Day 66: Darwin, Australia

Monday, 13 March 2017
At Sea — Timor Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:54p (ACST) … UTC 11:15a (13 March)
Temp: 84.6F (29.2C)
Position: 12.10.65S / 130.08.79E

We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of
the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.
~ John Hope Franklin ~

Our last port in Australia was an excellent one — hot and humid weather notwithstanding.  Ursula, our guide, assured us that it wasn’t too bad as the humidity was only around 44% when we started out … and the temp at that point was 79F (26C) … just two degrees up from the day’s low!  Later, the high went up to 87F (30C), and an afternoon thunderstorm raised the humidity … still, she assured us it could have been worse!

Today we visited one of Australia’s two territories — the Northern Territory … the other one is the Australian Capital Territory, where Canberra, the nation's capital, is located.  We were in the region the Aussies refer to as the “Top End.”  Although Insignia docked at the Fort Hill Wharf in Darwin, our day’s excursion took us 45 minutes outside the city to Berry Springs.

Joined by Alice & Tom and Sonia & Boris, the six of us left the ship shortly after it was cleared at 8:00a.  Ursula, from Territory Wild Tours Darwin, was pulling up in her 13-passenger van just as I stepped out to find her about 15 minutes before our scheduled pick up time.  Excellent.  After introductions all around, we made ourselves comfortable in the van and set off for the 45-minute or so drive to the Territory Wildlife Park (TWP).  With no traffic to speak of, it was an uneventful ride.

Small portion of a mosaic mural depicting various critters found in the park.

The mission of the TWP is to “connect visitors with nature through authentic encounters and exciting experiences; inspire change and long term action by developing environmental awareness; play a central role in facilitating and advocating Conservation Research Programs in Northern Australia.”  The park is perhaps best seen during the dry season when it essentially becomes a watering hole to which wildlife flock.  That said, it was certainly worth visiting today as we saw plenty of critters.

Ursula is normally allowed to drive around the park to take her clients to the various exhibits.  With three cruise ship buses scheduled to visit the park while we were there, that permit was withdrawn.  No matter.  We took advantage of the shuttle that makes regular loops around the grounds, walking the short trails to get to various exhibits … which we would have done even had we driven around in the van.  The map showed the walking distances in meters, but I didn’t keep track of how much walking we did.  Alice later told me that her step counter had recorded 13,000 steps … so I would say we walked at least that much as well.

Our first stroll took us to the Woodland Walk.  Our destination was the wallaby feeding area.  Shortly after we started walking, we encountered our first critter — a wallaroo.  What’s a wallaroo?  It’s a macropod bigger than a wallaby and slightly smaller than a kangaroo.  Had Ursula not told us otherwise, we would have assumed that what we were seeing was, in fact, a kangaroo.

At the feeding area, wallabies had begun to show up, with more arriving from the woodlands.  The feed troughs were filled with a variety of vegetables, with the wallabies showing a preference for the corn.  They were cute and cuddly, but we resisted the temptation to pick them up.  Soft, too.  We were invited to pet them but cautioned not to touch their heads, which could trigger their fighting instinct.

Enjoying my wallaby encounter.

Next we took the shuttle to the top of the loop road to see the dingoes.  It was getting close to their feeding time, so the dogs were active near the lily pond that separates them from the overlook where we stood to take our photographs.  It was nice to see the legendary wild dogs of Australia doing something other than sleeping, which is the way we saw them in Brisbane.  Although the exact ancestry is unknown, this apex predator of the continent is classified as a unique canine species.

The keeper who brought their food, also brought tidbits for the turtles — which, if we could get the pellets on the lily pads — brought both the short- and long-necked turtles out of the water so we could see them.  She also had mealworms for the fish.  Those of us who were not squeamish about holding a worm were told to hold it over the water, wait for the fish to squirt up water, and then drop the worm.  Apparently, it is by spurting water that the fish get the worms to drop into the water from the trees … who knew!

One of the three dingoes eyeing the keeper who came with their food.

Back on the shuttle, the driver encouraged us to get off at the Flight Deck for the bird show.  We still had a ½-hour before the show, but with the ship’s tours visiting at the same time, we agreed it would be smart to be early to get good seats.  Thus far we’d only encountered the tourgoers at the wallaby feeding, but we knew they would be taking in this most popular of the various activities offered at the park.  Our early arrival paid off … we got seats in the first row, in front of the open gate where there was no fence to hinder our view of the birds when they landed on the ground.

We saw lorikeets; owls — both barn and rufous; the black-necked stork — the only species found in Australia; kites — one that I think was described as a whistling kite, and the other as a black-breasted kite … the only one of its kind to use rocks to break open emu eggs; and an osprey — which grabbed a fish out of the water, and then flew onto a branch where it used its wings to hide its catch from the free-flying birds near the show area.  It was a great show, and later we met the barn owl and the whistling kite up close and personal.

Barn Own	Osprey hiding its catch.

By the time the show was over, it was lunch time.  So, we headed back to the Main Station to have lunch at the café.  Our meal, like the park’s admission, was included in the AUD $95/person (~ USD $72) we paid for the tour … a discounted price due to its shorter duration.  Ursula gave each of us a voucher good for AUD $15 (~ USD $11), which was plenty for a meat pie — freshly baked and absolutely delicious — and a drink … Gatorade being our choice to replenish some of the electrolytes we’d been losing by sweating buckets.  We paid the difference to also get a salad each and a cookie to split.

After lunch, we headed back out into the park again.  The tours had left at 12:30p, so we had the place practically to ourselves.  Our first stop was at the Aquarium where we got an up close look at critters found in Australian waters, including a freshy and a salty — as crocs are often referred to depending on their preference for fresh or salt water.  The latter is a smaller species compared to the salties that can grow up to 23 feet (7m) long.  We also saw barramundi, a fish found only in these waters, and all of which start off as males but turn into females after several years.  Another species that I enjoyed seeing was the freshwater whiprays found in sandy coastal rivers.

A freshy … does the reflection count as seeing two freshies?

We walked out of the Aquarium with the intent of going to the Oolloo Sandbar for the whipray feeding.  Mother Nature decided to frustrate those plans.  We’d been hearing distant roars of thunder, and the storm had finally arrived.  It was pouring rain.  So, the TWP staff shifted the feeding to the Aquarium.  A diver was sent into the tank and we stood in the tunnel to watch the feeding frenzy on both sides and over our heads.

It was still raining when we left the Aquarium the second time, but it was not pouring.  Even had we not missed the shuttle — which drives the loop one way — we would have walked to the Billabong, which was our next destination.  Donning wet weather gear, we remained quite dry as we walked the short distance.

You might be familiar with the word “billabong” from Waltzing Matilda, a bush ballad that has been described as Australia’s "unofficial national anthem” …

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled:
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me?”

… and on it goes.

Anyway, a billabong is an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course.  When these course changes happen, the former branch of the river becomes a dead end, filled with water seasonally, but otherwise dry most of the year.  In essence, they are watering holes to which the wildlife flock.  Unfortunately for us, the continuing rain had driven most of the critters into hiding.  We saw a freshy in the water, and later some Australian pelicans around the bend … but that was it.  Our goal was more to see the billabong, though, so we were not too disappointed with the lack of wildlife.

No billy to boil, but we do see a billabong.

Australian Pelicans

Our last stop was the Nocturnal House.  Kept artificially dark so that the critters that are normally active only after nightfall show themselves during visitation hours, this was the only part of our day that I didn’t enjoy as much.  Yes, the animals were interesting, but they were difficult to see … forget about taking photos.  I would have preferred to go to the walk-through aviary, but the rain had thrown off our schedule, so it wasn’t possible to go back there and still get back to the ship by our self-imposed deadline of 5:00p.  No matter.  We have already decided that our road trip to Australia will be during the dry season so we will return for another look-see at the TWP then.

By this time the rain was over and the sun was out and it was steaming.  We appreciated the A/C during the drive back to Darwin.  Ursula made a roadside stop so we could get a closer look at a termite mound … a giant one that compared favorably with similar ones we’d seen in the African bush.  Back in town, we made a quick stop at Woolworths for everyone to pick up what they needed — for us that was apples.

By 5:00p, we were hugging Ursula goodbye and thanking her for a great day.  We loved our time at the TWP.  Tomorrow we have a day at sea crossing the Timor Sea to Indonesia … I am looking forward to it … and to the additional 30 minutes we will gain overnight to put us on Eastern Indonesia Time.

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