Darwin hot humid and flies

From the moment I step out the aeroplane,  yes I made it after some discussion and a very kind check in man,  you are hit with that decidedly warmer humid air of the tropics,  the jumper and trousers I have on are wholely inappropriate. Here is where it feels like the temperature doesn't change but when it's firing up to 40 degrees and the down to 28degrees that is actually quite a range.
I get to my hostel for 2200 and hit the sack ready for my 0600 pick up for 3 days in the National Parks Kakatu and Litchfield.
In the morning we are greeted with a 4x4and trailer with bench seats in the back and I manage to hop in the front of the car as we set off to Corroborre Billabong

Billabong? the clothing company. No,  it's another word for oxbow lake only these lakes have crocodiles in them.
Salt water crocodiles are so called because they excrete salt from their tongue glands unlikely freshwater but have nothing to do with what flavour the water is.

The biggest crocodile caught (by the way we are catching them)  was 8.5metres long and every year about 10 people get gobbled by them. The crocodile is roughly 7 times the length of its head which is often all you can see lurking and it is the world's largest reptile.  When you see them silently move there is something quite accident and dinosaur like to them .

There were plenty of other plants and creatures,  water chestnut that grows like grass and has a bulb on the end that you get in Chinese food, the water lily were amazing and you can eat their seeds they taste like peas with no flavour.  You can also make threads from the stalk and make clothes I think they do that in Vietnam
Australian data bird looks like a snake and dives under the water.
Jabaroo bird is the largest or 2nd largest Australian flying bird and grows to 1.5m tall,  our guides were quite excited about them. Looked like quite a big bird that walked a bit funny to me.

The heat here is intense no wind and 38C and humid,  no air con in our truck. True aussie experience though I guess,  why you would do this permanently I don't know.
Our guide Matt is funny,  an engineer by trade and now a tour guide grew up in the area and loves the bush, by midday I have drunk 5 litres of water and still feel the start of a headache not far off.  But the northern territories are amazing it isn't the outback,  it's the bush I think and there is no one here. The odd car or road train and then just empty road. It's quite calming and peaceful for me I feel I have no worries,  that heavy air that sits on me at home a lot of the time has blown out the 4x4 window probably because I am super tired.

After our crocodile cruise we headed to see some ancient aboriginal art and hear about the lightning man and Nymgumbo not sure that is how it is spelt.  But he throws sweet potato at any women wandering too far from camp at night in case another tribe steals them.
There are many stories to be told that are past down through the indigenous people to help guide them on their way of life,  a bit like we tell nursery rhymes and fairy tales I guess.

But boy is it hot in the middle of the day and flies......the flies will drive you maaaaaaaaad....... 40degrees and we were all getting a little over ourselves in the heat. It soon became a challenge to create some kind of fly defender
There were 8 of us on the tour,  2 Dutch girls lojki and kim,  an English girl Dawn,never caught a English guy Richard,  a Japanese guy no chance of saying his name and a Swiss couple whose names I never caught.
It was a great welcome to get to the first opportunity to swim which was a pool that was almost as warm as outside.  In Kakatu area there are two resorts that are basically hotels that feel like they are in the middle of nowhere all quite random.

Overnight we are camping of sorts,  it is beautiful full of all sorts of creepy crawlies that will probably kill us but the stars are amazing and the sweaty awning thing we comes with bunk beds.  We all opt for the top bunk

We made a fire to cook marshmallows and all had a ridiculous go at trying to pay the didgeridoo.  Which basically sounded like wet farts apart from two people.  Essentially  you try and blow out with loose lips a bit like horsey noise then apply to the didgeridoo,  that simple!
After some serious squealing that only girls can do at a giant toad hopping  towards us on our way back from the bathroom, we all lie in our bunks trying not to move and get hot.