I had had enough of tour groups for the time being. I didn't want to be dragged around places I didn't want to go, not have enough time to appreciate anything in places I did, and be rushed around on a cramped minibus. What I really wanted to do in Kakadu was to drive over with a few friends and go on a couple of long, interesting hikes. But that wasn't going to happen. So instead I decided to go on a day trip to Kakadu National Park and do a scenic flight. I figured I would see a lot and one day I will come back and do it properly - maybe when I finally get round to getting my drivers license. Most of the tour companies only offered two day or more trips, and almost all included the Jumping Crocodile cruise - a boat trip where they hang meat overboard and crocodiles jump out of the water to eat it - something that I really wasn't keen on doing as I don't like animal shows, especially those involving wildlife. Check me out on my high horse! The only tour companies offering day trips and flights were those catering to the older crowd and were a fair bit more expensive. I decided to treat myself, and in doing so, threw off my backpacker mantle and became.... a flashpacker.

The coach was to pick me up at 6.10 and I was up at 5.30 despite spending the previous evening with the Irish guys from my room. Back on the goon again! Noooo! I clambered aboard and found a seat on the very comfortable and empty bus - with sheepskin head rests and foot rests no less! Now this was living! - and watched the grey and white heads bobbing in front of me. There were frequent toilet breaks, which was great as I have the tiniest bladder in the world and am always the one having to duck behind a termite mound or scrubby bush. I also found that I was the fittest one in the group for once, which was a matter of some pride to me, despite the fact that I was a good forty years younger than most of them.

We stopped at Nourlangie Rock to see the Aboriginal rock art and a viewing platform. The marks on the rock in the distance are from lightning strikes - apparently it is the place most frequently struck in the world.

We went on a cruise on the Yellow River, which is completely flooded during the wet season. The differences between The Wet and The Dry, as they call them, are incredible, with the animals and plants having to be extremely adaptable. They have to survive when the land is parched and baking, and then again when it's overflowing with water and even the higher ground is swamped. June is at the very beginning of The Dry, but apparently there wasn't as much rain as normal during the wet season this year. The billabongs are just starting to dry out. The boat took us along the Alligator Rivers (there are no alligators at all, but the bloke who named them had just come from Florida, apparently, and got them mixed up) and saw pelicans, cormorants, beautiful coloured rainbow bee-eaters, egrets, a family of teeny jacaras (called Jesus birds because it looks like they're walking on water with their massive feet) and a White-Bellied Sea Eagle (that one was for you, Lozza). There were also lots and lots of crocodiles, though they were smaller and more docile than I expected. Not that I tried to test their docility - there are lots of attacks in this area, though these mainly occur at night when people have a few tinnies and think it's a good idea to go for a swim. They pulled a crocodile out of Jim Jim Falls plunge pool recently, though they had to put it down because they're so territorial that if they relocated it, it would be killed by other crocodiles. I wanted to see Jim Jim and Twin Falls, but I was told that they're just rockfaces at the moment. When I come back one day...

There were six of us on the scenic flight, including the pilot. We took off from Coinda "International" airport, which was just a dusty red gravelly runway. I'd been in a propeller aeroplane before, but never one so tiny - we could barely all fit in, especially as one of the passengers was obese. I was a little concerned by this, but the pilot seemed to take it in his stride. I met a guy in a bar in Broome who was a pilot and he told me he'd had to fly someone who weighed over 200kg, and he'd had to load him in the back and check to make sure the plane was stabilised. We took off and it was absolutely spectacular, though quite noisy. We all had headphones, but the pilot interspersed his commentary with some awful tinny birdsong muzak. After a few minutes in the air, my camera ran out of batteries - I couldn't believe it as I thought they were fully recharged. In a way, it meant that I appreciated the flight even more since I would have to remember it without photos. Silver lining and all that... So you'll just have to take my word for it that the Arnhem Escarpment was stunning. It was all very bumpy and the guy behind me was sick. I was more nervous than I thought I would be as it felt very flimsy and unprotected up there. But it was a fantastic way to see the wetlands and rockfaces and the bushfires. The smell of smoke was everywhere, as the park authorities were conducting controlled burns to create fire breaks and regenerate vegetation.

We rejoined the bus and promptly almost ran over a long-necked turtle, which was scurrying for its life across the road. We drove back to Darwin as the sun was setting, past more bushfires and some six metre tall termite nests. We dropped everyone back to their swish hotels and me to my skanky backpackers hostel. I wandered down to the night markets for some cheap curry for dinner - flashpacker no longer.