March 10– Ghan Train to Darwin

Today we continued our trip on the Ghan train as we headed north to the city of Darwin in the Northern Territories.  We were seated with a travel writer/editor for breakfast. She seemed interested in my blog, but if she is a professional, then I’m pretty sure that it would bore her.  One of her jobs was to edit the train's magazine that you can read in your room.

The weather is hot and now very humid.  The humidex is well over 40 degrees but at least the flies seemed to have died down.

The terrain has changed from red dusty desert and consists of thick marshy forest as we proceeded north.  As we got closer to Darwin the marshes were replaced by streams and ponds and forests were replaced with grassy meadows.

Late in the morning, we stopped and went on a boat cruise through the Nitmiluk Gorge.  Nitmiluk  Gorge was originally called the Katherine Gorge.  This water system consists of thirteen gorges or small lakes that start in the northern wetlands.  We were only able to get into the lower gorge as the upper gorges are not accessible because of high water levels from recent heavy rains in Kakadu National Park. The gorge’s depth is currently 7 m, but in a normal rainy season the river will crest at 15m. It would be interesting to see what the water level will be in a couple of days when the water from the upper gorges reach this level.

We did see one fresh water crocodile sunning herself on the rocks.

The high rock walls of the gorge contain many trees that are used for building materials and fruits by the Jaywon, who are the aboriginal owners of this area.  Our guide told that when European settlers moved into the area, one of the major conflicts invovled cattle.  The idea of ownership doesn’t exist in the Jaywon culture.  So, they saw nothing wrong in killing a cow for food, after all everything was to be shared.  Of course, the settlers disagreed, and many fights ensued.

On way to Darwin we saw several wild horses call Brumbies. Also, along the tracks we saw many terminate mounds.  They are call Termite Cathedrals.

We are staying at Hilton in Darwin. It has a beautiful view of the harbour.  For dinner we to an Irish pub on restaurant row called Shenanigans.  With the many bouncers in each bar on the street, we know something was unsafe.  By the time we left there were many drunk and drugged up Aborigines sprawled out on sidewalks, fighting and yelling at everyone. Our tour guide said it was part of their culture that some individuals are not allowed to be in close proximity to another person because of their “skin name”, which determines what they can and can not do in life.  That is why they yell across the street and their language seems aggressive.  Personally, I think that is BS.  I’ve seen enough drunken idiots in my life to know one when I see one.