Day 15 - Kununurra to Rum Jungle - 811 kms

I crossed into the Northern Territory this morning and the speed limit immediately jumps up to 130 kph which seemed fast at first but you get used to it pretty quick. Also signs started popping up all over the place that had a crocodile outline with a person in its mouth. It made me check a little closer on my route for the water crossings and I'm happy to say I went through a bunch today without major incident.

As I rode through Gregory National Park they were control burning along the highway and wherever there was fire a bunch of hawks were circling. It took me a while to figure out what they were doing but after watching them for a while I saw they were waiting for small animals to run away from the fire and were eating them. It reminded me of when Crocodile Dundee throwing dynamite in the water and collecting the fish. These Australians know how to hunt, even the birds!

Now with the heavy rains every dirt road I tried to take was closed so you can imagine my excitement when I found one they missed. I had my GoPro on my helmet and every single time I turned it off a Wallaby would run across the road in front of me. After about three occurrences of this I decided I was smarter than a Wallaby and I pretended to turn the GoPro off and one ran out in front of me. I would have felt really smart but now I had to avoid it with one hand on the handlebar and the other on my helmet. I got the death wobbles and probably missed it on camera again. Damn Wallabies!

With the rain there were a few water crossings for me so I did the responsible thing and walked out into the first one to check depth and current. I then realised that I was standing in water in the jungle in Croc territory. I got back on the bike and started crossing when something large and dark shot out of the bushes toward me. After a brief shriek in my helmet I realised it was a feral hog and it ran right past me. Now if I had to change my shorts after this I'd never tell any of you. The rest of the trail went well with no more close encounters with wildlife.

I ended up in Rum Jungle (No idea why its called rum jungle but it is in the jungle and I think I'll have a rum tonight so that sort of makes sense?!?!?) After setting up my camp site in Litchfield National Park I went to a little restaurant/hotel/nature park/hippie commune to get dinner. When I walked in the owner was standing in the middle of the dining room in just a towel and introduced me to the whole restaurant as the male exotic dancer he had ordered for all the girls. I asked if I got a free dinner for doing it and when he said no my clothes stayed on. I ordered a Spanish beef special for $28 and when it arrived it looked and tasted just like Dinty Moore Beef Stew over rice. I love Dinty Moore so well played crazy restaurant/hotel thing owner. (Picture of owner below and as I took it he told me his name is Butterfly Man)