Last days in Darwin

We’re off to Kakadu tomorrow and I don’t know how good the internet will be there so this might be the last missive for a little while.

On Saturday, we were all well enough to have an outing together - yay! We went to the Territory Wildlife Park and let me tell all of you ranger (zookeeper) wannabes, you want to do some work here.  We were there from 10am to 4pm as there was so much to see and do.

First of all, we went to the Sandbar talk and the ranger talked about various fish the park has in that part of the river and the Freshwater Whiprays.

He asked for 9 volunteers and Stevie got to feed a whipray. He said it felt velvety on top, slimy and muscly underneath.

Next was the Birds of Prey show.  This was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! They have trained the birds to follow certain cues and constructed a tight routine with such an array of birds.  I had an owl whoosh straight past my head and yes, it didn’t make noise when it went past! I only wish I has it on movie setting for the whole thing because it was just fantastic.  We got to get up close to a couple of the birds afterwards and to be a trial audience to help with the training of an owl.  The owl was a bit recalcitrant for us but the handler, Adam, said this owl had performed really well the day before.  Trust has to be built with the handler and the birds have to get used to  large number of people sitting as an audience and do their tricks on cue so it  can be a lengthy process, depending on the bird.

We then went to the walk through aviary and got to feed smaller birds some wriggly worms before heading to the Aquarium.  Not only was this an inviting place with well kept and eye catching displays, we got there right on feeding time.

We saw other sections of the Park as well but I would be going for a while to talk about everything - the above were the highlights 

Today, we went to the Pressie Church again, then Leanyer Water Park, where we met some other contacts from Canberra, and then back to church this evening.  We have been blessed by this congregation and commend them to you if you are visiting up here.

Photos may not come as thick and fast after this - they do take a little time to load here and other regions have been torturously slow so enjoy them now...

I can still hear the cricket commentary in the background so I will finish up here and go in and watch for a little while.  Goodnight :)

Two Adams.  The handler has developed a close relationship with this bird but not too close, otherwise the bird won't work for any other handler.

You see the fish, whiprays and turtles go over your head.

Guess what the turtle is eating?

Loved the tanks, the vivid colours, the clear water and informative displays.  Too many photos to choose from!