Adventure Bear Log - Australia
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia November - December 2007

The crew and I went to Litchfield Park. We went hiking and swimming and had a picnic there. When exploring I find it important to pay attention to the helpul signs in the parks. This one was offering swimming tips. I decided to go swimming after the crocodiles were done with the pool. It turned out that no one wanted to swim with the crocodiles, so we went to another pool. I dipped my toes in the cool water.

The things I do for this crew... I was taking a little nap in the seatee and someone came along and decided to rest with me.
In the name of art and culture we visited the Art & Culture Museum in Darwin. I found a crocodile I could get close enough to touch. The crocodile was named Sweetheart. He was stuffed so I didn't mind sitting next to him. He liked to spend his time chewing on little metal boats. The people didn't like that habit, so some guys went and caught him. Sweetheart died and they stuffed him and put him in the museum.

The museum also had a collection of real boats. I got to sit in quite a few of them. I liked pretending to steer this one. It was colorful.

One day we borrowed a ute and drove to the Territory Wildlife Park. We got to see all kinds of different Australian animals. I should probably stop talking about fish so much, because look where I ended up. This carpet snake was a polite one. He didn't try to hide in my pants. I don't think the owl had seen a bear my size before. He barked at me, so I barked back. I barked in a friendly way, but I'm not sure what I said. This crocodile wasn't stuffed, he was big and alive and did I mention big?
The crew was laughing the whole time I was resting on this sign. I have no idea why.
I didn't get carried away by a real kangaroo or wallaby, but I liked this one. And someone might want to do something about the termites. Look how big this termite house is! I'm glad they like the outback better than they like the shore. I wouldn't want any moving onto the boat and trying to build big houses. There would not be enough room.
Crocodylus Park in Darwin has over 10,000 crocodiles. I was impressed by all of the crocodiles, but you can't play with them. They are not very friendly as it turns out. I went with the crew to meet animals I could play with. They found a corn snake to be my friend. Unfortunately for me, my new friend was curious. My new friend went exploring up my pant leg and got into my shirt from there. I had to take off all my clothes to get my friend out. It was very embarrassing.
Popham Bay, Northern Territory, Australia, Thanksgiving Day, November 2007

Everyone was busy making Thanksgiving dinner, and I wanted to help too. The crew remembered all the way back to last St. Patrick's Day when I helped with the potatoes. I got to peel potatoes again. I'm getting good at it. We didn't catch any fish, so I had to settle for turkey for dinner. The excellent potatoes helped make up for the lack of fish. I got seconds of pumpkin pie too. Bears like pumpkin pie.

Thursday Island, Torres Straight, Australia November 2007

On Thursday Island I made friends with the Customs Officers. Their names were Matt and Chris. They came on board and checked us in to Australia. They were great guys. Chris taught me that the word "Malu" means deep sea. Lots of the boats around here are named Malu something, like Malu Titan and Malu Warrior. Speaking of boats, Matt told us about a raft race between the two islands here. They had a boat in the race. We followed the race in the dinghy. Here I am in their raft at the end of the race. They didn't win, but we all had a good time.