Temple visit

 So we wanted to go the Temple and sadly there is not a Temple in Darwin. Currently in Australia there are 5 Temples in: Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.  Now believe it or not, we discovered it was cheaper to fly outside of Auz than to any those previously mentioned cities.  Qantas airlines - you bandits!
A little Australian trivia: what does QANTAS stand for?
Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services -- founded in 1920. The oldest continuously operated airline in the world and the second oldest in the world overall. Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo".
Anyway, back to our dilemma. After a bit of research, we packed, grabbed our passports and boarded a plane in Darwin at 3 AM for 4 days in Manilla Philippines! 
Manila has a total population of 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census.^[2] Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.
The earliest written account of the city is the 10th-century Laguna Copperplate Inscription which describes a context of an Indianised kingdom maintaining diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Medang. The city was invaded by Brunei's Sultan Bolkiah and was already Islamized by the 15th century when the Spanish explorers first arrived. Manila eventually became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route linking Latin America and Asia. The city would eventually be given the moniker of the "Pearl of the Orient," as a result of its central location in the vital Pacific sea trade routes. Several Chinese insurrections, local revolts, a British Occupation and a Sepoy mutiny also occurred shortly thereafter. Manila also saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution which was followed by the arrival of the Americans who made contributions to the city's urban planning and development only to have most of those improvements lost in the devastation of World War II. Since then the city has been rebuilt.
(thank you again, Wikipedia)
I have never been in the Orient and was pleasantly surprised to find almost everyone spoke English in this HUGE city. Thank you American occupation!  
Now before we get started, you might be wondering, what about the Woodward travel curse?  Is it still around? Does it follow them aboard?  Silly questions!!!  We managed to arrive just as the edge of  Typhoon Helen was hitting Manilla.  So it was raining, of course!  Our first purchase might have been umbrellas.  Pretty sure. 
Our first day we took a city tour which included: The American Cemetery, which has 17,000 graves; the largest in the Pacific for US personal killed in World War 2. I think it might be the largest outside the United States.

Fort Sanitago, the oldest fortification in Manilla built in 1571. 

Church of Saint Agustin completed in 1607. 

and of course we went to  the beautiful Temple in nearby Quezon City; which was a 45 minute drive from our hotel in Makati. After our session, we realized we were somewhat stranded.  A member was very kind to give us a ride to a nearby Mall where we could more easily catch a taxi.  Several lessons learned.  

The weather was not cooperating (what else is new?!) so we spent an afternoon souvenir shopping in the 2nd biggest Mall, Glorietta; it was HUGE!!!!  5 different buildings!

remember we bought Roy a swimsuit last month? I just couldn't pass up this picture! 

One of the unique things about Manilla are the Jeepneys.  They are used as mini buses and all are decorated differently; it was very fun to see the variety and creativity. 

Everyone we met during our stay in the Philippines were very friendly and helpful.  It is a poor country; the average weekly wage is $US10. To us, prices seemed very reasonable on most things; gasoline was very expensive though: $US6/gallon. A yummy Filipino dinner was $US27.  Love those little spring rolls! My catfish dinner was the whole fish!  About 10" long with little slashes along the side - very tasty!  
There had been horrible flooding before we got there, although we didn't see it, but we were not near the river either.  We saw some
overcrowding and glimpses of poverty; enough to know that we need to start contributing to the Humanitarian Fund.  We are so blessed.
Of course we found McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway and even a Dairy Queen!  
Security was very tight around the nice motels and big Malls; guards with machine guns and bomb sniffing dogs. 
Traffic was a nightmare! Twice as many cars as the roads were designed for and if that weren't bad enough, add a zillion small motorbikes zipping around and between the cars. Lines on the road don't mean much to the drivers but amazingly nobody gets upset.  It's just a part of life there.
Something that boggled my mind: we took a taxi to a Post Office for some international postcard stamps.  I was very nervous when I only paid  ~US$.14/stamp but our kids got the cards.  Then it occurred to me that in this overcrowded city with all the haphazard housing so how to assign addresses? I very much doubt mail is delivered house to house.  Businesses maybe.  We privileged Americans take so much for granted:  mail delivery to our individual houses just for a start. 



 

Litchfield National Park

Our last day found us in Litchfield National Park, which is much smaller and closer to Darwin.  (only about an hour drive Southwest).  It is named after Northern Territory  explorer Frederick Litchfield, who came all the way from South Australia. (roughly the same as from New Orleans to the Canadian border)
Anyway, look at these termite mounds!  Now that is lots and lots of bugs!

magnetic termite mounds called The Graveyard

Cathedral termite mound

A brief dip in the Buley Waterhole; another popular swimming spot. Yes, here we go again, more swimming.  Too far inland through too many rocks, so they say.

Wangi Falls Plunge Pool

Most of our group under above waterfall

This was our favorite swimming hole of the trip; not too cold. It was very fun and very popular with the locals.
Apparently in the wet, there have been Australian freshwater crocodiles in this area. "Freshies" are much smaller than their saltwater cousins and less aggressive.  Rumors are humans and freshies can share a swimming hole as long the crocs don't get aggravated.  No thank you!!! 

Have to admit, these signs gave me pause but there were already so many people in the water, you had to figure it was safe.  In all seriousness, I would NEVER swim in any water outside a swimming pool by myself in the Territory, Queensland or WA.  (Western Australia). 
Have I ever shared my motto for being outside in Auz, especially out in "the Bush"? 
NEVER, EVER forget where you are!!!  
8 of the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world live there, crocodiles, nasty spiders, poisonous jellyfish, man eating sharks.....
Want to see something funny and see what I am talking about?  Watch "Deadly Animals" (Come to Australia) on YouTube. 
 After 3 long days, driving 500Km and 20 something new birds for Roy, we arrived home to Darwin. 

Kakadu National Park

Roy took a day off of work and we were out-the-door on a 3 day 4WD Camping Tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. Yes, me camping in Australia!  I am a long time camping girl but not a big fan of sleeping on the ground anymore especially with venomous snakes around...... stay tuned.

Our ride

my great seat due to car sick issues, which thankfully never materialized.

On our drive South, we stopped for a short cruise on the beautiful Corroboree Billabong or Wetland.  

are you wondering if Roy is ever without his binoculars?  Not much.  not with 280 new birds to see in the Park

I cannot remember the proper name of this little guy but it is sometimes called the Jesus Bird because it appears to walk on water, thanks to his big feet

 Kakadu National Park is about a 2 hour drive southeast of Darwin and is huge; say,  size of half of Switzerland.

 Our first stop was an Aboriginal Rock site; Ubirr. 
I'm going to borrow from Wikipedia because they explain things much better than I can.

Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40 000 years. Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20 000 and possibly up to 40 000 years.

Approximately half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and most of the remaining land is currently under claim by Aboriginal people. The areas of the Park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. 
About 500 Aboriginal people live in the Park; many of them are traditional owners. 






Beautiful, spectacular view.  Below is my attempt at a panoramic shot.

right

center

left

The "Top End" of Australia has two seasons.  WET (summer) and dry (winter). Since Auz is in the Southern Hemisphere, their seasons are opposite of ours here.
We were told that this view will mostly be a lake in the Wet. 

Remember the camping part?  These little cabins were a welcome sight especially the FLOORS!

  We had a great group.  A family from France with 2 older teenager daughters, 2 retired teachers from Canada and 2 young women (mid 20's) one, German and one Mexican/Canadian, traveling and working around Australia. Our driver fried us some marinated kangaroo chunks (a little tough) and water buffalo burgers (YUM!!) for dinner.  We all pitched in to help with the salad and clean-up.  Our driver was a super nice red-headed young Aussie and I cannot believe I've already forgot his name! 

Our 4WD truck came in handy the next morning as we crossed this river. About a meter deep.  Yes, we kept our eyes very open for crocs!

Today was hike day.  First stop: Twin Falls Gorge.  We took a short boat ride up the beautiful Gorge.

this little adventure was made all that more exciting by the croc trap we had just passed down river a ways.  No, I am not kidding. 

Twin Falls.

 After a hour drive, it was time for a longer hike to the largest waterfall in the Park: Jim Jim Falls ~ 7K (4 miles) each way. Since it was winter and getting very dry, we were lucky to see it with water coming over the top.
It was a tough hike in places; rock hopping/climbing isn't exactly easy at our age!   Needless to say, our knees were sore that night. 

can you barely see the falls?  sorry, the sun was just in the wrong place

.

Roy. You can barely see me in the above picture. 

Now I know you are thinking, wait a stinking minute here!  After all my talk about staying out of all water in Auz, here we are swimming.  What the heck!?!  Let me explain that saltwater crocs like and need warm water, give or take a few degrees around 85*F.  Anything less than 80*F and no crocs.  You will just have to take my word for it, but this water was much COLDER than that!  It was a hot day though and felt very refreshing.  At least after I dove in and came up yelling! 





















Spent the night here in more nice little cabins.  Very colorful Outback Aussie Pub nearby.

True or False; are there water buffalo in Australia?
      True.  Actually quite a few in the Top End as they handle the tropical heat and humidity well.
  The buffalo-hunting industry became an important employer of Aboriginal people during the dry-season months.

Darwin Australia July 2012

Roy changed jobs earlier this Spring and is now working in Darwin Australia.  In case you don't know, it is at the top of that big island Down Under.  I'll borrow from Wikipedia:
Darwin ( /ˈdɑrwɨn/)^[3] is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,532, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities. It is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End's regional centre. Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia's most modern and multicultural cities.
 It was Winter while I was there but the weather was very pleasant ~ 30*C (86*F) every day,which made it wonderful for exploring on my new birthday bike or long walks around town. Roy doesn't have a car but the grocery shops are only two blocks away and we could take a bus to Church if we didn't borrow a work vehicle.   I also zoomed around on Tug our Vespa.  Fun!
 

not your usual scarecrow....

I got there in time to enjoy a fun Saturday at the Royal Darwin Show - equivalent to our State Fairs, or the Ekka in Brisbane.  Since the Northern Territory is so huge, (a state the size of our entire Mid West: Texas to North Dakota, West of the Mississippi to Colorado. no joke), they actually hold it in 3 different towns. Saw some nice quilts; including one all about goats, ate unhealthy fair food, watched the youth livestock parade, and Racing Pigs! What more could you ask for?  Brought back great memories of the California State Fair with our kids :)

Courtesy of Roy's' work we were able to attend an Australian Rules Football game or Footy, as it is affectionately called by the Aussies; the Darwin Thunder were playing a team from the Gold Coast.  (like AAA teams). It is a very paced game with 18 players on each team, no pads, no forward passing and scoring is all kicking the over-sized football through the 4 uprights.  80 minutes of almost constant running. Very fun. Many thanks to our new friend Frank, who happily explained this confusing game to the Americans. 
While we were at the game, we met the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (like our State Governor), Paul Henderson; nice guy.  Sadly he was voted out of office just before I left at the end of August.  Or I should say, his party lost their majority.  Australian politics is very confusing; at least to me.

Now what would a trip to the Northern Territory be without seeing some saltwater crocodiles up close and personal?  Well, as close as any sane person would want to get anyway.
So we borrowed a car and drove an hour or two South to the Adelaide River to take a river cruise.  Ok, yes, they did bait the crocs with meat.  Saltwater Crocs or "Salties" as the locals call them can be found in almost any river, billabong (swamp), pond, the Darwin Harbor and on the beach.  In short: stay away from any body of water in the Northern Territory. Or be very, very wary.  Yes, the Aussie go fishing and some even swim in rivers and ocean but at least one person is chomped every year in the Territory.  Case in point: a dog got snapped at on the beach while I was there.  Yikes!!!
This was a birthday I won't soon not forget!  

Now a personal note about crocs.   They scare me to death!!  The grizzly bears of Australia.  Unpredictable. Vicious. Huge. Aggressive. Powerful.

Shudder.......








If you know Roy, you know that any trip outside includes some bird watching so on the way home we stopped at the nearby Fogg Dam Conservation Area ( billabong, wetland or swamp).  Yes, that is a croc trap behind Roy.  THEN we noticed the nearby sign..... I was super anxious to get back to the car. Not too smart.  Yes.  Would have very dangerous at dusk or at night. Lesson learned.

Another late afternoon after work, we got complementary tickets to the local racehorse track.  Although we were only able to see the last couple of races,  it was fun.  The Aussies are crazy about gambling in any way, shape or form.

This track is about 5 miles from Roy's apartment

Now just when you might be thinking, "do these people ever stay home"?! We were invited on a Darwin Harbor Evening Cruise.  Now remember, as previously stated, the weather is perfect so lots of activities happen. We hear from the locals that during the summer it is so miserable hot and humid outside, everyone hibernates inside. So of course we went! 

Roy's apartment buidling

close to my 55th birthday