Into the cyclone!!

February 21st-23rd - Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

We had been tracking the cyclone for several days before heading to Darwin. The flight wasn't cancelled and the very Aussie pilot put us at ease with his very chilled Aussie words and accent: 'G'day everyone, you will be pleased to know that the cyclone is moving away from Darwin and missing us - I know I am!!' The flight was still pretty bumpy and Mike told me there was lightning the whole way but I was asleep and oblivious to it!!

We landed early in the morning and Anny (our Airbnb host) met us and took us to her home. Anny and her husband Lachy's home was lovely - a spacious flat with a swimming pool and a very comfy bed! We slept most of the morning and then walked into Darwin in the afternoon. Turns out it was still the rainy season in Darwin so although it was hot it was also humid and there were several downpours a day.

Darwin itself is pretty small and strangely everything was closed on a Saturday. The town was rebuilt following a cyclone that destroyed the city in 1974 and the waterfront was recently redeveloped. We sat at the waterfront and had a beer and burger before heading back with out food shopping - and got caught in a massive downpour... Typical.

The redeveloped waterfront area - there is an artificial sand beach and swimming area and also a wave lagoon, and lots of bars and restaurants.

The next day we hired a car as everywhere was pretty far away and it was only ~ £25 per day for the car. We drove out to a Sunday market and got some food, but the weather was particularly rubbish that day. In the evening our hosts took us on a beautiful walk at East Point and we saw the sea and some mangroves and also some wallabies in the wild!! It was also a really good opportunity to get to know our hosts a bit better and they told us some interesting things about living in Australia and some tips on what to see.

The mangroves at high tide

The blurs in the field are wallabies!

Sunset at East Point

You can just see the city of Darwin in the distance - there are only about 3 tall buildings, it is very small!

The next day we drove out to Litchfield National Park. The other national park - Kakadu - is much bigger but also much further away, and most of the park was closed due to flooding.

En route we passed a town called Humpty Doo - no joke.

The start of the day the weather was beautiful - everything was very lush and green and looked a bit prehistoric! We saw some enormous termite mounds and managed a couple of waterfalls before the rain set in. You can usually swim in the pools at the bottom of the waterfalls. One big one called Wangi Falls was closed because in the wet season as the water levels rise there are crocodiles in the water. Despite the other pools being open to swim in we were far too scared to get in!!!

Our rental car - a Hyundai i20

Magnetic termite mounds

Cathedral termite mounds

We did a walk to some waterfalls called Florence Falls but left pretty sharpish after the leeches kept jumping up and attaching themselves to Mike's ankles!!