Australia 2014: Darwin

Day 35 – August 23, 2014 – Darwin - distance travelled: 60 kms - 31^oC high; 15^oC low. In the morning we visited Crocodylus Park, a zoo with as main focus crocodiles. We joined the 10am crocodile tour which includes feeding some of the saltwater crocodiles, making them jump for a piece of steak – something they also do in the wild (the jumping, that is). Shannon even got to feed a saltwater crocodile by holding the stick with the piece of steak at the end over the water. At the end of the tour we all got to hold a baby crocodile, its mouth taped shut just in case. The zoo had a variety of Australian animals as well as an assortment of exotic ones. The kids also got to hold a snake later on. In the afternoon we explored downtown Darwin, especially the main pedestrian mall with souvenir stores, and we all succeeded in finding something to our liking. Back to the campground for an early supper as at 6pm the Darwin rodeo started. We were told about this when we visited Saddleworld and as none of us other than Don had ever been to a rodeo it seemed like a nice way to spend an evening. Between 6pm and 10pm – by which time those metal benches felt rather hard – we saw bull riding, steer wrestling, calf roping, barrel racing, bare back riding and saddleback bronco riding, and various rounds of most events. Interesting to see although we felt a little sorry for the calves that got roped and the steers that got wrestled down. We all enjoyed the barrel racing which was only done by women. Needless to say to especially Claire and Shannon had a good time. For Ian and Jordan one of the highlights was likely the huge inflatable slide they got to spend some time on. We didn’t stay for the live music afterwards or for the social time at the bar and were “home” quickly as the rodeo was less than ten minutes from the campground.