Next up we'll fly to Darwin and visit Kakadu for two days, then go to Katherine for the gorge, and a trip on The Ghan to Alice Springs.

Hi, images2. Thank you, we will have the most amazing and memorable time over the summer. So looking forward to it now that it is neary here and all my school commitments are almost finished!
Interested in reading about Northern Territory section of your trip.

May 19 Port Douglas to Darwin

Our last morning in Port Douglas, and it's market day along the port. We quickly wandered the booths then drove south to Cairns for our Jet Star flight to Darwin. This time I noticed the wallabies in the field just north of Cairns, so we stopped so I could get some pictures. How fun.

Now, we are pretty sure Darwin is in Australia, so we dropped our rental car off and walked to the Domestic terminal. There were no Jet Star agents to be found. Every kiosk was closed. We looked on the flight board and our flight wasn't listed. Panic was setting in. We showed an agent of another airline our email confirmation. He promptly told us we were here on the wrong date. What, no, we assured him, this is the right date. He acknowledged he had the date wrong and was miss dating everything he had done so far today. Oops.

Another couple walked up, trying to find the same flight. Finally we discovered this flight to Darwin was considered an international flight. We all hustled over to the International Terminal, which was quite a walk, and had a good conversation with the agent for Jet Star. We asked her how many flights one could connect to Internationally from Darwin. She proceeded kindly to list all the flights one could connect to in Darwin! Now, she knew we were barely going to make our flight at this point, but like most other Australians, she was just as friendly as could be and was just trying to be helpful!

Security for our flight from Sydney to Cairns was almost nonexistent. They hadn't even checked our id. This flight was another story. Security was at least as through as in the U.S., and then they thought one of our bags needed a 2nd look. Just being overly cautious they explained. All checked out, but we were very tight in time making this flight to Darwin. Jet Star is a discount airline. Most of the flight time the flight attendants spent selling food or drink. All was I was interested in was a cup of water. No, I never even was brought any water. Expect tight seating and NO service on this airline, but we safely arrived on time.

We booked several of our car rentals with Discovery Car Rental, an Australian rental consolidator. They found the best rates, this is a GOOD TIP. They found lower rates than I could directly.

http://www.discovery-carhire.com.au/

Our rental from Darwin to Katherine had a $175 drop off fee, and this can't be waived. It makes for an expensive rental of a few days. I begged for relief. We already had a low daily rate, lower than their special offer for this day, but the company decided to wave my over mileage fees. 100 kilometers a day is the normal allowance, which is not many. It doesn't hurt to request, and this saved us $150.

The drive into Darwin from the airport is short. We wanted to see the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory before it closed so we stopped there first. This is a free museum which is excellent. The exhibit on Cyclone Tracy, which struck on Christmas Day 1974, is a highlight, as are the boats, in a separate building. Darwin was destroyed in this storm, and little did we know, Moore Oklahoma would be hit almost as hard a few days later, in the United States. We have extended family in Moore. They have seen far too many storms.

http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/aboutus/

The drive out to East Point, at the northern end of town didn't take long from the Art Museum. This is a beautiful area and is the largest park in the city. Anti Aircraft gun emplacements and a museum are located here also.

We stayed at the Travelodge Mirambeena in Darwin. It is dated, but was fine for one night. I wouldn't call it a resort as it is described. There is a good sized grocery store across the road from the hotel, which was very convenient.

http://www.travelodge.com.au/travelo...-resort-darwin

Dinner was at Tims Surf and Turf which has good trip advisor reviews. We found it friendly, but the food was very basic, not fine dining. The street it is located on was almost deserted. It was a bit unsettling walking from the Travelodge to this restaurant, since the streets were almost deserted. I'd find another option next time.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634482664413/

<I wouldn't call it a resort as it is described.>

This was a recurring theme on our road trip in the NW of WA. I get the feeling Darwin and the northwest of WA have a lot in common.

Enjoying every morsel of your report Images2.

You're kind. I'm not a writer, but hope the links are of help.

May 20 Darwin to Kakadu

Sunrise over the water in Darwin was at 6:58 a.m. and I wanted photos. Actually I'd love to have early morning photos from Fogg Dam, but that was impossible as it is too far out of town and we can't leave while it's still dark. We have a full day planned. Beginning at the Esplanade we walked through Bicentennial Park, the Government House and monuments. Driving around gave us a different view of Darwin. More time would have been good.


The drive from Darwin to the Arnham Hwy takes a bit more time than we expected. There were no signs leading the way until it was time to turn left. We wondered if we had gone too far. Finally a sign appeared, and we headed west.


One option as I trip planned was to spend the night at Eden B&B, near Fogg Dam, but that wouldn't allow us any time to see Darwin since our flight arrived around 3 p.m. If time permits it would have been a good choice. We enjoyed the Fogg Dam area so much. There are several walks in the area and many, many birds. Song birds overhead are so wonderful to listen to. Some birds we saw were Comb crested Jacana, Crimson Finch, Masked Lapwing, Black Tailed Native hens, Australasian Darter, Magpie, Black Shouldered Kite, among others. The road to Fogg Dam is 10 km off the main road, the Arnham Highway, Route 36. It is well marked.


To enter Kakadu you need a $25 each, park pass. Ours were never checked, but it's required to purchase. There is not an entry ticket office when entering the park. I bought our passes on the Kakadu web site before we left. This way we didn't have to bother with stopping somewhere on the way to buy this pass.


http://www.foggdam.com.au/

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/


Once we were finished at Fogg Dam, we stayed on the same road, circling around to Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise. The road out to their location is long and straight. We drove slowly, but sped it up on our return. What a fun way to spend 2 hours. The owners are very friendly and have lived in this area for years. Theirs is the only small boat and the only boat in this location. It holds 20 people but we had less. It was easy to walk back and forth, left to right on the boat to take pictures of the crocodiles. Cost is $35 each. We also saw birds on this trip.


http://www.adelaiderivercruises.com...._crocodile.htm


Windows on the Wetlands, Free open 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Window on the Wetlands Visitor Centre Travel approximately 60km from Darwin along the Stuart and Arnhem Highways. The parking is a distance from the visitor center. The building is outstanding, but interior isn't very interesting. There is a good overlook of the area from the uppermost level.
We stopped at The Bark Hut Inn for the Ranger Lead Walks guide, lunch, bottle of wine (none available in Kakadu park), and a small animal pen in the back with emus. Road trains stop here also. There were several on the road as we drove, but never were any problem for us.


Mamukala overlook and walk. There is a good bird hide here and a nice walk. It's a great short stop.


Gungarre walk: The starting point lies 10 km before the Mamukala turn off, near Aurora Kakadu Resort. This 3.6 km walk will take you through woodland, monsoonal forest and along the edge of Anggardbal billabong. This was closed as were some other walks and areas. It had been a very wet season earlier and the season was still off. It was very humid, not dry while we were in Kakadu.


Bowali Visitors Center is excellent. The staff is a great help here. Make this your first stop when planning your time in the park. They have several brochures also.


We stayed at the Jabiru Holiday Inn. The hotel and facilities are excellent. The dinner food service is horrible.


http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels...gg/hoteldetail


My notes on this: Jabiru hotel is very nice, but the downfall is the dinner food service. If you don't order the $45 buffet service, they won't serve you a la carte service until the buffet service ends, after 8:30 p.m. We had big issues with this and were shocked at the denial to let guests dine in the dining room, or even bar, until we insisted on at least bar service for dining. It was a very tense situation. There were several empty tables in the restaurant.

The bakery across the road from the hotel serves very good food, and is a good alternative.


Kakadu bakery, right near the gas station across the road from the Holiday Inn is excellent. We bought breakfast pastries here each morning and even pizzas and sandwiches.



Darwin and Fogg Dam photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634493851615/

Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634495825891/

Entry from the Northwestern side Kakadu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634510726987/

May 21 Center of Kakadu NP

Jabiru is the heart of Kakadu. It is a small town with a grocery store in a small strip mall, hidden along one road. I'm always happy when we can find grocery stores to stock up on supplies. There are neighborhoods further down the road.

Beginning our day at Nourlangie Rock, we met a Park Ranger for the morning walk. It was a 15 minute walk to the location of the walk from the car park. The talk was informative, but a little dry, so once the first talk (of three) was over, we went ahead on our own. We did meet up later with the ranger and heard more information on this area, and the families who live here. The interaction among family members is very interesting. The rock art is just amazing. The art is layered over each other. Some is up high, since the higher the art, the less likely it would be covered with new art.

I downloaded park maps before we left on this trip, which were very helpful in planning our time. There is so much to see, entailing a lot of walking. Several sites were closed in May as the previous season had been very wet, and the water was still high in many areas, making it unsafe. There are signs warning of crocodiles near the water. Along the road I saw a lovely lily pond. There was no area to pull over near it, but I hopped out of the car to take photos, hoping no crocs were nearby.

Anbangbang Billabong was closed which was disappointing.

Nawurlandja Lookout was a bit steep of a climb, but we managed fine and loved the views from this lookout. The clouds in the North were so dimensional. I don't think we've ever seen such beautiful clouds.

The walks in the East Alligator River area were closed. The shop was closed. No activity in this area yet, this early in the season. Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls were also still closed.

We drove to Yellow Water and inquired about the cruise. The man working here didn't give us much detail and said there was no problem going, they didn't have many on it. We decided since we had seen so much already along other rivers, water buffalo, crocs, birds, we needed our time at Ubirr instead. The weather was turning bad, a storm was rolling in, so this was the right decision for us. I have included a couple pictures of the outdoor area of Gagudju Lodge Cooinda, where the cruise left from. The regular area was closed, as was the Yellow Water Walk. The Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Center was slightly interesting. It's not large.

Driving back north to Ubirr was pretty. It's at least an hour, probably more to Ubirr from Yellow Water. The storm arrived just as we did. The art at this location is amazing. We walked the area on our own, but heard several guides for other groups describing what we saw. We climbed up to the overlook in a driving rainstorm. Our plan was to meet up with the Park Ranger for the walk, but two rangers were taking cover and encouraging us on verbally. It was slick and I tried to hold an umbrella to protect my camera, so it was a bit challenging scrambling up. The views were amazing, but we quickly realized there would be no sunset this evening. Unfortunately we missed sunset, but were happy we didn't need to drive back to Jabiru in the dark.

We bought dinner at the Bakery this evening, eating it back at our hotel. We weren't going to argue about eating in the dining room again. Wifi is available for a limited time in the hotel's lobby free of charge, or there is a charge for all day usage.

Kakadu Maps:

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/.../qr/index.html

Nourlangie Rock and Nawurlandja Lookout photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634531035952/


Ubirr and Yellow Water area photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634529164375/

May 22 Kakadu NP Southern Road and Katherine with Nitmiluk Gorge

Rising with the sun this morning, we needed to arrive in Katherine in time for the 11:00 a.m. 2 hour cruise to the gorge. The drive through the remainder of the park was beautiful, but we had little time for stops. A wild boar ran across the road, which we were lucky not to hit. I loved seeing more tall termite mounds. Mary River Road house is located along this route. I hoped to buy some crafts here, but not much was available. It is still early in the season.

Hoping we could at least see a bit of Pine Creek I was disappointed noting that it was a right hand turn, away from Katherine once we arrived at the Stuart Highway Rt. 1. We had no time for the detour.

Driving into Katherine we noticed the sign announcing that Cadel Evens was born here. I was very excited, as I actually photographed Cadel last year, cooling down after a stage in the Tour de France. What a thrill to see the town he was born in. It's not much of a town today though. The Ghan train stops here on its route from Darwin to Alice Springs. We booked tickets in the Red Class for this portion of the trip. These are just like airline seats, but with much more room between the rows. The seats were comfortable, and food in the dining car was actually pretty good. There is a shower also available for the Red car. Most people travel in upper class cars with excellent service, but we were keeping costs low and found the overnight journey just fine.

Nitmiluk was absolutely beautiful. The gorge trip was two hours long and stopped at one spot, where we needed to walk to the next gorge. There we transferred to a different boat for a continuation on the trip. We saw only two crocodiles, but many birds (blue faced honey eaters were most common) and the gorgeous canyon walls and views. Again, we met wonderful people full of stories and information about Australia. We love how so many retirees travel for extended periods of time, exploring Australia. Two were even professional cyclists in the past.

Leaving the boat we noticed the staff was setting up numerous tables for passengers of the Ghan who were about to lunch here, then go on their own cruise.

We drove to Springvale Homestead, which is the oldest station homestead in the Northern Territory. Only a few buildings remain. It was time to return our rental car in Katherine at Knotts Landing resort. From here we taxied to The Ghan and waited in the indoor waiting room for boarding. We were able to check our luggage and only brought a carryon bag with us onto the train.


The Ghan, Great Southern Rail:

http://www.greatsouthernrail.com.au/site/the_ghan.jsp


Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park:

http://www.parksandwildlife.nt.gov.a...egion/nitmiluk


Kakadu Southern section Jabiru to exit near Pine Creek

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634548323876/

Katherine Gorge and The Ghan red service

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634552700926/

What amazing photos Images2. Really enjoying your report.

Thanks, I have many to sort through! Next up is a bit of alice springs then onto the center, which is amazing, so amazing, black flies and all.

May 23 Alice Springs and drive to Uluru

To tour this area of Australia, we'd need a week. Unfortunately we only have a few hours until we drive across part of the outback to Ulura. Once off the Ghan train, there were transfers waiting for the passengers. We paid about $16 for two of us to transfer to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where we were to pick up our rental car. The bus stopped at several hotels in Alice. The Ghan only spent a couple of hours in Alice, so if passengers want to see this town and area they must overnight here.


Once we arrived at the Crown Plaza, we discovered it's no longer a Crown Plaza. No problem, our rental car agency had this as our pick up location. There was an Avis desk here, but no agent. After waiting for awhile, I asked the hotel desk clerk if he knew where the Avis agent was. He hadn't seen one at all today. He grudgingly called their airport location and was told we needed to go to the airport to pick up our car. Showing our paperwork, with this location listed, we insisted Avis bring our car to us.


The woman who delivered it was a new employee, polite, but her boss, was arrogant and rude to us on the phone. We wanted some compensation for our 1 1/2 delay, but she refused. This rental wasn't off to a good start. Because of this delay we couldn't see all we wanted to in Alice, but we made the best of it.


No time to see the West MacDonnel range, Simpsons Gap/Standley Chasm specifically, or Desert Park, I wouldn't have to decide which to see. We grabbed lunch and drove up to the Overlook to eat. The views are vast, but the town of Alice isn't very picture some. From here we went to the Telegraph Station Historical Reserve and location of the original Alice Spring. This is a very nice location, with a park area adjacent.


Standley Chasm:
http://www.standleychasm.com.au/


Road conditions:
http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/roadreport/

Desert Park
http://www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/



As we left Alice for our drive to Ulura we noticed the Ghan was also leaving town, heading south to Adelaide. The last area of the train hauled automobiles.


I debated whether to go to Kings Canyon on this trip. We almost did, but the accommodations have been so poorly written about the last several months, we decided to limit our trip to Ulura. I think it would have been difficult to add all the extra driving without having 2 more days for the Kings Canyon area. The Stuart Highway is paved, the drive takes about 5 hours along the Stuart and West on the Lasseter Highway. We stopped twice along the drive, at Stuarts Well, and at Eridunda where we saw the Way Out Back Van. I early on considered using this company for our trip, but decided against it in the end. It was great having our own transportation.


Finally Ayers Rock came into view. How exciting it was. A little bit later there is a pull out where there is a great spot for photos and toilets. One couple was collecting firewood and planned to spend the night here in their camper. Back on the road, the rock disappeared. We didn't see it again until we arrived. This lead to a bit of uncertainty on our part. Did we take a wrong turn, miss a turn off? The road went on and on. The sun set, we knew we were driving in the right direction, so on we drove.

Thankfully the resort finally appeared. We had reservations at Desert Gardens Hotel. They had a special room rate, with breakfast included, on the Resorts web site shortly before we left. I cancelled our cabin reservation at the campground and booked this wonderful hotel. The whole resort area is wonderful. It was a highlight of our trip. There are many excursions available, but all are very expensive. Having a car, we had the freedom to go anywhere at any time, and it was much less expensive than depending on the tours offered. Wifi was available at an extra charge, but was free at Sails in the Desert Resort. This was about a 10 minute walk from Desert Sails Resort, so we went to their lobby to connect.


The shopping center area has a couple of restaurants. Gecko's Café was outstanding. The dishes are affordable and very good. We had dinner here this evening and carried out Asian food from the take away next door the next evening.



http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/accommodation/



Alice Springs to Uluru photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634569203670/

May 24

This morning on our walk to Kata Tjuta we came upon a Kangaroo with a Joey in her pocket.

This is the first time we've seen this. Needless to say I was very excited!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634564740973/

Breakfast buffet at The Desert Gardens Hotel is extensive. It's the best breakfast buffet I've seen. One can order omelets or eggs any way you wish, plus the buffet offers real French pastries, meats, cheeses, fruit, Asian, potatoes, yogurts, on and on. I've seen nothing like it in the past. No lunch is needed after eating breakfast here.

Deciding to go to Kata Tjuta first we paid our $25 entry fee, which covers 3 days of touring, and drove the 48 kilometers. We enjoyed the morning view of Ulura as we began the day. The park was open from 6:00 am to 7:30 p.m. Along the way were two viewing areas. Kata Tjuta Dune Viewing area has a 360 degree view and Uluru is also seen from this location. Both are good stops. At the second, we encountered the first flies. Not too bad here, and really none while we hiked along the Olgas. There are several hiking options at Kata Tjuta. If we did all of them, it would have taken the whole day. We chose to walk part of the Valley of the Winds walk. The full circuit is 4 hours. Since we were going to walk the whole base walk at Ulura we only walked some of the Valley of the Winds.

http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/uluru/index.html



Kata Tjuta Pictures:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634565724897/

Again, really beautiful pictures.

How fun to see the joey in the pocket!

Loving your photos Images!

Have a great trip Toucan to Australia! Yes, it was so cool seeing the joey. I pointed it out to an Australian couple behind us, who thought it was pretty large to still be in the pocket.

Thanks Melnq8, now to go through all the Uluru pictures. I took so many doing the base walk. The flies were quite bothersome there, but couldn't take away from our sense of accomplishment in completing the walk.

On our return to Sydney we were quite surprised with the Vivid festival!,

I so hate the flies. Worst thing about spring and summer in OZ. Well, that and the unbearable heat.

Thankfully we only had flies at the center. A few people had fly hat coverings, but we just dealt with it. It's so worth putting up with them to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. The weather was so fresh there, we needed jackets. May was the perfect time to visit. Darwin was very hot and humid though.

Uluru


Time for our visit to Uluru and its base walk. We followed the suggestions on the web site to start at the Kuniya carpark in the afternoon. The first stop is the Mutitjula Waterhole, then we spent 3 1/2 hours walking around Ayers Rock. This walk isn't difficult, but it is long. Flies are the most annoying occurrence. We met several people along the way, but it wasn't crowded. Water is only available in one spot that I can remember. It had rained two days ago so the plants were green and a few water puddles remained. We weren't interested in climbing the rock, but regardless, it was closed to climbing on this day because of wind at the top. I wouldn't want to do this whole walk again, but am so thrilled we had the opportunity to do it once. The section that swings away from the walk is boring, and tiring, but the remainder is very interesting. Each area is different, with new formations at every turn. Being so tired we skipped the walk into Kantju Gorge, but returned to do this the following morning.


The Cultural Centre is located on the road out. We spent a little time here before going onto the car sunset viewing area where I set up my tripod and waited for the sun to set. The parking area for cars never filled. I choose a spot near the end of the parking area because there was little vegetation blocking the view. Our shadows grew long which was a bit hard to deal with, but once the sun was low enough they disappeared. Some of the people watching sunset stay inside their cars. One woman asked me to move my tripod so I wouldn't block her view. I complied but was surprised they didn't want to come outside, the weather was very nice, to experience this beautiful sunset. To our surprise, the moon rose from behind Uluru, quickly. We were so excited to have this bit of extra beauty this evening.



Uluru photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634584166380/

May 25

Uluru and Vivid Sydney

I've added our photos for this morning to the Uluru folder.

Yesterday we didn't have enough time or energy to walk into Kantju Gorge, which is part of the Mala walk, so we wanted to return. On our return trip into the park we stopped at Kata Tjuta but not at sunrise, which was just too early for us. The breakfast buffet is not something to miss. Desert Gardens Hotel extended our check out time since we have an afternoon flight to Sydney. The airport is so close to Uluru, if one just flies here instead of drives from Alice Springs it would be a simple trip.


Each day at 8 a.m. a ranger leads a 2 hour Mala Walk to Kantju Gorge. The evening before we visited with a couple who took this walk a day earlier. They said it was so cold, and the ranger stood in one spot for much of the time, that they left the group and went on their own. They needed to move around to stay warm and had lost interest in the talk.


The Gorge walk is short and easy, it was nice to return and see the area in the morning. The light is different at different times of day. There is some Anangu rock art along the way and water in the pool and small creek. Grasses were green and flowers bloomed because of the rain two days earlier.


The shopping center area at the resort is full of useful shops. Grocery store, photo shop, post office and gift shops, besides several restaurants. We shopped at a few and drove around the rest of the resort, checking out the camping area, which was very well kept, except the bathrooms are a bit too far from the cabins. That would have proven difficult during the night.


Avis car rental has a drop off parking lot outside of the airport terminal. We parked our car and dropped the keys inside. The agents were busy helping arriving passengers. Our Virgin Australia flight departed at 2 p.m. and arrived in Sydney at 5:35, just as the sun was setting. The flight was great. This airline is very good. Security at the airport in Uluru was tight. The fork I used during the whole trip was taken away. I'm glad it was fine during all the other flights as we bought much of our food in markets along the way. Oh, to that point, my pet peeve on prices in Australia; one example, diet coke. It's $4 for a single serving bottle, and $19 for a 24 pack of cans. Now, for Americans, that's 3 times as expensive as home. I paid $5.99 yesterday for a 24 can pack! All food was 2 -3 times more expensive than it is in Ohio.


We planned on a shared transfer van from the airport to our hotel on our return to Sydney. The shuttles are in an out of the way area. We would have never found them without help. We booked a return trip when we arrived, since we have a morning flight to L.A. tomorrow. The shuttle dropped off many of the other passengers before us, so it took a bit of time, but was interesting to see where other people stay.


We found a good rate on Booking.com for the Castlereagh Boutique Hotel. It's very near St. James train station. It was perfect for our stay, & had a bathroom inside the room!!! but breakfast was not included. Wifi was, and worked intermittently.


http://www.castlereaghboutiquehotel.com/


Having loved the Opera Kitchen during our first days in Sydney, we returned. We exited the train and couldn't believe the number of people along the harbor. Easily there were triple the number of people here now. We were a bit dismayed at the crowds. Walking towards the Opera House we discovered an incredible event. Sydney was celebrating Vivid Sydney. There was a light show as we've never seen before in progress. I plan our trips quite well, but had missed this event completely. What a thrill and surprise we had. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my tripod, it was back in the room, but no matter, the colors were irresistible and the pictures turned out pretty good. We shared a table at Opera Kitchen with several revolving couples, as we enjoyed their company and the beautiful lights of Sydney.


Australia is an incredible, beautiful country. We loved the people and the nature. Hopefully one day we can return and see more of it.


Thank you everyone for your help in planning this trip.


Vivid Sydney photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4701158...7634591578749/