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We made it…

Posted by on September 28, 2013

Well yesterday we completed our Journey North, spending Emma’s Birthday in Darwin. Didn’t think we would make it there for awhile, but our trip north is finally complete.

The morning started as most Birthday’s do, new presents for the Birthday girl, and a lot of excitement. Emma wanted Pancakes for breakfast, so Mark and I each did a batch of pancakes on the BBQ while Fi and Kate showered. The Pancakes were vaccuumed up by the kids so fast that we had to put a couple aside for Fi and Kate or they would have missed out!!

Breakfast done, we loaded everyone in the car and headed north. First job for the day was to get Emma’s ears pierced for her Birthday. Mark found a place that would do them in the shopping centre in Casurina. As brave little Emma got her ears punctured, I under went a beauty treatment of my own, nipping into the mens hairdresser next door. Think Emma got the better beauty treatment, the hairdresser absolutely went to town on my hair, not the best cut I have had, but at least it was cooler, and the hair will grow back!.

Next stop was lunch, so we made our way to the food court. Emma wanted KFC for lunch, but being a food court, there was a little more choice, so Mark, Matthew and Zac had KFC while the younger girls all opted for Sushi (surprise surprise), and Kate, Fi and I had some Thai.

Our bellies full, we jumped back in the car to drive into the Darwin CBD to visit the Crocosaurus in the main street. Darwin looked pretty much the same as I remembered it, only dryer and less humid then when I was here last in February. Some of the streets we walked down were a little different without the ankle deep river to wade through. It can really rain up here in the wet season!!

Not today though, it was just hot. We made it into the Crocosaurus just in time for the afternoon feeding. First of all, Tara and Jess got selected activate the simulated crocodile jaws on a block of ice. Thump… made a mess of the ice, and the expression on Jess’s face says it all!

Then it was on to see some real crocodiles get fed. At 5.5 to 6 metres, these were impressive beasts! The hollow thump sound they made as they lept out of the water snapping their jaws around the the meat was enough to make you understand why you need to respect crocodiles! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near them!! Hopefully the kids now have a better understanding of why we are so cautious around the rivers up here!

At the end of the feeding show, the kids all got a chance to go crocodile fishing. In an enclosure with 100 baby crocodiles, they got to dangle a piece of meat above the water as the babies lept out of the water to take the bait.

Zac and I caught the whole thing on video from above.

After the croc fishing, we stopped in the cafe for a quick cool drink. What we should have done was head straight down to where you were able to hold a baby crocodile. Jess was devastated that we missed it and there were tears for a long time as we left. She really loves animals that girl and was so disappointed.

Instead we wandered through the reptile enclosure where we got to see a number of the snakes and lizards that can be found in Australia. The boys were certainly enthralled by this.

Below are a few photos from the Crocosaurus. There are even some photos of a guy that was brave enough to get into the chamber of death which is lowered into the crocodile enclosure as they feed on of the largest crocs. Gives a real perspective of their size!

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After the crocosaurus, we left Darwin heading south to Bachelor once more, stopping on the way for Maccas (Emma’s choice of B’day dinner). Hope you had a wonderful birthday Emma and enjoyed the day as much as we did.

So that is it, we made it to Darwin after all and finally got to see some crocs. Of course crocs in the wild are a different story, so today we are heading out to see the jumping crocs on the Adelaide river. I’m sure they will be even more impressive than the ones in captivity.

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