Sat 20 Aug 2011 Eighty Mile Beach to Karijini National Park

0900 (11335 km) Had raisin toast for breakfast. HM bought some ice cream from the caravan park office - $2 a scoop. And there were really good. It is worth it to just go to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park to have ice cream, if nothing else. Had planned to have it for dessert night before but we were too late and they had closed. Quite good facilities at the office - they have fresh food, and even have some takeaway food at very reasonable prices (and this is in the middle of nowhere - no towns for over 250km). Apparently the park used to look even better, with lots of shady trees, etc. Cyclone Laurence in 2009 devastated the caravan park and it has taken a while to re-establish the park. Left the caravan park. On the drive to Port Hedland, we saw white industrial safety helmets on the termite mounds. Looked like people. Very cute.

Kids playing on this arty sculpture

1200 (11584 km) Port Hedland. The kids ran up and down of the circular modern art sculpture at Port Hedland. Lunch of sandwiches. Filled up. Long drive - interesting how it all changes from very flat plains to the mountains with steep orange, rusty red cliffs on the way. Should make a movie at some of these areas we've driven through.
1545 (11919 km) Karijini National Park. Went to Visitor Centre. Quite new. Went to Dales Camping Ground. Site 30 on Bungarra Loop. It was a nice big site and had a long drop toilet, no water, no power. But gas BBQs were provided as there were no fires to be lit. Dinner of rice and mince pork.

Fri 19 Aug 2011 Broome to Eighty Mile Beach



Eighty Mile Beach - truly beautiful



0720 (10948 km) MK had a skype session with his class.

0800 (10948 km) MH had a skype session with his class.

0900 (10948 km) Had toast for breakfast. Left Broome.

1300 (11279 km) Sandfire roadhouse. Filled up.

1400 (11335 km) After 10 km of gravel road, we got to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park. There were no more powered sites. Site 152. Went to try fishing. Looks like no one is getting any fish either. So, went for a dip in the sea. The tide was still going out so the kids kept going further and further out. The water edge became a long, long way from where we set up initially. There were lots of shells of different shapes and sizes. Apparently there were even more shells the week before. Must be washed up from somewhere else. The sunset of this never ending stretch of beach was beautiful. Could easily stay here for a few more days to relax, but unfortunately more things to see, leaving tomorrow. Had dinner of schnitzel with pasta salad.

Thu 18 Aug 2011 Broome

0900 (10907 km) Had raisin toast for breakfast.

1000 (10907 km) Left for a drive around. Went to the port. We saw huge chains, the links were the size of people. There was a rock with a hole on Riddell Beach so we went to take some photos. We came across a jelly fish stranded on the beach. Naturally the kids attacked it, as kids do. The tide was coming in and cut off our beach return, so we clambered over and under some rocks to get back to the car. Kept driving along and went to the beach to see the Pindan Cliffs. The burnt orange cliffs came down to white sands that led to the turquoise sea. That was quite a contrast and a great photo opportunity. The loop drive took us back to the town. Had a quick look at Town Beach and the water park. The water park was small in comparison to others we had been to before. So we went shopping instead and headed back to the caravan park.

1300 (10937 km) Filled up. Lunch of toasted sandwiches and caught up with some blogs and Chinese homework.

1630 (10944 km) Went for a drive on Cable Beach. There were over a hundred cars on the beach. Many people had quite a set up next to their cars - tables, umbrella, kids playing. Probably waiting for the sunset. Had a look at the camel rides. There were three groups - red, yellow and blue. The camels smelled bad and made funny noises. Wonder how they get all those camels onto the beach. Had dinner of rice and mince pork.

Wed 17 Aug 2011 Broome



Dinosaur's foot is bigger than Ming Kim's



0630 (10858 km) Woke and left at some ungodly hour to see the dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point. They can only be seen at certain times of the month when the tides are super low. We had to find them before the tide came in. There were already people there searching for footprints. They found them so we just milled around the 3 dinosaur print positions and took photos. We could see the tide coming in. Also looked at the cast dinosaur footprint at the top of the cliff.

 

0725 (10865 km) Left the dinosaur footprints.

0735 (10873 km) Cable Beach Surf Club. There was a talk on "Turtle Magic", mainly about the flat back sea turtle that nests on Cable Beach. There is a group of volunteers who work tirelessly every year during nesting season. They have to get up early every morning to spot the turtle nests and record GPS positions. They may also assist baby turtles back to sea if required. Apparently a few years ago, a turtle came out of the water at 4:30 pm in the afternoon and laid eggs! The volunteer had taken photos of that and show us the site on Cable Beach. It is a pity only 1 out of 1000 eggs survive. Apparently, there was a year there were only about 600 eggs, so statistically, there would have been no new turtles that year. How sad.

0900 (10873 km) Went to town.

0915 (10880 km) Chinatown. Had breakfast at McDonalds. Took photos with the Hard Hat Diver statue. Went down Johnny Chi Lane. Saw Sun Pictures which is an old open air cinema. It is amazing it is still standing and operational. Hope it doesn't rain much. Walked into several pearl shops and saw a 21mm diameter pearl, valued at about $84,000. Just a bit of spare chance. HM bought a pearl necklace. Went shopping for groceries as well.

1250 (10888 km) Back to caravan park for lunch of hotdogs. Went swimming and body boarding at Cable Beach. There were great waves for body boarding for the kids. Not too big, not too small.

1800 (10888 km) Dinner of sausages and lamb chops.

1950 (10888 km) Went to Golf Club to view Staircase to the moon. After touring through the town, we finally got to the Golf Club. The moon was starting to get smaller.

2050 (10907 km) Back at caravan park.

 



Tue 16 Aug 2011 Broome

0800 (10833 km) Deliver car for service at Shinju Motor Group. Got dropped back at the caravan park. Had pancakes for breakfast. Catch up with washing, blog, emails, tidy up the camper.

1200 (10833 km) Had lunch of noodles and dace. Went swimming. It was a nice pool, salt chlorinated.

1700 (10833 km) Went to pick up the car. They were very nice. And very busy.

1700 (10853 km) Went to Cable Beach to watch the sun set. Beautiful. It was low tide so the water was very, very far away. Had dinner of soft tacos.

Mon 15 Aug 2011 Nillibubbica Rest Area to Broome

0900 (10704 km) Breakfast of cereal. No toast since there was no electricity. Left the rest area.
1015 (10812 km) Broome. Went to Visitor Centre and went shopping for groceries.
1200 (10819 km) Palm Grove Caravan Park. Bowl 4. Nice park - had a lovely shady spot. Had toasted sandwiches for lunch. Went swimming in the park pool. The water was just nice. The facilities were clean. Great park.
1715 (10819 km) Left for Staircase to the Moon market at Town Beach.
1730 (10826 km) Town Beach. There was a market and so we bought dinner from the stalls. Brought our chairs so we got to eat our dinner in comfort. Sat by the beach and waited for the moon to rise. And then it rose. Staircase to the Moon. There! Done it. Lots of people taking photos. The flashes were going off in all directions. Someone shouted "The flash won't work. Turn it off." Quite nice. The moon rose as a red ball with some lines representing the staircase. Rises quicker than one expects. HM had to learn to use some more functions of the new camera so that she could take photos of the moon.

1930 (10826 km) Went home. The field car park was full and people parked in every position so some cars were actually blocked in.

1945 (10833 km) Caravan park.

Sun 14 Aug 2011 Fitzroy Crossing to Nillibubbica Rest Area

0715 (10359 km) Left for Geike Gorge National Park.

Geike Gorge

0735 (10383 km) Geike Gorge National Park. We got on the 8am boat cruise along the Fitzroy River. The limestone gorge had high cliffs that were white at the bottom (up to flood levels), blackish at the top and red in other places. There were bottle swallows (fairy martins) flying around and they had made nests on the underside of the ledges. Yes, the underside, which means they are glued upside down to the ledge. Every year the wet season washes away the nests and the birds have to rebuild them. We also saw fresh water crocodiles. The kids had fun counting the crocodiles. The trick was to not double count them on the way back.

0915 (10383 km) Left Geike Gorge.

0945 (10404 km) Fitzroy River Lodge. Filled up. Packed up.

1030 (10407 km) Left Fitzroy River Lodge.

1215 (10568 km) Boab Rest Area. It had a huge boab tree and was hollow in the middle. We could just imagine how someone could have lived in there. Lunch of Ritz, Cruskits, cheese and tuna.

1255 (10568 km) Continue on our journey to next rest stop.
1430 (10704 km) Nillibubbica Rest Area. This is a freestay 24 hour rest area. Quite a number of caravans around. It has a stinky drop toilet. Dinner of pasta bolognaise. The kids lit a fire and sang songs and played games.

Sat 13 Aug 2011 Fitzroy Crossing

At Windjana Gorge

0845 (10048 km) Breakfast of cereal and toast. Left. Got onto 100km of dirt road (not too bad) and some water crossings to Windjana Gorge National Park.

1130 (10203 km) Windjana Gorge National Park. Saw an Olive Python on the walking track. It was just minding its own business. There were crocodiles swimming around and basking in the sun. There were quite a number of them and people were taking photos of them, including HM with her new camera. They were fresh water crocodiles and so they are not as dangerous. Did not see any salt water crocodiles in the area. Also saw lots of fish, including the Archer Fish. Chatted with 2 couples we had met several times since Katherine - what a coincidence we keep bumping into each other. Had lunch of chicken sandwiches.
1400 (10203 km) Left.
1445 (10240 km) Tunnel Creek National Park. This is an amazing creek that has formed a tunnel under the limestone Napier Range. Armed with torches, we walked and waded through it to get to the other side of Napier Range. At certain sections, the water was waist deep (or armpit deep for MH). Everyone enjoyed the challenge of going into the darkness and water. We found lots of fish and crustaceans in the water. There were also bats hanging from the ceiling, and little waterfalls.
1630 (10240 km) Left, passed heaps of cattle.
1830 (10359 km) Back at caravan park. Dinner of fried rice.


Going through Tunnel Creek



Fri 12 Aug 2011 Bungle Bungle Caravan Park to Fitzroy Crossing

0815 (9635 km) Left Bungle Bungle Caravan Park.
0930 (9747 km) Halls Creek. Quite a rough place. Had to search for diesel - the main petrol station had run out. So we had to go to the other one, and there was a long queue of campers, motorhomes etc. Roaring trade at $2.00 per litre!
1245 (10039 km) Fitzroy Crossing River Lodge. Nice caravan park. Site 85.
1515 (10040 km) Went to check out the town and shopping. Expensive - cheapest bread was over $5.00. Rough looking town although the government stimulus program is working - new housing and shopping centre. Lots of Aboriginals hanging around.
1520 (10043 km) Information Centre.
1620 (10045 km) Filled up with cheaper diesel, after finding out the Shell station had run out of diesel. Obviously diesel is in demand.
1630 (10048 km) Back at caravan park. Had dinner of sausages and falafel.

Thu 11 Aug 2011 Bungle Bungle National Park to Bungle Bungle Caravan Park



The sun streaming into Edhidna Chasm
 for a few minutes each day



0830 (9545 km) Left Kurrajong camping ground.

0900 (9559 km) Mini Palms Gorge car park. It was a hot 2.5km walk to the gorge. We got to some boulders that appeared to be blocking the path. And we had to go under, go over and squeeze through the boulders. The path kept going until we got to some steps. The steps led up to a platform that overlooked the spectacular Mini Palms Gorge - except there was hardly any palms - probably destroyed in the last wet season.

1115 (9561 km) Walked to Echidna Chasm. The towering conglomerate walls of over 100m opened up a gap for us to squeeze through. In some areas, the kids could stretch their arms out and touch both sides. At around midday, the sunlight streamed into the narrow chasm creating a fantastic view.

1230 (9561 km) Left Echidna Chasm.

1300 (9531 km) Back at Visitor Centre. Had lunch of bread, corn, ham and cheese.
1400 (9531 km) Left Bungle Bungle National Park.
1550 (9633 km) Got back to caravan park. Dinner of indomie and spam.

Wed 10 Aug 2011 Bungle Bungle Caravan Park to Bungle Bungle National Park

0800 (9432 km) Left caravan park and our camper trailer behind as the road was going to be too rough. Drove 2 hours along a 53 km 4WD track on a cattle station (the only access road) to get to Bungle Bungle (Purnululu) National Park.
1000 (9484 km) Purnululu Visitor Centre.



'Bee Hives' - Bungle Bungles NP

 1100 (9512 km) Lunch of sandwiches. Went on Piccaninny Walk - very hot, cloudless day. Walked amongst the 'bee hive' stripey domes. The domes are caused by the different layers laid down millions of years ago when it was a sea bed. Some layers are more porous and the orange is caused by the iron. The other layers are darker because of the lichen/moss that grow on the surface. The walk took us on a hot walk and then into a cavernous amphitheatre. An amazing sight indeed. Just trying to imagine it in the wet season with water gushing down the gorge walls and the water obviously swirling around to form the huge cavern. Met Christian, Taija and their grandma, Rhonda. Our kids started to skip stones across the waterhole in the middle of the gorge with Christian.



In the cavernous Cathedral Gorge amphitheatre



Panoramic photo of Cathedral Gorge - doesn't do the real thing justice

1315 (9512 km) Left the Southern area of the National Park.
1410 (9545 km) Got to Kurrajong campsite (north area). Set up tent etc under a lovely  shady area. Kids played with Christian and Taija. Met Glenn.
1730 (9545 km) Dinner of spaghetti.
2000 (9545 km) Rhonda made some ginger damper and cake in the fire! No need any special temperature control. Turned up quite nice. Nights quite cool - Ming Kim asking for a jacket! And this is the child that goes to school in shorts and t-shirt all winter!

Tue 9 Aug 2011 Kununurra to Bungle Bungle Caravan Park

0830 (9095 km) Left Kununurra.
0915 (9145 km) Arrived at Halls Creek turn off. Dropped off the camper trailer at the rest area as we didn't want to take it on the corrugated roads into Emma Gorge.


At Turquoise Pool



1015 (9179 km) Emma Gorge Resort. Looks very nice. The walk to the gorge was hot in places, rocky, crossed the stream a few times. Then we got to Turquoise Pool. And the water was clearly turquoise. A bit more climb and we got to the Emma Gorge plunge pool. It was big. It was cold. We jumped in any way and swam to the right side of the pool and the water got warmer! There were hot springs that came out of the right cliff that warmed the water. There was even a pool of warm bath temperature water. Then some of us chickened out of swimming through the cold water to get back to shore and clambered over rocks to get out.

Emma Falls

1330 (9179 km) Got back to Emma Gorge Resort - all hot again, and had lunch at the car park.

1440 (9213 km) Back at the Halls Creek turn off. Fortunately the camper trailer was still there. Pumped up the tyres and hitched up the camper trailer and away we went.

1630 (9375 km) Warmun. Filled up.

1730 (9432) Bungle Bungle Caravan Park - a very new and basic caravan park just at the turn off to the National Park. Site 15. Dinner of rice and chicken.

Mon 8 Aug 2011 Kununurra

0900 (9020 km) Breakfast of toast. Left.
0930 (9037 km) Went to Zebra Rock Gallery. The Zebra Rock was amazing. The stripes and patterns in the silt rock were very interesting. It is mined in a place nearby - there's only a few sites around there, and no where else in the world. Some of those sites have been 'flooded' during the recreation of Ord River Dam, so it is pretty rare.There was another similar type of rock called primordial rock that was lighter and had more colours. Bought a pack of small  Zebra Rocks. Another highlight was feeding the fish. The river was frothing with black catfish waiting to be fed. Then, showed the kids archer fish. Held some bread out over the railing and  within a few seconds a jet of water shot out from the water and hit the bread accurately. It is the archer fish spitting at the bread to get it to fall into the water so it can be eaten. Didn't see any crocodiles, apparently they turn up from time to time. There were also other animals there - talking cockatoo, peacock, etc.

Boab Tree

1045 (9037 km) Left. Stopped by a large boab tree with a hollow big enough to fit a person. Can just imagine people in the past finding places like this to stay in. Also had a look at the Diversion Dam. It was releasing an incredible amount of water. There was a huge difference in water level between one side of the dam and the other. At the Celebrity Tree Park, we saw the tree planted by Alison Lester, the author of the children's book "Are we there yet" that is the inspiration of this trip. Through some miraculous coincidence, we stumbled onto this tree out of all the trees scattered through the park.

1330 (9073 km) TFS Sandalwood factory.
1350 (9073 km) Left. Went shopping.
1420 (9091 km) Filled up.
1445 (9095 km) Back at the caravan park. Dinner of pasta.

Sun 7 Aug 2011 El Questro to Kununurra

0700 (8895 km) Pack up. Breakfast of bread and muesli. Washed up at the station. We have been leaving early as the days are soooo hot - gets hot by 9am.
1015 (8911 km) Real 4WD track with deep river crossings, deep bull dust tracks, rocks to El Questro Gorge. After an hour of scrambling over rocks, we found a really clear refreshing pool with a small water fall. This was the half way point of the El Questro Gorge and was called the Half Way Pool. Spent some time there cooling off and looking at fish. Really refreshing. To continue on the gorge, you had to wade through waist deep water and there was a huge boulder to climb over and that wasn't easy.



El Questro Gorge

 1300 (8911 km) Got back to car - hot and bothered again and had rolls for lunch.
1330 (8911 km) Left El Questro Gorge.
1530 (9017 km) Back to Kununurra. Went shopping.
1600 (9019 km) Caravan Park. Had dinner of burgers.

Sat 6 Aug 2011 Kununurra to El Questro

0745 (8747 km) Left. Had breakfast in the car as we wanted to get to El Questro Wilderness Park early to get a private campsite. Lots of dirt road and corrugated roads. Our teeth were chattering, our whole body tingly and numb from the bouncing in the car. The car's information display screen went off - died, kaput!
1000 (8853 km) Finally, after a river crossing of about 50 cm, we got to El Questro Station. Really nicely set up. Checked in and chose a private campsite 8km away along a 4WD track.


Zebedee Springs



1045 (8860 km) Zebedee Springs. It is magical. Really nice warm clear spring water flowing down the rocks. At one point, we could see the water coming out of the ground between the roots of the Livistonia Palms, as if out of nowhere - it was bizarre. Could have stayed there all day. Unfortunately, they actually close the springs to public at 1200. Oh well, we had our turn.

1200 (8860 km) Left Zebedee Springs.

1300 (8876 km) Went to our private campsite called Kite. It was on the other side of the Pentecost River. So we had to do more river crossings, up and down hill, sand driving. Good thing we had a 4WD. Set up campsite, which was right next to the river. It felt like we were the only people in the world. Tried some fishing but didn't catch anything.

1615 (8876 km) Went to the station.
1645 (8886 km) El Questro Station. Checked out the swimming area but it was cold. Cooked pasta carbonara and had showers.
1845 (8886 km) Drove back to campsite in the dark.
1910 (8895 km) Got back to campsite and played cards and then went to sleep. The only people in the world.

Fri 5 Aug 2011 Kununurra

0830 (8505 km) Breakfast of toast. Because of the change to Western Australia time zone, the sun rises at about 5.30 am and it starts getting hot by 9 am.
0930 (8509 km) Went to Mirama National Park, which is just on the outskirts of Kununurra. It is also known as the "Mini Bungles Bungles". Had lots of domes with layers. Went on a short walk up to the top and it overlooked the surrounding area.
1000 (8513 km) Visitor centre and shopping.
1100 (8516 km) Lunch of baked beans, bacon and spaghetti. Went for a quick swim in the pool to cool down.
1330 (8516 km) Left for Wyndham.
1345 (8522 km) Filled up and picked up census forms.

At the 5 rivers lookout

1530 (8633 km) Wyndham. Went up to the Five Rivers Lookout. Saw the rivers King, Pentecost, Durack, Forrest and Ord all joining up. Awesome sight. It was really wide. There seems to be a lot of industrial work and mining around Wyndham.
1615 (8637 km) Strange statues of "Dreaming" of an aboriginal family with some animals like kangaroo. There were a number of aboriginals hanging around the area. The children appeared to be "attending" class being taught by some elders. Some women were carving boab nuts. One of them came up to us and offered a carved nut to us. We had a look and bought a nice black carved boab nut from them. It was interesting that they had a box of XXXX beer and everyone there was just helping themselves. Then we went to see the largest boab tree in captivity. It was huge. Really huge. And there was a donkey just hanging around the area.
1630 (8638 km) Large crocodile statue. Had a sign that said don't climb.
1715 (8676 km) The Grotto. Had 140 steep and narrow steps down to a water hole that had lots of birds. Smelt of bird droppings. There was a rope over the waterhole. We could imagine in the hotter weather there would be lots of people there jumping into the water.



The Grotto - see the steep steps going down to the waterhole at the bottom? They're scary!



1810 (8747 km) Caravan park. Had dinner of kebabs and rice.



Thu 4 Aug 2011 Katherine to Kununurra

0900 (7980 km) Breakfast of toast. Left Katherine.
1230 (8267 km) Timber Creek. Lunch of sandwiches.
1330 (8267 km) From here on, we started seeing Boab trees! They are the "upside down" trees or "opera singer" trees. Very strange looking trees. It has a large branchless trunk and leafless branches up the top. Some of the larger ones had "graffiti" where people had carved names, etc. on it.
1415 (8455 km) Quarantine check. Crossing into Western Australia. Change time as well, add another 1.5 hours.
1500 (8501 km) Kununurra. Ivanhoe Village Caravan Park. Site 111. Lovely caravan park with nice swimming pool.
1630 (8501 km) Visitor centre. Lots of information and very busy.
1700 (8505 km) Back at caravan park and had dinner of mushroom pork noodles.

Wed 3 Aug 2011 Darwin to Katherine

0930 (7643 km) Breakfast of toast. Left Darwin.
1330 (7953 km) Arrive at Katherine Low Level Caravan Park. Site 26. Lunch of sandwiches.
1430 (7968 km) Went to Top Didj Aboriginal Cultural Experience. It had been recommended by friends. Manuel told us about some aboriginal stories and his background. The we split up - some did dot painting (desert Aborigines) with Adrianna and others did raark painting (Arnhem Land style) by Manuel. Then Manuel told us that we were honorary members of his Dalabon tribe. Also tried our hand at fire lighting with sticks and spear throwing. MK killed the kangaroo. CK got its leg. Fed some rescue wallabies, Oliver and Honey. Had a great time - highly recommend the place.

MH throwing the hunting spear



Feeding Honey, the abandoned Agile Wallaby

1815 (7974 km) Filled up. Shopping



1830 (7980 km) Caravan Park. BBQ sausages and steak. The tricky thing about the BBQ was that it said to turn on at gas bottle. However, the gas bottle was nowhere to be found. It was actually on the other side of the shelter under a shelf between two bins!



Tue 2 Aug 2011 Darwin

0930 (7568 km) Cooked pancakes on BBQ for breakfast. Kids did some homework - catch up with blogs and journal. Always behind, also need to do other school work and Chinese lessons but no time today. Bring down annex. Lunch of rice porridge.
1430 (7598 km) Shopping at Casuarina Shopping Centre for bathers and crocs - the kids' things are wearing out already!
1700 (7612 km) Walked on the Esplanade.
1730 (7614 km) Walked on Mitchell St and Smith St. Dinner at Vietnamese Restaurant.
2050 (7614 km) Say bye to the other 4 as they were catching flights back to respective homes.
2100 (7635 km) Filled up.
2130 (7643 km) Back at caravan park.

Mon 1 Aug 2011 Darwin

0945 (7447 km) Left for the Jumping Crocodile Cruise.
1045 (7501 km) After some gravel roads with funny signs like "Rental vehicles welcome", "Don't rush, we can see your dust", we got to a run down shack and jetty. There were a few cruises to choose from - we decided to go with the small 30 people boat operator (not the double decker touristy boat), so that we could get real close to the crocs! We all got into this tin boat. Even before we left the jetty, the huge "Dominator" had come up to the boat. It was huge! And the tour operator got it to jump out of the water! We also saw the 3 legged huge "Brutus" as was in the newspaper. He also showed us some smaller female crocodiles. We also got to see a nest with eggs. It was amazing - all that in an hour!


We were so close, we could practically touch it!



1230 (7501 km) Left Adelaide River.

1300 (7522 km) Went to Window to the Wetlands. Had lunch of sandwiches and pasta. Amazing visitor centre in the middle of nowhere.
1545 (7559 km) Shopping.
1615 (7567 km) Caravan Park. Swimming. Wash cars. Dinner of honey chicken, rice, pea and ham soup.

Sun 31 Jul 2011 Darwin

1115 (7356 km) Left for the city. As it was Sunday, there were a lot of markets around, so we had decided to do the rounds of mot of them.
1200 (7392 km) Rapid Creek Market- lots of stalls including food stalls! Lunch of a mix of Asian foods. We bought a large jackfruit and pomelos. Then went to Nightcliff market. MJ and MH bought some crystals. We bought some star apples which look like a large mangosteen but the flesh is milder in taste and very refreshing.
1430 (7402 km) Arrived at Leanyer Water Park. Fabulous for water fun! Pool, water slides, water activities. And all for free!


CK and MH on the raft water slide

1715 (7417 km) Mindil Beach Sunset Market. So busy. Lots of food, stalls, people. Dinner of fish and chips. Then snow cones! Beautiful sun set. Lots of people were organised -  brought chairs etc and had dinner by the beach/lawn areas! Not much spare space. Could be that it was a public holiday the next day.

Eating rainbow snowcones with Yeh Yeh and Mar Mar

2000 (7417 km) Left Mindil Market.

2030 (7438 km) Filled up.
2100 (7447 km) Caravan park.

Sat 30 Jul 2011 Batchelor to Darwin

0945 (7110 km) Packed up and left for Litchfield National Park.
1010 (7145 km) Termite Mounds. We looked at two types - Magnetic and Cathedral. The Magnetic Termites build mounds that "face" the sun and wind and as such it appears they are magnetically aligned. The Cathedral mounds look like cathedrals with fins that radiate from the centre.
1120 (7156 km) Quick look at Florence Falls.
1140 (7160 km) Quick look at Buley Rockholes.
1210 (7189 km) Lunch of Indomie at Wangi Falls. Had a good swim at the plunge pool. There were lots of fish around. Swam across to the waterfall and found there was a "spa pool" naturally carved into the rocks. Then lost the goggles. The kids put on masks and searched the bottom of the plunge pool and found it! MK dived in and retrieved it.
1445 (7189 km) Left Wangi Falls and drove towards Cascades. There was a 1.3 km walk and so we decided to give it a miss as it was too hot to walk that far.


Florence Falls



1530 (7231 km) Went back to Florence Falls for another swim. Lots of people there. Ron swam across the pool to rocks on the other side and someone started shouting. There was a snake right next to where he was sitting. Like lightning, Ron jumped off the rocks. Whew! Close call. There was a lot of fish around, fairly big too. Swam to under the falls.

1650 (7231 km) Left Florence Falls.

1730 (7277 km) Pick up camper trailer at Batchelor Resort Caravillage.

1845 (7356 km) Arrived at Howard Springs Caravan Park, just south of Darwin. Site 128 and Cabin 13. Dinner of pasta.

Fri 29 Jul 2011 Katherine to Batchelor

0945 (6825) Shopping at Katherine.
1000 (6828) Filled up.
1100 (6891) Arrived at Edith Falls, which is part of Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park. Magnificent pool. We brought in flippers, body board, wet suit and braved the cold water. Once you get in, it is fine. We hung onto the body boards and paddled to the falls (about 150m away) and back. It was great fun, highly recommended. Had lunch on the grassy banks when suddenly something slithered across the path. A black snake!  It disappeared into the grass. Later saw a yellow snake slither across the grass, near where we were sitting. Later worked out that it was a water python. Also saw the green tree ant and their habitat. The ant had a green bottom. Really green. The habitat was up in the trees and looked like a clump of leaves. They were everywhere.
1345 (6891) Left Edith Falls.
1600 (7109) Batchelor. Checked in to Batchelor Caravillage. Site 28 and Cabin 10.
1650 (7109) Played 18 hole mini golf. Saw bird feeding. Apart from the bird seeds, they were being fed porridge and cheese. BBQ dinner.

Thu 28 Jul 2011 Mataranka to Katherine

0900 (6656 km) Breakfast of toast and packed up.
0930 (6656 km) Barramundi feeding show at the place we were staying at (Territory Manor). The fish were bigger than I expected! Huge! And they ate with a "boof" sound. MJ went into the water to feed the fish. Brave boy. Fortunately he still has all his fingers.
1030 (6658 km) Filled up. Go to Katherine.
1145 (6769 km) Katherine. Site 374. Checked in and ate lunch. The others had arrived the day before in Cabin 392.
1215 (6769 km) Go to Katherine Gorge.

1245 (6797 km) Katherine Gorge. Bats! Bats hanging on the trees. Must have been thousands. Went on the two gorge cruise. There was an incredibly large rock art halfway up a cliff. Apparently, the art was painted when they were more rocks around the base. The rocks have moved and so the art is left halfway up the cliff. Katherine Canyon had 2 sheer cliffs on either side and looks magnificent. Passed some 'raining rocks'. They were part of the cliff where water seeps in form the marshy area on top and then starts dripping where it overhangs the river. Lots of people were kayaking around and swimming. Saw a baby fresh water crocodile on a log - he was quite well camouflaged. Very cute. Learnt the words "logadile" and "rockadile".

Freshwater crocodile

1530 (6797 km) Left Katherine Gorge.

1600 (6825 km) Set up camper trailer. MK did his Maths Olympiad. Kids had a swim in the cold pool. Cooked Fajitas on the BBQ and ate by the pool. How civilised.

Wed 27 Jul 2011 Tennant Creek to Mataranka

0915 (6059 km) Breakfast of toast. Left Tennant Creek. Filled up.
1200 (6315 km) Elliot.
1345 (6470 km) Daly Waters. Lunch of sandwiches and rolls. Had a look at the pub. It had collections of memorabilia such as caps, t-shirts, underwear, bras and other personal items. The collections were contributed by visitors.
1445 (6480 km) Filled up.
1630 (6650 km) Mataranka. Site 32. Quickly set up and got changed for swim.
1700 (6654 km) Bitter Springs. It was nice and warm - a constant 34 deg. The water was very clear and we went in with snorkel, goggles, flippers and surf boards. Tied our footwear to the boards and drifted down the creek. Saw fish and a long-necked turtle-just like Tickles! Walked back on the track and floated down the creek again! The water was warmer than the air.
1850 (6656 km) Dinner of spaghetti bolognaise.

Tue 26 Jul 2011 Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

0815 (5517 km) Phone call to say that our camper trailer was ready to be picked up in half an hour. Hurray!

0920 (5517 km) Quick last minute grocery shopping.
0950 (5525 km) Filled up.
1020 (5526 km) Pick up camper trailer. Like new.
1030 (5534 km) Pack up - loads to pack as we had unloaded everything from the trailer when we sent it for repairs.
1200 (5534 km) Left Alice Springs. Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, latitude of 22.5 degrees South. This is the line where the sun is directly overhead in the Australian Summer Solstice.
1315 (5620 km) Noticed camper trailer white light cover was missing. Not going back to look for it. Took some photos at Aileron with the giant man with spear and giant woman and child.


At Devil's Marbles - how strong are we?



1700 (5951 km) Devil's Marbles. It really does look like someone huge has been playing huge marbles and just left them around. There is a nice little walk around a bunch of marbles. There was a very interesting 'marble' that had split in half. Two hemispheres. Naturally we all went between the hemispheres for photos. There were also frogs buried in the creek bed, we didn't see any. Some of the marbles seem to be balanced precariously. It looks as if all you need is a little push from a little finger and it would roll down.

1830 (6058 km) Tennant Creek. Site 27. Had dinner of leftover Shepard's Pie, sausages, puff pastry and tandoori chicken.

Mon 25 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

A favourite past time at this caravan park.

0900 (5448 km) MK had Skype session with his class 5/6G. He was told the class were going to work doing an inquiry unit on running businesses and they will be working with "Poppy Dollars" this term.

0915 (5448 km) Mum, Dad, SL and Ron left.

1130 (5448 km) Lunch of Roly Poly.

1245 (5457 km) Visited Alice Springs School of the Air (ASSOA). The classroom covers 1.3 million sq km, huge. In the past they used radio. Now, they use the Internet with satellite to connect to the outlying places. They are using a custom application where the kids and teachers can interact, written by some people in Darwin. Looks amazing - they showed a recording of a class and it showed how the teacher can change from a camera showing how to work through maths problem on a piece of paper and then changing to his face to talk to the kids. When the students enrol, they are given thousands of dollars of equipment to set up - computer, satellite dish, etc. Workbooks and library books are still sent via mail every fortnight. The children come together a few times a year to have face-to-face catch ups.

1400 (5457 km) Left School of the Air.

1430 (5465 km) Caravan park. Played pool again and cooked dinner and prepared for an evening outing.

1720 (5465 km) Left for Simpson's Gap.

1745 (5492 km) Simpson's Gap. Had dinner of fried rice while sitting at the gap looking at the rocks. As we finished dinner, the black footed rock wallabies started scampering down the rocks. As it got darker, they were right at the water's edge with us. They were just metres away. One even had a small cute joey peering out of her pouch! That was a fantastic night out. It was really good to see the wallabies up close.

1900 (5492 km) Left Simpson's Gap.

1920 (5517 km) Caravan park.

Sun 24 Jul 2011 Alice Springs



There were 5 on the branch, and then a little one flew away



0830 (5404 km) Pancake Breakfast at MacDonnell Range Holiday Park! Mmmmm. . .

1030 (5411 km) Went to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. with MK & MJ. MH went exploring with the rest. walked through Todd Mall Market.

1330 (5419 km) Went to Alice Springs Desert Park. Attended a talk by an Aboriginal ranger on how to find water in the desert. Bird show was amazing - how do they train those birds?? The park was arranged into different zones - woodland, sand dunes etc. Very informative - well signed and we also each had an audio guide. Nocturnal house had lots of snakes, lizards, nocturnal mammals, thorny devil. Kangaroos. Lots of different birds in various enclosures.

1815 (5448 km) Back at caravan park for Shepard's Pie for dinner. Kids played pool while the women cooked. Packed and sorted food and belongings as the rest was going to move on the next day while we waited for the camper trailer. Will probably meet up again in Katherine.

Sat 23 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

At John Flynn's grave

0045 (5257 km) Lovely cold night - with lots of stars. Saw the scorpion constellation that had been pointed out to us on the stargazing night. Walked to the spot where purse was spotted on photos, nothing there, so decided to leave notes with our phone number on vehicles, boards and ranger residence. Lots of kangaroos by the roadside on the drive back.

0230 (5336 km) Got home. Sleep, really tired now.

0915 (5336 km) Left for Simpson's Gap for flora and fauna ranger talk. Learnt some geology of the area. Flora - Dead Finish tree, River Red Gum, Bush Coconut, Native Fig, Native Cypress, Ti Tree, Witchetty Bush. Fauna - black footed rock wallabies, possum, witchetty grubs, fish, lots of birds. Stopped by Flynn's Grave. It had a rock from the Devil's Marbles. John Flynn founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

1115 (5362 km) Went grocery shopping - again.

1250 (5396 km) Back at caravan park for pizza lunch. Played pool. A family called to say they found purse. Yay!

1800 (5396 km) Go out to dinner.
1815 (5401 km) Dinner at Juicy Rump.
2000 (5401 km) Left Juicy Rump.
2010 (5404 km) Back at caravan park.

Fri 22 Jul 2011 Alice Springs



At Emily Gap with Rock paintings in the background



0900 (5010 km) MJ had a Skype session with Mr Paul and class from school. It was 9.30 am in Melbourne.

0930 (5010 km) Went to East MacDonnell Ranges.

1055 (5082 km) Information board for Trephina Gorge. Had two river crossings. Reshuffled contents of car so that everyone was in 4WD to get across the water. Luckily the water was only about 10cm, so wasn't really that exciting, although the ground was pretty uneven.

1110 (5088 km) Trephina Gorge. Went for Panorama Walk - we're getting good at these uphill, rocky climbs. Great views and CK produced some great echoes down the valley. Had sandwiches for lunch. Realised HM's purse was missing. Thought maybe it has been left in bag in other car.

1415 (5088 km) Left Trephina Gorge. Drove to Ghost Gum trail - very old, approximately 300 year old tree. Ghost gum trunks are covered with a fine white powder so they have ghostly sheen at night.

1500 (5129 km) Corroboree Rock. A narrow rock formation (Aboriginal sacred site) with a couple of holes in it so that it looks like windows. Also found some coloured ochre.

1600 (5150 km) Jessie Gap. Caterpillar dreaming stories.

1620 (5158 km) Emily Gap. Rock art of white lime & red ochre stripes representing caterpillar dreaming.

1650 (5168 km) Back at caravan park. Played pool - kids are really enjoying this. Had steak and sausages for dinner.

2010 (5168 km) Looked everywhere, still can't find purse. Made Police Report for lost purse.

2045 (5181 km) Came back and discussed what to do about lost purse.

2330 (5181 km) Went through photos of the day, and found a couple of photos with a purse like object on the ground next to HM. So decided to drive to Trephina Gorge, again, with SL and Dad.

Thu 21 Jul 2011 Alice Springs



At the didgeridoo workshop



1025 (4969 km) Breakfast of toast and then went to Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. Lovely gardens

1115 (4980 km) Filled up.

1200 (4988 km) Went to the old Telegraph Station. Walked to the original Alice Spring. Named after Mrs. Alice Todd, wife of the Chief Superintendent of Telegraphs. Ironically, Alice had never been to Alice Springs. Saw a kangaroo in the fields. Walked up to Trig Hill and looked over the surrounding area.

1315 (4997 km) Got back to the caravan park to cook pea and ham soup & leftovers.

1430 (5004 km) Went to a free Didgeridoo workshop in town. We all learnt, or tried to learn, how to blow the didgeridoo. We made some interesting and disgusting noises. The instructor played some really good sounds on the didgeridoo.
1600 (5010 km) Back at the caravan park to play pool and attended the Wine and Cheese Evening.
1900 (5010 km) Dinner of tandoori chicken and soy chicken. Watched a slide show of flora and fauna of Central Australia.

Wed 20 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

At Simpson Gap - with a very cold waterhole

0850 (4648 km) Breakfast of toast and then went to West MacDonnell Ranges.

0920 (4674 km) Simpson's Gap. It was still quite cold so we all rugged up. Walked along the river bed. Apparently the water hole is very cold and very deep. Went for the Ghost Gum walk. There was a recent burn off so we couldn't see some of the features of the flora.

1100 (4715 km) Standley Chasm. Apparently it is on private property and someone had started charging.

1200 (4775 km) Ellery Creek Big Waterhole. It was certainly a big waterhole. However, there were dead fish everywhere and the whole area stank of dead fish, obviously. In the cold weather, a protozoa lives on the gills of the fish and prevents oxygen from going to the fish and so the fish die. It's all part of the natural cycle according to the signs.

1315 (4790 km) Serpentine Gorge. We had sandwiches for lunch at the car park and then went for a walk to the gorge. A huge river red gum stood impressively in the middle of the gorge in the water hole. It is impressive that the tree survives with the base of its trunk under water. Then we walked up to the lookout. Hard work but worth it. Not good for those scared of heights - the path was quite close to the cliffs at times. We saw some lizards on the path.

1545 (4805 km) Orche Pits. The colourful Orche Pits, the Aborigines used them to make paint for painting on their bodies for the ceremonies. Different stripes of colours were on the cliffs.

1630 (4830 km) Ormiston Gorge. Quite a nice campground. There were several campers sitting around the outside of the information centre with their computers plugged into the wall for power. Technology in the middle of nowhere.

1715 (4830 km) Went home.

1845 (4969 km) Got home and cooked chicken burgers for dinner.

Tue 19 Jul 2011 Alice Springs

See Heavitree Gap between East & West MacDonnell Ranges

0900 (4617 km) Spent the morning talking to insurance companies, caravan repairers, assessors, etc.

1030 (4617 km) Take camper trailer to JC Detailing Caravan Repairs.

1045 (4625 km) Left camper trailer at repairers. Went shopping and bought lots. Really lots, as we hadn't had a decent sized supermarket for a while. SL (CK's sister) and partner arrived - flew in from Melbourne to join us for 2 weeks.

1300 (4633 km) Got home and spent half an hour unloading the car. Had roast chicken for lunch, hot from Coles.

1530 (4633 km) Went for a drive into Alice Springs.

1545 (4640 km) Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre. There was a lot of information and lots to see around the area. Went up to Anzac Hill and looked around - could see the whole town. The kids found the McDonald's straight away. Quite interesting to see the gap in the MacDonnell Ranges where we drive through daily to get into town from the caravan park and the dry Todd River bed running through it.
1715 (4648 km) Back at caravan park and checked out the pool table. Had dinner of fish & rice- it was really nice and yummy.
1900 (4648 km) Star gazing, organised by the the caravan park. Saw several constellations and also Saturn.

Mon 18 Jul 2011 Kings Canyon to Alice Springs

0845 (4124 km) Had toast for breakfast and left Kings Canyon resort.
1115 (4346 km) Mt Ebenezeer. Put in some diesel for $2.50 per litre. Yes, CK remembered diesel. Filled up.
1200 (4403 km) Erldunda. Filled up. There was a giant echidna and frilled necked lizard. There was also some live emus wandering around behind a fence area. Had lunch of Ritz, creamed corn, cheese, tuna sandwiches.
1245 (4403 km) Left Erldunda.
1530 (4611 km) Arrived at Alice Springs - amazing how close the McDonnell Ranges are to town. Got to JC's Detailing and Caravan Repairs, Elder St, Alice Springs. Got them to inspect the damage, they estimated it will take a week to fix.
1730 (4617 km) MacDonnell Ranges Holiday Park. What a beautiful park! Got a cabin so that we could arrange for the camper trailer to be fixed. Cabins 45 and 46. Had meatballs and potato for dinner. Did washing.

Sun 17 Jul 2011 Kings Canyon

At the rim of Kings Canyon

0900 (4103 km) Had breakfast of toast. Left for Kings Canyon.

0915 (4113 km) Kings Canyon car park - definitely warming up quickly today. Put on sun block, hats, loaded with water. Checked out information boards and away we went. It was definitely a difficult climb up but it was worth it. It was a magnificent view looking out at the top of the climb. We walked through the "Lost City" and saw lots of domes around forming the "city". Went down to the cool waters of Garden of Eden. It is amazing there is so much water hidden in the desert. Learnt about the geology of how it was all formed. Also saw some really tame Spinifex Pigeons.

1245 (4113 km) Left Kings Canyon.
1300 (4124 km) Kings Canyon Resort. Had pumpkin soup, pea ham, bacon and eggs. Checked out the swimming pool and found the water was freezing. Way too cold to have a swim but the boys tried to go in anyway.
1800 (4124 km) Had salmon mornay for dinner.

Sat 16 Jul 2011 Yulara to Kings Canyon

See the wild brumbies on the left?

0700 (3789 km) Yet another cloudy, rain threatening day. That means all the days that we have been here has been cloudy and wet. No sunrise and sunset photos. No climb. Had breakfast of toast and packed up. It was really difficult to pack up as there was mud everywhere and we had to wipe everything down as we packed - took a very long time.

1015 (3789 km) Eventually all cleaned and packed and left. Saw wild horses and camel farm. Sun came out - blue skies - yahoo!

1200 (3930 km) Kings Canyon turn off.

1330 (4077 km) Turned off to Kathleen Springs. Had a lovely walk in the sun, even took our jumpers off! Had lunch at Kathleen Springs. It was nice and cool. The water was 'black-as' and had good reflection of the cliffs above.

1500 (4077 km) Left Kathleen Springs.

1530 (4101 km) Check in at Kings Canyon. Cabin 3 and Site 3.

1545 (4101 km) Set up.

1645 (4101 km) Done. Set up was much quicker than packing up this morning.

1730 (4101 km) Had BBQ dinner - yummy sausages and steak. Free BBQ with tables next to the BBQ, really good arrangement.

2000 (4101 km) There were mice everywhere - there is a plague of them in NT. There were even mice in the cabin. There was mice poo on the bed sheets so we had to contact reception to get the sheets changed. Then we saw a mouse run behind the cabin fridge. Managed to shoo 2 mice out and found a dead one. Where is the pied piper when you need him?

Fri 15 Jul 2011 Yulara

0920 (3724 km) Breakfast of toast. Go to Uluru.
0950 (3746 km) Got to Uluru car park. Got ready for Mala Walk, a guided walk by a park ranger. Still drizzling and Uluru climb is closed for all the days we are here. The Mala Walk had interesting stories about the Mala (ancestral beings in the shape of a wallaby). We were also shown the tools and how they are made and used. There was a lot of focus on preserving the culture.
1145 (3746 km) Drive around Uluru.
1200 (3755 km) Stopped at Mutitjulu site. Had lunch of rolls and sandwiches.
1230 (3755 km) Went on Kuniya walk. There is a story about ancestral beings in the shape of snakes called Kuniya and Liru. In the fight that ensued, Kuniya struck twice against the rocks and there are 2 huge cracks on Uluru representing them. Liru's shield dropped and was represented by a large slice of rock that had fallen off.
1330 (3763 km) Cultural Centre. Very interesting cultural experience. Some of the wood works were quite good. There was also dot painting being done by artist-in-residence. Will get the kids to try that one day.
1445 (3763 km) Left for caravan park.
1515 (3786 km) Filled up.
1550 (3789 km) Clean up car, it was very, very, very dirty. Red dust. Red mud. Red dirt. Red sand. Fixed up the corner of camper trailer as much as possible. Let's see how well it will cope with the driving. Will need to see what we can do to get it fixed at Alice Springs. Kids updated blogs and journals.
1900 (3789 km) Dinner of creamy bacon spiral pasta.

Our computer station all set up for emails and blogs etc