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.
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