Where now?

There has been some bumps in the road since my last post! We left Barkly Homestead after 2 nights when we knew the road across to Queensland was no longer flooded. We made it across the border and to Mount Isa City, another one of these places of hustle and bustle which seems to pop up after driving hours and hours through the outback. We didn't plan on spending much time there as we are behind schedule and are trying to get to Cairns ASAP really. However, after thinking my phone was working, it turned out it just decided to work for long enough for me to think all was okay and then began with some extreme screen flickering. We spent a while in Isa while my phone got diagnosed at a repair shop. We needed to do a big supermarket shop and I was on the hunt for a new pair of sunglasses. There's a good viewpoint in the middle of the town with an artistic water tank, which shows the extent of Mount Isa Mine, the world's largest single producer of copper, silver, lead and zinc, w...

From Darwin we headed into Kakadu National Park. However, as mentioned previously, with it being the wet season there was a limit on what we could get to because of seasonal flooding. Our first stop was Mamukala Wetlands, which were very wet and getting wetter! They were very pretty though and we spotted a 'Jesus bird' with his chicks, named because of its ability to appear to walk on water. We sheltered for a while in the bird hide until it cleared up and then moved on. Our next stop was meant to be the visitors centre however this was closed due to pest control, just our luck!  Kakadu National Park is famous for its connection to the past, having been home to Aboriginal people for over 65,000 years. It's now, similar to other National Parks we've visited whilst travelling up the middle, jointly managed by the Aboriginal owners (Bininj/Mungguy) and Parks Australia. Due to its history, there is a wealth of rock art to view, which has been used to date the civilisations ...

  Juvenile Black-shouldered kite Swamp wallaby Short-beaked echidna  Little penguin  Grey-headed flying fox Giant rainforest mantid Forest Kingfisher Leaf-burying mangrove crab

  Male Supurb fairywren Fur seal drying in the sun Crested tern in flight Oystercatchers out for a stroll Black-shouldered kite catches lunch Tiger snake  Sleepy Koala

Back on to the much greener road and into Nitmuluk National Park. We've found that we've arrived at the Top End during the wet season, which means it's super hot, super humid, and there are spectacular thunderstorms every day. There are downfalls to this, such as lots of areas being closed due to flooding, you can't walk 10 meters without needing to drink a litre of water, and there can be sudden terrential rain at any moment. However, waterfalls are at their most spectacular and we keep having places to ourselves as it's the quiet season for tourism. We visited Katherine Gorge, where we walked up to a view point to look along to the river. Not far from the visitors centre we found a nest of a Great Bowerbird  which are so cool. The male creates this woven structure then decorates the entrance with items all of the same colour to attract a mate, and it is really quite impressive.  Afterwards we cooled off in the hot springs in Katherine, the thermal pools have a con...