Days 333-334 – Darwin, NT (12-13 August)

Spent the morning at Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve which is about 70kms east of Darwin on the way to Kakadu.  It is well known for birdlife which is what we wanted to see.  The dam wall is closed for walking due to a croc so we had to drive over it to get to a lookout.  There is a lot of weed in the waterholes which unfortunately is introduced and is slowly choking the waterways and reducing the numbers of birdlife that now come to the dam.  We did see lots of magpie geese and egrets.  Also saw evidence of either pigs or buffalo at the waters edge.  We did a walk through a paperbark forest via a boardwalk which was very nice.  The paperbark is somewhat darker than other areas we have been too.  We drove a little further to Windows on the Wetlands which is an interpretive centre all about wetlands.  This was very good however if you were hanging out for a cuppa forget it here as the indigenous workers were both fast asleep on the couches in the cafe.  Apparently they run the cafe and it is separate to the actual centre but still not a good look.  We got chatting to one of the guides at the centre who was telling us about the number of introduced weeds, insects in the area and the damage it is creating, quite depressing really as it is such a big job to control if ever.  They do cane toad round ups this time of year when the billabongs are drying up and a huge concentration of toads come to the water, one year they caught 250,000 toads at one trap!  When you consider toads lay up to 25,000 at each laying, that is horrendous – how are we ever going to beat that problem!  Eventually we had to bite the bullet and collect the car.  A spring had gone in our clutch which meant we had to get a new clutch and while it was there we got them to service it - it cost – wait for it - $1500!  We had thought $1200 tops.  The hourly rate was $99/hour and there was 10 hours of labour.  So an expensive exercise but we are so grateful it happening in Darwin not out in the middle of nowhere towing the van.  We are finding Darwin is expensive though so not really surprised I guess.  After this we went to the casino for a coffee.  The casino overlooks the beach which is just beautiful and being another perfect day the water was a beautiful blue even if the tide was out.  A shame that swimming in the ocean here is not recommended because of crocs.  The next day Friday we spent getting repacked and ready for our departure back to Katherine on Saturday.