On Friday 7th August we checked into The Simpang Inn, just a 15-minute walk from the beach and located amongst all the main clothes shops and nightlife. The group trotted down to the Hard Rock Café for a savage feed of burgers and fajitas. There was no doubt that any of us were missing the traditional Indonesian cuisine of rice and chicken! After stuffing ourselves silly, and paying five times the price of what we were used to paying for dinner so far in Asia, we headed to The Bounty bar/nightclub.
This kitsch club was filled with staff dancing on tables dressed as sailors trying to lure clubbers to dance on stage. And the Ozzies were only too delighted to oblige! It made for quite entertaining viewing!
The next morning most of us with sore heads headed on down to the beach for a spot of sunbathing, boogie boarding, surfing and tattoos … things to remember whilst in Asia including Bali, haggle everything! Most of the group came back with their brand new henna tattoos that cost $5 to $10 for similar designs. That evening was spent clubbing again whilst others headed to the cinema only to be disappointed to find a two-screen cinema.
Sunday was spent the exact same as Saturday. Bali might well be a great place to do sightseeing but after two and a half months of sightseeing we were more than happy to chillax on the beach for the three days and take in the sights of the hot surfer dudes there … !
On Monday evening we took the 9pm flight to Darwin eventually arriving at 3am Australia time at The Youth Shack Hostel right in the town centre. This hostel has everything you need (including Shennanigans Irish bar next door!!) and it would have been brilliant only for the bad attitude of the hostel staff at the desk, who looked bothered and annoyed that you had asked them a question.
Tuesday night it was Anna’s birthday so we celebrated it with a meal in The Fox Bar which was also holding karaoke that night. We stayed until midnight belting out the hits until the bar closed and we wobbled off to The Discovery Club down the road. We were shocked to discover this huge club full of half-naked girls dancing on poles, a very classy establishment indeed, but we stayed until it closed at 4am! Be warned, drinks in clubs in Australia are twice as expensive as in the bars.
On Wednesday some of us visited the Crocosaurus Cove across from our hostel, it houses the most different species of reptile in Oz and for $120 you can swim with the crocodiles (in the safety of a glass Perspex box though!). The rest of us headed down to the beach, or lagoon, it was more of a manmade mini beach on the edge of the water. Beside it they had an artificial wave pool, and for $5 you can spend the whole day there boogie boarding on the waves!
We had lunch in Shennanigans next door and I must recommend the Beef & Mash in Guinness Gravy! Yum! Other things to do in Darwin are visit the Fanny Bay Goal, The Darwin Museum (it’s free!), The Deck Chair Cinema and Fish Feeding at the Wharf.
On Thursday 13th we hopped on our new bus, with the Adventure Tours Company and met our new bus driver/guide, Wombat! (Not his real name of course, but that’s what he wants us to call him, so fair enough!). We were driving to Kakadu with a stop-off at the Spectacular Jumping Croc Cruise.
For $20 you sail down the Adelaide River and witness crocodiles jumping up out of the water trying to catch the meat that the boat staff are hanging out of the boat at them! It was unreal to see these reptiles at such close range! The staff were really informative and we learnt that if any of us fell out of the boat we would have about 5-10 minutes to live before a croc would devour us! Nice!! However if you’re in the “safety” of a life jacket you would about 30seconds as the bright colours attract their attention. Fun bedtime stories!
Next stop it was time to learn about the Aboriginal culture. We drove to Ubirr and met some local Aboriginals who blessed us by “spitting” water from a local Billabong on our foreheads. Then they taught us how they make didgeridoos and how to play them. It’s REALLY difficult! The women taught us how they make their bags from leaves, one bag can take up to seven months to make. The men taught us how to throw spears when hunting for “Bush Tucka”. They told us about their ceremonies and beliefs and we all found this really interesting as most of us knew very little about Aboriginals except for the negative press we had heard about some alcohol problems.
We then trekked through the Ubirr national park where we discovered ancient Aboriginal Rock Art and Wombat told us the stories behind them. After watching the sunset from the top of the rocks we went to set up camp. Adventure Tours have a lot of their own areas set up in camp resorts so we arrived to find pre-erected tents (nice one!) and set about cooking our group meal.
Friday was spent travelling to Katherine with a few stops along the way at Mamukala wetlands for a spot of birdwatching, then onto the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Centre, and finishing up in Edith falls for a dip in freezing cold croc-infested waters!! Crazy!! We also stopped to collect firewood beside termite mounds that were as high as seven feet!
That night we set up camp on Ward Creek Cattle Station and poor Alex lost his finger nail during some log shifting!
Up early again the next morning as we had a lot to do! We headed to Nitmiluk National Park, where some of us canoed or cruised down the Katherine gorge. Wombat then took us to a local Aboriginal Artists gallery, where the artist Emmanuel held a paint workshop and showed us how to paint Aboriginal Art. We painted our own pictures with the traditional colours of Red, Black, Yellow and White. Wombat cooked us up a cracker of a barbeque while we painted and soon it was time to head on down south. After a short distance we stopped off to relax in a crystal clear thermal pool at Mataranka. And then it was time to set up camp at the famous outback pub at Daly Waters, the oldest in the Northern Territory and the first international airport in Australia! After a delicious feed of their famous Beef & Baramundi (local fish) we shot some pool and then headed for bed in our tents or swags.
Swags are like big sleeping bags that you put your own sleeping bag inside so it gives you the option of sleeping under the stars. A popular choice for most of the group. (Note, if you ever go to visit Daly Waters Pub make sure to look out for our Oz Bus 9 t-shirt we all signed and left as a souvenir!).
On Sunday 16th August we passed through Tennant Creek and checked out the Devil's Marbles, precariously balanced granite boulders sacred to the traditional owners. Wombat told us about the weirdest petrol station in the area, where there had been hundreds of UFO sightings, so eager to satisfy our curiosity we stopped for a photo, and it was the strangest little place, full of newspaper clippings and artifacts and blow-up alien dolls and UFO paintings.
After feeling a little freaked out we headed to the Barrow Creek Pub to view the historic Telegraph Station and onto Ti Tree to purchase authentic Aboriginal Art.
Once we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn we were into Alice Springs to stay at The Haven Hostel. If you ever visit Alice Springs it is essential that you head to Bo Jangles! This pub is on the web 24/7 so your mates back home can go online and see you and even buy you drinks! Luckily us Galway Girls managed to get a few back home to get up from their Sunday morning hangover (we are nine and a half hours ahead of Ireland!) and got some sponsored beverages to keep us going for the night … until we had to get up early again the next morning to head to the fantastic King's Canyon!
Make sure not to miss out on next weeks’ blog as this will be the last blog as we head into our 13th and final week of the Oz Bus Trip. Next destinations Kings Canyon, Ayers Rock, Adelaide, Canberra, and final destination … SYDNEY!!!
Til next week, slán!!
Sara, Emily and Jacinta.
