Katherine Gorge and Litchfield - NT

I arrived in Darwin a few days back after a 4 hour flight from Melbourne. Flight was delayed an hour but I made it safely. That evening, I basically went straight to bed after eating an entire pizza to myself. Gotta love the eating right before sleeping. The next morning I woke up fairly early and wandered the city. Checked out some beautiful spots along the water and caught some rays in the 32 degree weather! Just what I was wanting. That evening, I was chatting with an American guy, Eric, who was staying at the hostel as well. We decided to rent a car, pick up some camping gear and head into the bush for the weekend! The first 2 car rental places we went to didn't have anything available!! I mean, which rental companies don't have cars to rent. We ended up renting one for 2 days! We had the transportation, now all we needed was food, shelter and water. We found food and water at the local grocery store and contacted a dude who rents out camping gear. He initially said he had nothing, I then mentioned we only needed it for one night. He said he had some old tents that needed some repairs...Eric and I figured, great! I asked since they were damaged if we could have a deal on 'em...he mumbled a few things and said he had to go. I called back 15 minutes later to confirm where to pick up the equipment - "we have nothing available now." "What!?! You said you had a tent and 2 sleeping bags ready to go?" His response, "considering you want a deal on a total cost of $27, I'm not gonna do it." My response, hangup! What an ass! Is that a fair question to ask? I mean, I would pay $27 for a perfectly sound equipment, why should I pay the same for damaged?
Anyways, we took off on a road trip through the Australia Outback. Well, not really outback but close enough.
First stop, Litchfield. We thought we were in for a good hike - it ended up only being a mild walk on a concrete path through some trees. We got to some fresh water swimming holes which were pretty cool. Lots of people but we managed to frolic in the water for a little while.
Continuing on our journey south, we took a 'scenic tour' for about 30 km through the bush. We saw wallabies, birds and a lot of burning trees! There was a fire that spread through the bush a few days back. Everything was black except for the massive termite mounds. Oh yah, these termite mounds were at least 4 meters tall! (pictures to come)
Drove all the way to Katherine after stopping for a beer at a hotel/gas station/wedding reception area/local hangout...basically it looks as though the entire town of Adelaide River was chillin out - all 11 people.
By 7pm it was getting dark and we still had to find accommodation since our camping idea didn't work out. We pulled into Pine Creek but EVERYTHING closes at 7pm. It was 7:14 when we pulled in. So we decided to drive to Katherine which was another hour and a half away.
We were driving along not noticing how much gas was left. Well, it started flashing on the last bar. GREAT! We pull into a gas station about 15 minutes after we noticed the blinking light (it might have been on for a while, who knows). We needed a members card to get gas after hours...remember 7pm = closed! The decision was to continue on until we get to Katherine which is the biggest town between Darwin and Alice Springs.
As we pull into the city (town actually), there is a gas station and we fill the tank. We stayed the night at a hostel instead of the car - which was our last resort!

Sunday, we woke up early and drove to Katherine Gorge. After looking at our options for hikes, Eric and I decided on a 24km hike to the 4th gorge. We start hiking and after about 30 minutes, end up at the parking lot where we started. haha Since time was an issue and we had to be back in Darwin before dark, we decided to rent some kayaks and head down the water that way. Things happen for a reason. I say that because we had a blast kayaking! Such a cool experience! We were in the sun all afternoon, went cliff diving, swimming in the fresh water and did a little little hike at the end. On the way back, Eric just finished jumping off a cliff, swimming back to the rocks to get in the kayak when I noticed some other kayaks gathering about 30 meters away. A CROC!!! Let's just say he swam quite quickly to shore. As we paddled over to the group of tourists, a 2 1/2 meter fresh water croc came into sight. Awesome!!! Apparently, there were quite a few spotted that day. We saw two in total.
I guess I can now say I have swam in the same water as crocodiles. The drive back was not too bad. We wanted to make it back for the Mindel Sunday Market on the beach where locals sell foreign cuisine (chinese food in a plastic container) and a lot of handmade crafts.
Now my plan is to book a flight to Cairns within the next week or so. Until then the plan is for more sun!