As a little boy one of the first movie heroes that made an impression on me was the original crocodile hunter …Michael J. (Crocodile) Dundee. Whether it was foiling poachers with a dead Kangaroo, introducing us to what a real knife was, or sweeping the girl off her feet, everything of the late 80s had an Australian Vibe. It’s has always been a place in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to go.
After finishing my trip to Scotland last year, it made me aware that I was only 2 continents away from having hunted on all the continents. It meant the Australia was an essential need to check off the bucket list. I got back and began digging into my research on Australia and quickly formulated a plan to make it a reality.
I spend a good bit of time at night lying in bed, doing research on the places and hunts I want to do that are still on my bucket list. I try to plan out my options for upcoming years, and what they might cost. I dragged my feet on another hunt and didn’t book it in time for 2024, so I was looking for a spot filler for the year/vacation.
I booked a 6-day safari for my wife and myself with Harry Stenton of True Wild Safaris. As luck would have it, a friend and his wife decided they wanted to go as well, so we put the proverbial pen to paper, and we’re booked.
The one thing they don’t highlight to you in your excitement is how fucking far away Australia really is. We booked a 6 day Safari, 2 of those were travel days once we got there.. I didn’t really think about it 12 months ago and thought no big deal when booking the flights. I wasn’t thing that to get there is 39 hours of travel time over 4 calendar days once you factor in time zones and the international date line. What looked like a 10-day trip took on more of a 16-day trip just due to travel. Business class seats for a couple of legs made it a little better, but 2 or 3 overnight red eyes each way are tough going. Anyway, on to Darwin Australia for some fun.
Darwin is the northern tip of Australia and pretty much the only large city in the Northern Territory. It had enough to keep you interested for a few days. The beaches were nice, the water was beautiful, and the southern hemisphere skies are amazing as always. Darwin’s claim to fame was that in 1942 it was bombed harder by the Japanese than Pearl Harbor. It didn’t completely get knocked out of the war, but they spent a great deal of time working to get back into the game. We got a great deal of history lessons in between Darwin and Honolulu.
The Northern Territory or the Top End is our destination for Buffalo and the area we are hunting is Central Arnhem Land, it is an indigenous area with no permanent facilities. We all were born too late to explore the earth and too early to explore space, so a tent camp in 1.2 million acres of almost undisturbed wilderness…..Perfect.
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