Playgrounds and Edith Falls

Arranged with Ella’s teacher to Skype the Senior Learning Centre first thing so she could say “G’day” to all her school friends. (First time we have set our alarm so far). Her friends were enjoying their last week of term with an excursion and the school disco. She was v happy to see them as has been missing them (and vice versa). Afterwards we headed back into Katherine (after the older two snuck off for another swim). We didn’t see any sign of “Esmerelda” the camp python last night, who apparently slithers into camp looking for frogs. Lots of wallabies hopping around though.

School holiday time in NT and Katherine is a busy town, but everyone seems pretty friendly. V impressed with the town playground which had three massive fully shaded playgrounds and a skatepark in which the kids played happily with the locals until Mark came back with the groceries J Let them run riot as realise there are only so many gorges they can handle!

We will check out where MacFarlane Primary School, Katherine is on our return journey on the way to Kununurra. A group of kids from there visited our school only last week. The kid’s in grade 5/6 got to camp over at the school with them. Ella was disappointed about not being there and we were hoping to meet those same children when we got into Katherine but our timing was a bit off and it’s now school hols.

Got to Edith Falls mid arvo, but bugger, no sites free. Had a quick visit and swim, lovely spot and seems pretty popular. Had to continue on to a place called Pine Creek (at the beginning of the road to Kakadu) there are about 10 sites here behind a servo, opposite a pub (which I may say is goin’ off on a Tuesday night!) and we are camped right (and I mean right) next to the toilet block!! Definitely just an overnighter...

Katherine Gorge - Nitmiluk National Park

Got into Nitmiluk National Park about lunchtime (am loving these short drives!). Beautiful place, the visitor’s centre had really good interactive displays for the kids and the pool was magnificent! Huge lagoon style number complete with palms and waterfall. Had a pretty chilly dip but didn’t care...sun filtering through the trees....not bad at all. They did buffet meals out by the pool, but figured after forking out for 5 of us to take a 2hr cruise down the Katherine River, our pasta dinner would have to do!

Cruise was lovely, went down the first gorge as far as we could go, got out and walked 400m, then hopped into another boat and continued along the second (it was a two gorge cruise).  Saw 3 crocs! (freshies, but still our first ones). Charlie had a little bit of cabin fever stuck on a small boat, looking at rock walls, while trying to be quiet so everyone could hear the guide for TWO hours!!! Plenty of snacks did the trick..

Mataranka Magic

Took in a bit of the history of Daly Waters before we left. Saw the “Stuart Tree” where Stuart (obviously) carved an “S” during his exploration from South to North Australia. He discovered Daly Waters in 1862. It has Australia’s first international airport – which was the rear guard base during the bombing of Darwin in WW2, the hangar remains there.

Get into Mataranka at midday (seems to be the time to stop) and grab our powered site (yippee!) We take the short walk into the hot (warm) springs from the park. The lush, tropical environment is just beautiful! (can take a bit more of this). Kids were rapt to be finally in a “pool”. Apologies to all wanting to relax in there J

Bit more wildlife around here, a wallaby attached itself to us pretty quickly (looking for food, am under no illusions), peacocks abound, and there would have to have been thousands apon thousands of flying foxes heading into the National Park for the night.

Also has been very loud karoke going in the bar since late afternoon....ummm, not wanting to be a killjoy, but getting late and kiddies need their sleep (last night was a late one). Am hoping they wrap it up pretty soon, luckily the songs are at least all 80s numbers....may head up there later (not!)

Big Day to Daly Waters

Spent the day on the road and pulled up at Daly Waters at 4 o’clockish – Wow, at least 100 caravans (G/N again!) beat us to it (one man we have been seeing at nearly every stop said he got the last powered site at 12pm!) Luckily we grabbed one of the last few unpowered ones (phew). The Daly Waters pub (circa 1930) is an absolute classic with every square inch covered with memorabilia – flags, caps, t-shirts, coasters, coins, business cards, signs, jocks, bras (you get the picture). The place was really jumpin’, they had a “beef and barra” night and have live music every night. Pretty rowdy but good fun, the kids took part in a treasure hunt around the beer garden and were pretty happy with their free choc paddlepop at the end! Mark and Samuel were rapt to finally be able to watch some FOOTY (Freo v Bombers). There were a few colourful characters in the bar and somehow Samuel managed to get into an arm wrestle with one of them! A goodtime had by all.

Devil’s Marbles

Set off back along Stuart Hwy and the plan today is to beat the Grey Nomads to a spot at Devil’s Marbles overnight camp!

Charlie’s random comment of the day..”Daddy, I want to play mini-golf..”

We stop at the infamous Barrow Creek Hotel along the way and check out an original telegraph station there, built in 1872.

Next stop is Central Mount Stuart, which is where John McDouall Stuart decided was the centrepoint of Australia (think the east/west bit is debatable).

Got into Devil’s Marbles campsite mid arvo, a spot next to the last firepit (woohoo). Then spent some time checking out the “marbles”. Didn’t realise they covered such a large area. Wandered up and over the clump nearest to camp for awhile, then back at sunset to get some sunlit pics of these granite boulders that have eroded over time to form ball type shapes balancing on each other.

A lone dingo was roaming around our campsite, which made for a scary trip to the pit toilet in the night!

Just had to add that our cheese stuffed damper complemented our spag bol perfectly....

Ochre Pits to Gemtree

Just over 2 weeks in and we are realising how lucky we are to be able to do this trip. Trying to appreciate what we have been able to see and not regretting what we haven’t.  Considering this week alone in Vic there has been an earthquake and floods, we are doing very well.

Left Glen Helen Gorge for a short drive to the Ochre Pits. Nearly didn’t stop, but as often is the way glad we did. Pretty speccy place. They are a 10m high rock wall formed 700 million years ago. The inland sea created layers of sediment when the earth was rolling around, which pushed the horizontal layers to vertical,  resulting in each layer being a wavy line of different colours of ochre (red having the most iron oxide).

This was where the Aborigines would come to collect it, mix with animal fat to form a paste and smear it on their skin for ceremonies. The signs at the Pit say you could be up for a $5000 fine if you take any away from the site, so did a quick frisk of the kids before heading onwards..

One last glimpse of Alice Springs as we continued through to a place off the Stuart Highway and 70km along the Plenty Hwy, called Gemtree. Apparently people come from all over Australia to fossick for garnet and zirconia in the nearby gemfields.

The kids were happy enough to fossick in the “Gully” within the park, where they found garnet and many other types of quartz. The man running the park was very surprised to see an opal potch the kids had found (he he), and they had a really fun time getting into the dust and spirit of the place.

We enjoyed yet another campfire tonight, temp at dusk is getting more mild now (yay!) and our damper was filled with hot jam this time...will see how many more fillings we can create before our time’s up.

Culture, History, then Glen Helen Gorge

Day 15 - Left Alice Springs and stopped in at the Araluen Cultural Precinct. Saw some work by Albert Namatjira and looked around the Museum of Central Australia (very small and quick to get around much to Charlie’s happiness). Consisted of lots of stuffed wildlife (creepy), skeletons, rocks (including pieces of the Henbury Meteorite) and not too much more. Just the right amount of info for kids (and us!) to absorb though.

Included in precinct were the remains of the “Kookaburra” aircraft which went down in the Tanami Desert in 1929 (approx). Charles Kingsford Smith’s plane went down and the “Kookaburra” went out on an ill-fated mission to rescue them, the two men in the rescue party perished, but Charles Kingsford Smith and friend were found 24hrs later. Dick Smith ended up finding the remains in 1975. The Aviation Museum is nearby with Connellan Airways planes (Eddie Connellan, NT Aviation Pioneer) and one of the first RFDS aircrafts.

Continued on to Glen Helen Gorge, massive rockface with the Finke River at its base. A short walk down the dry river bed, great to see some water! Our camp has the rockface as a backdrop and we enjoyed butter chicken in the campoven, sweet potatoes in their jackets and damper fresh from the coals...

A message from Ella....

Today we woke up early and drove for around half an hour (too long) to Standley Chasm!
We did a short-ish walk but it was sort of fun because you got to climb over all these massive rocks that are blocking the path!

After the walk that felt like hours we actually got to the Chasm but there was no one there! We had it all to ourselves for a bit but then all the tourists and grey nomads started coming in!

At one point me and charlie were sitting in the way of a ladies photo and she yelled out "get out of the way some of us are trying to take camera shots!" bit weeeeiiiird!! :)

We were walkin back and Samuel and Dad saw a sign pointing up a really steep hill  that said 'Larapinta walk' so they decided to walk up it to the top and then come down again! while they were doing that Mum, Charlie and I walked back to the kiosk and had an ice cream while we were waiting. Not long after we started eating Dad and Samuel came back and Samuel said "when you got to the top the sight is breath-taking but it kills your thighs when you get to the tenth step!!"

We got back in the car to drive a whole entire hour to get to the Palm Valley in the
Finke River National Park!

The road was soooooooooo bumpy and rocky and we got tossed up and down and all around!
We finally got to the Palm Valley car park (a massive flat rock) sat down and had some snacks before we went off on a bit of a walk through the palm trees!

We found out that the type of palm tree there is called a Red Cabbage Palm and it is the only place you can find this species in the world!!! so rare :)

On the drive back in the car everything was quiet but then we heard Samuel yell out "everyone look a dingo!" we all looked just in time to see it walk into the bushes. We drove around the corner and saw it again so we took photos and we were off trying to beat nightfall back to the caravan park!

BEST PART OF THE DAY: Macca's for tea, sssshhhhhh! ;)

Alice Springs

Left the van at Finke River (a dry river bed with pink sand, the kids played in there until sunset last night). We doubled back a little to Ernest Giles Road and about 10kms along are the Henbury Meteorite Craters, a group of craters formed over 4,700 years ago by a meteorite crashing to earth at about 40,000kms an hour. Pretty interesting landscape.

Back onto the Stuart Hwy (Ella now knows lots about John McDouall Stuart’s explorations...kids stuck on a roadtrip are such a captive audience!) we continued on to Stuart’s Well Roadhouse and stopped to check out a camel farm.

Arrived in Alice Springs and pulled up at the Big 4 caravan park there. This is one of those places to have a little break from your trip. When I say “break” we spent the day doing major washing (clothes and us!), cleaning out fridges, stocking up on supplies etc. Won’t mention all the boring stuff, but the kids were happy to hang out in the playground/jumping pillow etc and the adults were happy with internet access and mobile coverage again, yay!

We were ALL pretty happy with the dessert van in the park! chocolate mousse and pancakes with fresh strawberry syrup, strawberries, cream & ice-cream went down a treat!

Wildlife, Textas & Choccy Damper

Had been thinking how beautiful our campsite was, backing right onto the Watarrka National Park until....we were rudely awoken in the early hours of the morning by a pack of howling dingoes, seemingly right outside our van. There are gates on our nearest shower block to stop them entering and signs warning you not to feed them.

We head out of the Kings Canyon Resort but stop a few k’s away to do the Kathleen Springs walk, about 3 kms return (have decided this is Charlie’s limit – inclusive of shoulder rides).

Driving our big stretches, the amount of wedge-tailed eagles we see is amazing, many are standing hunched over their prey just a few metres off the road.

We are planning another free camp tonight, which is on the banks of the Finke River, but before I continue with that.... I need to mention how entertaining a packet of Faber Castel textas can be to small boys on a long drive..they have been clicked together and converted into various weapons, which has been a constant source of entertainment/antagonism and have occasionally been used for colouring.

Pulled up at Finke River Rest Area (and only just squeezed in...gotta be quick with the Grey Nomads on the road!) we had another campfire which we shared with an interesting woman who has been travelling (and working) around this country on her own for 6 years. She had a plethora of instruments and a beautiful voice. Samuel joined in on the bongo drums and really enjoyed it.

Another highlight of the day would have to be the smartie chocolate infused damper we all made ourselves sick on...mmmm.

A dingo's got my scooter!

On the way to Kings Canyon Resort we saw a dingo on the side of the road (about 10.30am). Arrived at the resort about lunchtime and the first thing Ella noticed as we pulled up was...a basketball hoop! yay! After lunch we headed out to Kings Canyon and did the Creek Walk, which was beautiful. The weather has been perfect  for walks, mild but sunny. The kids (especially Charlie) loved scrambling over rocks all the way. Such a nice, tranquil environment, must be awesome in the wet season. Climbed up a cliff face of rocks to the top which is the beginning of the rim walk and the scenery was spectacular.

Back at Camp, treated ourselves to a drink each at the “Dingo Bar”, speaking of dingoes.....Samuel had a close encounter of the dingo kind a bit later. He was riding around the park on his scooter & while stationary a dingo (am thinking one that hangs ‘round the camp) came right up and put a paw on his scooter! Stepping calmly off he backed away slowly....gulp!

Kata Tjuta to Curtin Springs

The day started when Charlie saw the reddy/brown coloured mounds of The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and said “Daddy that looks like big chunks of poo!”

After we’d stopped laughing, we did the “Valley of the Winds” walk which (you guessed it) was a few kms walk into the valley and also “Walpa Gorge” which was another short one (although Charlie didn’t have the legs for it after the first).

Apparently Kata Tjuta is traditionally a “men’s place” so Samuel was very keen that Ella be respectful and quiet (he thought THAT was pretty funny.) It’s amazing when you all do shut up for awhile how a place like that can move you.

Our next stop was a free camp at Curtin Springs Homestead. We pulled up late afternoon, set up camp and noticed an emu roaming around the campsite! After collecting firewood from the side of the road (and the Homestead’s light aircraft doing a fly by to make sure we weren’t trespassing), we made our first campfire – NOW we are doing the Aussie outback thing! Snags and steak with baked spuds from the coals and obviously there were toasted marshmallows to follow as the sun went down...

Still Uluru

Mark & Samuel were up early this morning to check out Uluru from the C/Van Park lookout – a bit too cloudy for really good colours (now we are getting v fussy). We took off a bit later in the car with our freshly cooked egg & bacon sandwiches & coffees/juices and took the road out to Uluru again.

This time we took in the Cultural Centre, which is a great organic looking structure, whose layout is based on a serpent shape. We spent a while reading the stories of the place and soaking up the Aboriginal culture.

We then took a guided walk (Mala Walk) about 3kms return, part of the way around the base and saw a “teaching” cave (bit like a blackboard) with examples of paintings used in the teaching of boys to become men. The kids were interested in learning about bush tucker & they took turns balancing a ring which would’ve been woven from human hair, then a wooden bowl on their head, as the local women would’ve done.

Back at Camp, I took the older two off to an Aboriginal art class, where they spent a happy hour painting a boomerang (Samuel) and a canvas (Ella). With some info about symbols traditionally  used, they set to work...and the results were great! Samuel told a whole story he made up using symbols on his.

Next was spear throwing...we all had a go (except Charlie for obvious reasons!). The spears were made from Mulga wood and it was trickier than it looked. Ella finished the session just about spearing a pigeon that was in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the opposite depending on who’s talking..)

A traditional dance performance followed. Mark (somehow?) got front and centre for a “didge off”or “duelling didge” session with some other men in the crowd! Somehow we all managed to get involved in the show (except Charlie again, oops!). Ella and I had to dance like an emu in the women’s dance and Samuel jumped up and was one of three boys, each dancing with one tribe member in a “show off” dance originating from their local tribe – very entertaining!

Ayer's Rock Resort, Uluru

We are on the road into Uluru and have observed every driver that passes either does the "nod" or the one finger salute. Mark tries to mix it up a little which we find mildly amusing until a man in an oncoming car waves a rubber chicken at us! What the...?

We trick the kid's into thinking Mt Conner is actually Ayer's Rock which we also find funny. We stop for a pic and notice a track leading over a dune opposite the lookout. Over the hill is another (random) salt lake with no signage and is only a speck on our map, but beautiful, glistening in the sun.

Ayer's Rock Resort, Yulara is where we get to by early afternoon. The whole town is the resort and has a medical centre, police station and lots of shops, galleries etc. The kids' have been busting for a swim for a whole week now and at the first sign of a pool, they want in! (I forget holidays to them just aren't the inland version). It says a lot when our kids jump in a pool then get straight out, with no waterplay whatsoever - freezing!

Apparently it's best to get a posi to view the sunset at Uluru as early as possible. Heeding that we head out about 4.30pm for a 6.05pm sunset. We pack a picnic tea and plan to cook up some hamburgers on the portable stove out there before the sun goes down. We are a big hit, with our burgers sizzling away, so much so, a few tourists have to get a pic of a true "Aussie" (Mark) with beer in hand with Ayer's Rock as a back drop! (He felt he had a bit of Ian Hewitson about him I think).

Our new camera worked a treat, leading up to the sunset, we were marvelling at how it was picking up the colours so well until right on sunset the battery went dead! Luckily we had Ella's camera, Samuel's camera, Ella's ipod touch and two iphones on hand! All that technology aside...we did take sketchbooks and all attempted to sketch the Rock which the kid's loved.

Just after sunset as we packed up our stuff (yes, it did take awhile!) a little bush mouse was scurrying around our feet. It was very cute and we were watching it with some Chinese tourists who Mark convinced we were watching a baby kangaroo!

Coober Pedy to Kulgera

Day 5 and we have made it to Coober Pedy, an amazing place. Visited the Old Timer's Opal Mine where "Trevor" showed us around. Checked out an underground house and spent some time fossicking in a mullock heap for slivers of opal (much to the kids' delight). Roamed around town (with a feral dog trailing us) and took in "The Big Winch" which sits above a mountain of rusted car bodies and corrugated iron etc. Driving out of town the landscape has to be seen to be believed, it really does resemble a moonscape, "The Breakaways" are some beautiful land formations formed over millions of years which we viewed in the late afternoon sun, very spesh!

Next stop was over the border and into the Northern Terrritory! ...Another (near) roadkill moment when a wedge-tailed eagle on the side of the road decided to include our car in it's flight path! Incredible birds very close up!! Pulled up mid afternoon at Kulgera Roadhouse next to our twin beige/brown Jayco! (A little smaller than ours which cheers us up no end). Was great to finally sit in the sunshine sipping champagne, watching the sunset and the kids playing happily in the dusty playground..

Salt Lakes, Roadkill & CB Blunders

We headed into sunny (but still cold) South Australia yesterday after having nicely stocked up with lots of fresh fruit and veg to last a good while...when of course it all had to be dumped into the nearest quarantine receptacle didn't it?? After restocking we are on our way to an interesting one horse town called "Keith" which was definitely more "Rural" than"Urban" as Mark pointed out...

Day 3 had Charlie starting off the day with.."Dad, can we go home now?", but we pressed on to Adelaide for lunch where there was an "awesome" playground. Port Germein was our overnight stop where we sampled the local pub fare (delicious and cheap) and checked out the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere at sunset. Now we are starting to relax and enjoy this new life for awhile.

Before finishing up in Coober Pedy tonight we had some interesting daytime moments.....an amazing Salt Lake (Hart) we walked onto, a crack in the windscreen, several examples of roadkill, including wedgetail eagles & a fox chowing down on various carcasses, a roadside stop with at least 30 sparkling white caravans (grey nomads) putting our lil' old beige/brown one to shame as Ella kindly pointed out.

But by far the funniest was when Mark decided to jump on the CB to "warn the truckies" of an errant cow on the side of the road incase of accident. The banter back and forth was halarious to say the least..."Oh no, a COW"...."Better get a bucket under it then"..."Must be a bum steer"....."Looks like it's mooooved on mate"...Oh well, at least we know the CB works!

It's time to go...Gerencser's!

FINALLY we headed off about 4.30pm yesterday, by that stage we just wanted to head out the gate and go ANYWHERE! As it happens our first night was spent in Ballarat in zero degree temp overnight, thank goodness for last minute pack of blow heater and wheat bags.

A big thanks to all our lovely parents, family and friends for helping us on our way..from delicious farewell dinners, surprise last minute visits, babysitting, car packs for the kids, gifts, mercy dashes to the school to retrieve Samuel's lost footy card album ('cause how could he function without them?) and all the good wishes..

After a shoulder spasm (Mark), leaking fuel pump that set us back a day or so and many other little challenges our journey has finally begun. We will miss everybody and apologise to our respective basketball teams..but we should be back to revel in the glory about finals time!