I set the alarm for 5.40 because we were going to be picked up at about 6.15 and we needed to make sandwiches when the kitchen opened. I didn't sleep well, and I woke up every 20 minutes to check that I hadn't overslept, which was just as well considering the alarm clock didn't go off. It's done that a couple of times before - maybe it knows I don't like to be woken up and it's just looking out for me.

Being the considerate sort that he is, Mikey had got everything ready last night so all we had to do was creep out of the room without waking the 8 other people. Which we did. The kitchen opened at 6, and we made quick sandwiches for supper and had breakfast and we were ready and waiting when the bus picked us up. Owen, the driver and guide, got us to introduce ourselves to everyone and I complained that it was too early for that sort of thing, and by the time a loud family of 9 from Stoke-on-Trent got on the bus everyone had forgotten everyone's names anyway.

We headed out of town and were told interesting things about traffic lights and the difference between Darwin locals and those living outside the town, and then we were on country roads and the sun started to come up. We passed a couple of snakes that had been run over and then, a little later, Owen stopped for a particularly nice python, freshly dead (in the last 20 minutes or so) so that we could have a look. It was lovely, an irridescent olive green, and still snake-warm. Even Mikey stroked it and I was very impressed - he has issues with both dead things and snakes.

It was a long trip into the park, about 200 miles, but we were entertained with stories and observations. In fact, it was a long day of driving altogether, and we didn't reach our first stop, the Ubirr rock paintings until about 10am. It was hot. And no-one told me there were mosquitos in the tropics... I was bitten almost constantly, and even while I was killing one of them (flies, mosquitos and termites are not protected in the national park), three more were biting me. I hate mozzies!

Ubirr is a very special site, home to Aboriginal rock paintings up to 5000 years old. The red pigment they used soaked into the rock, surviving errosion. The story was that mischievous spirits, mimmis, painted the pictures, and in some cases they brought the rock down to paint on it, and then put it back in place. Further on were newer paintings of people and animals, in yellow, black and white as well as red. Finally we climbed the hill, a fantastic jumble of rocks billions of years old, to see the view over the park, a place the size of Wales.

We went back past the uranium mines to a place called Jabiru for a barbecue lunch. The trees were almost groaning under the weight of a thousand fruit bats and it was noisy with their chattering. There was a lovely swimming pool that was too tempting to resist. We had lunch which included kangaroo, which was really, really nice and not at all like I was expecting. Then back on the bus to get to the Aligator River (a Floridian named it and got it wrong - there are no aligators in Australia) for a boat trip.

We saw crocodiles! Big fellows, 16 feet long, only a couple of feet away from the boat.

At one point the boat stalled and everyone seemed to have an opinion about what the driver was doing wrong. They might have been nervous about being stranded in such infested water. There was a huge amount of birdlife on the river too, with huge sea eagles, and buzzards and kites in the trees, herons in the water and the beautiful rainbow bee-eater, which I think is my favourite of the Australian birds. We also saw jabirus, huge black and white stork-like creatures. The river edges were packed with enourmous water lillies which were actually lotus flowers. They are native to Australia but found in other places too.

It was incredibly hot on the river and there was not a large amount of shade so it was nice when we turned back and the sun was on the other side. But it was gorgeous, and amazing to see all the wildlife in their natural habitats. We watched a snake-necked cormorant-like bird struggle with a fish for about three minutes, desperately trying to swallow the wriggling thing without dropping it, and when he finally managed it everyone gave him a round of applause, which was weird but strangelty satisfying!

Our last destination today was Nourlangie rock, another art site and beautiful look out. The paintings here were more recent and well-defined and there were funny stories to go with them, like the picture of the evil spirit who consumed women and attacked them with yams. At the top of the rock was another wonderful view, and the sun was almost setting, making the red rock even redder.

Back in the bus, we drove to Darwin past a beautiful dark pink sunset and a very spooky night-time forest fire (a controlled burn). Owen put some funny tapes on and we listened to stories about life in the bush a hundred years ago. When he dropped us off at the hostel at 9.30 (we'd done about 550 miles today) he offered to take us on another trip on Tuesday which we gladly accepted. It was a really great day out.