Darwin Day 8...

today was jam packed with tourist activities…the day’s itinerary:

- Territory Wildlife Park
- Darwin Crocodile Farm
- Window on the Wetlands
- Jumping Crocodile Cruise
- Fogg Dam Reserve
- Mindil Beach Markets

7:30am pick up to head out to the Territory Wildlife Park…we arrived at the Park just on 8:30am and were able to see the Barramundi Feeding at the Billabong…they “boof” the fish which is a pretty accurate description of the noise they make when they grab the fish…you don’t actually get to see them because of the turmoil in the water but it was pretty cool…there were lots of pelicans in the billabong too...

from there it was off to the Flight Deck to see the NT’s birds of prey…

the Nocturnal House was interesting although as usual not everyone was ready to be on show!...did the Monsoon Forest Walk which includes a walk-through Aviary (saw a blue-winged kookaburra!)…

a visit to the Aquarium (Nemos!)

followed the Wetlands Walk…then it was a quick pass through the Burning for Biodiversity section before it was on to the next stop…

After that two of us were dropped off at the Darwin Crocodile Farm for a short tour there before joining another group for the rest of the day…got to see all the star attractions “Houdini” (famous for escaping croc traps), “Snowy” (a white crocodile),

“Maurice”, “Errol”, “Stumpy” (missing a foot), “Lozza” (missing his teeth!), “Burt” (who was in the Crocodile Dundee movie)…there were also American alligators including “Roly”…and heaps of juvenile crocs…

Next stop was the Windows on the Wetlands…

Then the “original Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise” on the Adelaide River Queen…I think all up we got to see 4 crocs jumping for the meat plus plenty lazing on shore as well as lurking in the river nearby…

after feeding the crocs they also threw some food out for the kites that had been flying nearby, they flew very very close!

...there were even two crocs quite near the jetty when we docked...

Finally we visited the Fogg Dam Reserve – got to see and identify heaps of birds: sea eagle, jabiru, brolga, magpie geese etc…

Then instead of dropping us back at our respective accommodation they kindly dropped us off at the Mindil Beach Markets…bought a mini didgeridoo…got to see the sunset…ate a big dinner(!)…watched a street performer who was a mix of comedian and flame juggler…listened to the Emdees (drummer and didgeridoo guy who plays several didgeridoos during the performance) before finally heading home…phew!

My words don’t do it justice but I took lots and lots of photos…it was awesome…