The Wet Revisited – 5 Weeks in Darwin – Update #1

Chris and I and our family lived in Darwin from January 1972 until January 1987. In recent years, on our travels around Australia we have revisited the Top End but always in the dry season. So when an offer to house sit (for our longtime Darwin friends, Ken and Sheila) in the middle of the wet season we grabbed the opportunity without hesitation. The wet is very special, very uncomfortable but can offer some spectacular sunsets, enormous storms and a cyclone or two. We have often reflected that it would be good to visit during the wet season to once again experience the “Big Wet”.

So we set off from Melbourne on the 5th of February with our good friends Harold and Di, who were included in the house sitting adventure, withstanding the in built inclination to pack at least one piece of warm clothing. Simply not needed in Darwin.

Once we dropped Ken and Sheila off at the airport on Saturday morning the 7th Feb we moved in to their house, having stayed in the Novatel for 2 nights. Immediately we wrote a list of things that we wanted to see and do, weather permitting. Normally February sees a significant reduction in storm activity and the onset of the Monsoons with the monsoonal trough sitting over the top end for a number of weeks. My preference would have been to visit Darwin earlier in the season to catch the storms. They can be spectacular. As luck would have it, it appears that Darwin may very well miss out on the traditional Monsoons this wet season, but from my point of view that means that there are plenty of storms around. This also enables sight seeing to be undertaken whereas when the Monsoons are set in, it rains and rains and rains, non stop with little opportunity to do little more than sit around reading or visit a museum or two.

In and around Darwin

A good friend of Ken and Sheilas is a bit of an expert at travelling around the top end in the wet, so we contacted her and she organised a 3 day 2 night trip out to Kakadu. So having filled in the week with some local activity, including being chauffeured out to a take away sunset dinner in a 1959 Cadillac Limo by our very longtime friends from our Darwin days, Ron and Sonya, we set off the following Friday Morning (13th Feb) at 5:30 AM to catch sunrise at Fogg Dam then continued on to Kakadu, with a couple of other stops on the way.

Arriving fairly late in the afternoon at our accommodation at Cooinda adjacent to Yellow Waters we sat down to a delightful dinner of Barramundi and some excellent wine.

Early start the following morning (6:45 am) to catch the Yellow Waters tour boat and our fabulous guide Felicity. We arrived back at the Hotel around 9:15am for breakfast, then headed off for Noarlangie Rock and a few other sites. Headed back to Yellow waters to pick up the evening boat cruise with little knowledge as to the spectacular trip it was to be. The photos speak for themselves.

Fogg Dam to Kakadu

By the way, we did get wet, very very wet, as we got caught in a mother of a storm. Great fun though. Our guide Felicity was un-phased, able to keep the information flowing while battling a large twin engine ferry through narrow water ways in the middle of a storm. She took great delight in her passengers getting wet. She is cute too.

The following morning we had a leisurely breakfast and set off for Darwin arriving home around 4:00 pm.

Map here http://blog.picsaustralia.net/wp/?page_id=8937

Update

A mate was very critical that there was no photo of Felicity, our guide.

So here – doesn’t do her justice though.

Felicity – Super Guide and boat woman.