week 17 at Kakadu

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!

Day 53- Katherine

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.

Day 49- Daly Waters to Mataranka

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!

Day 48- Banka Banka to Daly Waters

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.

Day 44- Camooweal to Tennant Creek

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.