Darwin Day 2

I forgot to mention that the medicine diagnosed for Chelsea had to be taken every six hours for the next seven or eight days. This meant 10:00pm, 4:00am, 10:00am and 4:00pm. The alarm was set and we were up at 4:00am to syringe the 3.2 mils of medicine down Chelsea’s throat, what a joy this was!

Time for some schoolwork for Chelsea and Josh this morning, well after all we cannot have them falling behind in their education can we!

Cathy and Skinny ventured out to the shops this morning so I took the option of taking Chels & Josh for a swim in the pool.

After lunch it was off to the Museum and the “FART” gallery, well that is what the sign said as we approached it! I think that it was the Art gallery, but Josh really liked the other name. He wanted to know if he could go inside and fart? He was waiting for the sounds and smells! They never came and he was disappointed!

We had a look through the museum, with a great deal of interest in the display of cyclone Tracey. Chels had completed an assignment on this for school and so we were interested to read this information and to see some of the local information.

We spent some time looking around the museum and taking in the information. Chels especially liked the science area and spent a bit of time there.

After this it was back to Mindil Beach, this time for a swim, well for some of us anyway. We can now say that we have swum in the beach at the top and bottom of Australia. The water was actually quite warm and very enjoyable, especially for Josh who did not want to get out.



That night, it was decided that we would go to the quiz night at the bistro to show the Victorian brain power in action. Well we did that, we did not answer many questions at all. I was told to just relax on my holidays and that is exactly what our brains had done, relax! You guessed it, we did not do very well at this but it was a bit of fun anyway.

Had to go to bed after that. Well we had worked the brain really hard! (not)

Darwin Day 1

There are two places that I hate waiting, one is a bank and the other is the Doctors’s surgery. Today we had to wait at the Doctor’s Surgery to find out what was wrong with Chelsea. The appointment was for 11:45 and we had to sit there until 1:00pm before she was scene by the doctor. I am not sure why they make appointments when they cannot keep them.

Chels went in and about twenty minutes later she appeared with the news that she had pneumonia, well at least that is what the Doctor has diagnosed. We now had to go for a blood test, a new experience for Chelsea, and then a chest x-ray so they could have a look and see what was happening.

We headed off to get the test completed to find the Xray people at lunch till 2:00pm but we were able to get the blood test. Chels was not looking forward to this so we got it over and done with but had to come back later for the xray. What a great day!!

After all this was over, it was time for a drive to see what Darwin had to offer. A drive around the city sites was the plan that we set off with.

After a drive through the city, we headed out to Mindil Beach for a walk and feel of the water, yes it was warm and we wished we had our bathers with us, oh well there is always tomorrow.

We kept following the esplanade area when Cathy thought she sighted Damien from 'The Biggest Loser.' I drove a bit further, but it became evident that there would be little peace if I did not turn around to see if it was really him. Eventually we found the person and yes it was him! Chels, Josh and Skinny jumped out of the car to get an autograph and once they confirmed who it was Cathy joined them. They were all so excited!

After this it was back to the van, well as far as they were concerned nothing could top this!!

Jabiru to Darwin

What an exciting (not) but necessary day. We got up, packed and got in the car for the trip to Darwin the top of the Stuart highway before we started to head South and turn right.

It was goodbye to Kakadu, which is a park that covers a very large area and hello to a major city again. We arrived at the Spirit Resort in Darwin, it was hot and the kids ran under the sprinkler to get wet and cool down. We then found the pool, yes the water was cold, and then sat back and relaxed for a while.

A quick trip to the supermarket was the highlight of the afternoon! Well we are on holidays!

It was a very uneventful day actually, but we booked Chels into the Doctor because the cough was getting worse and worse.

Jabiru Day 2

Chels has developed a bad cough and so we decide that we should take it a little slower today, if that is possible and so we have the morning to sit and relax. Well what else are holidays for?

We headed off after lunch towards Cooinda for the Yellow Water Cruise but before we arrived we stopped at an Aboriginal Cultural Centre. It was the Warradjan Centre just outside of Cooinda. These centres are often in the middle of no-where, but well worth a visit as it helps us to understand the culture a lot better. There were displays, video art and artefacts that all helped tell the story of the people in the local area and how they survived, found food, found medicine, made baskets and much more.

It was then a chance to quickly check out Cooinda, mainly a resort with accommodation and a caravan park and not much more. This could have been a good alternative for a night but we were happy at Jabiru anyway.

Then onto the cruise which turned out to be very worthwhile adventure. The guide on the boat pointed out the many different types of birds, a few crocs and any other wildlife that we could see.

Josh was extremely excited to see some wild horses, two lots in fact and this really made his day well his week actually. He got to see the stallion and the mares and quickly tried to name them all. While we were looking at the next thing, Josh was still looking back and dreaming about those wild horses.

We learnt about the habitat, the wildlife including birds, crocs and much more. The cruise went for about one and a half hours and then we were back on dry land. We were told that in the wet season the water was at least two meters higher than it was at the present time, this was very hard to imagine bit would be very interesting to see and compare to today.








Back to Jabiru for the night and after a little bit of packing up it was off to bed before heading to Darwin the next day.

Jabiru Day 1

We made an early start, well not really early, to see some of the famous rock art that is contained in the Kakadu National Park.

We made our way to Nourlangie Rock, not only to see the impressive rock formation but also to view the impressive Aboriginal rock art that had been painted on it many years before. We walked through the rock formation, viewing shelters, galleries and great views and were amazed by the art before us.





We then climbed to an impressive lookout where we were able to look and see the Kakadu National Park as far as the eye could see.

After this we headed to a billabong to do a walk around and see the wildlife and surrounds. There were birds, a kangaroo and yes we saw a small crocodile sitting on the edge of the water in the sun. We did not get too close to this, well I was not aloud to.



It was then off to another look out, by this time it was starting to get a little warm and so it was decided this would be our last. It was a slightly more challenging climb but well worth the effort. We were able to look back at the rock we had just walked around, over the billabong we had visited and at more of Kakadu. A truly magnificent place!

After a swim in the pool and relaxing a little more we decide to head off to Ubirr to see some more rock art and watch the sunset over the wetlands.

We were lucky to be there to hear two talks from the Ranger, again a part of the free talk series, firstly about the rock art and then about the wetland area. She was extremely passionate about what she did and this was shown in the way she spoke and relayed the information.

We had the main gallery explained to us, about the paintings as there meanings. The guide explained the story of the art, and how this was a continual story that was often painted over and over as the new generations arrived. It was a story book of the development of the area, with different animals, people and landscapes, all very interesting.




We sat and heard about the aboriginal heritage and culture of the area, being asked to remove our shoes and feel mother earth under our feet. The guide spoke of an aboriginal gentleman who wanted this land to be preserved not just for now but forever and how he became a pioneer for the Aboriginal people and wrote books about his experiences and culture.

It was then a case of sit back and relax and watch the sunset over the big wetlands before us and just take in what we could see. The sun seemed to set slowly but when it came to the horizon, it disappeared in a matter of seconds. This was a very worthwhile experience and highly recommended.





Back in the car and join the queue of cars back to camp for the night.

Katherine to Jabiru

It was time to leave Katherine and head off to our next destination in Jabiru, better known as Kakadu. We headed north to Pine Creek and then turned right to the Kakadu National Park.

The countryside varied along the way from desolate country to a fairly dense bushland. We started to see some of the many billabongs and creek systems that make up Kakadu and were on the lookout for the first crocodile(Salt water type)!

When we arrived we found that it was a public holiday for the Darwin show and so the supermarket was closed and we went without the bread we were expecting to have. No great cause for concern.

After checking in at the Kakadu Lodge Resort, this was after the staff finished their BBQ lunch, it was time for a cool swim in the pool. They have not heard of solar heating and cover the pools with a very heavy shade cloth, good for the old slip, slop slap but does not warm the water at all.

Made a trip to the Information Centre to make sure that we had everything ready for the next couple of days. It does get hot here quite early so we wanted to get a couple of walks in before the heat set in.

After sorting out our plans, it was just time to sit back and relax! Well what else do you expect?

Katherine Day 2

We were off early this morning to Katherine Gorge as we wanted to complete a walk to a look out before heading off on our cruise. This is certainly amazing countryside and is always a surprise to see so much water in an area which you do not expect.



The walk was up a fairly steep hill and was worth the effort to see both the Gorge from a different perspective and also to view the surrounding countryside. We often say that the world is sometimes a small place and while sitting at the lookout we spoke to a couple from Melbourne who lives around our area. The guy had made a delivery to our local nursery the week before, so we found that that South Morang is still on the map.

We decided to do the three Gorge cruise that was to last for three to four hours and allowed you to swim in the Gorge through the day. So after a bit of morning tea, it was a long exhausting walk of about one hour, we headed off to the boat to sit and relax and take in the views.

What spectacular scenery it is. We travelled through Gorge one, there are thirteen in total, before hopping out of the boat to walk to the next Gorge and get on the next boat. In between we saw some of the Aboriginal rock art which was explained to us by our guide for the day.




The second Gorge was just a spectacular as the first but not as long and it did not seem long before we were of the boat and walking to the next Gorge and boat number three.

This was the shortest Gorge of them all, but still worth seeing. We were informed that the Gorge is purely made up of rain water that falls primarily in the wet season and provides water to this area all year round. As a result, the water level varies throughout the year and they have to use different boats during the wet season. At this time, the travel the whole three Gorges without leaving the boat and in a much quicker timeframe. We could only wonder what it would look like of the water level was three to four meters above what it was now.





On the return journey, we pulled into the bank for people to swim in the Gorge if they pleased. To this point we had not seen any crocodiles and so it all appeared to be safe. I could not wait to get in, but not many others joined in. Skinny and Josh stayed to the edge and just got wet, but Chels and I swam out into the middle of the Gorge before returning to the boat. A great experience!

Katherine Day 1

After a very late start to the morning, well it was after 10:00am, we headed off to the town of Katherine to have a look around at the information centre and shops to see what was on offer.

We spent little time at the information centre, viewing a video on the top end and getting some more brochures and information. It was here that we noticed more and more orange tractors appearing in the area and later learned that they travelled from all over Australia and had meetings on a bi-yearly basis. While together they did fundraising for the Royal Flying Doctor and children’s hospitals in the areas they visited. I thought that doing at eighty-five to ninety kilometres and hour would be slow, but some of these travelled at fifty to sixty at top speed!

After a bit of lunch we headed off to Katherine Gorge with the greatest intention of having a swim, Josh was the keenest, well as you can guess the swim did not happen. We did however get to see the start of the Gorge and booked a cruise for the following day and so it was not a total waste of time.

We retuned to Katherine and went to the thermal pool for a swim, this was a mixture of man made areas and natural creek beds. It was nowhere near as warm as Mataranka, which suited some but not others. We had a good swim there for about an hour before returning to our caravan park for the evening.

Of course Josh and I did squeeze in another swim at the caravan park, chels had a bad cough and so decided not to take part.

Manyallaluk ( then to Katherine)

We woke after a good night sleep, most probably because it was so quiet and prepared for the day ahead. We were to get to an aboriginal cultural experience ad were looking forward to it.

Slowly all of the Guides appeared from the local village and set up for the days activities and Josh headed off to have a talk with them while we packed the van ready to leave at the end of the day for Katherine.

We waited for a coach load of Americans to arrive, a group of students on a cultural experience before commencing and started a little late but still happy.

We started with a walk through the bush with our Guide, John, who certainly had a good knowledge of what was around and had grown up in this area with his parents. He spoke of the many plants and animals of this area and explained their purpose to the Aboriginal people. At one stage he dug, in what appeared to be a pile of dirt and produced two plant roots that were bright red and were used for dying clothes or plant fibres used for the basket making.

He surprised us all by grabbing a leaf off a tree that was full of ants and held it to show us what it was. The problem was that the ants were stinging him and running all over him but he wanted to show and tell us what they were used for. You could eat them, he did, but they were quite bitter, and you could also use them as a cold and flu medicine. This would be in a similar way to current Vics that you rub on you chest, by squashing the ants and then rubbing the juices on your chest.

There were plenty of other examples of food and medicine that he showed us along the way.

We then got to do Josh’s favourite, didgeridoo playing. John was very good at it, the rest of us well let’s just say that we are not going to make a career out of it with some very strange noises made. Josh produced the best sound, although he did not quite get the hang of the circular breathing, neither did I.





Lunch was a BBQ which included sausages, steak and kangaroo tail, yes that is right! We started the other activities. By the way we did all try the kangaroo tail except for Josh and while not the most exciting meat, was not bad either.

While waiting for lunch to be finished, josh went for a walk and spotted 'Big Red' an old horse that had stayed in the area after the farming had stopped. The horse was free to come and go as he pleased but got a treat today as he was fed a few lettuce by Josh & Chels.

We then did some spear throwing, visited the gallery of art, did some basket weaving, painting(we have the proof of this!) and fire starting using sticks. All very interesting and made it for a great interactive day. We were very lucky to be given the paintings that were drawn by the guides, of course ours, especially mine was better!





It was then a case of doing the last minute packing, saying good-bye and then on to Katherine. It was back along the dirt road and then on to Katherine for a couple of days to explore the Katherine region.

Mataranka to Manyallaluk

There was no rush this morning and so we did not pack up the night before but left it all to do before we left. We only had a short journey of just over one hundred kilometres and were not sure of what to expect when we arrived so took our time.

We were still all packed by 10:00am and of course had to have one more swim (relax) in the hot thermal pool. After unwinding again, well we had packed up, we thought it was time to make a move and so headed up to the front of the park for morning tea before setting off.

It was then off in the car on our way to Manyallaluk to hopefully get an experience of aboriginal culture and expose Chelsea & Josh to what this people is all about.

We were only on the made road for a short while before we headed off into the bush along a stretch of unsealed road. There was certainly plenty of dust everywhere and the car and van turned a shade of red as we left a dust storm behind us.

We arrived at the camp site and no-one was around at all. We had a quick look around and finally found the pool, a small man made swimming hole filled by a natural spring that was very cool and refreshing. We spent most of the afternoon on our own, expecting someone to come and talk to us but no-one came. Well not exactly no-one, we did get greeted by two dogs that followed us everywhere. They were Freddie and Reptile.

Eventually, out of the bush, we met one of the guides named Nathan, who became friends with all of us, especially Josh. We found out that Nathan was a Collingwood supporter and that gave he and Josh something to talk about for quite a while. Eventually the footy came out and they had a kick together, both in bare feet, josh soon had a bright red kicking foot! He had fun anyway.

After talking to them for a while we headed off up a walk to see the sunset over the range and look at their village from the higher vantage point. They have built a hospital, school and sporting facilities and are in the process of rebuilding their community to offer something worthwhile to its population.

We ended up being the only people there for the night and lit a campfire, sat back and relaxed with the sounds of silence. Quite a strange experience being the only people around!

Mataranka

There is little more to do here than relax, swim, relax, swim, relax, swim and so that is exactly what we did.

We did venture out to Bitter Springs, about three kilometres down the road for some more swimming in a different spring. While the swimming area at Mataranka was man made, at Bitter Springs, it was a natural setting. We had been advised to take goggles and snorkel and we were glad we did, what an amazing experience. I would never have thought about looking under the water, but we were all glad we did, even if Cathy nearly drowned.

At Bitter Springs, where it was more a swimming hole we were able to float down a small section and view the scenery both above and below the water, well worth it. Josh and Chels had their own surf mats and Skinny and Cathy shared one. Now depending on who you believe, either Cathy was trying to drown Skinny or Skinny was trying to crash Cathy into all of the trees. Whatever the story, they both laughed and cackled like a couple of young kids.

This is an experience not to be missed, as long as you can swim. The basic difference between the two pools is that at Mataranka, you sit or float and relax where as Bitter Springs is more of a place to swim and enjoy the surroundings.

Renner Springs to Mattaranka

As we had been able to go a little further yesterday than planned, we had a shorter day than expected, still about 400 kilometers, but were able to arrive in Mattaranka by mid afternoon and head for the warm mineral spring baths and relax.

A highlight of the drive today was a visit to “Fran’s Teahouse” just north of Larrimah. This was advertised as a place where we Fran had opened a Coffee Shop in the Old Police Station and was a local identity not to be missed. Well we did not miss it, and while we paid a little more for our food, it was worth paying for the entertainment, Fran.

She was in a small kitchen, hidden behind fly screen and made her way to the door in the next room to take the orders from people, one client at a time. She did not like being watched and told us not to do that. Fran has been cooking pie for over thirty-five years, twenty-five in her current location. Cannot say it was a restaurant, a café as we are still not sure what it was but the food and entertainment were great!





Then it was on to Mattaranka where, after setting up the van, we were all able to go and soak in a warm spring bath. The water came out at about thirty-four degrees and so pleased some of us but not others as it was a little too warm and just like a bath. (Well for one of us anyway!)

This is a very popular stopping spot for people to sit back, relax and unwind after a long days travel and now we know why. I think Cathy could have stayed here for a few more days, weeks.

Nothing more to do here than just sit back and relax and so we did!

Alice Springs to Renner Springs

After packing up and getting on the road well before 8:00am, it was sit back, relax and get ready for a long days driving. We had every intention of making it to Threeways, but would wait and see how we got on through the day.

There was the obvious apprehension about the car and if it was really right and ready to start the next phase of the journey, but we could only take the mechanic at their word and start going. Thankfully all went well.

This is the end of the first part of our amazing journey, now it was time to set off on part two from Alice Springs to Darwin. (With a few stops along the way of course!)

We stopped for morning tea at Ti Tree, lunch at Wycliffe Wells,( a place we had originally planned to stay at) and then continued on. Wycliffe Wells is the place in Australia that has the most sightings of UFO’s and I think that this was one of the attractions of staying there. It is actually a service station with a bar, shop and caravan park and not much more. We did not think that we missed too much.




On through Tennant Creek, a proposed day stop on our original plans, and further to Threeways. It was here that we needed to make the choice of whether we were going to turn right and head for Queensland or keep on going and although tempting, well not really, we kept on going.

We passed by Devil's Mable's and had a quick look at the rocks. It was amazing to see how some of the did not roll away, they seemed to be sitting in limbo. Would have liked to spend more time here wandering around, but maybe next time.




We had started driving before 8:00am and finished after 5:00pm so it was a long day on the road. There were no fights between the kids and we had a pleasant day in the car. As for Skinny and Cathy, that is another matter!

We drove onto a small place called Renner Springs, again little more than a service station, a pub, a small shop, some units and a caravan park but that was all we needed.

We actually felt the heat for the first time and it was away with the winter PJ’s and on with the summer ones. This was the first night we were able to sit outside and gaze at the stars until we were ready for bed.

SUMMER IS HERE! Sorry to all our Melbourne friends and families! (Not!)