Kakadu National Park N.T to Kununurra W.A (Sunday 25th April 2010)

Travel day.

Kakadu N.T to Kununurra W.A 816km. We're heading WEST. Yipee!

7am on the road. We packed up in the dark and drove until we reached Mary Roadhouse at 8.45am just on the outskirts of Kakadu and stopped for breakfast. I have breakfast

'pre-packed' the night before on our early starts and it usually is cereal followed by yogurt and a piece of fruit. The fridge in the boot of the car is working a treat. From here we continued on into Katherine for groceries, fuel and a real coffee before we hit the road again. I did not buy any fruit or vegies. Apparently, the quarantine checkpoint into W.A is worse than the one into S.A. Not even honey is allowed over the border we were told. By 1.15pm we'd reached Gregory National Park. The Victoria Highway winds past one edge of the park and the sights are spectacular. It's like driving through ancient gorges with beautiful, colourful rock formations all around you. We stopped at Timber Creek for lunch and got chatting to a truckie who had some funny stories to tell. About 1km out of Timber Creek I spotted the first Boab Tree.

We turned off the highway onto a 3km dirt track to see Gregory's Tree. The tree stands at the campsite of the early explorer Augustus Charles Gregory and is a sacred Aboriginal site.

40c outside. Hot, hot, hot. For the first time we needed to use the jerry cans and fuelled up 67km out of Kununurra. Northern Territory time 5.00pm

Crossed Western Australian border 3.55pm. Wind clocks back 1.5hrs The check point wasn't too bad but they were pretty thorough. We checked into the Big4, set up quickly, had pasta for dinner and fell into bed.

Kakadu National Park (Saturday 24th April 2010)

We were excited this morning because we were off to see some Aboriginal rock art at Nourlangie. Everybody was up bright and early.

Our 1.5 km circuit walk took us past amazing 'rock shelters' that were the sites for the rock art paintings. These paintings are really beautiful to see. We could have sat and looked at them for ages. The dreamtime stories behind the paintings are as magical as the paintings themselves.

Well worth the drive and walk into the sites. We came across our first snake lying in the middle of the road soaking up the morning sun driving into Nourlangie.

Next we visited the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the Yellow Water region of Kakadu. The centres are sites of spiritual and cultural significance to the Aboriginal people therefore no photography is allowed. My favourite part in all the Aboriginal displays I've come across are their woven baskets. They are so beautiful and sooo expensive.

Darwin to Kakadu National Park (Friday 23rd April 2010)

Travel day.
Left Darwin for our short trip 'up the road' to Kakadu National Park. Jabiru is the main town in Kakadu, 256km from Darwin. We travelled along the Arnhem Highway and all I can say about there idea of a highway up here is that there not the same as our idea of a highway.

I've included a photo to show you what I mean. Because of the wet season the roads are usually flooded and a thick layer of red dirt is left when the water receds. It then gets graded away. Not much of the road is left to drive on. This is the highway!

We stopped at a roadhouse on the way to see 'Brutus' the 4 metre salty that lives there in an enclosure. We didn't think he was there at first, then looking a little closer we saw his nostrils then his teeth poking out of the water. He gets fed every second day. Unfortunately, he'd been fed the day before so no show for us today.

We drove straight to Bowali Visitors Centre were we got the run down on sights to see. Due to the extended wet season most roads are still closed. 2 meters of water over some roads. The usual sights like Ubirr, Gunlom and Jim Jim Falls are all inaccessable by road. The only way in and out to these sights is by plane or boat. It looks like we will miss out on seeing the most popular sights this time around. Never mind we'll be back!! (Already planning our next trip).

Decided on staying in Jabiru at The Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park. We chose a spot and later caught up with Mark, Kelly and the girls before calling it a night.

Darwin (Tuesday 20th to Thursday 22nd April)

Tuesday 2oth April

We drove into town and parked the car along The Esplanade and walked through Bicentenial Park which is dotted with loads of WWII history. From here we walked down to Aquascene where the girls got to hand feed some of the local fish during high tide. After a very civilized lunch in town we headed back to camp for a swim, of course.

Wednesday 21st April

Spent the day at The Territory Wildlife Park. Girls loved the Aquarium, Nocturnal House and the Birds of Prey Show. They each had a photo taken with one of the 'free-flying birds'. Emilia couldn't stop staring at the huge motionless croc. Yes, it was real. We were back at camp by early afternoon. Stinker of a day, about 36c. Finished the day off with a swim and later after dinner a visit to friends camp down the road.

Thursday 22nd April

Went to the museum this morning. The Cyclone Tracy exhibit was amazing. We had a turn of going in the sound booth which replicated how loud the sound of lashing rain and wind was during the cyclone. It was so loud the girls covered their ears. To see some of the mangled bits of metal and recordings of peoples recollection of the event made us think how did anybody at all survive.

From here we drove to the sight of the Mindil Markets. So sad to say we won't get to go because of the extended wet season this year they won't be starting until the end of April and we'll be gone, (sob, sob). Along Fanny Bay we soaked in the magnificent views out to sea.

We returned to Fanny Bay that night and ate at The Trailer Boat Club right on the water front.

The girls played on the beach collecting sea shells and other special treasures until dinner arrived. We ate dinner watching the most beautiful sunset.

Litchfield National Park to Darwin (Monday 19th April)

Travel Day.

Elizabeth and Emilia couldn't resist having a photo taken with this Bohemian replica castle in the town of Batchelor on our way out of Litchfield.

CIVILIZATION!!! Arrived into Darwin around lunchtime. Stopped at the cleanest McDonalds in the world to treat ourselves for lunch. Checked into The Freespirit Caravan Park and set up camp. Did a few house keeping chores and then to end the day, a swim in the pool.

Litchfield Park (Sunday 18th April)

Today we spent the day exploring Litchfield Park. Our first stop was the Magnetic Termite Mounds. We've gotten used to seeing these all along the highways scattered as far as the eye can see. They are part of the landscape up here but we hadn't seen any as big as the ones below.

Wangi Falls and Tolmer Falls were both spectacular falls. Usually you can swim at Wangi Falls but due to crocs at this time of year it was for sightseeing only. Elizabeth lost her hat over the railing at Tolmer Falls. Oops. After some lunch we went out to Buley Rockhole. These rockholes were like a series of rockpools at the bottom of cascading mini waterfalls. The water was crystal clear. When you'd had enough of one rockpool you just went down stream to next one and the next one and the next one. Paradise. It was hard to leave Buley Rockhole but we still had to explore Florence Falls.

At Florence Falls we headed straight for the plunge pool, again at the bottom of the falls. The walk in was down 135 steps, through tropical rainforest and over streams to arrive at cascading Florence Falls. We shared the plunge pool with some unknown long black fish which were as curious of us as we were of them. It was 6pm before we decided that it was time to go. So Sad.

Katherine to Litchfield Park (Saturday 17th April)

Katherine to Litchfield Park 278km. We found a Gloria Jeans Coffee shop in Katherine and there was no way Pete and I were leaving town without a descent coffee. Everyone else in town must have thought the same thing because the place was packed. On the road at 10.30am.

First stop Edith Falls. This place is #2 on my must see list. Uluru is #1. The whole place was so relaxing with gorgeous waterfalls, lots of creatures in rockholes for the kids to explore and nothing more to do but soak up the sun and swim. Could have stayed all day but unfortunately we were just calling through on our way to Litchfield Park. 2.20pm back in the car and on the road. Temp 35c

Arrive into Litchfield Park. Set up camp just before torential rain set in!! Caught up with Mark, Kelly and girls. Had to retreat into tent until rain eased. At 8.30pm decided it was going to have to be toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner as everything was soaking wet. Ate under cover with the drizzle of the rain around us. Never a dull moment.