Darwin to Kakadu

Hello folks, we have been out of range for over a week now, so hence this update is a lengthy one and I am going to split it into two editions. 

Last weekend  we spent in Darwin (Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th August), and it was great. We familiarized ourselves with the city by going for a bit of a walk around town. The color of the water in Darwin Harbour is amazing but of course no swimming allowed, because of crocs and jellyfish.

We stayed a little out of Darwin and on Sunday morning we visited a nearby public water park with amazing waterslides and water fountains with an adjoining skate park, the boys had a ball and Mal and I really enjoyed going on the waterslides with Liam. 

In the afternoon we went back into Darwin city to go to Mindil night markets but they had been unexpectedly cancelled due to a burst sewer main, oh well it just means we have to come back to Darwin one day. 

We spent some time at the Darwin Museum and Art Gallery (an hour at least) which gave us a good insight into Aboriginal art and culture. We saw an exhibition on the devastation that Cyclone Tracy left in Darwin in 1974 and lots of animal species from the top-end, it's the safest way to see them, when they're stuffed. 

We headed out of Darwin on Monday morning (20th August), after a nice weekend spent in Darwin. We were heading for Kakadu and had been advised to visit Ubirr (pronounced: Oo-beerr), it was well worth the visit, we saw many rock art paintings on the rock walls and listened to a Ranger talk about the Rainbow Serpent, then we climbed to the top of the rocky lookout for the fabulous 360 degree view of Kakadu. 

 
 
On Tuesday morning (21st August) we had booked a 2 hour morning cruise on the East Alligator River (which has no alligators but plenty of saltwater crocodiles ie.the kind that eat you for dinner).
Fortunately the crocs are lazy at this time of the day, after a busy night feeding and they posed for the camera. 

Our guide explained traditional hunting techniques using spears made from a native hibiscus tree that grows along the banks of the saltwater river. The wood is very light and flexible, so you can spear a fish and the spear floats back out of the water to allow you to retrieve your catch without having to jump in the river, because you may well become a crocs lunch if you do that.

Liam has been super-keen to buy a didgeridoo and he finally got to choose one made by a local artist, from Kakadu.

 Now Liam has to learn how to play it, which has been one of our activities in the car over the past week. Both Mal and Liam can get the right sound but still have to work on their circular breathing.

From one Springs to another and another

I am going to backtrack a bit to give you a full review of the Springs we have been visiting and a bit more info. 
We arrived in Alice Springs on Sunday afternoon
(11th August), and checked in at the Big 4 Caravan park (a couple of klms out of Alice) which had plenty for the kids to do, playground, jumping pillow and other kids - yeahhh! 

Off again the next morning we had an expensive pit-stop at a 'Desert Dwellers' camping store where we 'invested' in a car fridge - that assisted with the store owner's Monday-itis, he was all smiles as we walked out. Liam also bought a 'fair dinkum' outback hat, which makes him look like a real cowboy.

Heading towards Mataranka we knew we would not make it the whole way so we stopped at a free camp site called Taylor's Creek- lots of red dirt, no showers and a long drop toilet and did I mention the red dirt? I have no photos of this, for which I am sure you are grateful.

Taylors Creek is only 50klms out of Wycliffe Well, which is the UFO sighting capital of Australia. Liam had a great time freaking himself out about being abducted by aliens - thanks Nanny!! As we passed through Wycliffe Well we took some photos of the Cafe/gift shop, blatant commercialism in the middle of nowhere - love it! 
Yes we bought a magnet to say we have been to Wycliffe Well. Here is a photo of Liam with his new friends, they weren't very chatty for some reason.

We kept on driving and on the way is the amazing site of (Devil's Marbles). We have looked at a lot of rocks recently, if not big red ones then Jay has collected a rock from each location - the car is getting heavier.

Next stop was a roadhouse on the highway called Renner Springs and our neighbours for the evening were a lovely couple from McMasters beach on the Central Coast, they gave us some great advice for our next stop - Bitter Springs. 

Bitter Springs is currently in Liam's favourite things we have done on our holiday, and you will see why from the photos. You walk 500 metres down the road where you are in National Park, you enter into the hot spring pool and then float downstream for about 50 metres then get out and walk up the path and do it all again. It was amazingly relaxing, just what we needed. Of course we had to do it all again the next morning, what a beautiful start to the day!

We continued north towards Darwin but stopped of at Batchelor so that we can spend some time in Litchfield National Park. We stayed one night in Litchfield National Park to see the absolutely amazing Wangi Falls. I have never seen or experienced anything like the freshwater billabong with 2 waterfalls cascading into it, of course you have to share it with about 80+ tourists but there is room for everyone. This has been one of Kim's personal highlights so far. 

Liam with a grasshopper in his hair, before he realised it was there, funny!

We have just spent the weekend in Darwin in a place called Howard Springs - 2 nights in one place is a real novelty so we have enjoyed it, but off again to Kakadu tomorrow.

The Red Centre

On Thursday night (9th August 2012) we stayed on the SA-NT border, ready for our trip to Uluru the next day.

We had an amazing afternoon at Uluru, we did a short walk around the base of the rock, and even though Mal and Liam wanted to climb the rock, the climb was closed. These are just a few of the great photos that we were able to take. (left)

We watched the sunset over Kata tjutu, which is 60klms away from Uluru, the colors in the desert at sunset are amazing. This photo does not really show the amazing blues and purples in the sky. 

On Saturday (11th August) we headed to Kings Canyon, which was 210 klms away from our campground, just a short drive in the scheme of things. 

We did the valley walk- rather than the cliff top climb. It has been nice to break up the driving with walks through such stunning scenery, even when we are driving there is always something to see, as the desert landscape seems to be forever changing.

We spent the night in Alice Springs last night and we are heading north towards Darwin today. We are hoping to make it to Wycliffe Well - where there have been many alien sightings. Liam is very concerned but fascinated at the same time. We will let you know if we make contact with whatever is out there. 

We made it to Coober Pedy

Aldinga Beach

Aldinga Beach is a beautiful part of the world and it was great to catch up with our friends Nerida and Chris - homemade pizzas were THE BEST! according to Liam the pizza connoisseur.

Jay and Lincoln had a good time playing with each other and all of Lincoln and Saphira's toys.

Port Augusta

On Monday morning we headed north out of Adelaide and there not as many skate parks or playgrounds along the way. We arrived in Port Augusta on Monday afternoon (6th August 2012) where we refuelled and stocked up with supplies to head into the desert. Port Augusta is a heavy industry town, you can hear the trains being packed up with cargo, massive containers full of the stuff that we buy everyday. You can see in the photos the train yards with the Flinders Ranges in the background.

Port Augusta

When we drove out of Port Augusta on Tuesday morning (7th August 2012) we noticed that the landscape really changed and it wasn't long before we saw a flock of wild emus (no photos, they were too quick).
 We drove all day and reached Bon Bon roadside rest stop where we stayed for the night. The sunset was amazing! The wind blew all night long and Mal had to rescue our 74c bucket from a group of feral foxes that were scampering around the caravan - McLean v's Wild - as Liam likes to call it. Jay's croc (plastic shoe) became a casualty of the playful foxes.

Bon Bon rest stop

We arrived in Coober Pedy on the morning of Tuesday 8th August and it is like no other town we have ever visited before. The underground shops and houses are unbelievable. We visited a museum that explained the history of opal mining in Coober Pedy and the boys were able to go 'noodling' looking for tiny opals in the rock pits.
We found a playground and skate park at Coober Pedy, which made the boys very happy.

We are heading north now towards Alice Springs however we expect to have one night at a roadside stop simply because it is 683klms to Alice.
We are really enjoying the adventure of not knowing exactly what the next day holds.

We are on the road again from Vic to SA

We are on the road again.

We had 3 nights in Melbourne and really enjoyed visiting friends and getting around the city.

We had an amazing Italian dinner with Joc, Joe and Naomi (thanks guys! we really enjoyed living it up and dining out in Carlton).Kimmy got to catch up with Kirra for a coffee in Brunswick (we were thinking of you Kel).
Mal caught a tram with the boys into the city and then rode their scooters at the local park, while Kim worked hard at Life in Style tradeshow (she had a bit of fun too).


We headed north west out of Melbourne on Saturday morning (4th August 2012), through Ballarat and the Big Koala, where we put Nanny's ice-cream money to good use.
We arrived at Stapylton campground North Grampians, which offered a multitude of wildlife and some beautiful scenery of the surrounding mountains with some short bushwalks. We cooked over the open fire (sausages of course) and had to keep the magpies off our dinner,

Everyone is going to ask why we didn't do the Great Ocean Road, and we will certainly come back to Victoria in the next few years to do that, as it is something we want to see, but we are keen to get back on the road and head north to NT then over to WA, we only have 8 weeks left (which sounds like a lot but we have a lot of klms to travel yet).

We are excited to be visiting Nerida, Chris, Lincoln and baby Saphy today, so we will be crossing the border from Victoria to South Australia and arriving in Aldinga Beach this arvo.

Fun on Phillip Island

As promised here are some photos of our stop at Port Albert (where we stayed on Sunday night 29th July 2012), it is very quiet there in winter.
The weather moves in quickly and then passes. We had raincoats on then off then back on again, but we did get to enjoy our fish'n'chips with the locals (check out the big grey albatross at the back).


We have been having some fun today on Phillip Island, we did have a little sleep in (as we arrived here yesterday arvo) and then made crumpets with peanut butter because we are at a Caravan park with the luxury of having a toaster in the camp kitchen...it's the little things in life! (sorry, no photos of these).

We went for a drive around the island to get our bearings and have some awesome photos of' The Nobbie's' (a rocky outcrop of land on the South Western tip of Phillip Island) there were no seals to be seen but it was still a stunning view, and we did see a little penguin in it's hutch.

We visited the Chocolate Factory on the Island, 'Yes' that is Liam eating a penguin (chocolate penguin).

Then we headed off to the Penguin Parade - which has been commercialised amazingly well. The little penguins arrive on dusk and there are hundreds of them. Everybody sits on steps waiting for them to arrive, then you can follow them along a series of timber boardwalks, (just like the ones at The Nobbies). You are not allowed to touch the penguins, but they are sometimes less than a metre away. It was a sight to see, but no photography allowed, which is understandable, there were about 300 people waiting to see these little creatures catch a wave into the beach and waddle their way up the grassy dunes to their burrows.

The boys are sound asleep and we are going to join them. You will not hear from us for a few days as we are heading into Melbourne. Kim is helping out Jocelyn and Joe at a trade show and Mal is going to spend some quality time with the boys - 2 against one, anything could happen.