A whistle-stop tour of the northern part of Australia. We dropped in to see Tali on our way to Darwin. In those few days she took us to a fantastically rustic cabin in Byfield National Park, an hour or so north of Rocky. Problems caused by Queen Anne arriving late into Sydney meant we arrived late in Rocky, missing one night in the bush but it was still worth going. It’s a stunning place.

Then we took Tali on a day trip to Great Keppel island, an island with lots of beaches, a few trails, huts and little else aside from a cafe. There is good snorkelling on the far side of the island but we just walked to the nearest beach and sat beneath the trees. Imagine having such a place an hour away from home?

Then it was time to leave. Cyclone Alfred was causing lots of worry and consternation in the Brisbane area so we were advised to avoid flying to Darwin via Brisbane, which would have been the longest but quickest route. Instead we took a propeller plane from Rocky to Cairns via Mackay and Townsville, finally being allowed off before boarding a proper plane for the final hop to Darwin, a route which took us over some of the wildest parts of Australia.

We had a couple of days in Darwin before Queen Anne arrived. Day 1 was spent in Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve, an environment created by a failed post-war scheme to grow rice in the Northern Territories. The remains of the earthworks and accumulated water have developed into a superb nature reserve, with all the attendant dangers one might expect in that part of the world…

It was very hot and humid, but the birdlife in particular was excellent, especially along some of the trails leading into the mangroves

We still had time to do a crocodile tour in the Adelaide river, perhaps the safest way to see these magnificent creatures in the wild. This river has a huge population of crocs, and the trip took us through a number of different territories of the largest male crocs, plus we saw a couple of females which came off the nest to investigate. The boat tours are owned by an aboriginal company and feed all profits back into community projects. These tours are called jumping crocodile tours as the guides dangle food for them over the side of the boat, provoking them to leap out of the water to grab their snack. They say that they are careful to prevent these animals becoming dependent upon this food source but in fact the main attraction was simply seeing them approaching the boat, so large, yet so discrete and hugely threatening. Swimming in rivers or the sea is simply not an option for the right-minded in this part of the world. Before leaving we had the obligatory life jacket demonstration despite the skipper saying that if anything untoward happened then drowning would be the least of our problems!

On our return the guide used the rest of the bait to attract a couple of Black kites

The following day we had a quick tour of the Botanical Gardens in Darwin before boarding Queen Anne

We had reduced our time onboard by 11 days and had a great time catching up with her (Queen Anne) experiencing new places and seeing our first wild crocs. Being able to have a few final days with Tali was an added bonus especially as we were all able to experience new things together. Only 47 days until we arrive back in the UK with a few more adventures yet to go.