kakadu, pt II

Day two started with an Adventure!!! First we saw a Taipan, the most poisonous snake in the world, crossing the road. Then, we got a flat tire! On our 4WD, 14 seater wilderness bus! Everyone piled out and Steve and a few of the German boys switched the tire. The rest of us stood around and took pictures.

Twin Falls! We walked up, up, up, up, up. Straight up the face of the rock escarpment. The view from the top was incredible. We walked on the dry, smoothed out rocks of Twin Falls and looked over the edge. During the Wet, this whole area rushes with water and is only accessable by helicopter. We got to play in the water a little farther upstream. It was warm! The rocks were slimy and slippery with algae! Oliver and I held hands and jumped in together. The water was only two feet deep and actually hurt when we landed.

We climbed back down, took a three minute boat ride to the other side of the mountain, walked over some rocks, and emerged at the bottom of Twin Falls. Everyone proceeded to climb the rocks and sit under the waterfall. The water was freezing but felt awesome coming down. We were not allowed to swim because of crocodiles.

After that, we did a brief hike to Jim Jim Falls, which at this time of year is really Jim Jim Wall. No water falling down. I and a few others walked halfway and hung out on some big rocks by the river while the rest of the group went all the way to the not falls and swam in that pool. I finished the book I was reading and ate a boatload of mint Belgium chocolate.

Back at the parking lot, we saw a cane toad that had been run over by a car. Cane toads were brought to Australia to eat the cane beatle which was ravaging crops. Whoever thought up that plan was a few crayons short of a box because cane toads can't jump higher than a foot, and cane beatles live on stalks several feet above the ground. Cane toads multiplied rapidly and are a huge nuisance to everyone. The German boys took pictures of them fake eating the dead toad.

We arrived back at the campsite at dusk. Guide Steve did a very poor job of time management and rushing us along. We had no wood for a fire, and a few of the boys went out into the bush with their flashlights to find branches and hopefully not find themselves in the sandy billabong with the crocodiles. I taught everyone else how to set up the tents. Steve just barely whispered instructions on how to cook dinner and then just went to sleep. I took a much needed shower and cooked my vegie meal easily enough, but the meat eaters had to wait over an hour more for their kangaroo sausages and buffalo meat to be ready.

Here I should mention that 10 of the 12 passengers on the tour were German, Though most spoke English very well, amongst themselves, and especially when the three German kids who didn't speak English were around, they spoke German. At first I didn't care, but it became more and more frustrating as they all developed inside jokes and told stories that I couldn't evesdrop on. The longest phrase I know in German is Arbeit Macht Frei, and it's pretty hard to work that into conversation. Around the campfire, the German was flying fast and I felt very isolated. I went to bed while the carnivores were still munching and fell deep asleep. I didn't even wake up when Hendrick very loudly set up his swag and sleeping bag inches from my face.