← PreviousExploring Darwin: Italian food, a crocodile cruise and a magical sunsetIt was 4:50 am when our plane landed safely in Darwin. It was still pitch dark and the city seemed to be waiting for us. The airport was really tiny, especially for an international one, and the usual formalities were dealt with so fast that we were outside about thirty minutes after landing. We left the terminal and headed for the taxis. A quiet line of cars was waiting for the day's first customers, and we gave our destination to the first driver in the row. Our friend Romain had left the car at a friend's place and we were going to collect it. Once there, I felt around the front left suspension to find the keys, as agreed.
I felt a bit like I was in a spy film, rummaging under the wheels for car keys in the gloom of a badly lit street. The car was finally open, and we stowed our things and set off for new adventures. But what do you do at 5:30 am in a city like Darwin? The temperature was already a breezy 32 degrees and the journey had been gruelling, so we had to aim for step one: a shower. After searching on WikiCamps, we'd spotted a public shower that looked clean. It was less than ten minutes' drive away and was indeed in decent condition. There was no hot tap, but the heat was so stifling that the cold water was lukewarm. We took the chance for a long soapy wash, scrubbing off almost three days of travel. It was now 6 am; time for step two.
We were hungry and thirsty, and at such an early hour it seemed impossible to find anywhere open. That was without counting on the magic of McDonald's. The one on the outskirts of Darwin was open 24/7, and when we walked in a little before 6:30, a few people were already sitting down. We had a fairly greasy breakfast and then did some shopping at Woolworths for lunch. We'd booked an Airbnb for the night but couldn't get in until 1 pm, which left us six hours to kill. We decided to take our towels and rest on the Waterfront beach. We'd barely settled in when the rain arrived, forcing us to retreat to the car. But the situation was tricky: it was so hot inside that we had to open the windows, yet the rain was so heavy that we had to keep them shut. We resigned ourselves to finding a sheltered spot to eat a salad with the ingredients we'd bought at the supermarket.
At 1 pm on the dot we were at the door of the Airbnb in the Darwin suburbs. The neighbourhood looked like industrial wasteland, as Australian suburbs often do. Our host was an extremely friendly woman in her fifties, and after a quick tour of the place we were already asleep. We'd planned to go to the cinema at 6:30 pm, but as luck would have it, that's when we woke up. We surfaced with difficulty and settled on the 9 pm showing. We saw Kingsman 2, which was really not as good as the first, and went home to fall into a deep sleep.
The alarm went off at 8 and we hurried off towards Kakadu National Park, three hours' drive away. The heat was already intense, at least 35 degrees with very high humidity. We were suffocating. Once there, the feeling of suffocation was only stronger. The ground was red and arid, the vegetation sparse. We started our visit to the park with the Ubirr walk. You could follow a path climbing through the rocks and admire the rock paintings of the local Aboriginal people. We were sweating heavily and had already finished a whole bottle of water. We savoured our lunch at a table next to a lookout over the river. This spot was special because you could see crocodiles in their natural element. And sure enough, after a few minutes of watching, we spotted one poking out the tip of its snout. Satisfied with the sight, we made our way to the day's second hike.
We ended the day in the town of Jabiru, where we were glad to reach the hotel and its air-conditioned room. We were literally parched, and the bottle of water in the fridge was soon finished. After dinner at the hotel restaurant, we fell asleep for a well-earned rest.
The alarm went off at 8 and we were fully rested. That was just as well, as we had a short hike through the rocks in the heart of these Aboriginal lands under a sun as scorching as ever. We arrived around 9 and walked along the marked trail, reading the descriptions of local life in this place.
Rangers were giving guided tours and it looked fascinating, as people stayed listening to them for dozens of minutes. It wasn't really our cup of tea; we much preferred to find our own way freely. After more than an hour of scrambling, we headed for our second point of interest of the day. Further into Kakadu park there was a short walk ending at a natural pool. The day was wearing on and the heat was only getting more crushing, so we really couldn't wait to get there, and we planned a swim despite the signs warning of crocodiles. Once there, we jumped straight into the water and realised it was 29 degrees. Refreshing, but not hugely! We stayed about an hour before setting off for Katherine, our stop for the night. We'd already been through at the end of August, so we knew the town a little.
We went back to the hot springs and met two couples of friends in their fifties who struck up a conversation. We learned they lived in Perth and Sydney and had met up a little further south to travel together. They asked us lots of questions about France, and one of the older men knew the history of French cars inside out. Our paths parted at nightfall. We ate in one of the town's many pubs before parking our home on wheels in a side street to sleep. The night was hot. We'd had to leave the rear windows open to catch a breeze, but it only took the edge off the heat.