the trails were Aboriginal names for native creatures – kangaroo, perentie, THORNY DEVIL. My mission of the day was to, of course, get to the thorny devil trail. A last ditch effort perhaps?

The hiking was great. Along the way, I saw some tiny lizards scurrying about and either red kangaroos or wallaroos again. I think they were red kangaroos because they seemed larger, but it was hard to tell as they were a fair distance away. There were occasionally warning signs for dingoes – I had my eye out, but didn’t see any. Perhaps they had seen me, though.

I timed the hike perfectly. It is recommended to not be wandering about at night in Alice, so I wanted to get back before dark. By the time I got to the end of the thorny devil trail, I had walked the same amount of time as it would take me to get back to the hostel before dark.

Return to Olive Pink Botanical Garden

On my last day, I returned to Olive Pink Botanical Garden one more time to try and see some lizards. While I didn’t see lizards, I was surprised to find a wallaroo… with a joey in its pouch! It was startled by me at first, but then relaxed and laid down in the shade only a few meters away from me. I didn’t notice the joey at first, but then saw a big hole near the roo’s stomach. And… a tail?! I watched it for a while, and the tail eventually slipped out of the pouch, then two little legs. So adorable!

I also hiked to the top of Annie Meyer Hill (a quick, non-strenuous hike) and was even more surprised to see that the rock wallabies were out. It was the peak of the day and it was warm out! What were these guys doing out and about? At one point, I watched one of the wallabies wiggle its bushy tail and then playfully run towards a second wallaby.

I also saw a second wallaroo, who also had a joey. At first, I thought it was the same one, but after returning to the original roo, I realized there were two with joeys.

It felt like a good way to wrap up my time in Alice Springs – doing some solo trails, surrounded by no one or nothing but nature and the occasional wildlife sighting.

It is always weird to leave an Australian city. I often wonder, “Will I ever be back here again?” It is a strange type of grief. I have occasionally shed a few tears when getting ready to leave places. Perth, Tasmania – last year, it was Maui.

I am really grateful I was able to get to Alice Springs, and to Uluṟu. The Red Center has a certain magnetism for me. Where it lacked in ocean or water sources in general, it had many other things in abundance: a vibrant Aboriginal community, red dirt, red kangaroos, interesting wildlife and terrain overall. Love you, Red Center!

Greyhound ft. Tennant Creek

Thus began the long Greyhound ride to Darwin. A 22 hour bus ride. Yikes! And yet, it wasn’t too bad. I spent the first portion of the trip listening to music, then watching a bit of the show Rose Red. I wanted to stay up for a while, because there was a rest stop from 12am to 1.30am and not many stops after that. I figured I would be tired enough at that point, I could actually get some rest even though I was on a bus.

The weirdest part of the whole trip was when we stopped at Tennant Creek at midnight. I found it strange that the bus driver didn’t give us any words of caution as we were forced to dismount the bus (he had to drop off some parcels as part of his job). It was midnight, and there were lots of people out and about at the rest stop, some of them looking completely cracked out of their minds. At 1am, – ON A SCHOOL NIGHT – there was a group of kids that must have been 10 years old, walking into the rest area to get some snacks. What the hell is going on here?

I did see a cute little frog as well as what looked like a praying mantis. I made friends with Indah, a lovely person from The Netherlands. We talked a lot about travel, about Australia, and what both of our plans were for our time in Australia. We ended up bonding and hanging out at the subsequent rest stops during the bus ride.

After Tennant Creek, I did manage to fall asleep… kind of. It felt like I hadn’t at all, not finding any comfortable positions, but somehow I woke up and it was 6am. I tried to sleep some more. At a certain point I decided to just read Spare, the Prince Harry autobiography, which is really interesting. I finished it minutes before we arrived in Darwin.

Introduction to Darwin & Howard Springs

My first impression of Darwin… lots of white buildings, a sort of beach town-y vibe. The temperature was amazing. Darwin has two seasons, the wet and the dry. During the wet, it is ridiculously humid and there are often insane, incredible thunderstorms. Dry season is pretty much the same temperature, but less humid and it doesn’t rain often.

Parting ways with Indah, Michael was already waiting for me at the bus stop. He had invited me to stay with him in his caravan until his wife arrives in a couple of weeks. I had gotten a hostel starting June 2nd, but figured I’d stay with him until then. I wanted to give myself some time in a hostel to meet friends and go on more adventures.

That first day was pretty easy. We stopped for groceries and then went to the caravan park, where I had a much-needed shower and we chilled out for the rest of the evening.

In the morning, Michael took me to Howard Springs. There are heaps of turtles, and barramundi fish in the waterhole. Occasionally snakes. The reason Michael took me was that there is a turtle/barramundi feeding that the rangers do once a week. It was cute to see the barramundi snatching up the bait, and the turtles and little fish fighting for it as well. Everyone wanted food!

Just before the feeding, Michael had also noticed someone taking photos of something over by the trees. “There’s a goanna over there,” he told me. “Really?” I was so excited. I walked over and sure enough. BIG GUY. What a big lizard! Such a treat.

The other part of Howard Springs that was super exciting for me was… long-necked turtles! I didn’t even know they existed until I saw signs for them at Neil Hawkins Park with my friend Liam back in Perth. I wasn’t able to see them in Perth, but sure enough! NATURE PROVIDES!!!

After the feeding, Michael said he’d wait in the car for me while I did a short hike around the Howard Springs trail. The trail was… spooky. Here in the Top End of Australia, there are basically snakes year round. It is consistently warm enough, that they usually don’t go into dormancy. There are also snakes that are nocturnal, like the woma python from last week. Snakes here climb trees as well, so not only was I needing to watch the ground, but up in the trees. Yikes!

A lot of the walks here in Australia keep me on edge, because I am very cautious and don’t want to get bitten by a venomous snake. And now that I’m in the Top End, there are man-eating crocodiles to be wary of. Lord! It can be thrilling – hearing something rustle in the bush, but it can be scary, too. I was the only one on the trail, and was a little freaked. No snakes, though! Yet. Lots of little skinks around, though.

When I had finished the loop trail and gotten back to the waterhole where the turtles were, I saw… a goanna swimming in the water, with a yabby/crayfish in its mouth! So insane!

Lee Point and Casuarina Coastal Reserve

Michael also took me to Lee Point and Casuarina Coastal Reserve. It felt good to be near the ocean again. I do love my oceans! I walked from Lee Point to Buffalo Creek and was in awe of the unique terrain Darwin provided. Many of the trees had strangler figs wrapping around and around their hosts. There were even mangroves along the walk!

It was a cool walk. When I got to Buffalo Creek, I gazed out at the water for a while. Sometimes, there are dolphins, dugongs/manitees, even false-killer whales. Then, I saw something shuffling near my feet. Hermit crabs! I can’t say I’ve ever seen hermit crabs in the wild before. What a treat.

Casuarina Coastal Reserve was pretty, too. Overlooking the ocean, there were mangroves once again. And so, so many birds!

Later in the day, we picked up Lachlan – the person Michael had driven to Darwin with after we parted ways. Lachlan is from Sydney and it was his last night in town. We drove around for a while, saw a lizard quickly disappear into a tree, and some wallabies hanging in a field.

We also stopped at a nice view of the skyline. Later, we stopped to watch the sun set… and the spot we picked actually is the jetty where my old company has their ferries depart from.

While watching the sunset, a stray cat came up to us, meowing and looking for pets. When we left, she started following us and meowing. It was kind of sad! There are a lot of stray cats in Australia, unfortunately.

Afterwards, we went down to the wharf for dinner. I ate a delicious bowl of veggie laksa soup, spring rolls, and… much too indulgently, a milkshake (when I was already feeling full!)

Darwin is seeming pretty cool so far. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Northern Territory the past couple of weeks.

Miscellaneous

Yesterday, Michael and I stopped by his friend Neil’s place for tea. Neil is a really interesting and funny dude. He is currently stripping a Volkwagen bus down and building it back up in his vision. I love VW busses – I wanted it to be my first vehicle when I turned 16, but my brother and parents urged me to settle on a slugbug instead.

After Neil’s, Michael and I popped back at the caravan and then went to the Mindil Beach night market. Darwin has a couple of markets a week and Michael says it is likely Darwin’s #1 attraction. I’m not that impressed by markets, because somehow they are always kind of the same no matter where you are in the world, but it was neat to see the different things they were selling (crocodile belts, Aboriginal art, etc.). We then grabbed food (laksa again, I am addicted) and watched the sunset. I have never seen such a crowd as that of this particular sunset. As the sun lowered beneath the horizon, the crowd clapped. It was a nice sunset – soft and pastel-y.

Oh… I also heard that with the amount of crocodiles here, that Aboriginal kids will throw their dogs into the waterhole they want to swim in. If the dog makes it out safely, they know it is safe to swim there. I’m not sure if that’s true, but if so… that is wild.

I also learned the Northern Territory has its own little joke about itself. Abbreviated to NT, they say it stands for “Not Today, not tomorrow…” kind of like Western Australia’s “Wait Awhile”. And everything here is “just down the road,” even if it’s 200km away.

Art of the Week

Not in love with this one, but it is what it is haha. I think I am going to try to go back to drawing humans, soon. Just need the motivation!

Reflections

Remember my thorny devil misadventures on my last post? I was still feeling a little bummed out about it, but I happened upon John Sullivan’s blog. In it, he talks about how he had wanted to see a thorny devil since he was a kid. After four or five trips to Australia, he still hadn’t seen a live, wild one. Finally, he made it his mission to visit Australia with a thorny devil being the main purpose. He chose October as the time of year, because thorny devils are more likely to be mobile in search of a mate. The temperature is right as well. Finally, after years and years of not seeing one, he saw one. And then another. And then another! Perhaps I’ll have to return to Australia one day, in October, and go to the spots John had gone to. He also introduced me to the term “herping,” which is the act of actively searching for reptiles and amphibians. So cool! I reached out to John and he got back to me, giving me some tips for finding the thorny devils next time.

As of today, I have parted ways with Michael. He has taught me a lot about Australia/Northern Territory and has shown me so many cool places. He was staying in a caravan park quite far outside of town and I decided it would be better for me to be in the city, at a hostel, where I could meet other travelers who wanted to go to some of the places I’m interested in that were too far of a drive for Michael. A big added bonus – a bed to myself! Haha.

So, what’s next? I have no idea. I would love to go to Kakadu National Park as well as Litchfield National Park, so hopefully I can team up with some others heading there.

My new wildlife hunt is for the frilled-neck lizard. They aren’t as active at the moment as they are in the “wet” seasons, but I did post on a NT wildlife group and people were saying they’ve seen them in the northern suburbs recently. I will likely go on an adventure tomorrow to seek them out.

We shall see. Stay tuned and thank you for reading!

Sending my love! xx