Our Story of Australia

Day 207- Adelaide

2009-09-22T21:20:00.003+10:00

Picked the truck up. Fixed, apparently. ?

Mum and Dad bought a new caravan?!??!?! What The?!?! That was fast! So we called past to have a look. Noice! Kitchen a bit small for me but then i make a mess when i cook so....

Then time to pack my bag for tomorrow's flight and Tim got things somewhat tidied up to travel.

Still raining, raining so not much else to do. Hired a buggy to ride around on for an hour. Wind Chill Factor -5'C ! LOL! But Jordy thought it was fun so probably worth it.

Happy Birthday Ray and Al!!!!!

Day 206- Adelaide

2009-09-21T21:17:00.000+10:00

Nothing much interesting happened today. Tim took the truck out to get fixed. Loooong story. GPS units suck!

I took the bus into the city with the boys to get some banking done. Tim met me in there, we had some lunch, wandered in the rain!

Wet, wet, wet day.

Day 205- Adelaide

2009-09-20T21:08:00.000+10:00

We were going to ride the bikes along the coast up to Semaphore or The Grange but the weather was a bit iffy so we drove up instead.

Called into a beach-side carnival sort of setup that looked fun. It's almost like a fun park (cos it's a permanent setup) but set up like a carnival with a ferris wheel, kids merry-go-rounds, jumping castle, clown ball side stall things. And i think it would be a heap of fun except it's $5 a go for every ride even for the little kids' stuff. And there was totally no carnival atmosphere seeing as we were totally the only people in the whole place!?!? Anyway, Jordy had a ride on the Flying Bee and grinned the whole time. Darcy slept unawares in the pram.
Had a wander along the jetty and the mini-train line (only runs in summer). Darcy finally woke up and they played in a great playground for a bit.
Headed out to Harbourtown which is just a big outlet shopping centre, nothing special. Jordy wanted to stay in Toyworld all afternoon.

Day 204- Adelaide

2009-09-19T20:32:00.000+10:00

Decided to head into the city for the day. The bus stops right out the front here so we figured it would be easier to catch that rather than drive and have to find a park. Funnily enough the kids really enjoyed the bus ride. Darcy was hilarious- every time it stopped at a bus stop Darcy would day (and sign) 'finished'... and then we'd start moving again and he'd say 'more', he did it every single stop (and there were a LOT of stops!)
The city was really nice. Had a nice feel to it. Not country-town like Darwin by any means but not as crazy bleugh city-fied as Sydney. Went for a wander through the mall area and then headed for the food court! LOL! We couldn't sit for long cos Jordy was keen to get to the museum. :) On the way we stumbled across some neat street sculpture, including some pigs. The sign for pig is to push the tip of your nose up with one finger... this is Darcy signing 'pig' except he has to stick his finger right UP his nose when he does it. So funny to watch.
The museum was quite good and we spent a few hours wandering around there. Had a great display of animals from around the world that was surprisingly interesting! From there we had another bit of a wander through the shops.

Stumbled across a street performing magician that was funny to watch so we joined the crowd and watched his show.

Found a Borders bookstore. I could have spent all day there! It was one of those massive ones with a Gloria Jeans inside like down in Sydney where i have spent many many many a great day. Only enough time for a quick browse before Jordy was off wanting a donut. So back to the food court for a delicious afternoon tea before heading home.

Tim and Jordy discovered a frisbee while playing in a toy store so as soon as we got back the boys had a throw and kicked a ball around for a bit before dinner.
So it sounds rather boring but it was actually a nice low-key laid back kinda day.

Day 203- Victor Harbor to Adelaide

2009-09-17T22:25:00.003+10:00

A bit sunnier this morning so we had an easy packup with no rain. We were not in a rush this morning cos we only had about 80km to travel so we had a few stops planned on the way to check out more of the Fleurieu Coast.

First stop though was back to Basham Beach to see the whales again. Darcy was asleep last time so we made sure he stayed awake to see them this morning. Jordy was more interested in picking the flowers.
There were about eight whales in the bay that we could see. A few in nice and close. But there were no rolls or fin-flaps for us today. We watched the mother whale and her calf for a while before heading off along the scenic route north.
Mum and Dad had seen some seals at Second Valley yesterday and we had heard from other travellers we were chatting to a few days back that the whole area around Second Valley was lovely so that's where we figured we'd head to for morning tea.

The truck had other ideas. About 20km past Victor Harbor there was a big whooosing noise and then a pfuuf pfuuf pfuuf hissing noise that sounded like it was not good news. We pulled over and Tim had a look at the engine bits and the hose from the intercooler into the turbo had come off (please ignore any technical jargon! i might be giving things the wrong names so if you actually care about the mechanical side of things please talk to someone other than me!!!!). Much cursing and headshaking and Tim stuck a couple of cable ties around to keep it on and we crossed our fingers for a town or service station.
We got a few km along through more winding hills and she went again. So we pulled over the only place we could which was right on the bend of the road amongst the rolling hills and green green farmland. We called the AAT guys (NRMA sort of people) and then we sat and had apple pie and a cup of tea while the boys played in the grass. It was actually a lovely spot on the side of the road as far as side of the road spots go, and the kids fed millipedes, poked at snails, and chased ladybugs for the best part of an hour before they decided they wanted a blankie to go nigh-nights in the grass :) The car-guy turned up and didn't actually do a whole lot. Tim had told them on the phone what we needed (a clamp thing) and he turned up without one, poked around in the engine for a bit, said he could not guarantee that his jury-rig would work but there was a spare parts shop and a servo about 20 or 30km away. Thanks....

So off we went with fingers still crossed. Got about 5km this time before it blew again. hhhmmmm.... made it to Yankalilla, had lunch while Tim bought some hose clamps and fixed the connection. Decided to bypass Second Valley and just head to Adelaide cos it was getting late and had taken us four hours to do 40km, even though the scenery was incredibly beautiful.

But the saga does not end there. I have no idea how much further we got... maybe another 10km but the hose blow off again but in a different spot so there was obviously a pressure problem somewhere and it was more than just a loose hose clamp. This time we were on the main road so nowhere safe for the kids to play while we waited for someone to sort shit out. Two unhappy kids, a heap of phone calls, and waiting around and in the end Mum and Dad drove down to meet us from Adelaide. They towed the van for us and Tim just had to drive the truck to a repair shop cos it was impossible to arrange a tow. Got there right on close time (Friday Beer O'Clock) but they had a look, patched things up for now and we can take it in on Monday.

We were glad the day was over when we arrived at the van park. Really nice park. Great amenities. Ordered pizza cos we could not be half-arsed to cook. Jordy and Darcy made friends with some other boys that were about 8 and 10 and they threw glow-sticks, kicked a ball, and ran around in the dark playing hide and seek until late. No idea where their parents were. The eldest boy said they were "just cruisin" which i guess means hanging out. But they came into the van to watch tv for a bit and i was hoping their parents had some idea where they were! ???

Day 202- Victor Harbor

2009-09-17T22:22:00.001+10:00

Another rainy, cold, and windy day.

We decided to hide inside for most of the day, which was actually quite relaxing. Rode our bikes down town and the boys had a big play at a great playground for an hour but that was about the highlight of the day.

Not a single photo to be had!

Day 201- Victor Harbor

2009-09-16T21:55:00.001+10:00

Cold and blustery rainy day today. Rugged up in some warm clothes and headed off into town. First stop to buy more cold and flu medicine! LOL! Then we had lunch at a cafe in town. Had a quick look through the Whale Centre where the kids had a ball in the "bone house" and doing some fishy jigsaw puzzles and looking at sea creatures through the microscope. Then it was time to go see the penguins.
We took the horse drawn tram across the causeway for the 1.3km trip to Granite Island. There are eight horses in total that work a three hour shift for four days of the week. In their time off they gallop around 100acres of farmland just in from the coast or enjoy a morning swim in the ocean. Must be nice for them! :)
The Penguin Centre on the island is like a little rehabilitation and research centre. The volunteer staff were super nice and really generous with their time and stories and we watched them being fed and heard all about how each of the penguins came to be at the centre. Then we saw some "baby" penguins. They were 9 weeks old and were almost as big as a full-grown penguin they just still had a heap of that fluffy fur around their necks instead of proper penguin-skin. Aparently they are born the same size as a chicken chick but between 3weeks and 9weeks they just shoot up in size until they are ready to fend for themselves at 10weeks, so these fellas were about ready to be kicked out of home. They were wild pengiuns and not part of the centre but their mum and dad chose to nest in one of the nesting boxes attached to the centre so we got to peek at them!
Had a bit of a fight to get the boys out of the penguin centre. Jordy wanted to read the books and Darcy wanted to draw. Fair enough too, i guess, but we wanted to have a quick look around and there was only one more horse tram back to the mainland that evening and we did not want to miss it!
Darcy adopted a randon grandmother on the tram on the way back and held her hand and sat next to her and pointed at all the birds and rocks.

Day 200- Victor Harbor

2009-09-15T10:14:00.003+10:00

Victor Harbor is lovely. The scenery is beautiful, the town is lovely, the people are super friendly. If we were still looking for a place to settle i reckon it would be hard to look too far past here.... except for the cold!! Holy shit! Have i mentioned how cold it is?!?!?!

Went into town to try and get Jordy a haircut. He is once again being mistaken for a girl! LOL! And his hair is a shambles. I actually hacked three big handfuls off the other day- he fought and screamed the whole time so it was seriously a grab and cut effort but it got out the worst of the dreads that were forming and the locks that he kept compaining about being in his eyes.... we've been trying to talk up the whole haircut experience for him cos he used to love them. But not anymore. And we could not get him into the salon chair today so have had to abandon the idea once again.

And Darcy has a serious mullet! But i want to keep a lock from his first haircut the same as i did for Jordy so will wait til i get to town for that.

There is lots to see and do in the area and because we are here for a big relax and have lots of time we just scoped the place out today. Drove to Basham's Beach were the whales are. They are soooooo close! Was amazing. I only had my little point-and-shoot camera so could not get any decent photos but we intend to go back again so i will get some later. They rolled in the water and jumped and rode the waves.

The kids are loving the grass. You don't realise how nice grass is until you live without it for so long.

Day 199- Kapunda to Victor Harbor

2009-09-14T10:00:00.000+10:00

Today felt lazy too. Just drove a few miles from Kapunda to Angaston for a look around. Soooo many little wineries out here and so many familiar names- Penfold and Seppelts and a dozen other favourites. I think it would be a wonderful place to come back to and stay in a B&B and hire a car and just cruise the wineries and cafes for a week (note to self- win lotto soon.)

Instead of wineries we called into a yummo cafe (Blond Coffee) for a super good brunch, a wander through the town, a mini cheese tasting, a browse through an old book shop, a play in the playground, and then a mouthwatering look through the Angas Park fruit company shop.

Between us all we bought some yummo looking dried fruit, choc covered cashews, choc nut clusters, tropical sugared fruit bits, yoghurt covered sultanas... yummmmmm!!

Then we cruised through the Barossa and meandered our way down to the Fleurieu Peninsula past fat dairy cows, woolly sheep, and adorable alpacas. Windy here too! And the wind seriously is coming straight off Antarctica! To go all of a sudden from mid-thirties during the day and mid-twenties at night to the cold cold cold of down south is really hard to take.

the price of fuel

2009-09-13T10:28:00.000+10:00

Diesel prices have dropped 25c a litre in the space of a day! We were paying around 1.47 to 1.55 a litre and now every station has a constant 1.23. Nice!

Over the course of our travels the most we ever paid was 1.75 at Kulgera which was right on the NT-SA border.

Tim wants to know what the price is at home... Dave???

Day 198- Port Germein to Kapunda

2009-09-13T09:22:00.002+10:00

Had a stroll along the jetty at Port Germein this morning. The longest wooden jetty in Australia! It was really long.

Then time for a lovely leisurely drive through the Clare Valley. The landscape finally changed from dry saltbush to green valleys!! yay!!! We all loved the experience of the territory and the desert has an appeal in its own way, but to be back to green hills and valleys is such a relief!

I know Mum took some photos as we were driving through vine covered hills and fields of bright yellow canola (or something pretty!) but the only shot i got was this dodgy-arse one that does nothing for the beauty of the area. Sorry! I wondered a few times if the farmers would mind if i sent the kids into the flower covered hills to run and frolic so i could take a photo... but i decided they might have issues so we just kept driving.
The towns are gorgeous. Old stone buildings and tree lined streets. Everything seems built with stone here. Almost every field has an old crumbling barn or cottage from generations ago sitting on a hill. Lovely to look at.

We debated doing some wine tasting but to be honest we don't need more wine!! And i still have a cold and am totally not in the mood to taste wine so we did not bother.

Arrived nice and early at Kapunda which is on the edge of the boundary between the Clare and the Barossa Valleys. They had a medieval festival and a bit of a market on in town so made a quick camp and then wandered off for a look. It's really cold and windy and just bloody chilling here! If you can manage to get out of the wind it's ok, but jeepers! the wind just aches to the bone. This poor medieval guy had a hell of a time keeping his flag pole under control and i was worried he'd blow away! There was apparently an archery display on later in the afternoon but we did not stay for it. I can't imagine how anyone could shoot any kind of target with the wind howling the way it is.
There was a rather excellant playground on the walk home and the kids stopped for a big play before we came back to the van and did blog updates and hid from the wind. Tim finally managed to catch a footy game that evening!

Day 197- Lake Hart to Port Germein

2009-09-12T21:18:00.002+10:00

Called in to Woomera this morning to see the rocket and aeroplane display. The boys thought they were all pretty exciting. We spent a good hour wandering around all the displays. It probably would have been quicker if we were not fighting to stand upright against the wind that was blowing. No idea why anyone would built a rocket launching base some place where the wind would blow any rocket 5mile sideways before it managed to get anywhere near outer space... anyway....

Oh, we called into the tourist information centre and they had a ten pin bowling alley in there. My god! Did Jordy put up a fight. The bowling alley is just like the game on Lala's phone and he wanted in there for a game and was not taking no for an answer. Have to plan a day bowling when we get back to Port!

We had thought we'd stop at Port Augusta but we made good time and, to be honest, there was nothing really in Port Augusta. Amazing how dry it is. It's on the coast but it is totally desert sand dry. We drove over a little bridge and the river was amazingly salty with a huge froth all over the road that looked just like snow.

Down the coast a little further and we picked Port Germein. Quite a cute little village with Australia's longest wooden jetty. The van park was right across the road from the water. It was still crazy-windy but i imagine when it wasn't windy it would be quite lovely.

Made camp and then went to the local pub for lunch. Ordered a schooner and got a middy. Apparently in SA pints are schooners, schooners are middies... no idea what you get if you ordered a middy, a little seven perhaps?

Day 196- Marla to Lake Hart

2009-09-12T20:47:00.002+10:00

Another massive day today, about 570km or something. HUGE! The road is as boring as bat$hit. Seriously. We thought the road from the QLD border to Tennant Creek was boring. We were wrong. That was a barrel of laughs compared to this. Miles and miles and miles and miles of nothing but red dirt and saltbush scrub.

So it was with a great deal of excitment that we greeted the big piles of coloured dirt outside of Coober Pedy from the opal mines. For 30 odd km out of town there are all these huge piles of dirt from all the holes they have dug looking for opals (and finding them from all reports! Lots of opal out there!).

We called in for lunch and to have a look around. WINDY! My gosh. The kids were a little freaked by it and Darcy kept whimpering and burying his head into me to avoid the dust that was whipping around in the air. I can't imagine living there. The sky was all grey and the sun obscured from the amount of dust in the air. There are even mines being dug right in the middle of town- this is the street just straight off the main road.
And imagine playing footy on this field-
Had a great lunch at an underground cafe and then had a look around the displays on the history of the town and how they mine the opal. Went to an underground church which was pretty cool (literally- it was heaps cooler in there than it was outside).
Then it was back in the truck to see how far we could push through. We were planning to just grab a camp by the side of the road and there were a few listed in the Camps4 that we were aiming for and as Jordy kept sleeping we kept driving. He had a massive sleep! YAY! And we ended up a good 100km past where we thought we'd get to.

We assumed Lake Hart was an actual lake and it looked quite nice from the lookout that was our stop for the night. Turns out it is a big salt pan. No water at all! Just shimmering white salt.

Day 195- Uluru to Marla

2009-09-10T18:05:00.000+10:00

BIG drive. Did about 525km which is just totally freakin amazing for the kids. Jordy still sick so he is not travelling well but we really just wanted to push through as far as we could. Stopped at a roadhouse van park for the night. Nothing at all interesting today except we left the NT and are now in SA.
Strangely enough the north of South Australia looks remarkably like the south of north Australia! LOL! Dry desert country with nothing at all for miles and miles. The road out here is soooooo incredibly boring.

Day 194- Uluru (and Kata Tjuta)

2009-09-09T21:26:00.002+10:00

\Lots to do out here! We wanted to see Kata Tjutu (The Olgas) and had heard that the full Valley of the Winds walk was pretty impressive so off earlyish before the worst of the heat kicked in.

We knew it would be a big walk with the kids and were not sure how far we would get but there were a few options so we just stuck them on our backs and headed off. We had done a few walks carrying the boys but this would be the biggest and the most difficult- lots of loose rock and a few steep climbs.
The walk to the first 'lookout' area was not all that special. Bit of a view but not at all earth-shattering. So we slogged on to the next point. It was not too hard really, just tiring! The rock here looks totally different to the surface of the rock at Uluru even though i think it is all part of the same subsurface rock (i might be wrong!) The second lookout gave a great view over the rock formations but was not as impressive as the base walk at Uluru and, according to Tim and Dad, nothing at all compared to the climb (and in my opinion the Rim Walk at Kings Canyon is heaps more interesting too!).
We stopped for lunch at the second lookout and from there we decided that Dad and Tim would take the boys back the way we came and Mum and i would continue on the rest of the circuit. The rest of it was a lot more impressive and really gave a better feel of the rocks and their valleys but it would have been a hard climb down with the kids and a very hot walk for them so i am glad i did not have to carry Darcy for it!

Back to the car around 12:30 so we had time to call into the Cultural Centre on the way back. You should probably do the centre as the intro to the park but the timing did not work for us so it was good to have a look around and see the storyboards.

Dad was booked on a helicopter flight with Jordy so they left to head back to the resort and Tim and i and Darcy went for a drive around the base of Uluru seeing as we ran out of time and energy to cycle around it. I did another walk on the 'back' side of the rock and saw the rock art and the waterhole (two different aspects from what we saw yesterday).

Then back to camp while we waited for Dad and Jordy to get back. When we saw him we asked "Where have you been!?" and he was all excited to tell us he was in a helicopter. We asked what he saw and he said "Nothing, we just went up and flew around and around in circles and landed in the same place." LOL! Apparently "we couldn't see any animals there." not sure why he was looking for animals, and the pilot did not have a proper steering wheel like in an aeroplane, he just had a stick!

Dad said he was really funny on the flight. Dad would try to show him the view out the window and Jordy was more interested in listening to the pilots chat in his earmuffs. But he loved it so that's all that matters.

Felt like a really big day and we were all buggered. The kids freaked out about having to have a shower and it was another super cold night (5'C!!). Jordy and i are coming down with a cold!

Uluru was a great experience. There is so much to see around the area that i really think you need two complete full days at least (more would be better). We had a day and a half so we crammed in what we could and i think we did really well. I would have liked more time to leisurely stroll around the full base walk or at least cycle it. And i think the canyon floor walk might have been nice at Kata Tjuta. And there are LOTS of guided tours of Uluru that i think would have offered a nice perspective on the cultural and history of the rock and its people.... one day. Next time i think i'll fly there! It's a friggin long way to drive.

Day 193- Watarrka (Kings Canyon) to Uluru

2009-09-08T21:48:00.004+10:00

Up super early this morning for me. I wanted to do the Rim Walk but we also had a long drive ahead of us to get to Uluru. The walk was listed as taking 3hours so it was going to be a sunrise walk! I was speaking to the people camped next to us and they said they did the walk from 8 til 11 and there were still some parts of the canyon wall that were dark so they wondered if it would be any good for sunrise... but the Kings Tour bus did a tour from 5:30 so i thought there had to be something to see.

It was COLD and dark when i left at just after 6am, and i actually dawdled a bit getting out there cos i thought i would be far too early. But Kings had it right! It was absolutely glorious first thing. The climb up the hill to start was a hard slog but the rest of the walk (7.5km in total) was a nice climb with only some steep parts. And as the sun rose you could watch as the light slowly lit up the side of the canyon wall. I took a gazillion photos but they really don't do it justice. The colour was incredible and the shape of the rocks was totally unique. There were areas of sandstone domes that had weathered away to form lots of ball shapes all in a grid together, and ripple marks all over the floor at the top where it used to be a massive inland sea, and sections that looked like a huge ampitheatre with steps all in a semi-circle that looked just like seating. And then down in a gully there was a waterhole all surrounded by ancient cycad palms.
I was really disappointed that Tim and Mum and Dad missed it because i think that without doing the Rim Walk there is not all that much to Kings Canyon. The Riverbed walk is not really worth the massive drive out there to get to it but seeing the canyon from the top, and seeing it at sunrise, was absolutely magic.

I made good time (and certainly did not feel like i was rushing) and i finished the walk in 2+half hours so i was back at camp nice and early to get things packed up and get us on the way.

We called into Kings Creek Station on the way out cos Tim was keen to try a camel burger after a bloke we met on the road raved about them.... but they were sold out!! Bastards! So we looked at the camels (which Darcy kept insisting were 'dogs') and wandered for a bit and then back in the car for the rest of the three+half hour drive to Uluru.
Kids travelled like champions and we arrived about 1:30. Set up our camp and off to The Rock. We could see it for quite some distance out so we were keen to get a good look to see if it was "just a rock" or if it did look like something special. We were not disappointed. It really is incredble to see. The surface looks like all one big smooth piece of rock, but not SMOOTH smooth! It's all patina'ed but it's all one piece of sandstone and it looks almost like a shell. Then there are lots of pock marks and holes and caved in bits and actual caves and overhangs and gullies. So not the least bit disappointing to see!

I had decided not to climb it (all the tourist info asks that we not climb it to respect the wishes of the Traditional Owners because it is a sacred place) but Tim, Dad, and Mum all wanted to cos it really is a once in a lifetime sort of thing. So we loaded the kids in the bike caboose so i could ride around the base while they climbed. Tim is in the yellow shirt, Dad is in the white shirt standing sideways having a chat (when is he not having a chat!?!?).
But it was fun to watch the head up the rail so we waited for a bit. And then two minutes into the climb Mum stopped! She'd had enough! It felt like it was straight up and she was not sure she would make it, and coming down looked scary so she did not even make it to the chain railing.

So, instead, Mum and i and the boys watched Tim and Dad disappear over the top of the rock and then we went for a bit of a walk around part of the base. Lots to see and walking around even a small section made you realise how huge Uluru is.
We did not go all the way around as we wanted to be back to watch them climb down again. While we waited Darcy decided to have a play in the dirt (as Darcy does!)

Took them just shy of 2hours and it was apparently terrific. This is our first peak of them coming back over the crest.
Tim said it was a totally alien experience. The top of the rock was all undulatating and pocked and was like a martian-red landscape with the occasional scragely tree growing out of a crevice. The view was awesome. He could see Mt Connor which is something like 100km away. Uluru felt HUGE but everything else around him seemed to stretch on forever.

He can't describe why it felt so amazing but even apart from the fact that it was a tough climb and so really rewarding to get to the top, it was also amazing because Uluru is such an icon of Australia and seems almost like a rite of passage.

I can totally see the dilemna with people that want to climb Uluru (cos i actually really did want to climb too!) because i know that we really respect the site and respect that it holds such power for the Anangu people and we don't want to compromise that or disrespect their wishes or seem to take for granted the fact that we are allowed access.... but by the same token it is part of our land and our country too. And we heard the stories of their ancestors and hear their law and we know there is soooo much more to Uluru than the climb and did not come JUST to climb but i think that choosing whether or not to climb is such a personal thing. I am glad that i saw the base and saw the sacred women's site along the walk and saw the rock art and the waterhole etc i am also glad that Tim and Dad got to see the top. ???

They were both pretty buggered after their efforts but it was really close to sunset. So we headed back to the viewing area and joined the hundreds of others lined along the fence to watch the rock change colour as the sunlight faded. Another great experience!

Not surprisingly the kids both fell asleep on the way back to the campground so we had a bit of a messy bedtime trying to sponge them down (they were FILTHY!) and get them back to sleep before a lazy dinner and we both crashed ourselves.

Plans for a sunrise viewing were cancelled due to lack of energy!

Day 192- Finke River to Watarrka (Kings Canyon)

2009-09-07T22:05:00.002+10:00

We had a few miles to cover today. I think we did about 350km in four and a half hours. We were initially going to stay at Kings Creek Station which is 40km from the actual canyon. We had heard that it had a nice atmosphere and was cheaper than the resort and that is also did a mean camel burger! But as we were approaching the turn Tim commented that it was still a distance to the actual canyon and if I intended to do a sunrise walk in the morning it would add a lot of km and time to the morning… so a last minute decision had us continuing past and heading to Kings Canyon Resort. Glad we did cos it turns out the two places are both the exact same price and the resort, while not all that resort-like, has lots of grass and nice amenities and a good playground for the kids.

Made camp, went for a play in the playground, checked out the local store and servo (diesel $1.62 @ L which is actually 3c less than we paid at Erldunda) before heading off to the canyon for a look.

The rock is a vibrant red colour and is quite impressive to see, but the riverbed walk was not as great as Tim had hoped. I did not mind so much as I know I will get a different view of it in the morning when I do the Rim Walk but from below you don’t get to see all that much. You can see the amazing straight cuts of the rock but you don’t walk through the canyon so much. Well, I guess you do cos you follow the river, but you don’t feel like you are surrounded by rock. (You can see in between the two rocks the little bridge that is part of the Rim Walk).
We had left Mum and Dad on Saturday in Alice Springs and we knew we would catch up tomorrow at Uluru but we ran in to them today on the walk. Jordy spotted their car in the car park initially and then half way along the path he tracked them down. They had to come back and do the walk again as Darcy would not come back to be carried by me when Grandpa (his favourite) was around to carry him instead.
This is the walk straight up the hill that starts the Canyon Rim walk for me for in the morning...
An easy dinner and an early night. Bit cold here!! So all the blankets are out. And we were told not to leave shoes outside cos the dingos take them. The bloke across the street must have thought the people were joking when they told him not to leave his shoes outside and he had a pair of Nikes taken- apparently he was not happy!

Day 191- Glen Helen to Finke River

2009-09-06T21:33:00.005+10:00

Left Glen Helen Resort and headed back through the West McDonald Ranges with our first stop Ormiston Gorge. We’d seen a few waterholes yesterday and the kids were fresh and full of beans so we headed up the hill and did the Ghost Gum walk to the lookout over the gorge and waterhole instead. Really nice little climb that gave a great perspective of the range and that the kids enjoyed.
We took some snacks and sat up on the lookout for a quick morning tea before climbing back down and then heading back towards Alice. The rivers and floods are different here to up north. The water table here is really close to the surface and the rivers flow strongly underground. So the rivers flow after rain because the water is close to the surface more so than because the river itself fills up.
Our last stop was at the Ochre Pits . Apparently there are lots of areas throughout the ranges where ochre was traditionally gathered, and the ochre here is not considered high quality, but it was really interesting to see how it is in vertical layers all just standing up along the riverbed. And the yellows are so bright! The kids were both asleep though and so did not get to see it. I think they both would have liked rubbing their fingers in the dusty ochre.
Then back to Alice for a quick lunch. Jordy had seen the playground at Macadonalds (which is how he says it) so we had to stop there so he could have a play. Which, of course, meant he was too busy to eat anything!

Then in the car again for our trip south. We has no chance of making it the whole way to Kings Canyon so we chose a nice sounding free camp on the Finke River (riverbed!). A nice easy set up and plenty of time to wander around the dry riverbed and check the place out. Jordy ran around the little sand dunes and then posed for a photo that he told me was for Nanny and Poppa. :)

We were the first campers there and it looked like it might be a lonely camp but then one, and another, and another campervan arrived until the area was nice and full with about eight or so of us there for the night.

We had a great fire and chattered to a few other travellers and enjoyed the peace and quiet and an early evening.

Day 190- Alice Springs to Glen Helen Gorge (West McDonald Ranges)

2009-09-05T21:28:00.001+10:00

We did not leave Alice Springs until just after 11am this morning after doing some grocery shopping so we were lots later on the road than we had planned for our trip out through the West McDonald Ranges. We had planned to camp at Glen Helen and then from there head around the Mereenie Loop to Kings Canyon. I had read lots of conflicting info about the road conditions from rough 4x4 only to unsealed but suitable for conventional cars so we had hoped we could get through that way. But, no. Tim and I were already on our way when Dad phoned the campground and asked.

It may have been easier to leave the van behind and do the West McDonalds in a day trip but with the kids it would have been a BIG late day so we decided to camp at Glen Helen anyway and then head back through town on our way south.

First stop was Simpsons Gap. Beautiful scenery and a nice easy walk along the dry riverbed down to the gap in the range to the waterhole. No idea how often, if ever, the river flows or how often the waterhole dries up. Lovely breeze here too which was something we all missed out at Litchfield!

We did not go to Standley Chasm. Firstly because of the cost, but also because it was hot and the kids were not in the mood for the 1.5km walk to the chasm. So we kept going to Ellery Creek Big Hole. Had a late lunch and then went for the stroll to the creek. Nice swimming spot! But cold!!!! The kids threw rocks into the water. Darcy tried running in for a swim but I managed to catch him.

We decided to head straight to the Glen Helen campground and do some of the other sights on the way back out tomorrow.

Glen Helen was not all that impressive at first sight, but inside the rough-looking building is quite a nice little bar and a rather flash looking restaurant! Nice atmosphere. The back of the resort looks over the massive sheer wall of the range which is quite amazing. A quick setup and then off for a walk around. We headed straight down the riverbed walk to the gorge and swimming hole. There were some brave souls in for a swim who guaranteed us that is was absolutely beautiful once you were in. And it probably was, once you were totally numb! The water hole links on to another waterhole behind the cliff walls and that waterhole gets full sun so is lovely and warm… except that you have to swim though the first one to get to it! So no swimming for us this time.

Of an evening the gorge wall looks amazing. It towers above us and covers half of the stars in the southern cross and it glows a little from the reflected light from the back of the bar area. We have a full moon though which is drowning everything out or we would have had an incredible sky full of stars.

days 187 to 189- Litchfield to Alice Springs

2009-09-04T21:16:00.005+10:00

Finally!! we are away! yay!!!

The boys and i caught The Ghan from Katherine to Alice, and Tim drove the van down. Booking online i was able to get Ghan tickets for under $300 all up (only had to pay for two of us) which was well and truely worth it so we could get to the centre fast cos with the kids it wold have taken a minimum of five, more likely six, days full on driving but we could do it in two days this way.

The Ghan was pretty decent. I think if you did not have two toddlers to chase it would be much nicer! And if you had no great need for sleep it would be perfect! LOL! I thought the seats fully reclined for us to sleep on- but not so much. We got on board around 5:30pm and arrived just after 9am the next day so it's mostly overnight. The boys played with their new matchbox cars and planes, and were happy to look out the window and chat to other passengers so both really enjoyed the trip. I would have liked more than two hours sleep.

Alice Springs is really nice! We had heard that it was a bit crappy, but i have no idea what they were comparing it to. The people are lovely and friendly, the town looks nice, lots to see and do, the locals that gather in the parks and on the hills are all family groups and are happy playing and chatty... nothing at all like the undercurrent of aggression and anger we encountered at Tennant Creek and other places.

Anyway, the boys and i checked into the Big 4 and then were picked up by our hop on/hop off tour bus. Had an enjoyable tour of the town, a look at Anzac Hill where we could see The Ghan still at the station. Darcy fell asleep on the bus!
Then it was Jordy's choice for what he wanted to do. He chose the Flying Doctor Museum (big surprise) where they spent forever on the flight simulator console pretending to fly and pushing a heap of buttons. Then they had a go at the peddle radio. Had some lunch, went back to the flight simulator and then jumped back on the bus.

Next stop was the Old Ghan Train Museum. Another selection from Jordy. Out the front was a playground and a toy area with all-things-trains and i did not think we would get past that into the actual musuem. Eventually we did! And the boys ran squealing through the old Ghan carriages and looked at all sorts of train-related bits that they found fascinating. Is it really a boy thing? I can't figure where it comes from.
Then back to the van park. It was only mid-afternoon but we were all buggered after a busy morning on not much sleep. Tim surprised us by being there already. He had a good run and had driven late the night before. We spent the afternoon just playing in the park playground (really great playground here!).

It got super cold overnight. We were not prepared for it and had to drag on lots of blankets from around the cabin. First really cold night we have had for absolutely months... maybe even the coldest since last winter. I am not really sure, but i know our bodies have forgotten how to deal with it.

This morning Jordy was sitting at the table waiting for breakfast and i was trying to get him to put a jumper on. He said he did not need one and was not cold. A minute later, in a really sad voice, he told me he could not stop his chin from wobbling! I convinced him to put on a jumper!

Today we did another lap on the hop on /hop off bus. Checked out the Araluen Cultural Precinct with the art gallery, museum, and Strewloh Research Centre. Kids had a ball in the musuem. They were rather noisy in their appreciation of the displays and we were asked to keep it down... oops! Then we had a look around the Todd Mall (lots of galleries and souvenier shops and cafes), then back to the van park playground and jumping pillow.

Mum and Dad caught us up today. We'll head off to the West McDonald ranges tomorrow and they will check out more of the town and we'll all meet up again at Uluru in a few days time.

week 27

2009-08-26T20:55:00.004+10:00

Warning! Nardia, probably best if you don’t read this entry!

Almost all packed up. After four months in one spot we are all spread out and in a mess! Had a bit of a thank you - farewell - birthday dinner for Tim on Saturday night, which was a lovely gesture of the boss. We tried long-neck turtle! A bit…. Hhmmm… chewy! LOL! Plus I was told to grab a leg and peel the skin off which is a little offputting when you can see the long claws of the thing and the skin is quite tricky to peel away. Anyway, they were part of the farewell gesture from the mob here and I was actually really keen to taste it but it was not quite what I expected for some reason.

We did not get to see them cook it the first time but then on Monday afternoon they cooked up the last of them. It had been a stinking hot day (38’C) and around 4pm a bit of a breeze picked up and cooled things down a bit (maybe 34’C!) so we figured it was cool enough for a fire! ROFL! Bloody crazy. Anyway, Zac got some dried pandanas seeds that make great heat-beads and also add a nice smoked flavour. Then he lay the turtle belly down on the pandanus seeds until it started to cook just a little and then turned it over and cooked it more until the legs poked right out. Then he took it off the fire and tried to slit the throat to reach in to pull the intestines out in one piece because they are apparently really tasty! ?? Anyway, did not work out so well! And he had to try again from the bum end. Not pretty! After that it went back on the coals until it was all roasted. Then he split the shell to expose the belly and meat inside.

I had intended to try some more of it but Jordy had a minor accident with a bit of a split lip so I was back in the van when it was all scoffed down. Tim said he tried the intestine, the meat and the green bile bit that is supposed to be delicious but it still tasted like bleugh! The smell is something I could not describe either. Most meat I think smells quite appetizing while it is cooking… but turtle really smells odd.

We were chatting about how the old women find the long- neck turtles cos we had heard out at Kakadu on the ranger talk about how they walk through the mud and look for little bubbles and they reach into the mud up to their elbows and drag out a turtle… pretty impressive we thought. So we asked about how Zac and Sam went when the old aunties took them out to get them. Must be modern bush tucker cos apparently, if you know where to go and at what time, the turtles just walk right out on the road and you drive past and pick them up! LOL! They drive up and down this section of road at whatever time of day and by the time they reach the end of the road and turn around another turtle will be there… up and back, up and back, until they have enough!

Not much else to talk about except the weather. Bleugh. The build up has begun and it’s hot and muggy and the nights are sticky and the afternoon and early morning sky is pull of storm clouds that do nothing except make you think it might just rain to cool things off but instead they just hang around and do nothing. Talking to customers today though and they were out at Labelle Station (about 15km or so away) and this afternoon it bucketed down out there. The people were southerners and they said they had never seen rain like it. I want to see it!!!! But if it does not rain really soon we will miss out (for this year at least).

Not long to go!!! Jordy is really enjoying his countdoan calendar and has started to ask where abouts on the calendar was Lala’s visit and things like that so we had to get a bigger calendar to show him more dates . So that was fun too. He is getting really excited about our train trip and he also can’t wait to head off on “the big road” to see new stuff and to see the really big rock (Uluru).

I can’t wait to have a real shower with fresh clean water! I can’t wait to have grass instead of sand. I can’t wait to get out and see something different. I can’t wait to have phone and internet reception again. I can’t wait to escape the constant background HUM of the generator.

I will really REALLY miss the food! All you can eat cheesecake and apple pie and jam drops and barramundi and kangaroo and T-bones and delicious wombok salad and super salad with the works sandwiches and beers and chips and milkshakes and iced coffees…..

I won’t miss the snakes or the cane toads but I will miss the wallabies and Darcy will miss all the lizards and bugs.

I am totally annoyed that I never got a chance to get any of the local geocaches! Pathetic! I know. But the couple of ones that I tried with the kids were just too hard while lugging them along with me and I never got back on my own. One more reason to make sure I head back this way again.

Week 26- Channel Point

2009-08-26T16:23:00.005+10:00

We have been wanting to get out to the coast here for ages (pretty mush since we got here) but for various reasons we have not had the chance. Well, we finally decided we had to just GO! And we all totally regret not going sooner!

We did not technically go to Channel Point, but that’s the easiest way to find it on any map. Because we have gotten to know a lot of the locals and, in particular, the local aboriginal community, we were lucky enough to be able to head out to the community on the coast out here. So we loaded the boat on the truck, packed a heap of food, and off we went.

It’s just a dirt road out there with not much in the way of signs and as we got closer to the coast and reached an intersection Tim called Mal up on the CB and asked what way we were supposed to go…. “Just turn at the land council sign for Bolgol Community was all they said…” was Mal‘s reply. I think Dad thought Tim had directions and Tim thought Dad had directions! Apparently the instructions Tim got was turn left at the black water tank and right at the coconut grove but we were at a fork in the road and there were no water tanks and there certainly were no coconut trees… .So we picked a road and off we went. 10km later we hit a locked gate so we turned around and came back. Then we chose the other road! LOL!

Road #2 was bumpy! And we put the truck through her paces with some 4WDing, sand bogs, ditches, and tight turns. Then all of a sudden we ended up at the coast. We still had no idea where the mob were that we were headed out to see and had to call in and ask for directions at the first camp we came to. A bit further along found a green water tank and a heap of banana trees…. Near enough! so we stopped for a chat and to find out where we were supposed to be. The view from the huts along the water was just amazing. It would be a totally different life but to just live out there on the edge of the bay would be incredible.

Eventually we found our coconut trees and we parked the cars in the shade, unloaded the boat, set up some chairs and off we went to explore.

We did not realise at the time but the tide was fairly well in when we first got there and would probably have been the best time to swim if we were going to take our chances. The aunties said the crocs come in with the tide but apart from then it was usually safe to swim. LOL! I think if we went again we would know where and when to go for a swim but this time we thought it better safe than sorry.

Tim, Dad, and Jordy headed out in the boat to see what they could catch. We did not have high hopes seeing as it was the Spring Tide, is that an official thing?? Or just what the locals call it? No idea, but it is the extreme high and low at the moment and the fish have gone someplace nicer. But that’s about our luck with fishing anyway. Suffice it to say- they caught nothing! The water was only a metre or so deep all the way around the bay half way across to the reef near Perrin Island! It was funny cos as the day progressed and the tide went out further and further and further we decided that you could probably walk to Perrin Island… then we found out later talking to one of the locals that yes, you’d get wet but you could walk across with the low low tides. Incredible to see cos Perrin Island is about 20km away off the coast. Hard to imagine until you see it. The height difference between high and low tide if 7m! Wow! 7m! Can you imagine that in Port???? The whole of the river would be dry. You could drive to the North Shore. You’d have to pack a cut lunch to get out to the surf at Lighthouse!

Anyway, while they were out in the boat Mum, Darcy and I decided to go for a walk along the beach. We only made it a few hundred metres. The rock pools were far too interesting. Darcy was totally enthralled by the shells and little pools and fish. He spent the whole time bum-in-air looking and digging in the sand and water. The seashells were amazing- lots of beautiful whole shells that you don’t see around the coast anywhere else anymore. When we first arrived Jordy found a couple of fantastic big purple/black cone shells and I thought they would be lovely to keep… until we discovered that the little creature inside was still very much alive! I’ve never seen a shell like it. They were all over the place making their trails back towards the water…. I kept looking but I never did manage to find an empty one.
The tide was well out when the empty-handed fishermen returned and after a bit more of a wander we headed to camp for lunch and a drink. And we watched the water disappear into the distance and leave the boat stranded high and dry. I had wanted to go for a putt around and see the coast a bit but it got to the point where even beached out where the water was when they got back it was less than half the distance to carry the boat back to the truck then it would be to carry the boat back to the water.

The kids played in the sand with their sandcastle tools, we wandered out to take a photo of the boat! Jordy became a mud-monster and chased me around throwing mud (charming). Dad went for a wander and found us a coconut. Yum! The kids cracked open a big clam shell mussel thing. Yuk! Then Jordy kicked a ball around and we had another walk around the rocks.

The local women were out bringing in their crabs traps… not sure if they got anything. I ran into one of the blokes we know from the café as he was checking a line that was set up in a tree and he told us they get some nice mud crabs around the place. He pointed out the old black fellas fish trap where they catch some good sized fish when the season is right (they use the big ring of rocks to trap the fish in when the tide goes out).

While we hung around for a chat Jordy went for a swim in one of the rock pools. I had a hard time getting him out! Then it was time to pack up and head home. The kids were asleep within minutes!

On the way home we drove past a goanna up on its hind legs just checking out its surrounds. Was cool to see. Tim stopped so I could run back to try to get a photo but he sat down and trudged off into the bush as I got closer so you can’t see the incredible yellow stripes on his back that we saw from behind… but this is him from a distance! LOL!

We also saw a wedge-tail eagle with its young baby eagle. The baby was not small at all! But had a very different sounding call. Neither of us had ever seen two wedge-tails together before and I am not sure when they start to get territorial with their young??? So that was rather special to see.

It was a great day out. I think Mum and Dad intend to return and camp out there when they are back in the NT next year if they come this way… and Tim is keen to get back when the fishing is good! Apparently the women have bought in 25 barra a day when the season is right just from standing on the rocks out there! Maybe they could pass Tim a line and let him reel it in J

week 25- the countdown begins!

2009-08-21T20:32:00.000+10:00

Just counting down the days until we leave now! We made a countdown calendar for Jordy to cross the days off. I booked our tickets on the Ghan and have started looking at things to do and places to go once we head south.

I don’t think I have taken a single photo this week. Sorry. The kids both have colds (thanks to some yucky east coast bug spread around up here by Nardia I reckon!) so any photos would just involve lots of snotty noses. Been lucky with no winter colds though, a benefit of not really having winter I suppose.

It’s really warming up again up here with some steamy days that the locals are all complaining about saying it’s going to be an early “build-up” this year (what they call the month before the wet season where all the days are muggy and stinking hot) so looks like we will be leaving just in time.

week 24- nothing to see here!

2009-08-21T20:24:00.000+10:00

Well, I don’t think anything interesting happened at all this week- holiday wise, anyway. I found a house to buy! But apart from that we had some busy days at the café and did not much else.

week 23- a visitor!

2009-08-14T20:30:00.000+10:00

Nardia flew in from Sydney this week for a visit so the boys were both really excited. I took them in to Darwin when Mum and Dad went in to pick her up from the airport as a surprise. I would have liked for Jordy to be able to go to the airport and watch her come in but it was a midnight flight and so not worth the tears and overtiredness that would have resulted.

We showed her the sights around the main part of town and then went out to the Leanyer water park, which is a water play park with slides and all sorts of great areas for the kids. It’s pretty incredible really, even more so because it is totally free to play! Jordy was slow to warm up to the idea. I think the massive bucket of water that tips all over everything might have scared him initially cos he was rather wary of the smaller cones and buckets that sprayed and sprinkled and emptied about the place. But after about an hour of the baby slide and squirting people with the big water canons he must have gotten over it cos then he wanted to go on all the slides again and again and again and again!

Darcy, ever the daredevil, was right in there and happy to run all around the place.

There were three big slides for the grown ups. I had a go on the slowest one first, and then I had a go on the speedier narrow tube… .and then Nardia and I decided to go together on the red one that you ride tandem in a big tube. We were at the top and the attendant asked if we’d been on it before- we said no- she mentioned that it was dark inside. Fair enough. But no, seriously! It was dark inside. Totally black! We could not see a thing and we are belting down the slide flying from side to side and up the edge and around the corners and we had no idea what was coming up next. It was hilarious fun.

Then back out to Litchfield Café. Nardia spent the next few days playing with the kids for the mornings and then each afternoon we headed out to Wangi or Walkers or somewhere else around the place. We finally got down to Blythe Homestead, an old cottage from the early mining days, to have a look around. It was interesting to read the old stories in the family album they had there and look around at the old cattle yards etc.

We have been talking about having a BBQ dinner down at Wangi falls one day but had never gotten around to it. Well we finally did! We all headed out after work and took a big feed and some beers and sat around and enjoyed the afternoon…. Until the bloody sprinklers came on! Right on dinner time as we are finishing our meal and the massive big pop-up jet sprinklers pointed right over the table and BBQ area start up. So we had to run around like crazy people packing up the food and towels and bits while the kids thought it was great fun to spin the nozzles around and wet all the gear. Hhmmmm.

We took the day off again to take Nardia back to Darwin. Mum and Dad had been out to the wharf at Darwin before for a meal but I hadn’t. Lovely view and a great way to spend an afternoon. But for some bizarre reason with all the great local seafood available just about every single restaurant there sold imported barramundi! What’s with that?

We decided to head a little early to the airport so that Jordy could watch the aeroplanes. We ended up going through security and heading upstairs to watch them take off, which Darcy enjoyed as well.

Bit sad all round the next morning when both the boys woke up and wanted to head into Lala’s tent. But not long now until we head off from here and see a bit more of the country before heading to see her in Sydney and then back to see the rest of the family at home.

Week 22- Wallabies and Waterholes

2009-07-30T19:04:00.000+10:00

Tim headed back to the east coast for a few days this week. Nothing much special happened for the boys and I! LOL! Although I did manage to catch up with some fellow travelers whose blog I have been following since they left home around Christmas time. They stayed out at the café for the night and it was great to catch up after following their journey. I was hoping to be able to sit down for a beer and really have a good chat about what they have seen but timing was against us and Tim missed out on meeting them altogether which was a shame.

You’d think that with the number of wallabies we see every day I would have had a gazillion good photos of them…. But, no. They are hard to catch! Especially the cute little wallabies that have their breakfast right out behind our van I really want to get a photo of. Anyway, I managed these the other day before he jumped off. For some reason Darcy can walk towards them squealing and signing ‘kangaroo’ and shouting Roo Roo at the top of his lungs and they just watch him but I come out with the camera and they are off!

Things have heated up again so we have been trying to get out for a swim when we can. I’d like to head back to Buley Rockpools one day but with the crowds of tourists I don’t think it would be worth it unless we could get out there REALLY early. But Wangi is big enough that everyone can spread out a bit and if we leave it until 4pm it’s not too bad. Jordy wants to climb the rock face, where the waterfall is, up to the little spa hole up there and he keeps trying to scale the slippery sides. I am not so keen! Actually, if he was not watching I would give it a go for sure but I am not too fussed on the idea of having to watch him up there.

But Walkers Creek is still my favourite. For some reason it is off the tourist trail (being a whole 15km extra past Wangi) so it just does not get the crowds, and no buses go out there which is even better. Most of the time when we go we get the whole place to ourselves. I guess it helps that there are several separate swimming holes along the walking trail and virtually noone that comes to have a look will stop at the first one (too many more to see!) so the boys can splash and chase fish and Jordy can touch bottom in the top section so it’s a lovely peaceful swim. We are all in wind-up mode here and looking forward to moving on- less than four weeks to go! We’ll still be seeing The Alice and Uluru etc but looks like it’s back home again once we hit the road east from SA. I have loved traveling (the travel side more than the stopping and working side! LOL!) and would have liked the boys to have seen more and been a little older before we stopped. But it does not have to be stopped forever and I am hoping that I can plan shorter trips away with Mum and Dad over the next couple of years so that I get to see more of SA and VIC… WA might need to wait until I can afford a longer jaunt. And I know Tim is keen to head back this way again.

But as sad as I am to have to cut our journey short I will admit that I am looking forward to catching up with family and friends back home again.

week 21- off the tourist trail

2009-07-23T18:53:00.001+10:00

We have been lucky enough to have a few opportunities to get out to some of the local properties around the area. We still have not had the time to get out to Channel Point, although we will have to before we leave. Dad has been out to one of the massive cattle stations a few times but Tim finally took the afternoon off and we all headed out.
The boys loved the cows! But I enjoyed seeing crocs really in the wild. Even though Kakadu is ‘in the wild’ it still feels touristy (and we suspect that if they were even unlucky enough to get low on crocs they would be out there with chickens in the river to bring them back for the cruise boats!) But out here the crocs are real crocs. They are really timid and shy and will disappear quick as they see you, so it was extra special to be able to see a couple on the banks rather than just their noses floating silently across the river.

The billabong was crazy alive with ducks! Thousands of them. And a few big flocks of geese (here they are taking off- sorry, Dad) and an incredible range of birdlife, even a brolga made an appearance.
We drove around wildlife spotting through the 7 foot high grass and almost drove straight into boggy mud flats a couple of times - “You should be right through here, Mal…” thanks, Damo (our local guide)!! Don’t mind the swamp up ahead…. LOL!
Here are the blokes having a close look.... while at the same time yelling to the kids to keep back from the edge. LOL!

week 20- Berry Springs

2009-07-16T18:45:00.000+10:00

We went into Berry Springs a few weeks back for a few days off. Most of that time was spent on sorting other things out and not so much holiday-mode sort of things but we did get a chance to have a look around. I am actually surprised by how nice Berry Springs is seeing as most people by-pass it. I think if people knew how beautiful it was it would be a heck of a lot busier!! In saying that, the nature park was quite packed.

The springs and the creek are incredibly beautiful. Nicer than those at Katherine or Mataranka and I thought both of those spots were lovely so Berry Springs gets an even bigger thumbs up. You could spend half the day at the Nature Park just enjoying the picnic grounds and floating down the creek or playing under the little waterfalls etc.
We also had a quick look at the Wildlife Park. I signed up as a local (cos I have my Territory license) so I can go back for free when Nardia is here. We actually only got less than half way around the park when the boys wanted food and it was getting close to time we were back at Litchfield so we called it a day. But there is still heaps we did not get to see. But we caught the Birds of Prey demo which was great. Jordy wants to go back to see the dingos. Oh, and they were both excited to see the frill neck lizards being fed bugs for lunch.

We had dinner at the local pub which was really flash! Big timber tables and an indoor waterfall pool to eat by. Rather swanky for out in the middle of nowhere! The van park we stayed at even had a waterslide!!! I think it may have been built back in the 70’s! LOL! But it was free and it was a barrel of laughs. I can’t remember when I was last on a waterslide. There was this bump in the middle that launched you off the slide and it went really fast. Tim took Jordy on it and it freaked him out despite Tim trying to go slow. I wanted to have a go next and Jordy was terrified for me and screamed every time I took a step towards the slide. So I decided not to go and just play in the park instead. But after a bit, while Tim had him distracted, I climbed the stairs for a go. He saw me at the top and came running and yelling up the path and up the stairs to hold my hand. I think he must have gotten his courage up cos he decided to have another go with me. Did not work. He still hated it.

We lucked out though and an older couple with a dog arrived and the boys played in the playground and patted the dog and Tim and I both got a chance for a few goes on the slide on our own. We did not take Darcy on it (far too fast) but I can guarantee that the little dare devil would have loved it if we had of taken him.

We came the back dirt road home. There is this massive field of magnetic termite mounds that extends for miles. The main tourist site on the other side of the park has this lovely board walk around it that keeps you well back away from the actual mounds which is all cool but you can’t really see what the mounds look like. But on the back road you can just drive right up to the mounds and walk amongst them. Was interesting to see.

Some little things...

2009-07-12T18:37:00.000+10:00

Ok. I’ve been slack with both the blogs. Lost a bit of motivation with not much traveling going on and everything else being work or stuff not worth blogging about… sorry!!! So here is a catch up… I’ll back date the posts to when they were relevant just to make it easier….

Weather all up and down here. Had a few cold days and the boys (not remembering a real winter) thought that the 10’C first thing in the morning in the van was cold enough to need jumpers and blankets.

Our morning entertainment is usually wallaby spotting out the windows. Darcy is mad about them and just loves to watch them for AGES.

And here are the boys ‘helping’ in the shed. On more than one occasion Dad has supposed to have been watching the boys while I did something and while Jordy is following his grandpa around Darcy has instead decided to wander off and get into all sorts of trouble. I have found him in the shed playing with the chainsaw, I have found him carrying around a bloody big mallet, and, worst of all, I have found him on the third and forth rung of the ladder with a knife in one hand and a screw driver in the other?!?!?! Not even 16months old yet! He will send me grey, I swear.

week 18

2009-07-01T16:06:00.004+10:00

When we first arrived here we all noticed this white bag looking thing hanging from the tree above our camp and over several nights sitting, beer in hand, under the tree we discussed what it might be. It looked just like a plastic bag hanging up there that maybe got caught around a branch in the wind. A bit of a puzzle… then we all moved on and forgot about it.

Earlier this week I was out the front with Jordy and Mum was pushing him in the swing. She heard a plop, then another plop… then another… and we noticed a whole bunch of those hairy stinging caterpillars on the ground around the place. Hang on… are they falling out of the tree?!?! Plop, plop, plop. Are they falling out of that bag thing?!?! Oh, crap! And then there were dozens of them all over the place.

We hurried Jordy inside and I called out for Dad. We could not rake them up fast enough and more kept falling and we did not want one to land on us. So Dad got his shotgun and shot the bag down from the tree. There were hundreds of hairy caterpillars!

We made a pile and burnt them all (fallen bag and all). We are not sure if Dad touched the wispy webs that were hanging from the tree or if he touched a caterpillar but he got something on him and was covered in a red spotty rash that he said burnt like a bitch! He was jumping and scratching like crazy and had to have a shower and cover himself with stop itch and antihistamine.

We were congratulating ourselves on seeing them start to fall and I hate to think what would have happened if we had not noticed cos they would have invaded the camp in next to no time with no chance of being raked up and there is no way the kids would have avoided being stung by them. But we should not have counted our chickens….

The next day I was pushing Darcy on the swing and then he sat in the chair under the tree while he waited for Jordy to have a turn…. Then I notice him start to scratch… and then he started whining…. And then he started to cry. I could actually see the red welty spots appear and get bigger and bigger on his legs and back and neck…

So into the shower, a dose of antihistamine, cover him in stop itch and lots of boob ….and after half an hour of crying he finally calmed down. Apparently the Bag-Shelter Caterpillar is one of the top 20 most venomous caterpillars (and I bet you did not know there was such a thing as the top 20 venomous caterpillars!) and some people have severe allergic reactions to them. I wish I could say that that was definitely what is was after that because Darcy was sick with a fever and vomiting and headache and just really miserable for two days. But that first night I also gave him his first taste of crab and so we have no idea if it may have been a reaction to that. But he is still not himself.

Tim took Jordy fishing the other day to a little billabong in behind us here. And, can you believe it, he did not take the camera with him and Jordy caught his first real fish (apart from tiny bait fish). Apparently the fish was fighting so hard that Tim had to help him reel it in. If you ask Jordy he will tell you he caught a Barramundi but it was really a Black Bream. You will all be surprised when I tell you that Tim caught nothing.

I took the boys back to the billabong this morning in the hopes of an actual reenactment! But, even though there was one big fishy splash as one darted for the lure, and another big bite, we caught nothing. But it’s a nice little water hole- the absolute epitome of a billabong all surrounded by pandanus palms and paperbarks. You can guarantee there is a freshie in there!

Dad had a great day off hunting and traipsing around the bush over on a neighbouring cattle property with some of the station hands. They spotted a heap of crocs and birds but did not have a huge amount of luck with the fishing. They caught a few small barra but nothing worth keeping so the blokes were looking at nothing for dinner until Dad shot a magpie goose for them to cook up on the fire. They should have just headed back to camp cos a bunch of the other station hands went to the other billabong (clearly the place to be) and pulled out about 30 barra.

Winter is apparently over. We had ten cold nights (7 really quite cool) but now it is back to low 20s overnight and we need the air con half the time. The locals reckon winter usually lasts a month...??

But Jordy has totally acclimitised. We were sitting watching tv and it was rather warm so i had the air con on low and he asked for a blanket..?? :)

week 17 at Kakadu

2009-06-27T16:56:00.006+10:00

more photos!!
We had a great time at Kakadu!!
We had wanted to go to a Jumping Croc cruise on the way out (the Hunter Safari one) but we got away from town so late that we did not have time. We arrived at Jabiru with just enough time to unpack and get a BBQ dinner on before the mozzies came out and the sun set.

We stayed at Lakeview which is owned by the local indigenous community instead of some multi-million dollar overseas consortium. I had been talking to a couple at Litchfield Café the week before and they had stayed there. They mentioned that the accommodation was in nice permanent safari style tents so I was not expecting anything anywhere near as flash as what they were. Tents, sure, but made out of a fine metal mesh with timber floors and high ceilings with a fan and fridge and sink. Really nice. I had wanted to take a nice photo but we trashed the place with our piles of pillows and blankets and bags and books and cooler bags within ten seconds.

Only downside of the rooms was that the metal mesh is totally not soundproof and the kids are noise machines and Darcy is in a horrible squealing phase so I imagine we gave the neighbours the shits. The kids had napped too long during the day and were crazy full of beans until far too late. So I did not get a chance to make any phone calls like I had wanted to and no time to get online. I just figured I’d call people the next night…

We were awake ridiculously early the next day. We had debated doing a 9am cruise but were not sure if we would be able to be ready in time. No problem. We were out of there super early and on the road. But we did not book the cruise and instead just turned up. Don’t do that! LOL! No room on the boat so we headed out to Ubirr instead. I had wanted to do sunset at Ubirr but because we were so late to the park we missed it. We already know we will need to come back to Kakadu so that is one thing that we will plan around next time. Sunset from the top of the rocks would be just magical!

The whole area at Ubirr was great. The rock art is just incredible to see. The community and history and culture that the aboriginals had is just staggering and so beautiful. If you were not already saddened by what was stolen from them in the past than seeing the artwork here I think would be a huge awakening. There is one section that we call the Menu Wall and it is a big area of rock that is painted with all the different food sources in the area. The animals are coloured according to fat deposits on their body, the cheeky mullet is painted with his neck broken or head removed as a way to remind the next generation that that particular fish needs to be killed as soon as he is caught (as opposed to leaving the fish until leaves to stay fresh for a couple of days) because the cheeky mullet is cheeky! And will wait until noone is around and then flip-flop back to the water. We were lucky enough to catch one of the free ranger talks and learnt a lot. We will certainly plan our next trip around the talk times at a few different places because it really adds a whole other dimension to the history and animal life in the area and the changes in the landscape with changing ocean levels and floods etc.

Jordy was rapt and listened to the ranger and wandered all over the rocks and at the end she spoke to Jordy about the crocodiles (one of Jordy’s favourite subjects) and so he chattered away. And then she bought out a big crocodile skull that was part of the information for her next talk at another section of art. Darcy was not so interested and just kept trying to run and throw himself off the ledge of rock perhaps hoping he could fly or maybe keen to see how big a thud he would make at the bottom….
After that we wandered past several other smaller art sites and climbed to the top of the rock escarpment. It was a bit of a climb and Jordy always insists on doing it himself (he enjoys the bushwalks that we do). Half way up he had a decent fall backwards into a crevice. A few tears and a hug and I asked him if he wanted me to carry him… he sniffed, took a breath, and say “No, I want to walk.“ and off he went back up the hill. Tough little nugget.
I would love to see this area just after the wet season. The whole area floods and becomes a massive billabong and wetland. I’d like to see it half and half when there is more water than what we saw but not quite fully flooded (too fussy?!?!) but it was beautiful. The green grass just stretching out for miles. It would be nice at sunrise too with the birdlife around.

Back down the road to the Border Store for some morning tea and to get tickets for the 11am cruise. The ranger that we had spoken to mentioned that some indigenous artists from Injalak would be at Merl Campground at 10:30 showing people how they make paint with ochre and doing some paintings. Merl was just near the boat ramp… so we decided to take our snack to Merl and see if we could catch a bit of the painting…. I am really glad we did because now we know what is there we can plan our next trip around that too! LOL! After the artists demonstrate how they paint and make brushes the tourists can have a go at making a brush and doing their own painting which Jordy would have loved (and to be honest I would have enjoyed it too!)

A quick throw everyone in the car and off to the boat ramp. We had chosen to do the Guluyambi Cruise, another company owned by the local community, which offered more than performing crocodiles. I am so glad we did because we wanted the boys to see a croc up close but were not keen on them being lured to perform for food. When the cruise first started our guide mentioned how the crocs were all mostly sleeping during the middle of the day and so I thought, bummer, we won’t get to see any… wrong!! Apparently come sunset you don’t want to be anywhere near the banks and I can see why if most of the crocs were off sleeping cos we certainly saw our fair share. The Guluyambi cruise went for just under 2hours and I lost count of the number of crocs we saw. We were also shown areas where it was (and is) safer for the local aboriginals to live by the river where the crocs can’t climb the rocks but where there was a good ledge and overhang for shelter and where yams and other bushfood grows. We saw more rock art and were told a few stories about Namarrgon, who brings the lightening.

We got out at a section in Arnhem Land (we did not need separate permit because the company is owned by the indigenous community and so the cruise price covers the permit) that is near a spring that their stories say was created by the women’s digging stick. There was a great view up the length of the East Alligator river from the rock ledge. We also saw how the tropical monsoon rainforest that used to cover the banks has all been destroyed by the two cyclones that went though the area over recent years.
It was a really good cruise that I would highly reccommend. I was surprised by how much the boys enjoyed it seeing as it went for so long but they both liked just floating down the river and both loved the crocs. Actually, Darcy has now learnt the sign for crocodile and goes looking for pictures of crocs to show me almost as much as he looks for kangaroos. :)

From there we drove the 70 odd kms down to the Nourlangie Rock. Actually, we call it Nourlangie but that was a mistake that earlier white people made and it should be called Anbangbang… By this stage both the boys were asleep and we were really low on water.
I stuck Darcy in the egro (sound asleep) and Jordy in the pram (also sound asleep) and we headed off to see how pram-friendly the path was. Not too bad really for the lower section but there was no chance of climbing up to the lookout (another stop for next time!). But we wandered around a few of the art sites which were different to those at Ubirr. There was one section that had a drawing of a family group and they painted the breast-feeding women with flecks on their breasts indicating the milk which i thought was rather cool. I called this photo Namarrgon but then i reaslised it's not... It's the other dude but i can't remember his name!
There is a lot more in the area to see including some impressive rock painting at Nawurlandja that we did not have time for (a much bigger walk to Nawurlandja that the kids were far too tired to attempt) but we would like to hear the ranger talks here too so another one to plan around next time.
Back in the car all dying for a cold drink and off to Cooinda Lodge. I had wanted two nights at Lakeview but we booked so late that we could only get one night, so I ended up having to book the second night at Cooinda. Which actually worked out well as there are a good variety of things to do both north and south of the park and different areas that are worth seeing for sunrise/sunset that would be too far to travel too from just one place so next time we will stay two nights north and two nights south. But Cooinda was a heck of a lot more expensive than Lakeview. And I even got a local’s discount at Cooinda so without that the price would have been crazy. The room was nice, and they had a bistro, and pool (and cold water in the fridge!) but still, the full price would have been a bit over the top.

There was a 90min ranger guided walk along Yellow River (right near the Cooinda Lodge) that we had intended to do but once we sat down we decided a beer sounded nicer than another walk so we went for a swim and then a relax at the bistro.

Too late for the walk and too early for sunset but we headed down to Yellow River anyway. It’s a beautiful piece of river and if you’re into fishing it would be a fantastic place to throw a line in. The grass is all floating on about half a metre of water and there are lots of birds… and apparently the sun sets right over the water and is something to see.
Instead we saw a crocodile hiding amongst the plants and inching closer, closer, closer to a tasty looking bird on the water’s edge. A small crowd gathered to watch and we all waited waited waited for him to get close enough to launch his attack but the bird was too smart and flew off before the croc was close enough. Here he is creeping creeping... and fly away bird!

That evening the rangers did a slide show outside in the bistro that we caught most of over dinner before the kids decided it was bed time. A big day for two little boys. There was no phone reception out at Cooinda so I missed my only chance at Jabiru to make any calls. We had internet access though so I got a chance to update the blog and catch up on emails.

We called into the Warradjan Cultural Centre on the way out the next morning- they have a great display on bush foods, and the moiety kin system and seasons and stories. That was really interesting and well worth a stop although perhaps best done when Darcy was not so full of energy and into everything and ready to destroy the place! Then a big four and a half hour drive back home via Pine Creek.

Having done our speedy glimpse at Kakadu we have a better idea about how to plan our next trip in. I think you could easily spend a week in the park. And the national parks camp areas look great too if you have a caravan. We found a great full day tour that we will do next time and a few other things. I am tempted to do a sunrise cruise along the Yellow River too but it’s rather pricey so I’ll have to wait and see.

oh, and if you need fuel coming in or out... we did not fill up at Cooinda Lodge cos it was a little pricey, but it was even more expensive at the roadhouse on the way south and not much different at Pine Creek- so there you go!

Week 17 around Litchfield Café

2009-06-23T18:47:00.005+10:00

Had a couple of fun afternoons at the café. I’ve gone up around 3pm each afternoon (after the lunch rush) and the kids and I have hung around and chatted to people. We had a lovely couple from Melbourne staying in the tents for a couple of nights and they were great to talk to (I think Mum and Dad even had dinner with them one night!) and then a young family from Lismore (who cloth nappy and AP no less! Wow!) so Jordy and Darcy played with their son and I had a lovely natter and a few other really friendly groups through that were up for a chat.

There were a few evenings where were still up at the café talking until far too late and there was a big rush to feed the kids and shower before the sun set (it gets cold out there in our outdoor shower once the sun is gone!).

Just a km down the road from Litchfield Café there is a Winter Solstice celebration party weekend festival sort of thing on at the moment. Heaps of DJs from Darwin and Adelaide and around the place are there. It officially started on Saturday but on Friday night they must have had something going on cos we could hear the doof doof music from the café (and from our caravan!) We are so used to the peace and quiet of an evening that I have to say I kind of resented the noise even though it was no louder than you’d hear in town if the people down the street had a party (and much much quieter than the teenager next door at Port ever was!)
We were all given free tickets so Mum and I took the boys for a look on Saturday afternoon. A heap of people camping out there but not entirely what I expected. Seemed like a bunch of backpackers trying too hard to be hippies and just smoking and drinking and missing the whole point of the beauty of the area. But they seemed to be having a fun time so it was all good. We just had a bit of a look around and then sat and listened to the music and watched the boys dance and chase around the place for an hour and then came home. Apparently some of the kids from the local Woolaning community danced at sundown and that would have been nice to see but we did not head back for it. The music did not stop all night! But they had a groovy didgeridoo or synthesized didgeridoo track playing from sunrise for about an hour and that was nice to wake up to. It reminded me of the guy and his band that play the Mindil Markets with a great combo of hip hop sort of music and the didgeridoo and clapping sticks etc. It may even have been him??

Getting cooler here of a night! Down to 6’C outside and 13’C in the van. We have all the blankets out! But the days are just glorious. We've been for a few nice early morning walks just close by camp for no reason other than to wander and it's been lovely. The kids love LOVE the wallabies and kangaroos around the place. Darcy in particular!

Week 16

2009-06-23T18:36:00.003+10:00

I’ve been doing a lot of bird watching this week. There are just so many birds out here and they are such a challenge to photograph that I have become a bit addicted. There are a few billabong and wetlands areas around but I have not bothered to go that far afield. And these are all taken right around Litchfield Café. Actually, they are mostly all taken within about 5metres of our caravan! The Honeyeater ones I walked a whole 30-40metres from the van and sat out in the yard out the back.

The boys even come and sit with me while I try to catch them mid-flight. But Darcy wants to touch them and so keeps walking up to where they perch and scares them away. Or he stands up and yells and signs bird, bird, BIRD! Which the birds don’t seem to enjoy and they bugger off and perch in the bush and just watch until we go away. But I won’t give up until I get a good in-focus wing shot of them! I took the boys for a drive to Florence Falls earlier in the week. Actually, we had been expecting a friend to call in to the Café for a couple of days because we knew should would be in Litchfield but when the week rolled on and we had not seen her we figured things must have gotten busy and she did not have time to call out…. So for the first time all week I took the kids out and about to go for a walk and as Murphy could have predicted about half an hour after we drove out Helen turned up. Tim showed her around the place hoping we’d get back in time but half an hour after she left I got back home with the kids. Bugger!

But Florence Falls was nice- an easy stroll down to the swimming hole and back up again. Lots of rock wallabies out. I carried Darcy in the sling so I did not take the camera but I’ll have to go back cos the wallabies (who are normally quite shy) must be more used to people and we saw them hiding amongst the rocks in a few spots. There was a tiny one (smaller than a possum) that was sitting along a small track off the main walkway and even Jordy was able to get about a metre away from him and he just sat and watched us and moved about through the little rock hole he had. Both the boys thought that was pretty amazing and Jordy moved really slowly and spoke in a whisper the whole time we were watching him.

We did not go for a swim (there are easier spots in the park to take little kids!) but the water was really nice and the falls looked beautiful. We have to get back to Wangi! But have not had a chance this week. Oh, we did go there last weekend. There was a tree planting thing on and you could go down and plant a tree in the park grounds and we thought that would be really cool. We know the people from Greening Australia that were organizing it and it was supposed to go from 1pm to 5pm so we thought we’d have time after work. We turned up a little after 4pm and they had run out of trees!! How rude. Jordy was a bit disappointed but the bloke gave him a soccer ball. LOL! And I think that made it all better.

week 15

2009-06-11T19:35:00.005+10:00

I have done a non-travel related update on the original blog with what the kids are up to... And here’s a few photos of the boys from this week (and one from our camp from Darwin last week).

Us feeding the pigs at the community college down the road (we keep all the food scraps from the café for them so they eat REALLY well!). Darcy wants to touch them so badly but then freaks out when they snort or squeal at him. Jordy just thinks they are like pet dogs.

Jordy working on the new toilet block and doing some building work. Darcy helping (not) with the sprinklers.

Wangi Falls swimming hole opened this week and so we took the kids for an early morning swim. The water was beautiful, a little coolish but still really nice. The water is crystal clear and the swimming hole has a great sand bank in the middle where it’s shallow enough for Jordy to walk. I’ll get some better photos soon cos I can’t wait to get a chance to take them back later in the day when it’s a bit warmer.

Oh, last night!! I think winter arrived. The weather has been odd here (like it sounds like it has been everywhere else in the country at the moment) but it will look like it might be cooling down only to then get really hot and muggy almost Wet Season weather again. But it went from needing the air con on overnight the night before to being super cold last night. We were all snuggled under our blankets and I wished someone would get up and shut the door but it was too bloody cold and I was not getting out of bed. We put jumpers on when we got up but by 9am I think it was close to 30’ again. I know it’s mid thirties out there again now. I was thinking just last week that I wish the nights would cool down but I take it all back now. I don’t miss winter at all.

week 14

2009-06-04T12:09:00.003+10:00

i think it is week 14?? i'll check later.

Jordy and Darcy had a great afternoon at the cafe the other day. We had about 30 Chinese people in for a late lunch. I think it was a big extended family with kids, teenagers, young couples, older couples.... a whole big bunch of people. And they went crazy with the boys :)

Tim and Lisa were flat out in the kitchen (everyone else had the day off and was in Darwin) so i was trying to clear tables for them and the boys were just walking around following me and playing with some lego and all of a sudden Darcy is being carried around and goo'ed over and all the kids have swarmed Jordy and are running and playing. In the end the boys were passed around, photographed, hugged by everyone, fed ice-creams!! and just generally made a fuss of. Jordy actually cried when they left (god love him). It was so funny to watch. But it was handy cos i got heaps of work done.

The snakes are still out and about. Tim and Jordy encountered one in the toilet the other day. Neither had shoes on cos they were just going over there first thing in the morning. I think it gave him a bit of a fright to be confronted with a hissing rearing snake while he had his hands full keeping Jordy up off the ground. He couldn't even chase it anywhere without kicking-boots and had nothing to kill it with. So now even early morning pee stops need shoes.

The boys both love helping me do the gardening. Darcy is now totally obsessed with sprinklers and heads for them at every opportunity and trys to drag them around. He ends up soaking wet every time. Luckily we dry off super fast in the heat.

Here is Julian (and Dad) burning off. This is the local fire tanker.

Here is Darcy chewing on his 1st Birthday card from Nanny and Poppy that came in our mail bundle.

This is an older one that i forgot to include in a blog post - doing some drawings

seeing the sights in Litchfield

2009-06-03T12:40:00.001+10:00

Had a quick walk through the termite mounds the other day. Bloody huge tall things they are.

And i foolishly decided to head to Wangi with the boys to find a geocache that is there. I just thought it would be a quick early morning walk as i expected it to be in the main touristy area and so nice and easy. So i just stuck Darcy in the pram and Jordy was just wearing his crocs instead of his sneakers.

We got down to the main water hole and the GPS said the cache was about 300m away. So we wandered down to the next viewing platform... GPS still said about 300m away.... so i figured we'd just wander up the track a bit and have a look... anyway, long story short here is Jordy having a rest in the tree house half way up the mountain.

And the view from the top of the waterfall. Yep, we actually walked the whole way around the side of the swimming hole and up, up, up, up to the top of the range where the falls start. And of course you could not take a pram up the steep track so i carried Darcy the whole way and Jordy, the champion, climbed like a billy goat loving every minute.

For the record we did not get to the cache. But now that i know where it is i will go better prepared (and alone) next time! Although Jordy has asked to go back to the treehouse... so maybe i will just leave Darcy at home.

a photo update

2009-05-31T17:52:00.000+10:00

more to come tomorrow if i can get online...

2009-05-29T09:58:00.001+10:00

I drove into Batchelor this morning to get the mail and was planning to catch up with things online but it was not as easy as I had hoped!
When I checked the mail box I thought, YAY! Just a small envelope of letters from Ray and Joy, they must really be sorting through the crap… then I saw the parcel notification card and went inside and was handed a massive bag of mail… urgh! Lucky the kids fell asleep on the way in and I could sit in the truck for an hour and sort though the massive bundle into smaller piles of urgent, sort-out-at-home, and no-clue-what-this-is-about!

Then we went to the library where I hoped I could pay some bills online and catch up on emails. No luck. The kids were great but there is only so much you can get done with two boys running and laughing around a previously quiet library and only so long you can ignore an ever growing pile of books on the floor in front of you before you really have to give up on getting anything done and start paying attention to your kids!

So while I took photos in to upload I did not get a chance and I had no hope of updating the blog. But there is a lot of other stuff that Tim and I need to sort out online and getting into town is not proving easy so we are going to ask the boss here if we can use his office and his computer to sort some stuff out tonight… if you are ready this then he said yes. LOL.

What’s been happening this last week….

Had a few funny wildlife encounters.

There are a lot of wallabies around the whole area and our camp is no exception. Before we parked our vans here the clearing up and track down to the creek must have been a popular spot because they hang around right outside the van (which the kids love). Actually, there is a mummy wallaby with a big joey in her pouch that hangs around out the back all the time and I have been trying to get a good photo of her but with not much luck. Darcy keeps trying to make friends and runs at her shouting “dog” and as you would expect mummy-wallaby never seems to hang around for a pat.

But most nights we hear them jumping through the walkway between the two vans and often hear the twang as they trip over our awning ropes (sorry, fellas) so we have gotten used to that noise. A couple of nights ago I was awake with Darcy and heard some movement in behind the vans. I listened for a while and it was not a wallaby. It sounded more like a person walking but you’d have to be crazy to be walking along there at night in the dark with no torch and even if you were crazy there is no reason to be walking there (keep in mind we are in the middle of not much and our camp is at the back of the middle of not much!) so you’d have to be crazy and lost…. But I watched for a bit trying to work out what the noise was. I saw something disappear up behind the donga (and I am still not convinced that it wasn’t a person!) but ten minutes later there was a knocking/hammering/banging type sound from the other end of our camp closer to the café. So I woke Tim up just in case there were people dicking around up at the café. He assured me that Julian often gets up at odd times when he can’t sleep and he might be up there working?!? WTF??!? I was not convinced and I stood looking out the window for a bit wondering if I should go and have a look but Darcy was unsettled and I did not want him to wake while I was gone (cos he’d fall out of bed). Then out the window in the light from our shower block I could see dirt flying in the air. ?? So I woke Tim again. He was convinced that it was Julian cos if it were a thief what would they be doing digging around our vans. He had a point but what the hell would Julian be doing digging a hole in the middle of the dark. Anyway, I went back to bed and figured I’d have a look in the morning.

Next morning I did notice a big dug-up patch of sandy dirt just near where I put the spinklers to water the plants that we are growing so maybe it was Julian after all. I forgot all about it until later that evening Tim said it wasn’t Julian and he reckons maybe it was a buffulo or wild pig. Hhmmmm…. ?? Does a pig sound like a person when they walk through the bush?? It will remain a mystery I suppose.

Less of a mystery… Tim putting his boots on this morning and his foot getting stuck and not going in the whole way. He tried again and still stuck… something in his boot perhaps? He tipped it up and out fell a dazed cane toad. I think it was already half dead from the pounding from Tim’s foot but he finished it off with a pounding from his boot. He then explained to Jordy that you should ALWAYS check in your shoes before putting them on.

A couple of days ago I ended up with my first snake kill. We’ve seen at least one or two a week since we have been here but this was the first that I spotted. I was working the buffet and the area around there is well traveled so not where I would have expected a snake especially seeing as Mum and I were walking back and forth in the outdoor kitchen area all morning. But mum walked past and I was following her and right there under the plate cupboard (that is up off the ground on stainless steel legs) was a snake tail disappearing into the garden. I told Mum to stop walking and called out to Zac, who was working nearby, to see if he had a shovel. No shovel but he grabbed a mop while I watched it head towards the mesh fence. I thought we had lost it but Zac managed to reach over the fence and trap it under the mop. Nothing in the area to properly kill it with so I grabbed a golf club (one of the many can toad killing devices around the place) and had to club it to death. Zac had a good hold on it so I could properly look to see what it was; black diamonds on it’s neck and a brown stripe across it’s eyes- a western brown, the one we really don’t want to see. But there is now one less.

Apart from our animal adventures I am not sure much else is going on, but I am really enjoying the experiences that living here (and traveling in general) is giving the kids. I love that Jordy can now identify the calls of several different birds, and can recognise the difference between a whistling kite and a wedge tail eagle in flight. Even by spotlight he knows the difference between a cane toad, a green tree frog, and a brown frog and he knows which is good and which is bad. He loves spotting animal tracks and when we ride the bike past a wallaby track we have to stop so he can get out and look more closely at it. I love (in a bizarre way) that when we go into a town and use a toilet in a building (like at the library) he looks for frogs, spiders, lizards and moths and he gets disappointed when there are no ‘friends’ in the toilet cubicle. I love that Darcy is free to play in the dirt all the time, that he is learning to swim in the creek chasing fish rather than in a chlorine swimming pool, that he is addicted to sprinklers, and is able to water the garden surprisingly well!

Ran out of time! But it works (though it is really slow!!!!) so hopefully I will be able to update again soon.

working, working...

2009-05-20T12:32:00.002+10:00

Well, I had a whole blog entry and I just deleted it. So now I have the shits and I am trying to remember what I wrote about…

It’s been a busy week with Tim working between 10 and 12 hours a day. He’s been in the kitchen mostly and they do some great desserts here and, amongst other stuff, Tim has been learning to cook those this week All the food is really yummy but the desserts they make are REALLY good! Especially the mango cheesecake. Yum yum yum yum yum! :) There is not a chance of us loosing any weight while we are working at the café. :)

In between working and eating we’ve still had time to do a few bits and pieces. Last night Tim went with Dad and Zack out to a billabong just a few km away from here. Dad and Zack had caught quite a few red claw there the other day so they went back to put some more traps in. Zack threw a line in while Dad and Tim were putting the traps in and he caught a black bream so I imagine Tim will spend an afternoon or two back there in the future. While they were heading through the bush to the billabong they also spotted a wild black pig. Tim is not here to remind me how the story goes but apparently Tim was out front and he had a knife… and there was much creeping and hiding behind trees involved but for now the pig is still very much alive and we had steak and vegies for dinner. I am sure the blokes are convinced the pig’s days are numbered.

This morning Jordy, Darcy, Jasmine and I followed Zack down to the little creek that runs behind the café to put some more yabbie traps in there for red claw. It’s only a small creek and although it flows strongly it’s all bushy and overgrown and there is no way in hell I would swim in it… even though the chances of a croc right here are slim a bloke was attacked a few weeks ago in a nearby river so…. Anyway, there is a little waterhole here and we got a few small red claw about 12-15cm long so they are going to put them in a fish tank and let them get a bit bigger. No idea if it even works that way but they are happy fisherpeople playing with it anyway.

Jordy is excited at the moment about his plants that are growing up big real fast. J Dad planted some vegie seeds a few days ago and overnight the wombok seedlings were already up. So each morning we have to go see how big they are getting. I think it’s great cos Jordy really loved our garden at home.

We have not had a chance to get to any of the other Litchfield NP attractions. Although I’ve driven past them I still have not called into the Magnetic Termite Mounds, and we have not seen the other main waterfalls, or Blythe Homestead or anything else. In between the couple of hours work I do each day and general kid-raising stuff I just have not had the time. It will only get busier here at the café though so I’ll have to make time soon.

One highlight of this week was meeting a family that we camped near way back at Calliope; Michael, Michelle, and their five girls. They have been traveling and working around Australia for three years. They are staying north of Litchfield and called into the café for breakfast to start their tour of the NP. Because it was early in the day I had the kids with me while I was working in the garden and as soon as Jordy saw all the kids he was off wanting to play. It took a while of chatting before we made the connection that we had met them before (the kids had played together at Calliope but the adults never properly met) but after that we spoke for about another hour.

Funnily enough we also ran into them again that afternoon when we went out to the creek for a swim. We had mentioned to them that it was a great safe place for children to swim and they had headed there on their way home. So the kids all got to swim and play together again and they had a ball and Tim had a chance to have a proper conversation with them too.

We were joined later by a group of people from overseas (Germanic accents but no idea more than that) and after they had a swim one of the women grabbed her guitar and sat on the little bridge and played and sang a few songs. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

I’m not sure when Tim and I will get a few days off…. I had to bring a fridge in to Darwin and am taking another one back for work so Mum came with me and we bought the kids in for a change of scene so it’s just a quick trip in. Although I will HAVE to find time to get my legs waxed…. Should I post a before pic? There a lots of ants here and they get stuck in my leg hair. Maybe guys just deal with that but I am not enjoying it.

It’s been really hot and muggy here the last couple of days, not sure exactly but past 35‘ for sure. Almost back to wet-season weather. No idea if it is building to rain or not but I think it has bought the bugs out with it. They are everywhere once it gets dark. Luckily by then the kids and I are rarely out of the van. Apart from the ants and bugs! we have also caught (killed) a few snakes around camp. We keep an eye out for them all the time with the kids cos a bite from a Western Brown could possibly kill a child so we are very aware of them and the kids wear gumboots if they are walking anywhere that is not right beside us.

The first 9 weeks…

2009-05-13T12:44:00.000+10:00

Here is a bit of a summary of our first 9weeks on the road… I figure this might help others that are planning to do the same thing get an idea of how much it really costs to travel. We are doing this with a budget! But we have a balance of not sacrificing important things but also not wasting money. So we are doing the activities that are important to us but not splurging. We don’t eat out of a night and we have generally packed sandwiches for lunches except on those days when eating somewhere nice was part of the local experience for us. Because of the ages of our kids we have generally not had to pay for accommodation or entry fees for them so families with older children will need to all a bit extra.

We have traveled x kms over 63days at an approximately total cost of $6250.

Fuel- $2,100
Accommodation- $1,225 (An easy mix of van parks, cheap camps, and free camps)
Shopping- $1,415 (groceries, regular daily purchases)
Snacks- $400 (things like coke, eating out for lunch, cake & coffee etc)
Laundry- $120 (I also used our own little washing machine as a supplement, but keep in mind we are using cloth nappies so a regular family without nappies would wash a heck of a lot less)
Alcohol- $295 (mostly cartons of beer rather than pub prices)
Activities- $440 (entry fees, helicopter flight etc)
Other- $180 (clothes, rechargeable torch etc)
Gas- $75 (for the weber and running the fridge, I think the bottle is mostly still full)

There are probably some things that I am missing… I don’t think I have the $75 for the waeco fridge cover in there for example but that’s not a typical traveling cost so I think it’s all near enough for the purpose.

So essentially we have had to allow about $700 a week to do this. I think for most families that have allowed themselves, say, a year to travel Australia then we would be moving at about the right kind of pace, but for our future travels (when we don’t have an existing work commitment to make) we intend to do it much, much slower. Which would reduce our overall fuel costs and drop our weekly expenditure to about $500. But for a family with two kids between 5 and 15 I think you need to allow an extra overall cost for accommodation of between $500-$700 plus activities etc so on average another $100 a week.

Essential travel bits, and things we wasted our money on!

Big winners-
The waeco- so handy having the fridge in the truck with us. An absolute lifesaver with keeping sandwiches and snacks on hand for the kids when we need to push through that extra half hour and also in the heat to keep our drinks cold. Worth every cent!
Tinting on the truck windows.
Our Camps 4 book.
My 4 thin plastic Tupperware chopping boards.
The in-car DVD player (again for the kids)
300w inverter which converts the trucks 24v system into 240v power which has been bloody handy.
Weber BBQ
My menstrual cup (sorry blokes if it‘s too much information! but the women might appreciate the tip)
The inner-spring mattresses.
The internet gateway thing so we can both have wireless internet connection on our own laptops,
Not sure if it was worth it-
The washing machine. I think if you got into the habit of setting it up, or stayed somewhere for more than just a few nights then it would be different. We used it anywhere we camped for more than a few days but it was more effort than it was worth to get it out and set it up. If it was plumbed in inside the van then that would make a huge difference to using it.
The annexe walls. I love them and I love the extra room it gives us when we are stopped for a period of time but for the vast majority of short-stop traveling I think the shade cloth surrounds are much handier simply because they are soooo much quicker to set up.
The TV. We really never turned it on. Maybe if we had a better easier antenna it would get used more.

Total waste of space or money.
The boat.
The tools we bought along we really don’t need. Regular tools are ok but we also bought working tools like the which I think are just taking up a heap of space and dragging down our fuel economy and are not going to make any difference to us finding work at all.
My red wine. I am not drinking anywhere near as much as I had hoped! LOL! It’s been so hot I have not felt like a red wine. I think I have drank three bottles! So another 53 bottles to go.

half hearted super quick update

2009-05-11T12:50:00.002+10:00

no time to do it right but here is a quick thingy i typed up earlier

The last few days in Darwin were spent getting things organized for work. Getting gum boots for the kids (for snakes and other bitey things), a good hot-weather work shirt for Tim, and bits and pieces like that.

Mum and Dad looked after Jordy one night so that Tim and I could head in to town and see the city by night. We took Darcy and walked up and down the streets full of cafes and bars, and along past the old town hall that was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. We stopped for a mezze plate at one restaurant and then wandered some more and then stopped at another café for coffee and dessert.

The next day we headed into Lake Alexander for a picnic lunch and the boys played in the massive playground.

We also hit the Mindil Markets. The very first market of the year for the start of the Dry. I imagine it is always incredibly busy but I was amazed at the number of people there. And the food!! Yum! There was an amazing variety of food and a heap of stalls. We had a few big fruit smoothies and then some Indian and then a banana and nutella crepeJ and browsed the arts, crafts, clothes, and souvenirs on offer.

We watched the sun set over the sea (along with about a thousand other people) and enjoyed some live music, fire dancing, and a reptile show. Later in the night we moved down to the beach to watch a fireworks show. The kids were covered in sand and we knew they would fall asleep in the truck on the way home so we walked all the way back to the truck and grabbed a towel and change of clothes and then fought the crowd to get back to the toilet block to shower the kids. It was a cold shower! So lucky it was a warm night.

The prices all rise to stupid tourist season rates on the 1st May so we decided to leave even though we did not technically start work until the Monday. We had intended to camp out at the rockpools in the NP but we were told we could set up our camp out at work and have a look around the place so we did that instead.
The café is about 90min from Darwin and we got out there at lunchtime. It took us the rest of the day to set up our camp seeing as we are going to be here for a while (fingers crossed). We put the full awning up and unloaded all our gear and set ourselves up to stay put for a while. Looking forward to a change of pace.

Heading to Litchfield...
We spent the next few days easing into work. Just getting a feel for what we need to do and where everything is and how it all works. In between that we went for a few drives through the park (covers a decent area) to see the local attractions.

Wangi Falls is impressive. There is a huge clear swimming hole (all safe from crocs) but it is still closed for swimming at the moment. It should open up within the month the ranger thinks. When the water level gets too high there is a whirlpool effect under the falls that can suck you in and there have been a few deaths over the years so the coroner has put a limit on the height at which it can open.

We also went to Buley Rockholes. Amazing! A series of probably a dozen or more cascading waterfalls with rock pools and spas and little rapids. The season is really just starting and I’d say that the water would have been considered far from crowded but there were still a lot of people there. I’d guess another hundred or so. The tour buses come through and spend an hour and leave again so we’ll have to check out their timetables for future visits. But everyone spreads themselves out amongst the pools so you get plenty of space to splash around.

I also took the kids for a drive to see Tolmer Falls- you can’t swim there even though there is another incredible waterhole. There are a couple of endangered bat species there that they are trying to protect. But it’s a great view from the lookout and there are a few walks around the area for those not carrying a toddler and pushing a pram!

We checked out Greenant Creek… just a little creek and nothing all that exciting but I am looking forward to doing the walk from there to another good waterfall and swimming hole that you can only access by foot so it would have fewer people.
And we called past Tabletop Swamp but it’s just a swamp! And unless you are into bird watching then there is not a whole lot there.

Settling in...
Work has been really good. Just learning the ropes and getting the feel of the place. It’s really laid back and everyone is amazingly friendly and great to work with. There is a bit of variety in the stuff that we are doing which makes things even more enjoyable and we can already see that once the peak tourist season hits it will get really flat out here over lunch! I only do a couple of hours each day which I can fit in around the kids but Tim generally has full days. They have some big projects planned here which will keep the blokes really busy.

Our camp is pretty basic in some ways but also really good in others. The area around our camp is mostly sand with a viney sort of semi-grass cover which is not a lot of fun. I sweep out the van three or four times a day! But we are under a big tree so have a good amount of shade and a place to hang the kids’ swing and put their cubby house. We have the full annexe up so there is room for their toys and for them to play.

We’ve found a great creek not too far from here that is perfect for us to go for a swim in. It’s not on the main tourist trail so has generally been quiet when we’ve been there. It’s a small, croc-free, sandy bottomed creek with lovely clear water and is nice and shallow for the kids so I imagine we will spend a bit of time there.

Not having any phone or internet or tv is both good and bad. Good cos it means we do other stuff but bad cos, seriously, sometimes it’s just nice to sit down and watch some telly or surf the net! LOL! We have hardly watched tv at all since we have been traveling but we all miss the footy. And it’s surprising how much you rely on the internet to check things or look things up or find something out. And of course we all miss the connection with friends and family. But on the plus side this is the first chance we have all had to catch our breath and slow down and relax. Which is surprising to say cos we are back working! LOL! Once we finish out the season we will certainly travel more slowly. We look forward to spending a week in each place, even when there is not all that much to do in a little town we just want to hang out and meet the locals and get a feel for a place, even spend a month in a town if we can start doing WOOFER type work or get involved in a community in some way.

But for now things are looking good here.

off line for a bit

2009-04-30T22:56:00.002+10:00

i know i am behind in my updates! Sorry! i will get to them soon but i just wanted to warn everyone that we might be offline for a few weeks cos we don't think we will have internet access at Litchfield. We will bring the computer in to town with us when we come so will get emails eventually but we might be slow in replying.

hugs to all!!!

Day 59- Darwin

2009-04-27T22:33:00.003+10:00

Stinky hot night. I think the low overnight was 25'. Crazy. And it's heading into winter. ?!?!? Another slow morning... did some washing and mopped the floors and had a bit of a tidy up. The kids played outside with Jordy dragging his tonka truck around the park and being a robot (in his beer carton box) and Darcy finding sticks and throwing big seed pod balls up and down the streets. I think we were still in the truck on the way into the city again before 10.

We are going to save most of the touristy things in here until our weekends off from work. But we'd head around and check out the cheap or free things to do. First stop was the WWII oil storage tunnels. They were dug by hand by over 400 retired men using only chisels and picks and shovels and just two pneumatic drills. It took them 16months and they were finished just as the war came to an end. I would imagine that even though they would have been glad the war was over i think that after putting so much of their time and heart into the tunnels they would have been sad to not have them used. After that we were going to stop at Survivors Lookout and Parliament House but we drove past the parking area and figured we'd just keep going someplace else instead. Plus Jordy wanted food. LOL! So we went to the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.... actually, we went to the cafe out the back first. :) We got a table and sat down before we looked at the menu and, once again, ouch. A burger was $16 and a main was $25... Not to worry, and Jordy would have rioted if we tried to leave, so we had a nice lunch. And, for the first time since chistmas i had a yummy yummy iced coffee. I have to say that the hunt for decent coffee had been futile throughout the Territory but there are nice coffee joints all over the place in Darwin. And i have come to the conclusion that hot coffee is just not the way to go up here.

While we waited for lunch i went for a wander towards the beach to find a quick geocache. Task completed before the meals arrived. :)

Then off into the museum. And it was a fantastic setup. There was a room just for young kids with heaps of displays and bones they could feel and real stuffed animals and a couple of microscopes and fishtank displays and books and colouring in and jars of snakes and big turtles and building blocks and dress ups and if was pretty much adventure-central! Jordy was enthralled by the microscope and looked at the bugs and lizards for ages. It was a real fight to get him away from it. Darcy loved the animal puppets and crocodile tub.
After we finally convinced Jordy that we would come back again to the Discovery Room we got to head into the main museum. Lots and lots to see. The whole set up is great. Everything was really accessible and well set out and just really easy to get involved with. Even Darcy ran around and loved it squealing "dook" at everything and pushing buttons and getting really excited. We did not squeal so much but all the adults were impressed too. The section about Cyclone Tracy was especially good. We spent quite a bit of time in there (and called into the Discovery Room again as promised) and it was about 4pm before we got home. The kids fell asleep in the truck on the way back (i hate that!) so we waited for them to wake up before a swim to cool off again, although with some cloud cover it was not as hot today. Had a good chat with a few other couples travelling around or working in town for a few months.

Tim cooked meatloaf for dinner in the weber. After dinner the kids drew pictures for ages and we made a birthday card for Grandpa for tomorrow. Neither of them were tired and were happy to play until after 9pm when Tim and i had had enough and we put them to bed. I think i am now all caught up on the blog! and now i am off to bed as well.

Day 58- Darwin

2009-04-26T21:51:00.000+10:00

Took us a while to get moving this morning but we headed into town to have a look around. Headed straight towards the esplanade and the coast. Our first glimpse of the Arafura Sea (well, my first glimpse! Tim has been here before) was a beautiful blue-green bay. No surf up here, the ocean is all calm. Another hot and muggy day. Even though it is only about 34' it is all clammy and we were shiny and sweaty within minutes. There is a big park that runs the length of the foreshore area and we walked along that and into town. The town centre has a nice feel to it. It's kinda cool to be in a capital city where most everything is closed on a Sunday! LOL! The cafes and stuff were open but all the general businesses and shops were shut. We wandered around for a bit and then decided to grab some lunch. We had walked past a pretty authentic looking chinese restaurant a few times that smelt great and they had a Sunday Yum Cha special so we decided to head in for that. I have to admit i had no clue what i was grabbing from the chef... little spiky balls of meaty rice and some kind of white speckled folded up pancake thing. It was all ok but with no menu and no prices it ended up a scary $39 for a not so big lunch. Ouch!

The kids played in the playground in the mall for a bit and then we went for a drive out to Fannie Bay past a great recreational lake and the wharf area and all around the place. Called back in through town for a take home bucket of icecream and then back to the caravan. We all went for a swim in the pool to cool off and then Tim stayed at the pool bar and watched the footy and the kids and i came back to the van and played puzzles and did some photo and blog updates.

Lazy dinner of soy and pineapple chicken in the microwave with the left over risotto. Darcy went to bed at a reasonable time but Jordy was out walking around the park with Grandpa till all hours. He wanted to sleep in their caravan so we sent him off to bed over there and carried him home after he'd fallen asleep.

Adelaide River Showground cheap camp review

2009-04-25T22:57:00.000+10:00

Really good set up! And good value at $20 a night ($10 for no power). It's pretty much got everything you would want from a caravan park. All nice grassy areas with good shade etc. They have even put up shadecloth covers in a heap of spots to give extra shade over the sites.

There is a pool. The bathrooms are a bit old but they obviously put work into keeping them nice with shower caddies and curtains etc.

There is a couple of washing machines and a laundry tub. And a book exchange in the laundry area.

And from Thursday to Sunday they even have meals out there! There is an open sided pub sort of set up that is really nice (which is where they had the ANZAC day breakfast). Beers are a good price.

Day 57- Adelaide River to Darwin

2009-04-25T22:47:00.002+10:00

Darcy was awake all night. I am sure it was nothing to do with food intolerances, just him wanting to feed all night. Little bugger. And it was a lovely cool night so it was not the heat keeping him awake.??? I think it was around 4:30 when i fed him (again) and he fell asleep but with the beginnings of movement and chatter outside i could not get back to sleep. Tim was up at 5 to get ready for dawn service. I debated about waking Jordy and was really torn about trying to go but there was no way he would be quiet for the service so we let him sleep. Still, i got dressed properly just in case he did wake and i had that extra bit of a reason to go, but no, he slept! Both kids even slept through the noisy departure of a dozen bikies!

Tim, Mum, and Dad said it was a nice service with a really big turnout but there were too many politicians speaking. I had thought there might be a flyover with the airforce base being just 5min jetflight away but there wasn't. But there were a heap of airforce personnel there.

At the end of the service there was a free breakfast back at the showground! We had a stroke of luck there! $10 for a site AND breakfast! And it was a really big deal too. More people than we have seen in a long time and it was a huge full cooked breakfast. And for those that did not have a big drive ahead of them the alcohol was also flowing for free. One bloke was wandering around with this huge bottle of bundy rum and filling up glasses around the place. I was talking to another family at breaky and it;s not just local station families and the outlying communities but apparently a lot of people come from Darwin (all the scouts were from Darwin) but i would have to guess that there were over 1,000 people there which is pretty good for a town with a population of well under half that!

Two-up was on later in at the pub but we wanted to call out to Litchfield and that would make our drive over 300km today so back to the van to pack up. We were still out of there around 9am even after such a busy morning.

The nearest town to Litchfield is Batchelor and we wanted to drive through and see what it was like and what was there. It's only small (pop of about 350) but we all thought it was a really nice, tidy looking little community. There is a pool and school, and lots of tree'd park areas and a little grocery store and petrol station and a new looking pub etc. We parked the vans near the pool and left them there while we drove the 70km into the national park to the cafe.

The park is the same odd mix of tropical and dry plants that we had around Mataranka. It's interesting to see and not what i expected. I'm used to national parks being full of tall trees and dense undergrowth but all the bush out here is low trees and dry grasslands. Lots of little creeks though. We saw all the massive magnetic termite mounds but we drove straight past this time.

Got out to Litchfield Cafe and i had my fingers crossed that it would be ok but was prepared for it if it was really rough. But yay!!!! one of the first things i noticed when we parked was the grassy areas and big shade trees around the cafe so that was a plus. We went in and met our future boss and his family and they were great to chat with. But hot! bleaugh. Apparently it was a good 5' cooler today than it has been so i am glad we were not here yesterday. And i really hope it cools down even more over the next week.

The area where our van will go is a bit sandier and the shower/toilets are really rough! LOL! But we knew that. We are not sure what kind of internet reception we'll get out there and the guys are talking about getting a little satellite dish so we can pick up some tv. Looks like they get super busy for lunches, especially with the bus tours. But we are all looking forward to getting in and working for a bit. It's mostly all family working out there and there are three other kids, 5weeks, nearly 2 and nearly 4. So add in our 1yr old and our nearly 3yr old and we'll have a great little mob.

We spent a good hour or more out there talking and having a look around the place. I did not get any photos (sorry!) but as soon as we head out there next week i'll get lots. Drove back and and picked up the vans again and then continued in to Darwin.

Most of the van parks are all 10-15min out of the centre of Darwin so we did not get a chance to see the city. It was after 4pm when we got to the park so just set up and then a sit around. Jordy rode his trike around the park. Just had risotto for dinner in the rice cooker. Bloody hot and muggy! We thought it might have been cooling down cos we've had some nicer nights recently but i guess those extra hundred km north to the coast has not helped. Went to bed with the air con on all night.

Day 56- Katherine to Adelaide River

2009-04-24T23:04:00.005+10:00

I'm a couple of days late with this entry so let's see if i can remember what we did!

While we were in Katherine we had a look at the map to see where we might want to stop next. It's not far from Katherine to Darwin but there was no reason to make it in one day when we could stop and have a look around. Plus we thought it would be good to call into Litchfield on the way past. There were a couple of options halfway between Katherine and Darwin, like the Douglas Hot Springs (although we were probably all hot-springed out), or Edith Falls (seen a few waterfalls) or the Douglas Daly region, or Adelaide River. So we had a look at what was in the area and where might have some kind of village so it might be possible to attend a dawn service and you would not believe it but we discovered that not only was Adelaide River the largest town in the area (population 350) it also has one of Australia's largest war cemetaries. Decision made.

On the way out of Katherine Tim had to fuel up and there was a geocache just down the road that we could not find when we both tried a few days earlier so Tim dropped me off and the time it took him to fuel up was the time i had to find it! LOL! I looked and looked and looked and sweated and looked some more but still could not find the darn thing. It's a micro so only the size of a 5c piece and buggered if i could figure out where it was hiding. Gave up and climbed in the truck for the shortish drive to Adelaide River.

The highway was road-kill central! You'd just get past the stink of one rotting carcase and there would be another. Lovely.

But Adelaide River looked nice. We had decided to stay at the showground and opted for an unpowered site cos it was just $10 a night and there was a breeze blowing and a bit of shade so the air con was not a big deal. There were quite a few other vans and tents there and we were told it would get busy cos the scouts were coming through later in the day. Set up camp nice and quick, had a snack and a drink and then jumped on our bikes to go for a ride around town (Mum and Dad drove!)

We headed over to the historic railway precinct (train museum) for a look around. Lots of old carriages and photos and stuff... and co-incidently another cache for us to find. They really area everywhere! We searched like crazy for this one and when we gave up and went back to the bikes we realised we had read the clues wrong so all four of us went back full of enthusiasm thinking it would be easy now with the clue and spent another half hour and still could not find it. But the kids got to see a huge train go past RIGHT in front of us and it blew its whistle so Jordy thought that was special.
On the bikes and down the highway with a brief stop to look for another cache. Once again we could not find a damn thing! Mugs game, this thing! Gave up and headed to the War Cemetary. Bit of a ride but worth it. Lovely park areas along the river and a really beautiful cemetary area. I was really glad that we went cos it would be impossible for me to attend the service in the morning cos of the kids and i wanted to pay my respects.

So much of the area up here has a lot of wartime history that i was just not aware of. There are several sites that were bombed by the Japanese in WWII (i had no idea just how much bombing they did in Australia!) and there are just heaps and heaps of monuments and buildings and airfields and bunkers and hospitals and EVERYTHING up here that have a huge wartime history. Actually, a lot of the small towns owe their existance solely to the war. But the post office at Adelaide River was bombed and nine civilians were killed and there are well over 400 military graves. We had a good wander through the cemetary and read the plaques for most of the graves. Then we went across to the park for the kids to have a wander. There were a heap of peacocks that were very accustomed to people and Darcy chased them all over. There was a tour bus that arrived while we were there full of backpackers doing a stop at the cemetary and one of the girls filmed Darcy chasing them (he did look funny pointing and 'dook'ing as he tried to run). We finally found a cache for the day- one for four is not great odds! Called into the pub on the way back. Busy little town. I think everyone is here for ANZAC day. Either that or the stuffed buffalo from Crocodile Dundee that's hanging in the bar. Quick beer cos the kids were getting hungry and we were all hot. Actually, the pub is a pretty decent van park too and really cheap.

Back to the showground and into the pool for a cool off. Jordy is swimming really well but i wish we were still doing lessons. He has started to swim nice and flat with his eyes down so we'll get him some goggles soon.

The day cooled off nicely and we cooked a simple dinner of sliced potato, sweet potato, and sausages and mushrooms on the weber. And they were right! It did get busy with the scouts. It was a nice atmosphere with lots of laughing kids and tents going up as the sun went down.

Katherine Low Level van park review

2009-04-23T23:17:00.000+10:00

Katherine Low Level Caravan Park. Katherine. Stayed four nights, $27 a night (less 10% for Big4). Really sprawling big caravan park! Had good new-feeling amenities.
Overall- 4 stars.

Location- 7/10. On the outskirts of town but right on the edge of Low Level Nature Park with the river and park etc.

Sites- 7/10. Good prickle-free grass and good shady areas. Sites average sized.

Bathrooms- 7/10. We used the toilets/showers at the pool cos they were closer. They were pretty good, but the main ones were even better. Had a little baby bath tub as well.

Laundry- 7/10. Big laundry area with plenty of machines, good tubs and an iron etc. $3 a load.

Shop- 5/10. Had a bit of touristy stuff.... i can't remember if they had basic convenience items or not!

Pool- 7/10. Good big pool, had a spa too.

BBQ area- 7/10. Full camp kitchen with fridge, microwave, toaster etc. And a couple of separate little BBQ areas around the place.

Playground- Surprisingly enough they did not have one.

Other- During tourist season (i guess June to Novemeber ish) they have a full kiosk with meals at the pool.

Day 55- Katherine

2009-04-23T21:35:00.004+10:00

Another day in Katherine! Lots to see around the area and we are enjoying a few slow days. A couple of loads of washing to start the day! and then...

Mum and Dad headed into the Katherine Museum for a look around (and said it was worth a visit and great to see the movie and photos relating to the massive floods they have had here).

Tim headed into town to get some light bulbs and bits and pieces for the van. I stuck the kids in front of the DVD player, made myself a coffee and wrote yesterdays blog entry and went through the photos i took of the gorge.

When Tim got back he and Jordy put our stickers on the truck. Finally! We have been trying to by a sticker from each town we visit (sometimes we forget!) but so far we have not gotten around to putting them anywhere. Handy! Well they are not on the truck. I'll get a photo in the morning cos i actually forgot that they even did it so have not even seen it myself.

After that he updated our map of Australia and coloured in the roads we have travelled since Mount Isa. I'll get a photo of that tomorrow too.

After lunch Mum, Dad, me and the kids went out to Springvale Homestead. Actually not much to see out there really. It's a nice looking old homestead and there are good information boards around the place but the building has been turned into a dodgy cafe, and the cafe was not even open?? Not sure what the go is with it but it really ruins the feel of the place.

Called out to the hot springs on the way back. The ones here are really lovely. There is a paved area alongside a section of the spring with a few different entry points and for a section about 100m long they have paved the sides up to a small waterfall. You can get in the top end and float down to the waterfall and then climb out and go again.
Dad went for a walk around when we got there and mum and i got the boys into their swimmers. Then Jordy was straight in the river and wanting to go floating off downstream. Mum had Darcy and i was still getting ready to get in and Jordy is off! Little bugger. I was a bit worried about him going over the edge of the waterfall but i met him down the end and he kicked over to me. Not that it was a big waterfall! He would not have been hurt if he went over but he might have scared himself.

We floated downstream together a couple of times. I preferred these ones to either of the ones at Mataranka (even though they were nice too). The water even smelt refreshing and citrusy for some reason!?!?! And it was just a couple of degrees cooler so more refreshing. We all played around in the bottom pool near the waterfall for a while. Took some photos of the german geocoin we found (cos the owner wants photos of his geocoin travelling the world) and then the fight to get the kids out of the water began :) A quick stop to get fruit and vege on the way home. Actually, that was kinda funny cos Tim was out near there this morning at the hardware store and one of the staff came in with a coffee for the bloke serving Tim. And he said something like "Oh, thank god, coffee!" The woman handed him one of those big decorative thick paper take-away coffee mugs. Tim asked if he was a coffee fiend and the bloke said yeah, he liked his coffee and that this was the best coffee in town. Tim knows that i have been seriously missing a good coffee so asked where it was from and the bloke said the fruit and vege shop across the road had great coffee. So when we called in this afternoon i kept it in mind to check out.... But, no. Once again it is one of those milk bar machines where you stick your cup in and push a button and the milk and coffee just flow out the spout [shudder].

I am not surprised that no one out here has a decent coffee machine. It's too bloody hot anyway. I have to either have one first, first thing in the morning or sit inside and bump the air con up for half an hour to get cold enough to make it bearable to have something hot.

While we were out and about Tim drove into the Country Club in town. A bloke he met up here some 15years ago used to work at the club and Tim was hoping to track him down. No luck though. Apparently he left town a few years ago and someone heard he might since have moved to Darwin.

Home in time for a web chat with family at home. Darcy thought it was pretty good and kept trying to eat the microphone. Bath and dinner time (roast chook and vegies) and then an early night for the kids.

Day 54- Katherine

2009-04-23T11:55:00.004+10:00

Jordy was up crazy early this morning. Lucky we all had to be up for our tour anyway cos he was knocking on Grandma and Grandpa's door before the sun was even up. We had our picnic packed and were all in the truck at 8 and on our way out to the gorge.

When we got to the helipad area Tim stayed back a little so that Jordy would not see the helicopter. Tim had already flown over the gorge before so he decided he would wait with the kids in at the park while Mum, Dad, and i did the tour, and we did not want Jordy to see what we were doing because he just loves planes and helicopters and would be upset if he saw us. BIG MISTAKE. I have to say that i am so, so, so disappointed that we did that cos we found out afterwards that he could have come and sat on my lap for free. I am still so disappointed now when i think about it because he would have loved it.

Anyway, no point having regrets and i think one of us will do another flight at Kakadu or somewhere just so he can have a turn as well.

The pilot was great and they were really generous with the flight. We were there early and were their first tour of the day so it was supposed to start at 9:00 but we were in the helicopter at about quarter to nine while he did his pre-flights and then in the air well before 9. We had paid for an eight gorge (12min) flight and added an 8minute extension to do a landing. But we did not get back until about 9:30.
The divisions between each of the gorges are not what i expected. I thought they might be divided by narrower openings in the rock or maybe by a waterfall or something but it is often just a shallow section of rapids or not much at all. From the air we could see little pools off to the sides and get a good appreciation for how high the water gets in flood time.

We landed on a little rocky outcrop at the tenth gorge and from there we could see the last three gorges. We had heaps of time to wander around and take lots of photos. I was absolutely busting to go to the toilet! LOL! And, unbelievably, the National Parks have not seen fit to build an amenities block up there amongst the rocks so i had to hold on for forever!
I tried to spot the truck parked down at the tour centre on the way back but could not see it. After we landed we headed into the visitors centre and had a look around (and went to the toilet!!). They have a nice display about the land around the gorge and it's history.

We had thought about doing a boat cruise as well but there is a 7am breakfast cruise where you can see the sun rise over the gorge and i think the colour in the rock and the stillness of the water would be amazing in the morning so we decided to leave it and see if we can get back this way and camp overnight at the gorge on one of our weekends off further in the season. The gorge is still closed to swimmers and canoes cos they have not finished their croc surveys and have found two salties in the gorge this year and i would love to go canoeing as well so even more of a reason to come back.

We had our picnic lunch down in the park and had a look at the gorge from ground level. Then we went for a bit of a wander to see if we could hunt down a geocache in the area. No luck! Too well hidden for us. But we managed to track one down closer to town on our way home.

We grabbed a couple of water li-lo things on the way through town and were home just after lunchtime. Sat around for a bit and then packed the kids in the bike caboose and rode over to the Low Level Nature park at the river. There is quite a flow to the river and it goes over a few small rapids. We have driven over it a few times and have been keen to get in there for a swim. The water was super nice and warmed just enough from the hotsprings upriver that it was beautiful to swim in. Lots of kids fishing up near the bridge too catching black bream and even the odd barra using cast nets.

Tim blew up the massive li-lo! and we took the kids floating down the river. Splashed around for quite a while riding down the current and walking back up to the bridge again.

Then we rode back to the park for a drink and some chips. Would have been lovely to have a beer but Katherine is a dry town and you can't have open bottles of alcohol away from home.
We saw a few FA-18s flying overhead and Jordy wanted to see more so we rode home and got changed and headed out to the airport. We managed to totally luck out and two fighter jets landed just as we arrived. Then one sat on the runway and blasted his engines for about a minute. It was crazy loud!! Incredible! Then it took off and was out of sight before you knew it.
Took the opportunity to hunt down another cache! LOL! Jordy found a gnome inside that he quite liked. Then we drove over to the other side of town to see the Ghan which was due to depart this afternoon. I was hoping to have a look inside the train but when we got there i think people were boarding so it must have been not far off leaving. Plus i will admit from the outside it did not look all that impressive. Not sure what i was expecting. Tim said "it's a train!? What did you think it would look like!?" I thought maybe flashier! ?? It did look nice though- as opposed to your regular Sydney commuter train. Nabbed ourselves another cache out near the station and then home for a quick dinner.

Tim made some great fritters. We had left over corned beef and he chopped up heaps of vegies and we told Jordy they were Dinner Pancakes. We made some dairy-free ones for Darcy and he just hoed in! And Jordy usually eats two mouthfuls for dinner and that's it (seriously) but he kept saying "How good are these!" and ate half nearly a full pancake. Miracle. We will be having Dinner Pancakes again in the near future.

I totally crashed at 8pm putting Darcy to bed. Tim fell asleep too putting Jordy to bed but he woke up later and then web-cam chatted to some friends from home and ended up staying up past midnight.

Day 53- Katherine

2009-04-21T21:04:00.006+10:00

The van park here is in a nice location. It's just a little way out of the town centre but it's right near the Low Level Nature park and the river. There are more hot springs just up from here as well. It's a cruel joke really in my opinion. I mean, how nice would a 34'C tropical hot spring in Port Macquarie be!!! It'd be lovely of an evening or at this time of year just sitting back and relaxing. But instead there are these lovely hot springs out here where it's high 30ies all day and half the night and you can jump in and enjoy the water but then 5minutes later you need to go find some shade to stand in (or a cold shower) to cool off. But they have sprinklers going all the time at this van park too so we all just wander from sprinkler to sprinkler.

Did the washing nice and early, and the kids played outside for a bit. They took turns on the trike and collecting sticks. When Jordy is too lazy to peddle (which is most of the time) Tim pushes him on the trike with a 'poker' and so Jordy grabbed himself a poker and pushed Darcy all around the place. Darcy just sits and steers and somehow manages to balance with the wild pushing from behind.

Then went back into town this morning for a look around. We finally posted some postcards that we bought in Charters Towers! LOL! Bit slow (can we blame Australia Post?). Jordy worked his charm again and the lady mailed them for free?!?!

There are so many geocaches hidden in Katherine we had to try out luck at a few. Didn't do too badly and found 2 of the 3 we went hunting for. Jordy likes it and gets excited looking at the 'treasure'! hehehe

Spent the afternoon lazing around camp and swimming in the pool back at the van park. Met a lovely family that are travelling up to Darwin from QLD and we chatted to them for ages. I ended up having to get Darcy out of the pool cos he'd had enough. Jordy was too busy playing with the kids so he stayed with Mum and Dad and turned into a prune. An hour later they all wandered back to our van. Turns out the bloke is a marine mechanic! LOL! He had a look at the hole in the motor and apparently if you are going to have a hole in your motor then we picked the best spot for it and it should not be too much of an issue to fix. Corned silverside with white sauce again for dinner cos we loved it so much last time. I decided it was too hot to want to have the potatos boiling away in the van so i microwaved them, which i have done before when having sliced potatoes, but this time we mashed them afterwards. Big mistake. You can't mash microwave potatoes. Next time i'll just bump up the air con and boil the darn things.

Kids crashed at 7:30 tonight! Yay! Made sandwiches for tomorrow and we'll get an early night too. We have helicopter flights booked out at Katherine Gorge early tomorrow so i'm really looking forward to that.

Mataranka Cabins and Camping Park Review

2009-04-20T20:49:00.001+10:00

Mataranka Cabins and Camping.
Stayed three nights, $25 a night. There are a few places to stay in Mataranka even though it is not that big a town. We were pretty happy with the park we chose and would certainly stay there again.
Overall- 3+half stars.

Location- 7/10. Right near the Bitter Springs and on the Little Roper river (good creek).

Sites- 7/10. No set sites, just drive around and find a nice spot. I like that, but Tim likes to have a designated area?? No idea why. But nice garden areas and a decent amount of shade. Heaps of room.

Bathrooms- 4/10. More of those tin sheds with the shower, toilet and basin. But these ones were quite nice and certainly felt cleaner than the ones at Daly Waters. They are set up in a nice undercover area.

Laundry- 4/10. Couple of machines in the undercover area near the toilets. Did the job though! $3 a load.

Shop- 5/10. You can buy bread and milk from reception, and they also sell frozen mango and handy stuff like lures (in case you are like Dad and choose to throw a few at the fish) and you can hire goggles for the springs. They had a drinks machine too.

Pool- None. A pool would have been nice but you've got the springs and the river so you don't really need one.

BBQ area- 6/10. They had a camp kitchen area but i did not pay enough attention to what it had. But it was a good sized area so probably had all the usual bits.

Playground- I did not realise until doing this that there was no playground. Normally it's one of the first things Jordy scopes out. But we had all those great sprinklers to play in and taps he was allowed to turn on and off so who needs a playground!??!

Other- you can borrow pool noodles for the springs.

Day 52- Mataranka to Katherine

2009-04-20T10:09:00.000+10:00

The kids were both up early this morning and i could have slept for another month. Darcy had a horrible night and probably kept half the park awake. Must be something in the air cos this morning i could smell wattle all of a sudden and lots of pale pale brown frogs appeared from nowhere.

I trod on one that was trying to get into the caravan. Out, little man! Out! And then in the toilets one landed on my head and i had to flick at it to get it off. Tim asked if it freaked me out and yes, it actually really did! LOL!

Packed up and on the road well before 10. It's only a short drive to Katherine, a bit over 100km, and we wanted to stop at the Cutta Cutta caves on the way past. It's an area of limestone caves and rock and they are the NTs only cave system that is open to the public. There are actually two caves in the area (Tindal cave as well) and for the $15 entry fee i will admit i thought we might get to see both caves, or even get to explore further into the Cutta Cutta cave but you do get a good look through and it's quite interesting. Maybe we have been spoilt by the Jenolan Caves etc from closer to home. ?? But if you are watching the pennies then you are not missing out if you skip this one.

Jordy was pretty keen to see a bat in the caves but they were all hiding. He liked the bit where we had to duck and squeeze through the rocks to get through. Actually, Darcy liked that bit too and he lay right back and pointed and chattered away with his "dooh" noises and pointed up at the stalictites on the roof.

I remember the caves i have explored before all being nice and cool... well this one was hot! And we were all dripping with sweat. And i had forgotten to feed Darcy before we left the park this morning (shocking mother, i am!) and he got all grouchy so it was lucky it was a bit dark in there cos i had to do half the tour while feeding him (just in case he faded away to a shadow, poor starving thing.) Managed to score ourselves our second geocache (Dad found this one). And we got talking to another family on the tour that we have never met before that have read our blog! How cool is that :)

A short drive into Katherine and we did a bit of a scenic tour through the main street (and out over the bridge towards Darwin when i got a bit lost and then out over the other bridge towards the train station when i got a bit more lost!) Did not do much in the afternoon, I had a massive headache and was feeling a bit sick actually (forgot to drink enough water today) and as soon as the van was set up i had a lay down for a bit and drank a bucket load of water. Tim took Jordy for a swim in the pool and Mum and Dad looked after Darcy.

Jordy has had $4 in his Thomas the Tank Engine wallet since we left home and he has been wanting to buy a donut with it for ages! But not a whole lot of Donut Kings around the place. We mentioned a while back that maybe Katherine would have one and he remembered and had been waiting and waiting!! We had to head into town and get some groceries and Jordy was the first one out the door on his way to the donut shop. Unfortunately Donut King has not made it to Katherine yet so we had to settle for a packet of iced donuts from Woolworths. Jordy sat in the trolley and scoffed his (and then had another half of mine). We paid the price that afternoon cos while he seems to be fine on the Donut King ones these ones sent him stupid (like paddlepops and McDonalds thickshakes which are on the banned list!) So we had psycho sugar boy to deal with.

Cooked some butter chicken in the microwave and rice in the rice-cooker that was actually really tasty. The kids were both a struggle to get to bed and Tim and i pretty much flaked.

Sorry for the lack of photos from today but if you head to your local Woolworths and take a photo of any toddler being forcibly dragged off the car ride out the front then that was our afternoon!!

Day 51- Mataranka

2009-04-19T18:22:00.005+10:00

For me this morning was rather uneventful; just a tidy up and some catching up on some forums and blogs etc and the kids watched a few nursery rhymes and Sesame Street songs on Utube.

For Tim the day was not quite as boring... he and Dad got up early to head down to the boat ramp and do some fishing in the main Roper River. Easy enough. They probably could have taken it as a warning to head back home and go back to sleep when they hit a wallaby. But i guess truck v's wallaby you can guess who is going to win so they kept going.

Now i don't have too many details cos people had the shits and it was not worth prying for information but i think the winch to get the boat off the truck had broken at some stage so they had to get it off by hand which is a bit of an effort. Dad ended up pulling a muscle or bruising his ribs or something (and this afternoon it is still very sore and he had a nap so it must have hurt). But they got the thing into the water. I have no idea how far they went but i think they got some fishing in and as expected caught nothing and had no bites and it's entirely possible that Tim (though i love him dearly) is the world's worse fisherman.

Anyway, in the river that is all nice and open and pretty much 6M deep right off the bank they managed to find the one submerged rock in the whole bloody river and put a hole in the gear box and stuffed the motor. From what Tim says the whole boat is stuffed and he's going to get rid of it.... Dad said we can get it fixed easy enough and these things happen. I'm guessing the truth is in between and we probably can fix it but it won't be cheap and i have no idea if the boat will appear on ebay sometime next week!

Oh, and they had taken the paddles out of the boat for some reason and i did not ask how they managed to get back to shore. I have created a whole new blog tag - the anti-highlights - in memory of today. Things did not get any worse but they did not get a whole lot better. A box that we have kept our shoes in on the truck must have gotten water in it at some stage and all the shoes have gone mouldy. That will require a bit of work to salvage the important pairs.

The kids had a good day though! How much fun is a sprinkler...

After lunch we gave the geocaching another go. I looked all over but Tim managed to find our very first cache. Signed the log, took a photo (that has to remain a secret) and put it back. Happy with the find we decided to try for another cache that is bigger and has swaps and trackables in it. So all in the truck and off we go. We searched in long grass in the heat getting scratched and sunburnt and covered in prickles for about 45min before we decided this geocaching is a fool's game and came back home.

Blog updates and dinner prepped. We are sooooo low on food! LOL! Sausages, mashed potato, and steamed carrots tonight. First thing we'll have to do in Katherine is grab some fresh fruit and vege and restock the basics.

After dinner Jordy wandered over to Grandpa to tell him that his eyes don't work in the dark and he needed a torch so he could go kill cane toads.

Day 50- Mataranka

2009-04-18T22:22:00.002+10:00

yay! a lazy day with no travel. :) The kids were up early floating leaf-boats in the big plastic bath container.

Got the inevitable washing out of the road early and then went for a drive to have a look at the area. Went to the Elsey Station homestead replica that was made for when they filmed the movie, We of the Never Never. I assumed that the original Elsey Station was actually in Mataranka but it was over 20km away. Was good to walk through but nothing that i have not seen before.

Then walked along the trail through the odd mix of dry tropical forest to the Thermal Pool. It looked quite nice and less boring-concrete than i imagined. If we get a chance we might bring the kids back tomorrow for a swim while the men are fishing.

Not far from the thermal pool the two smaller rivers join up and there is a road with several day picnic areas and swimming spots and fishing areas so we went to see what the main river was like. And we wanted to try out Stevie's Hole which is a swimming spot in the river that is NOT warmed by mineral springs so we were hoping for a more refreshing swim (never happy!). But while we knew there was a 1.5km return botanic walk from the road i think the walk sounded more appealing when we were sitting inside the air conditioned caravan than it did once we were out in the heat. So we got to the entrance of the walk and read the tourist info sign and nodded and got back in the truck. :) Drove through some of the other day areas which were all quite nice and then had our picnic lunch down at 12Mile Yards. 12Mile Yards is an overnight camp area as well and is the other spot we had considered staying at while we were here. It would have been quite a nice cheap camp but the sandy soil is hot and it's all quite dry (no idea why cos there have sprinkers set up everywhere and with the bore mineral water they could run all day but...??) so i am glad we stayed at the park. After lunch we went for a walk down to the river. There are some swimming pontoons in the river and we found a little hot spring stream that run into it. You can really see how the calcium builds up on things and it has made a series of little waterfalls along the stream. We splashed between the cooler river, the warmer stream, and the in-between delta for an hour or more while Tim sat on the pontoons and had a fish (caught nothing).
Jordy and i collected a heap of shells in the stream and that kept him amused for ages! He'd find more and more and get excited and almost shout "Look! Look at this one!" As if the new one he had found was any different to the dozen identical ones we had already collected. hehehe.

Back to the van for the afternoon and i had a change to go online to check out Geocaching which is a sport that Tim and i had known about for a while but never had the time to look into. Not that we have a heck of a lot of free time at the moment! But we are doing things that make finding and placing caches more fun. And would you believe it but there are several caches in the area here!!!

I tried to use our car GPS to locate one and i rode my bike all over the area and looked all in and under things and walked myself stupid until the GPS gave me the shits! It's just not sensitive enough and it seems to think that if if has bought you to the end of the road for the location you entered then that is close enough but that won't work for Geocaching.

So back to the van and Dad dug his old handheld unit out for me. After a few false starts and reading a few more hints online i headed off on my bike again. It finally took me to the right location but it was getting too dark to search so i came back and made dinner instead. LOL! I'll try tomorrow.

Tim had been fishing over sunset and while the arsy kid in the boat was still pulling in barra, Tim caught nothing from the bank.

Pork and potato hotpot thingy in the microwave tonight and then a lazy evening. The town here is quite nice and the people really friendly. The local kids are all out splashing in the streams or fishing or riding their bikes or whatever and they all yell out a hello and wave with a big smile as you go past. It's nice!

video update

2009-04-18T07:54:00.000+10:00

i just uploaded a video of Darcy back at Mount Isa...
http://storyofaustralia.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-43-mount-isa-to-camooweal.html

Day 49- Daly Waters to Mataranka

2009-04-17T22:56:00.005+10:00

The van park cleared early this morning. There were a couple of blokes that had travelled from Darwin to Daly yesterday and were doing Daly to Alice Springs today and then Alice to Adelaide the next day in a rush to get home before one guy's wife had their baby. Big days!

We were only planning a short trip of about 180km to Mataranka so we wer enot in a rush to head off. We had a walk through the skeleton of the town at the old Post Office and Gaol, and then drove out to the old WWII hanger. They have a heap of photos on display and info boards that are quite interesting but the place is really run down. They did a big clean up out there back in 1992 with plans to refurbish it cos it has been listed as a heritage site but i think they ran out of money. I hope they can preserve it soon. There is an old crashed (or smashed) plane half overgrown with grass out in the field and i think Mum and Dad must have taken Jordy out to have a look while i was in the hanger. He thought it was pretty good and wanted to show me. So we wandered back out and he yammered the whole time explaining to me about how there were "bits of aeroplane all broken... and the wing bits... and the men would land the plane and it all broke." Back on the road and heading north... we had heard about Frans at Larrimah. Apparently Fran home makes all sorts of cakes and scones and bread and totally home made softdrinks and icecreams etc and we thought we might call in and see what looked good.... and she was closed!!! How rude! Very sad. So no cakes for us and on to Mataranka.

Mataranka and Elsey Station is where the book We Of The Never Never was written just in case it was sounding familiar to you. I actually have never read the book but i am really keen to now so i am going to see if i can get a copy. I'm pretty sure they will sell them around here somewhere cos one place actually screens the movie every single day of the week!

There are a few camping options around the area with a few hot mineral springs and a thermal pool and quite a decent river, but we chose Bitter Springs. It's a more natural setting (instead of the concrete lined Thermal Pool) and the van park here is within walking distance.

We drove around looking for the perfect place to camp for about 10minutes! Just pick a spot already. Set up in 20minutes and then i gave the van a good clean out. A quick lunch and then into our swimmers and off to the Springs. We stuck the kids in the bike caboose and rode down.

The springs are really nice and the water is a constant 32'C. I went to a hot springs place over in Thailand but apart from that i think the hot springs down at Jenolan Caves about 20years ago is the last time i've been to mineral springs and Tim can't even remember the last time he was in some so it was fun for something different.

There are a couple of deep swimming hole areas and then a section of creek where the water flows somewhat fast and you can drift with the current down to two different areas that you can climb out and walk along a track back to the start again. As soon as they were in the water Jordy was off and floating down the river (we put his PFD vest on so he was safe in there in case he got away) and Tim had to chase after him. I went in with lard-arse (Darcy) and becuase of the minerals the water is not as bouyant as normal water and it's quite hard to kick and stay afloat. You can borrow pool noodles from the van park and it's lucky we grabbed some cos i needed two just to keep us both afloat! The pools are surrounded by tropical pandanus palms and tall trees and it's really quite beautiful. And the water is just crystal clear, amazingly so, i have no idea why it is so clear but you can see straight to the bottom even when the water is three metres deep. We thought it was rather amusing when a couple of separate family groups turned up and were all worried about the 'floaty bits' in the water! It's a creek, people! You are in nature. There are plants in the water and you might get a bit of moss or weed floating past. They stuck their toes in and look all dismayed and then we explained that there was a concrete lined thermal pool with no floaty bits a few kilometres away they were much happier and they headed back to the car for the drive over to the pool. And the springs stayed nice and peaceful for a while longer. :) I'll admit that there are two sections of the stream where the mineral and plant smell gets quite strong and a tad stinky but the water itself is lovely. I thought it might taste bitter (hence the name) but it actually tasted ok.

After we had soaked long enough and the water became uncomfortably warm we rode on back to camp. Tim went down to have a little at the river cos a few of the local kids and the groundskeeper guy here had caught a few barra in the river over the last week. The van park backs on to the Little Roper (instead of the main Roper that starts about a kilometre away). You could maybe put the tinnie in here but there is no real point and the guys are going to have a full days fishing later on cos we are staying here for a few nights. So they just threw a line in from the bank. Dad lost two lures in quick succession and got the shits and went for a drive to scout out the other local fishing holes. Tim hung around but did not catch anything. A local boy sitting in the middle of the 10m wide river just up from Tim caught a few! How rude! While the men were off fishing i put a Wiggles DVD on for the boys and Mum and i finally got to updating the blog and i helped Mum to put some photos on hers. She got an email from a friend back home that had a beautiful homebirth and is babymooning with her new little boy. Mum had a hard time reading the email to me through the tears and i know she wishes she were closer so she could see them both.

I made some fresh bread and we had that with the risotto i prepared yesterday. It's muggy and hot here (and was at Daly Waters too) so we have unfortunately left the dry heat behind and are heading back up to the tropics. Tim has always said he prefers the dry heat and because my experience with a dry heat in the past has often been to head from the seabreeze cooled coast to inland where it is just so much hotter i always thought that i must prefer coastal humid heat. But i think it must just have been generally a few degrees cooler on the coast. Cos out here the temp has not changed from a pretty much constant mid thirties but we have gone from dry to humid i have to say that the humid heat sucks! Bring back the desert! LOL!

Daly Waters Pub caravan park review

2009-04-17T22:09:00.004+10:00

Daly Waters Pub caravan park, Daly Waters.
Stayed one night, $10 per adult. It's kinda a cross between a van park and a cheap camp but we'll call it a van park. It's certainly not aiming for ritzy! But it's a great friendly laid back stop over with great entertainment that caters for travellers. I think if you were one of the hoarde of backpackers that just call in for a beer and a photo on your bus tour through then it might seem cliched and overdone but i think you would really miss out on the real sense of the place by doing that. Staying overnight gives it a different feeling of comraderie.
Overall- 3 stars but it's hard to rate. The facilities are basic but you're probably not staying there for the facilities so...?

Location- 7/10. The town is not a whole lot of anything! LOL! But as far as location goes it's a convenient point on the highway for a stop over.

Sites- 7/10. Just a great big paddock and everyone parks parallel to the road wherever you want. There is some shade and lots of grass with a few shady thatched roof gazebo things around.

Bathrooms- 3/10. There are three tin sheds with a concrete floor that each have a toilet, basin, and shower. If you are lucky you'll get a few frogs thrown in for laughs.

Laundry- 3/10. There was one machine outside. But whose doing washing when you can go to the pub?

Shop- 5/10. There is a whole restaurant and cafe so that counts for a bit. Did not look to see if they sold stuff like bread etc.

Pool- 4/10. Decent size pool all under shade with plastic tables etc. The pool seriously needed a clean! Maybe we are suffering from Territoryitis but who cares if the pool water is looking a little cloudy? An ear infection is a small price to pay to cool off.

BBQ area- 8/10. Beer garden with someone else doing the cooking.

Playground- 3/10. A few toys in the corner of the beer garden.

Other- the pub! you could spend a couple of hours just looking at all the things previous visitors have left behind.
Don't order coffee! Seriously. Not good. (maybe have a beer instead?)

Day 48- Banka Banka to Daly Waters

2009-04-16T23:33:00.002+10:00

Half the people camped overnight at Banka Banka were all heading to Daly Waters! LOL! And we had been told by a few people along the way to make sure we called into the Daly Waters Pub. So even if John and Naomi, and Arthur and Barb were not working there we would have had to call in for a look anyway.

We pulled into the Renner Springs Roadhouse on the way through for a fuel top up (Tim calls it a 'splash and dash' when the fuel is a rip off but you need a bit to stay safe). It looked like a decent enough place to stop the night if it suited your timetable.

It felt like a hot trip today for some reason so it was great to arrive in Daly Waters. And even beter to get a wave and a cooee from people already in the park when we drove through- Jessee and Judy from Tennant Creek and a few others. It really is great to see a familiar rig and a familiar face when you pull into a new town. John came over for a chat and over the next couple of hours we saw several couples arrive that we recognised.

After setting up we just sat around outside and did not a hell of a lot. We watched John and his mates (lack of) technique as they tried to drop a tree. With his safety thongs on he was balancing up in the bucket of the tractor with the chainsaw above his head sawing away. When it looked like the tree was about to fall he just jumped the 6foot out of the bucket to the ground with the chainsaw still going and swinging around his legs . Back to the good ol' days where a bloke just got in and did whatever job needed to be done regardless of whether he was going to walk away with all his limbs attached. :)

Headed over to the pub for a swim in the pool. If you did not look too closely at the water quality it was lovely! After that we sat and had a drink in the beer garden while the kids had a play and explored all the junk they have collected and on display around the pub.

Later in the afternoon while i slaved away getting a head start for tomorrow's dinner and folding laundry and washing up and bathing the kids (insert violin music) Tim headed back over to the bar and found himself a stool for the afternoon. He had a great time talking to some of the guys working there and met Lindsay (the owner). Jordy stayed with him for a while and sat up at the bar with his pot of water and bowl of chips and gave the other patrons a giggle :) They had a Toss the Boss Happy Hour and Tim won himself a couple of free rounds. By the time we came over for dinner he had his glazed happy face on :) Despite the fact that it was more than we would normally spend on dinner we decided to try the Beef and Barra that the Pub is famous for. And while the salad range was no more special than you'd get at the local bowls club all-you-can-eat if was still a good meal, more so for the relaxed atmosphere than anything else. Lindsay's son played guitar and sang for most of the night and John's young son Bailey (who is about 8ish) joined in and sang a couple of tunes which was rather cute. Jordy did not want to sit with us and instead sat with John's kids right up the front and after Bailey finished singing Jordy wanted to have a go too. I told him he could learn a couple of songs so next time we come though he could sing :) Both boys played for ages before Darcy crashed in his stroller and we walked Jordy back home totally exhausted.

Banka Banka cheap camp review

2009-04-16T23:03:00.003+10:00

Banka Banka Station.
Stayed one night, $8 per adult. Very relaxing and pleasant camp site. Could easily stay longer if you just wanted to sit back and relax for a breather on the trip.

Considering that it is not even really tourist season up here it is amazing that all of a sudden there are caravans everywhere! There were at least 15 other vans ranging from just a couple to a family but apparently in tourist season they have about 120people each night and shut the gates mid afternoon cos they are full! I'm not surprised.

Lush green grass with not a prickle to be found! They are on a fresh water spring just 14foot under ground. The water tastes great and they make sure they keep the place nice and green. There was a bit of shade from a tree for most of the vans (well, the ones that arrived early!) and good amenities. If you are keen for a walk there is apparently a nice waterhole for swimming but it's about 2km from the camp area (closer by car down the highway i found out later).

The laundry facilites are basic but i did not even expect a washing machine and there were two and at $2 a load i can't even complain about the frogs that went along for the ride in with the clothes :)

The managers are friendly and they run a slide show each evening that is really interesting. There is a kiosk for beer and a packet of chips or a loaf of bread etc. There is no power but you can run your generator during the day.

Fill your water tank up when you leave.

Devil's Marbles cheap camp review

2009-04-15T23:28:00.001+10:00

Devils Marbles Campground (National Parks).
Stayed one night. $3.30 per adult.

Great facilities with toilets, little wood fire BBQ areas, picnic tables that also double as a platform for your swag, several little bays with a shady tree to camp under etc.

And right smack bang in the middle of the Marbles with walking trails and information boards etc.

You might encounter a few flies! But you get that.

Day 47- Devil's Marbles to Banka Banka

2009-04-15T22:30:00.002+10:00

From my bed I could see stars still in the sky through one window but the marbles turning a deep crimson in the other window so I knew sunrise was not far away. I snuck out, grabbed the camera, put my shoes on and stepped outside… to a mouthful of flies that buzzed and swarmed and got in my eyes and up my nose and in my hair. Aaaaarrrrggghhhh.

Snapped a few photos before going to get dressed and spray myself with Bushman. Dad had already disappeared into the Marbles for sunrise so I wandered off to find a vantage point of my own. I did a full lap right around the two main areas and had a lovely wander in the peace and quiet of early morning (although as soon as the sky coloured it started to heat up).

When I headed back to the main big pile near our camp area Jordy and Mum were up the top watching the sun rise. Jordy was having a ball exploring the rocks and “seeing EVERYthing up high.” He has no fear at all and thinks he can climb like spiderman.
These guys cracked me up- they had a great spot right under one of the best areas and had obviously made the effort to be here for sunrise.... but i think they had a few too many last night cos the sun was rising and the marbles were glowing and they were still snoring. I was tempted to wake them just in case they were going to be totally bummed they missed it all..... but instead i just let them sleep.
As soon as the sun had risen we headed straight back to the vans for a quick pack up and we were on our way back north before 9am. We called into the Threeways Roadhouse for a late breakfast and we fueled up. We should have filled up in Tennant Creek cos it was 135ish in town and nearly 160 at the Threeways! Ouch. A big Stuey’s Breaskfast Burger each and the kids played in the café before we did the last 80km to Banka Banka, out stop for the night. And we are not that far from home after all! Wauchope is just down the road :)
We had heard from John (another camper at Mount Isa that has been through here a bit) that Banka Banka Station was nice and had great facilities and yummy spring water (the rest of the bore water around here has a high lime or calcium content which is not all that great to store in your tanks even though it tastes alright). He was right and the camp area here is lovely and only $8 an adult. Lots and lots of prickle-free grass (which also means we can avoid the ants), decent shade, water sprinklers for the kids (and us) to run though, and a kiosk with beer and a place to chat etc. I did not expect there to be washing machines but there are, and they are only $2 a load. There was also a sign for a swimming waterhole and a lookout but we decided to wait out the heat before going for a look. I am glad we did cos while the view over the station from the lookout was nice there was a sign up the hill (once you’d already climbed up) to say that the waterhole was another 1.6km. LOL! Not today. So back down the hill, Jordy gave the donkey a pat, and then got dinner prepped. Around 5:30 the station managers wandered over and opened up the kiosk so Tim wandered over for a beer. We chatted to a few other campers. One couple, Barb and Arthur, are heading to Daly Waters to work at the pub and they also know John and his family (from Mount Isa) so it was really nice to be meeting up with people that know other people we have met and spoken to.
Bathed the kids in a bucket before a quick dinner of roast chicken legs and vegies on the weber. We had to rush cos they have a slide presentation on at 7 over near the kiosk with photos and stories about how the station works. I found it really interesting and would have liked to stay for all it but the kids had enough and wanted to go home for bed. Tim could actually lay in bed while he was putting Jordy to sleep and see them cracking the whip and divining for water.

We all sat outside again and watched for shooting stars and listened to the rumble of road trains passing by.

Day 46- Tennant Creek to The Devil's Marbles

2009-04-14T23:24:00.002+10:00

Another leisurely packup. We are getting the hang of it all now and can be up and on the way by 10 with no stress or rush at all. Headed straight out to the Devil’s Marbles which is only 100km south of Tennant Creek. We had debated about whether we would see it this time around (seeing as we really should be heading north) or see it when we leave the Territory. But we are just as likely to do a loop out to Kununarra and the Tanami Desert and link up back at the Alice when we leave as go straight back down and if we do that then the only thing between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs that we really wanted to see was the Devil’s Marbles so we decided to go the quick drive down now.

We were not sure what the camping area would be like and we knew it would be hot so we were really hoping there might be some shade. We lucked out and there were a few shady trees. And even better we were the first campers there so we got to pick two nice sites with a gazebo shelter in the middle. And there was a good breeze blowing that went right through the van so it was quite pleasant. Or it would have been quite pleasant if it were not for the flies that swarmed all around you and got in your mouth and nose and eyes and stuck on your skin and you could swat and blow and wave your arms at them and cover yourself in Bushman and swear and blink and spit and they still keep on coming!!! Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Anyway, we did a quick set up and then sat around in the shade for a bit. Jordy, when we managed to convince him to get out of the sun, did some drawing. Darcy climbed around on the picnic table under the gazebo or sat and ate in his portacot.
We were going to wait until later when it was cooler before we went for a walk but the boulders surrounding us were too hard to ignore so we decided to just go for a quick wander. Jordy was straight up the rocks and peering into the caves. When he climbed to the top of the first big rock he said “Phew, I‘m puffed! We‘ve climbed hundreds of metres! We‘re high up here!“ hehehe. Tim helped him to climb right to the top of the next pile so he could see out over everything and he thought that was pretty exciting. From up high you could actually see a rim of boulders almost circling the Marbles but way way out on the horizon near the surrounding ridges. The variety of boulders was amazing from the round ones to some really angular pointy bits and some that are almost rounded slabs piled on top of each other. You can see where some boulders have split and slid into a new position and then weathered away. We ended up wandering from nearly an hour before heading back to camp. We chatted to a few other campers (pretty much everyone out here is traveling long term) did some wildlife spotting (including an inquisitive dingo) and Darcy napped while we waited for the sun to drop. Around 4:30 we drove the few hundred metres from the camping side over to the day parking side of the marbles where there are information signs and stuff around a little walkway. Still too hot for Darcy so Tim stayed near the truck with him while the rest of us wandered and climbed. Apart from the main walking trail around the boulders there are also a million little trails worn by previous visitors that meander in and around the rocks and you could spend days just seeing it all. As it was Tim took the kids back to camp and Mum, Dad, and I meandered our way up, down, and around all the way back to camp. The rocks turned a wonderful deep red as the sun set. I was up amongst a big pile of rocks taking photos of the changing colours and could only see in one direction. When I finally climbed down and looked over at the sun it was just peeking over the horizon!!! And I wanted a sunset photo!! I was not near anything half decent for a photo so I ran ran ran back to the mass of boulders near the camping area and climbed super fast just in time to catch the sun disappearing over the horizon. Bugger! LOL!
Tim had the kids bathed when I got back and we were having last nights leftovers for dinner so we had a quick dinner and then sat around outside in the cooling air. The flies thankfully disappeared with the sun and the breeze picked up. We lit a fire and lazed about under a million stars in the crystal clear sky. A lone dingo made an appearance and Dad left out a bucket of water for it. It was not shy at all and came really close to us (actually, it was hanging around too close while I was having a shower outside and Tim had to stand guard for me).

I went in to the van when the kids went to bed but the others sat up for a while and enjoyed the sky show. The dingo started howling at 10:30 and woke Darcy (bastard) so that was the end of it for me. An early night so I can be up for sunrise tomorrow.

Even though the massive boulders are visible right from the highway and, if you did not want to stay overnight, you could drive past and do a quick walk around them and still get an idea of what they are like, I think staying overnight and having the chance to stroll all around the different sections and climb up on top of the massive piles of rocks makes it just magical. I am both amazed and grateful that the traditional owners still let us have unlimited access to such a sacred site. The Marbles are certainly one of the more amazing natural wonders I have ever seen.

Tennant Creek Caravan Park review

2009-04-13T23:29:00.000+10:00

Tennant Creek Caravan Park, Tennant Creek.
Stayed two nights. $27.50 a night. Two van parks in town and both charge a heck of a lot more than they are worth.
Overall- 2 stars.

Location- 5/10. At one end of town. There is really nothing exciting about the location.

Sites- 5/10. All dust and gravel for the vans. The tent camping sites had some grass. The sites were an average sort of size at the moment but from the look of it when tourist season kicks in i think they double up with two vans to each of the sites that we had and then it would be bumper to bumper.

Bathrooms- 4/10. Basic regular sort of facilities. A bit old and nothing special. Averagely clean.

Laundry- 4/10. Regular laundry facilities, $3 a load. Only two machines and we had a queue so in the busy season it would be crazy.

Shop- 6/10. Sold milk and drinks etc and had a tourist info section.

Pool- 4/10. Decent size pool all under cover with a plastic table and a semi-grassed area. The pool really needed a good clean.

BBQ area- 5/10. Camp kitchen near the amenties that was ok. And a single old BBQ near the pool.

Playground- none.

Other- there was a tv room but you'd have to be braver than me to sit in the lounge chair in there!

They gave us a discount card for the local BP servo for 3c off a litre that i thought was pretty good.

Day 45- Tennant Creek

2009-04-13T21:39:00.003+10:00

Well the actual town of Tennant Creek does not have a whole lot to offer.... it's not the safest town i've ever been in either. But we are staying today to do a day trip around the area to a few local spots.

But first, the unavoidable pile of washing! Then a catch up of old blog entries. Then a picnic lunch packed and off we go.

I was keen to see the Devils Pebbles. It is an indigenous dreaming site related to the Devils Marbles but the Marbles were sacred to the men, while the Pebbles were sacred to the women. Men were not allowed to walk through the land around the Pebbles unless they were escorted or asked permission otherwise they had to walk the long way around the region.
Beautiful stark country out here, but again, it's hot! LOL! You can actually smell the heat and the dust in the air in a way that i have never felt before (same as now i can smell water like i have never noticed before.) The Devils Pebbles is also a free camping area and we briefly considered it as we drove past yesterday but i am glad we did not stay there cos the heat and the dust and the flies are oppressive after a few hours. Beautiful! But beautiful in a harsh awe-inspiring way, and not a laze back by the palm fronds kind of way.

Jordy and i went for a walk around the Pebbles for a bit. Tim and Darcy just did the drive-past tour and then waited in the shade (and played in the dirt). Jordy got puffed out after half the lap so he wandered back and i followed the short track around the back of the Pebbles.
From there we went and had a look at the old Telegraph station a few kilometres on the other side of the highway. It was the original homestead when they ran the telegraph lines through. Must have been a hard living out here in those days (tell the truth i would not be so keen on living out here even now!). The station buildings have been really well maintained and preserved and as well as the largeish house and telegraph building there is also a smoke house, cellar, blacksmiths, butcher, and workers quarters. Was interesting to have a walk through it (you can just get the key from in town and wander through there yourself which i think is cool.)
And then as a break from the heat we called past Mary Someone's Dam on the way back to town. Not all that inspiring after some of the great dams we have seen recently. But there was a breeze and a park and we had our picnic while Jordy made friends (once again!) and played in the playground with the other kids.

Did not do much all afternoon. Swept the floor, washed the floor mats, folded laundry, did some more blog updates. Jordy spent the afternoon over at Mum and Dad's van and playing around the park with the cat that is here. He was feeding it bits of stick (and the stupid cat was eating the bits of stick??!!?). Jordy dragged a stick all over the van park, and i seriously mean all over... you can walk anywhere outside and you can see the criss-crossing road lines he has drawn all over the place.

At one point we had a knock on the door and a lady asked if we had a little boy called Jordan. "uuuummmm, yes?" Apparently he had been over at their van for some time playing with her son! It was all good and they were having fun cos he was about the same age but just in case we were looking for him etc etc.... Actually, we did not even know he was missing, how embarrasing! I went over for a chat after a while and they have been travelling for 7 years working all over the country.

Tim cooked dinner tonight which was lovely. Beef and vegie stew on the weber. Looks like i am in for a bad night with Darcy.... as of tomorrow he and i are back to simple simple foods in order to track down whatever else he is reacting to.

Happy Easter xxx

2009-04-13T07:26:00.001+10:00

we are in Tennant Creek. too tired last night to update but i'll do it today.
Hope everyone had a great easter!!!! Our love to you all.

Camooweal Billabong free camp review

2009-04-12T23:20:00.001+10:00

Camooweal Billabong.
Stayed one night. Would happily stay longer so long as the weather was ok.

Great free camp along the Georgina River just on the west side of town. The turn off is just on your left as soon as you cross the bridge. Then you head up the dirt road for 500m or more. We turned a little too soon and followed tracks through to a site that was totally fine but we found the easier road on the way out.

There is heaps of space around and plenty of shade. The river bank is mud flats though so if there has been a lot of rain i think it would get rather slippery and muddy in close. But the billabong is quite beautiful with lots of birdlife.

No amenities at all so you need to be self-sufficient. There are several fire pits and garbage bins. Not sure if you are technically supposed to have a fire??? But you can run a generator cos there is no one there to annoy.

Day 44- Camooweal to Tennant Creek

2009-04-12T22:56:00.001+10:00

Massive, MASSIVE day today.

But first, HAPPY EASTER! I was up early (Darcy always wakes around sunrise but i feed him back to sleep if i don't want him up! LOL!) to get some sunrise photos. It was not much of a sunrise but it was a lovely walk in the cool(ish) air.
Tim called out when Jordy woke up and discovered that the easter bunny had been and left BUNNY EGGS!!! :) We had hidden a few around the van for him to find and also given some to Mum and Dad to hide cos he has breakfast with them every morning. He was all excited finding them and it was a hell of an effort getting him to eat his weetbix. But he did! Then he could have an egg. But he held the different colours in a bowl and wanted to smell them. "Let's see what this blue one smells like." sniff sniff "Chocolate!!!"... "Let's see what this red one smells like." sniff sniff "Chocolate!!!" ... again and again. We then hid a few more around in the trees etc for him to find. He was rather funny looking for them. He'd stand and turn in circles and squat and get annoyed at not finding any. Darcy thought the eggs were funny and was pretty keen to try one but he was only allowed to look.
The excitment of the egg hunt over and everything packed up and the kids in the cars and off we go... NOT. Flat battery. Tim was not impressed. Took them another hour to get the batteries out of the van to add in series to boost the truck batteries (cos being 24V we could not use the battery charger/starter thingy) and then put the batteries all back in the van. So we had hot tired cranky kids before we even got on the road.

Not far to go though we were thinking. Just 12km down the road and the essential stop at the border for a photo. We are now in the Northern Territory. YAY!! I've never been before.
Totally bizarre but the minute we crossed the border we were hit with a massive storm of locusts that banged and bounced off the windscreen for 15min. The road quality dropped a notch and the speed limit increased to 130km (which made no difference to us cos we poke along around 90km/hr regardless.)

There are road side free camps all along the road to the Threeways and we had planned to camp overnight at Wunara Bore which is near enough to half way. We arrived there a little after 1pm and it was HOT HOT HOT and there were crazy flies and although there was as much shade as you could hope for out here (which is not much) and there was a picnic table it was just too hot and dusty to want to stop. We figured even though it is not much cooler in the truck (we don't use the air con) at least we'd be covering some miles. So a drink, a snack, a wander and a chat, and back in the truck. We put the DVD player on in the hopes that it would entertain the kids who had already slept for as long as we could hope for. We were not sure how much further we would get and when we drove past Barkly Homestead (where there is a basic van park) we agreed that if it turned pear-shaped and the kids cracked it then we'd just pull over and camp anywhere and fill the esky with water and give them a splash.

I spent the next leg of the trip constantly passing food and water over to the kids and singing songs and trying to keep them amused. We were starting to think that maybe, just maybe, we could achieve a miracle and make it all the way across the no-mans-land of the Barkly Highway and get to Tennant Creek.

Darcy got the shits about 20km out from 41mile Bore (which was over 350km since we left this morning!) so we decided to have a look at the free camp at the bore and if it was ok we'd stay the night, and if not i'd give him a feed, have a toilet break for us all, another wander, and use the jerry cans to top up our petrol.

41mile Bore was an ok camp, a bit more shade, but the flies would send you insane. If you were there later in the evening closer to the cool of night it would be fine but by this stage Tennant Creek was seeming enticingly close and i hoped that after a feed Darcy might sleep again. So before we all melted in the heat we climbed back into the truck and off we went.

We just counted down the miles until the Threeways and then we felt homefree. We pulled into the van park in town sometime around 5pm. An incredible 475km!! Which might be doable for some but with two little kids in this heat i think it is pretty great. They travelled like champions.

We are next to a lovely older couple in the park and our sites face each other so we sat and talked to them for ages about all sorts of things and where they have been and where they are headed and their families etc. Turns out they are related to the Turners at Warialda! Small world.

Coconut chicken and vegies on the weber and a lazy afternoon (what was left of it). Jordy was hyper all evening. Not sure if we can blame the three easter eggs he ate or the fact that he was confined to a carseat all day! But he ran around until far too late.

He would not eat his dinner though and afterwards he asked for another bunny egg. Tim said "No. No bunny eggs and no icecream. That's what happens when you don't eat your dinner." and you would not believe his reply! He muttered, "For *ucks sake!" Not sure who to blame for that.

Riverside Caravan Park review

2009-04-12T21:34:00.001+10:00

Riverside and Copper City Caravan Park, Mount Isa.
Stayed four nights. $26 a night. There are quite a few van parks to choose from in the Isa, none of them all that special but i think this was the pick of them. I'd probably stay there again.
Overall- 3 stars.

Location- 6/10. I think there is one van park that is closer to town than this but it does not have an internet hotspot, all the other parks are further from the centre of town. Nothing else exciting about the lcoation but nothing wrong with it either.

Sites- 7/10. Lots of drive through sites and most with a bit of shade. We were lucky and got to camp on a large grassy area instead of the regular van spots with slabs so i think that made it nicer for us.

Bathrooms- 3/10. The actual facilities were the usual stuff and would rate as average... but the fact that the cleaner was in there on Wednesday and even though we stayed until Saturday we never saw her come back through. There was bits of torn up paper on the floor and spilt stuff on the vanity counter that was just never cleaned and i have to admit i prefer a bathroom to be at least spot cleaned each day???

Laundry- 5/10. Regular laundry facilities, $3 a load. Bit of a hike down one side of the park.

Shop- 5/10. Sold milk and drinks etc and had a tourist info section.

Pool- 6/10. Decent size pool with a shady corner and a few tables etc,

BBQ area- 6/10. Camp kitchen at the end of the grassy park area that we camped on. Had a full kitchen with a big stove and sink etc etc and picnic table.

Playground- 5/10. Simple slide and climbing frame but enough to have the boys grinning.

Other- nope

Day 43- Mount Isa to Camooweal

2009-04-11T23:02:00.002+10:00

The kids played on the slide while we packed up camp.

We grabbed a carton of beer and some bundy, while mum and dad got some meat and vegies on the way out of town. Just a short uneventful 190km trip this morning. The town of Camooweal itself is just a pub, 2 servos, a police station and a centrelink office and not much else. We called into the pub for a quick beer while we waited for Mum and Dad to join us and then we headed just over the river for our free camp. We were not really sure what the camp would be like but the caravan park in town was nothing exciting so we figured we'd check the river out. Super glad we did. Big billabong with heaps of birdlife and there was a lovely breeze blowing so the temp was not too bad (in comparison!). We discovered after we had already set up camp that just an extra couple of hundred metres further along the track the camp flats went right down to a deeper section of river without the mud flats that we had... but there were a few less trees there so whatever- our camp was nice enough. The billabong was covered with birds and there were brolgas marching through the trees when we first arrived but our vehicles caused a mass exodus and we hoped they would come back once we settled in. Only 30min to set up and within 45min of driving off the main road we were sitting with sandwiches and a beer. There were lots of storm clouds brewing and we were not sure if it would turn into anything or not. We debated putting the bed flys on but decided not to. But the cloud covered cooled things off nicely and made the lack of air conditioning not such a big deal. The boys enjoyed exploring the camp area finding sticks and feathers and poking at the waters edge (where they were told to come back from just in case of freshies). Jordy got his binnoculars out to check out the birdlife with Dad and i. Darcy tried to copy :) Then Dad dug a pit for the fire with a bit of help from the boys. Darcy wanted to get IN the firepit but he is such a copy-cat that he learns pretty quickly how to gather sticks etc. I went for a walk around to see if i could catch some good bird photos. Not a huge amount of luck! But nice to wander and see what i can spot and try to follow them with the camera. I would have loved to have gotten a photo of the brolgas but never managed to be free with my camera when they were out. Super yummy steak and salad wraps for dinner and then we sat around outside and just enjoyed the quite and the fire. A light rain started to fall as soon as dusk came. It got heavier as night fell and a bit of a wind blew up. We were not all that sure about what the track in would be like if it got too heavy and the guys were both considering options for a quick escape off the mud flats if a storm really set in.

Day 42- Mount Isa

2009-04-10T07:59:00.007+10:00

Bloody great noisy garbage truck woke us all early this morning. Which was a good thing cos i wanted to get some sunrise photos from the lookout. So up and out the door super quick. It was still early false dawn but even then i think i missed the best photos by a half hour. The mine lights were all on and the black ore hills were just sparkling but there was too much ambient light to get a good shot. Tempted to try again tomorrow but i'll see how sunset goes instead. The full moon looked amazing. And we are 1860km from Sydney and 1307km to go to Darwin. Pity we can't fly as the crow does!

Got back from the lookout and had a slow breakfast and did the blog etc. Tim made some more icecream orange & mint sorbet. I had a webchat with Nardia and then we headed the 20km out to Moondarra Dam for a picnic and a look around. Not as big a dam as i had imagined but nice. Lots of ski boats and fisherfolk out there being a long weekend but there are a lot of BBQ and picnic areas and we found a table by the swimming section of the dam.

The boys had fallen asleep while we drove around and looked at the area. We almost went 4WDing as we headed up a dry rocky river bed to see what was up there! Got a bit stuck so had to turn back. Signs everywhere for crocodiles and the mozzies that have hit town with some disease (can't remember the name! but we are being careful anyway). So we left them to nap while we sat and had a drink and some cheese and biscuits. But the noise of kids playing soon woke them and they were into the food.

Jordy was keen to play and he is so funny. Not at all shy and he just wanders up and says "you wanna play with me?" First kids he asked were two older boys about 11ish and they just ignored him. Not at all bothered he headed to the next lot of kids to try again.

Darcy stole Tim's hat and walked around pointing at the galahs and dragonflies and smiling like a crazy man. There was a kite's nest right down low in the tree near the picnic table and he flew all around the hills but i was too slow to get a good in-focus photo of him.

Back to camp... started to sort things out for our departure tomorrow. Did some washing. The kids played in the personal playground! I took the boys for a little walk around the park. Jordy played the San Fransisco game on the computer with grandma and then had a swim.

Corned silverside with white sauce!!!! and potato and vegies for dinner. Darcy ate twice as much as i thought he would (minus the white sauce). They played throw and fetch for far too long and faught going to sleep until far too late!

We are off to Camooweal and we cross the border tomorrow into the Territory. We are stopping at a free camp and so will not have reception until the following day (actually, the following day might even be optimistic cos that will be around Barkly and i'm not sure what their internet reception will be like.)

Day 41- Mount Isa

2009-04-09T20:53:00.007+10:00

I am going to bore you again today with nothing interesting. Slow and lazy morning. Tim did an oil and filter change on the truck. I cleaned out some of the cupboards in the van that seem to be accumulating junk. Jordy cut paper with scissors and made snowflakes, and played with a balloon (short lived with the prickles in the grass!).
Darcy walked around collecting sticks (one of his favourite things to do) and played in the dirt (another favourite), and ate lots of food (his absolutely most favourite thing!). Later on in the morning Jordy and i went into the tourist info centre to have a look at The Isa Experience which is pretty much a museum and gallery. Mum and Dad went to the Underground Hospital (built by volunteers during WWII after Darwin was bombed in case Isa came under threat), and Tim and Darcy stayed adn did some work at the van.

Jordy and i had a great time at the museum. I kept trying to read and look at something and Jordy would yell "Look! Come here and look, Mum!" and drag me on to the next thing he had discovered. He especially liked the old telephone exchange desk with all the buttons. Mum and Dad said the hospital was interesting and good to see but there was not all that much to look at. They were finished and back to pick me up and we were only half way through the museum. They lucked out and were able to duck in and join me without having to pay so that was good.

We got back to the van and Darcy was giving Tim a hand being a big help working hard to install a fan at the back of the fridge. Darcy could not get the wiring quite right though and even after a couple of goes it was still not working. The fan motor died so we'll have to get another one next town we get to.

We talked about going out to Moondarra dam this afternoon before it gets too busy with holiday people tomorrow but we wanted to get one of Darcy's vaccinations done and appointments were limited so i did that instead.

And i wanted to go up to the lookout at dusk this afternoon (apparently the best time to see it) but dusk sucks as a time to do anything except bath and feed the kids so that did not happen either. I'll try for sunrise in the morning or give dusk another go tomorrow.

After dinner (homemade pizzas which were a big hit all round) Jordy took the torch and wandered off in the dark around the park area. Tim watched for a bit and then went over and asked what he was up to. "Lookin for frogs" apparently. We suspect that Dad must have shown him the cane toads cos when Tim pointed one out the first thing he did was stomp on it. Then he stomped again and again! Poor (disgusting) thing was only half dead so Tim showed him how to squish it properly. Now i would have thought that squishing a frog would upset him cos he loves animals and is forever telling me that the ants or spiders etc are his friends... but, no. He happily yelled "look, his bum's all red!". And then the two were off spot-lighting looking for more to stomp on. They got more than a dozen. I'll admit i don't really like the cane toads. I saw one for the first time ever at Innisfail and they give me the creaps. I like a nice pretty green frog any day.
It is now 9:30 and Jordy is still outside spotting toads with his Grandma! He had a nap today (i hate that!) and he is powering through.

Day 40- Mount Isa

2009-04-08T22:24:00.007+10:00

As predicted we did nothing interesting today at all! LOL!

Except we finally got Jordy's mop-head hair cut! "Yay" says everyone! I will admit that i love his curls but about a month ago his curls turned into a matted mess. And over the last week every single person that has met him has assumed that he is a girl. I do love his new hair cut but my god he looks different. It's incredible- It has totally changed his face.

Wandered around town. Bought some cheap shorts and singlets ($3.50! bargain!). Tim got an insulated cover for the Waeco (also a bargain at $75). Lots of friendly people here and we chatted to a couple of other families in vans near us who are also travelling and working. Got some good tips and found out a few places to visit. One family, John and Naomi and their three kids, are off to work at Daly Waters Pub so we will definately call in there on our way through.

Had a quick swim before i logged onto MSN for a LionsOnOz induction while Tim got stuff sorted to change the oil on the truck.

Baked chook in the microwave with potato and vegies. Then the boys and Tim played catch and fetch for ages (Darcy is hilarious and has a surprisingly good throwing arm). Some blogging and then bed.

Wal's Camp review

2009-04-07T23:35:00.000+10:00

Wal's Camp, Cloncurry.

Stayed 1 night. $10 a night for the site for up to 2 people. Kids (not infants) are an extra $2 a night. I think that if you had to pay more than $10 a night it would be getting close to not being worth it during hot weather. A bit cooler and probably not so bad. And if there were a bunch of other travellers there to chat with around the (basic) camp kitchen then it might have more atmosphere.

For a cheap camp it is pretty good but if you want grassed areas and decent shade then head to a van park. There are a number of thin trees that do give some shade, and the camp kitchen area has a nice shaded roof area so there is certainly shade but i think the gravel of the camp just radiates heat and we were there on a stinking hot day.

There is a fire place and a couple of picnic tables. (note that the fridge in the picture does not work! It's just a cupboard). Big troughs you can use to wash up in if you cart the water. You can run your own generator for power or if you stay a full week you can pay extra for power.

The toilets and showers are pretty decent. They are in a converted shipping container but are nice and clean with ample space.

In all honesty i would probably choose a van park next time but i think the extra advantage of power and grass and a pool for the kids makes the difference for us.