Report by Kate Peterson
I must say, it’s rather unfortunate that I selected this day to report on, as I actually missed most of it. Peter, Daniel, Sharon and myself had had an ‘all-nighter’ starting at the Darwin Sailing Club, continuing at the Darwin Casino and ending back at camp at 6.30am … just in time to grab some breki, make a sandwich and help pack up. Poor Andrew had the misfortune of having both Sharon and I in his car pushing up Zs most of the day – great company.
By all counts, we didn’t miss much as the scenery was pretty ho hum. Anyway, as far as I can recollect, the first stop was the Bark Hut Inn. I awoke to my door being flung open and Ali and Tony Price spraying cold water on me. It was a particularly warm day so this was rather refreshing. I must have gotten out of the car because I have some cloth badges to prove I was there.
On the road again and more sleep. The next thing I remember we all had lunch, bought souvenirs and generally checked the place out.
There was a display room (local plants, wildlife, Aboriginal history etc.) and a slide show. After about an hour, we set off again and it wasn’t long before we got to our destination.
We gathered back at camp for nibblies and a brief on “things to do and see” in Kakadu. That night, many of us booked on scenic flights and Yellow Water cruises for the following 3 days. After a shower, I was off to the bistro where Dan and Pete had been installed since our arrival. Daniel had been found by caricaturist, Mick Joffe, who is gathering bibliographies and scribbling caricatures of the interesting people he meets on his travels throughout the country in order to publish them in a book. His drawing of Dan was a classic. Look out for it in a bookstore near you! Missed dinner and didn’t get back to camp until the wee hours of the morning – too much fun to be had.