Kakadu National Park, Darwin

 Kakadu National Park, Darwin 

I was the wet season and everywhere was green, so unlike the arid interior.

More greenery.

Some farmed buffalo although there are plenty of feral buffalo.

We crossed the flood plain of the Soouth Alligator Creek. There are no alligators in Australia but when John MacDoull Stuart named it, he didn't know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.

A road train, the maximum length is 53 metres and four trailers.

We suddenly left the forest and crossed the South Crocodile River flood plain. It was named by Jogn McDouall Stuart but he didn't know the difference between crocodiles and alligators which there are none in Australia

A biilabong.

The river itself.

There are plenty of pandanis trees in the area useful for basket weaving and eating if prepared properly, otherwise they are poisonous.

The is lots of spear grass in the area. It can grow as high as a man and adds a lot of fire load so it is burnt offat the end of the wet season.

At the Warrandjan cultural centre, there was a display to represent the seasons, there are six according to what the weather is doing and what food is available.

We moved on to Yellow Water for a boat ride on the Adelaide River. Some people had still not seen a crocodile, a freshy or a salty but there would be some here.

A view down river.

We hadn't been on the water for ten minutes when we saw a salty.

And a view of him swimming away from us.

Black necked geese.

Another bird which I forget the name

Another salty eyeing us up for lunch.

An ibis.

A black necked  pelican.

A wallaby on the river bank.

A side view of the wallaby.

A  buffalo hidden in the bushes.

A cormorant drying its wings.

A kingfisher.

Burrungkuy although the map makers got the names wrong of this and another place, switching them between each other and attempts to correct it have failed so they both have both names.

Some rock art supposedly 35,000 years old.

More rock art.

Katherine

Katherine  

It was another beautiful sunrise seen from the comfort of the train.

Another view of the sunrise with its red, orane and yellow colours.

A termite mound. These termites feed on grass, not wood.

Another termite mound. There are dozens of then scattered through the bush.

We arrived in Katherine, named after Katherine Chambers, who father had funded John MacDouall Stuart's expeditions to the top end of the country.

We boarded coaches to reach the Nitmiluk National Park for our cruise along a river running through a gorge.

A view from the water up to the top of the cliffs.

A snady bank with a sign to warn people to stay away as this is a crocodile nesting site. The female digs a hole and lays her eggs. They develop over the next few weeks until they are ready to hatch. The signs warn people not to walk here as they could crush the eggs. The signs are removed when the eggs hatch.

More sandy banks.

A view of the river.

A blockage. The river flows through the rocks but it is not navigable for boats. Visitors get out and walk around the blockage to board another boat beyond the blockage. There is some Aboriginal rock art dating back thousands of years on the walls above the flood level.

A view up the gorge.

A view down the gorge. This is perhaps the most photographed part of the gorge. It has been used in several adverts and films.

Another view. Just here the water is up to 30 metres deep whilst the shallowest point is just 1.5 metres deep just after the blockage.

The Ghan

 The Ghan

We left Adelaide Parklands Terminal and had lunch on the train as it passed through the suburbs of Adelaide. 

We were soon in farmland, largely a wheat growing area...

...and beyond that, it was just scrub n the vast outback.

And sometimes even the saltbushes had given up the struggle and there was bare earth showing through between tussocks. There was a water pipe running alongside the track taking water to Adelaide.

Empty desert.

The railway is single track, so there are passing loops. We stopped in one just before dawn to let a freight train go past and another Ghantravelling from Darwin to Adelaide. We had an opportunity to get off and watch the sunrise. There was a campfire, drinks and bacon rolls for breakfast.

A photo of the train lit up by the rising sun. It has two locomotives and 26 carriages. And it is slow. Traffic on gravel roads runnng alongside could easily overtake us. And the train has a lot of momentum so needs a lot of braking power and distance to stop.

Another view of the campfire.

Sunrise across the desert.

The locomotives.

Sunrise photos...

...and another.

More desert.

The border viewed from the train between South Australia and the Northern Territories.

Desert.

The Iron Man, marking the millionth concrete sleeper counting north from Adelaide.

A few trees, with grass growing in the shadeof the trees.

More grass under trees.

The Macdouall Range on the approach to Alice Springs.

More hills.

The pass into Alice Springs.

The iconic ASSOA, the first long distance school by radion with the largest classroom in the world at 1.3 million square kilometres.

The Telegraph Station.

The Reptile Centre.

A monitor lizard.

At the reptile centre...

...s salty, a saltwater crocodile behind bars.

A lizard on someones head.