Darwin

On Sunday 24th July we decided to feed some fish.  Liam, Jake and Benjamin feeding the fish at Aquascene in Darwin. There were literally 100's of fish ranging from milk fish, mullet and cat fish. The milk fish were the largest at about 1.5 metres long. We feed them bread and must have gone through 50 loaves. As you can see we all loved it. It made it easier to know that none of the fish were apparently good eating.

                                                      Benjamin enjoying the feeding frenzy

                                                              Liam about to pat a fish

                                            Jake and Benjamin must have fed the fish for over an hour

                                                         Jake and Liam patting the fish

 Me about to feed a milk fish. By the way we all still have our 8 fingers and two thumbs in tact after the feed.

After the feeding of the fish we visited the Military Museum. Sue and I thought the boys might find this a bit of a drag, but we were pleasantly surprised, the boys loved the exhibits and learnt a lot about the 2nd world war and Darwins involvement.

                                                          Jake in control of a large truck

                                     One of the huge guns used to defend Darwin against the Japanese.

 After taking these photo's and having lunch in the shady gardens Sue and I were horrified to read on the brochures that it was asked that people do not touch or climb on the exhibits. Oopppppps

The next day Monday the 25th, we visited Berry Springs which was about 50 km's south of Darwin and just on the northern tip of Litchfield national park. We spent just under 4 hours hours there swimming. We all brought our snorkeling gear and saw heaps of fish in the springs. The water was beautiful and sue did not hesitate to jump in. We did have a bit of a scare early on. Whilst swimming in one of the three pools for about half an hour and as more people started joining us, a couple of German tourists came up to us and told us that they had seen a crocodile. The said it would have been about 1.5 metres long but were unsure if it was a fresh water or salt water one. Another person reckoned he spotted it swimming around and needless to say Sue and I told the boys to hop out. To play it safe we moved to another pool. I am happy to say no one was to have a close encounter with the croc whilst we were there during the day. Advice by the NT govt is that a fresh water croc will only cause you dramas if it is approached and has no where else to go. As Berry Springs was fresh water then it was most likely a freshy. If is was a saltwater croc that would have been a different scenario, it would have been like the jaws scene with people rushing out of the water in record time.

 Today, Tuesday 26th we visited the western corner of Kakadu. We booked a cruise with some friends (the boys friends Lachlan and Annabelle and parents) to view crocs. The cruise is referred to as the jumping crocodiles. The boys were itching to see some crocs and they were not disappointed.

Prior to the cruise starting we each got a chance to hold a snake, an olive python. Liam Jake and I had a go whilst Benjamin was happy to touch it and Sue still shaking in the corner was taking the photo's and video footage.

We then jumped on a large boat and were treated to crocs being feed from the boat. As the crocs are feed it is enticed to leap out of the water which makes an impressive sight. As seen below.

 By the way I have grown a beard since leaving Gol Gol on the 3rd July. At the moment it is driving me crazy at it is very itchy. I should say that I promised the boys that I would grow a beard during our trip. When I asked them if I should shave it off that all pleaded with me not too. We eventually negotiated that I will shave it off on Benjamins birthday (9.08.2011). It can't come quick enough.

After an hour of watching crocs, sea eagles and falcons being fed we headed back much to the disappointment of the boys. They had a ball and so did Sue and I.

Tomorrow is our last day left in Darwin until we head to Kakadu proper for 4 days. We have really enjoyed Darwin and would like to stay longer but we know that there are many more places to visit.

Love to all and will speak to you later

Alice Springs to Darwin

 Well after a long break from the blog writing we are back sorry for the delay. As you will see we have kept ourselves busy. As shown below our last day in Alice Springs reminded us of home, as you can see Alice was covered by low lying cloud and the temperature topped 9 degrees. It didn't stop us enjoying the desert park but it had us running to the warm cafe at any opportunity. The next morning we made our way to Devils Marbles praying for hotter weather as we we had planned a campsite with no power and just a drop pit toilet. Thankfully the heavens broke and blue sky prevailed. As you can see below this was our view exiting from our tent from our campsite.

 We were also able to climb these rocks and you can see our tent between Liam and Jake. We really enjoyed the campsite and weather was getting better. The boys also made friends with a couple of kids at the Alice Springs caravan park and by luck they were also at the same campsite at Devils Marbles. This was to continue until Darwin. Our close encounters with Dingoes continued, Sue saw one lurking before going to bed and the next morning Benjamin and Jake came running over to Sue and I saying there's a wolf. It was a Dingo just scanning for food harmlessly. A good lesson for the boys to see a Dingo in the flesh, so to speak.

On our trip from Alice to Devils Marbles we drove through Tennant Creek. We were about to fill up with some LPG when a vehicle, seen below reversed into our car. Luckily Sue had just got out of the vehicle and walked to the rear of the car. A couple of seconds earlier and it could have been a lot worse. Obviously this driver was not looking as she reversed. I quickly jumped out after a few choice expletives thinking we were stuck in Tennant Creek for at least a week because of one stupid driver not paying attention. Anyway, getting side tracked I exchanged licences with the driver after convincing her to stay put, I think she wanted to take off. Sue snapped a couple of photo's and I tried to deal with this women with her many kids in the car.She was not even interested in inspecting the damage to either car. A witness ventured out and after all the commotion the damage was minimal despite the loud bang. Thank god we were off again.

 

 After leaving Devils Marbles we drove to Daley Waters, where the real hot weather started. That night we had a meal at the local famous pub, we had the barra and beef bbq and were treated to some country music and comedy.

After having our meal at the Daley Waters pub with the parents of the boys new found friends Lachlan and Annabelle we decided to follow them to Mataranka. We stayed at a non powered site in the Elsey National Park. That night we had a campfire ( which the boys ansd I really enjoyed) and cooked a bbq on it. We were also treated to all the wild animals and there noises during the night and morning, including wild donkeys I kid you not. After the boys friends left the next day we decided to stay another night and went for a walk in the national park. The boys were keen to see their first wild crocodile, Sue and I were less keen. Unfortunately the boys didn't get to see a croc but the walk was still enjoyable. We visited Mataranka Springs that arvo and the boys swam in it until they were wrinkled as prunes, Sue also got in quickly which just shows how warm the water was, said to be 34 degrees.

 Our next stop was Wangi Falls in the Litchfield National Park. We again selected a non powered camp site which was fantastic but our battery for the fridge was running out of power. The days were hot although our campsite was well sheltered by trees and the nights were balmy we slept with only a sheet and our windows open to let the breeze in. The next day we visited Wangi Falls which was a very short walk from our campsite. Unfortunately we could not swim due to the high water level, apparently rumour was that due to a coroners finding as a result of a couple of Japanese tourists drowning a maximum water level was set and lately this water level had exceeded its limit. Anyway there were plenty more waterholes and springs. As you can see we visited a few, such as Florence falls and Buley waterhole. On a hot day we spent all day enjoying the fresh clear water the kids and Sue and I loved it. 

At the campsite in Wangi Falls the boys (mainly Jake) got to work on a bush cubby which just happened to be in the shape of Australia! Liam added Tasmania to finish the job. Jake swept the leaves to make this clearing.

                                          With the boys new found friends in a stream at Mataranka.

                                                       Mataranka in a little stream.

                                                                   Florence Falls.

 Jake and I swam to the water falls at Florence Falls and enjoyed an invigorating cold shower NT style.

 Liam and Jake in the groove of holiday mode and the hot weather at Buley Waterhole.

 Mr teacher trying to get my students to concentrate, I am just about to get the strap out as a last resort.  Mind you 99% of the teaching is being done by Sue (just as well), whilst we are driving between destinations. Which I think is working well as the kids don't have to do much school work when we arrive at a new place. The kids have been doing spelling, maths, reading and writing a journal. Actually I think I am learning more than them. Anyway the boys most times tackle their school work with enthusiam.

                                                       A termite mound in Leitchfield.

 The magnetic termite mounds at Litchfield. They were everywhere whilst we drove along the highway. Some were huge.

After leaving Litchfield we were all looking forward to Darwin and staying in one place for 7 nights. Darwin has been great, we are currently on our 3rd night the weather has been perfect early to mid thirties. Sue the boys and I have spent many hours swimming in pools and not the local rivers or sea as crocs are said to be everywhere. We visited the Mindle markets and watched the sun set. The boys are happy as Lachlan and Annabelle are also in Darwin. They are in another caravan park but we have and will continue to visit some of Darwins sites together. We plan to hand feed fish tomorrow morning and early next week will go on a boat trip to feed crocs which the boys are looking forward to.

The boys continue to keep busy which is evident by there appetites and Sue and I at times have had some time to relax after the many kilometres we have driven over the past 3 weeks. We have noted that we have driven a third of our total kms in the first month. So the next part of our trip will be more relaxed and less kms  just the way we like it. Bye for now, love to you all.

Kings Canyon to Alice Springs

 Kings Canyon was amazing. We stayed 2 nights and went for a 3 hour walk around the rim of the Canyon and took a picnic lunch. I felt like a Japanese tourist I took so many photos! The weather was mild and sunny (about 16C) and we all really enjoyed the day.

 We left kings Canyon and took the short cut down the Ernest Giles Rd which is a dirt road  which became a bit hairy as our sturdy, new 4 bike rack started bending more and more as we drove. Steve pulled over half way along to find the bike rack at a 45 degree angle with the road. The metal bike rack had bent under the weight. It had started bending even at Mildura. We took the bikes off and had to leave the bike rack on the side of the road and strap all the bikes to the top of the camper trailer with a spare piece of rope. We decided we needed to lighten the load by sending Steve and my bikes back home and we had quotes of $90 per bike to send them back in boxes. We spoke to a nice couple in the pub whilst having dinner that night and they offered to take our bikes home on their trailer and they were heading home the next day to Melb. They will hold onto them until we get home and then we'll collect them. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and will hope that we are good judges of character and will get our bikes back. Now we have just the 3 boys bikes which we can strap to the trailer safely. The boys have been enjoying riding their bikes around the caravan park and as of today Benjamin can ride his bike without training wheels and with no help from us. He practiced up and down the little road in front of our camp site.
The weather is cold and rainy at present. It started raining on the night before leaving Kings Canyon and has rained on and off ever since. It's only about 14C in Alice today. We tried going to McDonalds to use the free internet but I couldn't get the laptop connected. When I asked the staff they said a lot of people have trouble getting the internet there. We'll try again in Darwin.
We are getting used to the travelling lifestyle and enjoying the adventure.
Sue, Steve and Boys.

Uluru and the Olgas

A busy day but had lots of fun. We started off at Uluru. We were all blown away at its size and beauty. Sue was taking so many pictures she was like a Japanese tourist. Jake, Liam and I attempted to walk up the rock we got about a 1/3 of the way but decided that we would head back to enjoy the rest of out holiday. Bloody high and windy.

We then went to the Olgas and walked for about 2 hours. The boys were tired and the track fit for goats but we all pushed through. I thought Uluru was good. I think the Olgas just piped Uluru and our photos dont do it justice.

Off to Kings Cannon tomorrow speak to you then

The reidys