Day 51

March 14, 2019 – Darwin, Northern Territories, Australia

Today we arrived at 8:00 am. I watched as the port crew tied off the ship and install the walkway.

Today we have a tour and pickup time is 10:15am. We decided to take a short walk into town before pickup time. It was a short walk but it was very warm. Not much to see but we did manage to find a jewelry store where Terri made some purchases.

We went back to the ship, grabbed some water and went back out to the port to wait for our driver. Australia, at least according to the ship, does not allow any food or water off of the ship unless the water is in a “pre-packaged” and sealed container. The ship conveniently has water for sale right at the exit. The friendly price of $5 for a 12 oz bottle was something we could pass on since no one checks anything you take off of the ship. Our backpacks had illegal water in them. Too bad about the bikes.

Our tour bus showed up right on time. The drive was about 60 mins to the Adelaide River to see Crocodiles. Our guide, Pat, supposedly knew Rodney Ansell who was the man that Paul Hogan based “Crocodile Dundee” on. Pat quickly explained the rules when we got aboard. Keep hands and arms inside. 20,000 crocodiles inhabit these waters. Not sure why they are an endangered species. Poachers face stiff criminal fines and jail time. Pat looks like he lives in the outback and enjoys the bush telly (campfire). Pat said if we did get into trouble and tipped over we were best to stay in a group. I looked around at the other folks on the boat. If that happened, we were all dead.

I was glad to see that Darwin is able to enjoy the black flies as we do on Grosse Ile. There is no amount of repellent that can work with so much exposed meat on board.

After a short ride Pat stopped the pontoon and lured a crocodile over to the pontoon. Chicken carcass, hearts and livers were used. This video also provides the non-stop lecturing that Pat did.

Some of the larger women moved to one side of the boat to see this croc. Pat warned them but they didn’t pay too much attention. We definitely leaned more to this side. We learned that these crocs live to about 120 or so. There are 2 different species here in Australia.

Pat was able to call in some kite birds and then through some chicken fat onto the water. Many of them were birds that he picked up on the side of the road and repaired and nursed back to health. More lecture here.

It was a fabulous trip and we were able to many great photos. We spent and hour on the river and worked up quite a thirst. A stop at the World Famous Humpty Doo Hotel would fix that.

Ted Egan probably said it best here.

We returned in time for dinner in the Lido. It was decorated for our send off from Australia.

We finished the evening with a game of strategy.