A much bigger bus picked us up this morning and we did the normal trip round town to collect everyone from their nice hotels. The bus driver started talking to us on the way out of town and didn't stop for hours! He was great, he knew a lot about the countryside and the history of the place and all the things we were going to see. It was a two-hour trip into the park and we stopped briefly for a cup of tea (I was desparately tired and I ached all over because of it). The pub we stopped at had Sky News on it, and the Australians just switch it over to the UK Sky News channel whenever they feel like it, so we watched pictures of the flooding in Cornwall which looked impressive but devastating for the people there.

We had a brief look round the war cemetery next door and then carried on driving to a place called Edith Falls. This is a large lake with a waterfall at one end that we could swim in, so I paddled across the lake to play under the waterfall and then swam back.

We then arrived at a town called Katherine, and had lunch there. There were two covered verandahs outside and some beautiful tropical birds came along to join us and pick up anything that was left on plates. After lunch it was a short trip to the river for a boat trip. The boats were large and flat-bottomed and took us up the river through the gorge. There were huge sandstone walls either side of us, with vines and trees growing into the rock, and the water was a wonderful shade of blue. Every now and then we saw pretty yellow sand beaches with crocodile tracks leading into (and out of) the water. There were signs along the way that asked people not to go on the beaches because the freshwater crocodiles were nesting and didn't like to be disturbed.

Hundreds of canoes travellled up and down the water, and had we had more time, and not been us, it looked like a great way to see the place. But we were happy in a boat that we didn't have to control.

At the top of this part of the gorge we got off the boat and walked over the rocks a bit. There were some 5000 year old Aboriginal paintings on the rocks and plenty of step-shaped stones to clamber across. It was hot, in the mid-90s, but cooler on the water. We boarded another boat, the other side of the rocks and carried on up the river through more wonderful cliffs and wildlife.

When the boat could go no further up the river, we turned round an came back. We walked over the rocks again and onto the first boat. I was almost pushed into the water by a group of elderly women in sunvisors who wanted to get the best seats. The cruise lasted for two hours which didn't seem long enough at all. It was a long drive back to Darwin, the coach air conditioning had given up at about 28 degrees, so it was quite warm on board. Loads of road trains went past, huge articulated lorries with four of five trailers and 80 or so wheels, which were cool. We stopped at a pub and had baramundi (the local fish speciality) and chips for supper and met a stuffed water buffalo that was in Crocodile Dundee. Can't remember that. The moon was wonderful tonight, and answered a question I'd never had a satisfactory answer for - it was a horizontal crescent like a smiley face, and I had always wondered if that was possible depending on where you are in the world. It is.

The bus driver put on a tape of traditional Australian songs which made me giggle a bit too much, but it was a very nice end to the day. We arrived back in Darwin just after 9pm and I went straight to sleep. It's another early morning tomorrow.