Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Darwin, Australia. Excursion: Territory Wildlife Park.

Paul was woken up during the wee hours of the morning for watch duties on the bridge whilst the ship negotiated a narrow gap. His next call came at around 5:30am and when he didn't answer the phone I answered it, assuming Paul was awake and had gone to his office. After I put the phone down I went into the main part of the cabin to look out of the window to see what the day was going to be like - only to discover Paul working at the cabin's computer which is linked into his office computer. I was a bit surprised to see him because I thought he was in his office. Needless to say he hadn't heard the telephone ring in the main cabin for some reason. There is a bit of a glitch in the system methinks. I went back to bed for a bit more zzzz 😫 until my alarm clock went off.

Today's adventure was to see the Territory Wildlife Park. There were quite a few guests for the tour and so 3 busses had been hired. I discovered that Eduardo from the shop's was a tour escort on one of the busses and Matt, fitness instructor, was on another so we agreed to meet up once inside the park.

It was a good 45 to 59 minutes’ drive to the park but I didn't see much of the journey. While standing outside the bus and waiting for guests to get on, the sun's glare was too much and I ended up with a headache. So I closed my eyes during the drive to the park in an effort to ease my sunburnt eyeballs and poor head.

In the road train

Aquarium - sting ray

Once inside the park guests could either walk along the tracks to different points of interest or take a road train. It was a very hot day so Eduardo, Matt and I hopped on one of the road trains and had a scenic drive. Now and then the road train would stop off and let people on/off at points of interest, e.g. nocturnal house, Goose Lagoon, etc. We got off at the aquarium for a bit of a wander, seeing a variety of fish, large and small, sting rays, a small crocodile and much more. There was a show at the Flight Deck so we took the road train there next and enjoyed the show, featuring an owl, a fish eagle, egret, emu, parakeets and a few other birds. After the show we took a 5 to 10 minute walk (in the heat!) to the nocturnal house where we saw flying foxes, owls, wallaby, water rat, snakes and much more. The 2 lads continued exploring the wildlife park as they were due to get back to their bus ½ an hour later than my bus's departure time. Needless to say I got back to the main entrance of the park only to discover that our bus driver and guide had given us an extra ½ hour! I decided not to go back out into the heat but made the most of the air-conditioned environment and had a very necessary drink of water.

Bird show at the Flight Deck. Park ranger with a barn owl.

Eventually it was time to leave the park. We got caught in a downpour on the way back to the ship so the driver stopped the bus at the side of the road for a few minutes as he could hardly see the road. Fortunately we had stopped opposite a field with tall termite mounds so we were able to peer out of the bus windows while our guide told us a bit about termites. The rain abated to within reasonable limits and we could continue our journey.

The park's kitchen for its 'residents'.
Fresh mice, veggies, fruit, etc. being prepared

Guests seemed happy apart from one. The guide sought me out and advised that one of the guests had suffered from heat stroke and was sick whilst at the park. (Before getting off the bus everyone had been advised to drink lots of water and to keep hydrated because of the heat. Inside the park reception guests were also told to hydrate, advised where the cool areas of the park were and also where they could get water.) The guest was taken to the park's first aid room and given liquids. She also lay down in the cool room. Our guide had filled in an incident report and sent over a message to his boss to notify the ship as well. I went and checked up on the guest who was with her husband. She didn't look terribly good and was nursing a handy bag - just in case. When we got back to the port terminal an electric buggy brought the guest and her husband to the ship where she still had to go through the usual security checks and scans before walking up the gangway to the ship. Security personnel were on hand to help her if needed. I asked the guest if she wanted to go straight to the infirmary but she really wanted to go back to her room to have a shower and clean up. She agreed that I could get someone from the infirmary to give her a ring and check up on her.

Once the guest was sorted Paul and I went ashore for a few hours, stopping for a delicious mango smoothie in the cool shade whilst sitting near a small park. Crew were on the internet so we gathered there was free Wi-Fi. Yay! Unfortunately the Wi-Fi was so slow.... In the end we gave up and took a walk to Darwin's city centre, stopping at a 2nd hand book shop and came away with a book each. By that time is was after 5pm and most shops were closed so we took a slow walk back to the ship, trying desperately to make use of any shadow to keep the sun off us!

Dessert - strawberry pavlova. Note the chocolate 'skeleton'!

All aboard time was at 7:30 pm so Paul and I had a very quick dinner before he had to go to the bridge. The theme at dinnertime was halloween, with a few staff members dressed up, and the desserts were 'dollied' up a bit.

We are now sailing towards Komodo Island, 2 days voyage from Darwin. For many guests, seeing the Komodo dragons is a bucket-list item. Even the crew are hoping and looking forward to see them - if they can go as a tour escort or go on the crew tour. We saw the Komodo dragons last year so have not signed up for the crew tour.

Komodo Island - here we come!