Week 4 Beginning 24th July 1998

 Day 22

The day we:

• awoke to another glorious day and planned Cutta Cutta Caves, swim and fish. Sounds tough doesn't it? Adrian fixed the camera flash and we're about to head off when he suddenly gets a pain and feels ill followed by vomiting and much groaning. The boy is not well so a morning spent around the camp doing crosswords and reading. Libby and Luke explored the picturesque Low Level crossing and shopped
• went to the caves after lunch when Adrian felt better, Dad and the boys that is. Libby had read about the snakes down there so spent the afternoon in the hot springs and read 'We of the Never Never'
• swam in the hot springs again after the cave tour
• went fishing at the Low Level crossing with Luke's new lure. After 10 casts its gone too, just as well as the fish big enough to take that sized lure would be big enough to take Luke too
• relaxed over dinner and had a few games of UNO, ready to move on tomorrow

Day 23

The day we:

• headed off to Litchfield after farewelling the Kissicks, we'll meet up again in Darwin
• stopped off near Pine Creek to Photograph enormous termite mounds then Adelaide River for petrol and to see the pub which is home to Charlie, the buffalo of Crocodile Dundee fame
• arrived at Litchfield about lunchtime but to our disappointment discovered you can't take campers into Florence Falls or Buley Rockhole. Drove the extra 24kms to Wangi Falls and got the last site in the campground and only then because Eric manoeuvred the van expertly, I'm sure others had tried unsuccessfully to camp there
• had a quick lunch then enjoyed the refreshing falls and rockpool all afternoon
• joined other campers after dinner for an evening of slides organised by the park rangers on the lawns of the camp kiosk
• finished 'We of the Never Never' and chatted to neighbouring campers from Avoca, NSW and a bikie from Brisbane

Day 24

The day we:

• were woken by the bush alarm clock, 3 blue-winged kookaburras whose nest is very close to us
• packed a picnic morning tea and lunch and drove back to Florence Falls. Eric ran the last 5kms, he arrived to find us already in the water. A very picturesque spot and so cool in the shade of the rainforest canopy
• Had morning tea then climbed the 153 steps back up to the carpark and drove to Buley Rockpool
• loved the afternoon here. A string of little pools that cascade from hole to hole, we all had a wonderful time. Explored them all, couldn't touch the bottom in one, Eric gave expert advice on how to bomb and the boys have now mastered a few different styles
• were amazed at the number of different international accents you hear in the Top End
• returned to Wangi Falls and swam again until tea and shared the evening with our new neighbours, Mark and Cheryl from Bayswater
• had a rufous owl calling to us from a tree just behind our van

Day 25

The day we:

• were woken by the same bush alarm clock at 6.30am
• departed Litchfield having thoroughly enjoyed the falls and feeling rather water-logged
• arrived at Howard Springs on the outskirts of Darwin about 11am, set up and went for another swim
• met Kissicks again, they went into Darwin while we explored the local Springs, swam with big barra which must admit was a bit disconcerting as it was BIG!
• walked the nature trail with a big water monitor and lots of new birds including orange footed scrub fowl, leaden flycatcher, spangled drongo and figbird
• travelled the short distance back to the park via the shops, booked the car in for a service and had a delicious dinner of sausages and baked beans
• watched a slide show of Top End presented by local travel promoters; Indo Pacific Marine and Kakadu are musts now despite so many people saying Kakadon't
• clocked up 6,345kms to date

Day 26

The day we:

• booked Indo Pacific Marine evening tour - coral display in normal light and by dark and then dinner. This later got postponed, no dramas time is irrelevant this week
• drove into town, its been a while since we last bothered whether we were neat and tidy. Eric decided he needed a beard trim so located the cutest looking hairdresser in town with the shortest skirt, the rest of us settled for a clean, un-ironed shirt
• visited Aquascene at Doctors Gully where we hand-fed mullet, milkfish and brim. Also saw barra, stingrays, leopard rays, shovel-nosed rays and others unidentified. Had thought this would be fun for the kids but have to admit it was a great experience for all of us
• collected our mail, bought some binoculars as we've become avid birdwatchers and checked out the CBD, enjoyed lunch in a food mall
• visited the wharf precinct, even though it was a pretty hot afternoon for walking we got right to the end of Stokes Hill Wharf and enjoyed an ice cream while viewing a $30 million yacht that is moored here, the sort of yacht you'd expect Princess Di to step off
• bought 2 new tyres for the car on the way home and while we were away in town had some roller repairs done on our van 
• reminisced about the days in Butterworth, memories rekindled by RAAF jets screaming overhead in the night skies at irregular intervals

Day 27

The day we:

• spent 6 hrs at the excellent Territory Wildlife Park - kangaroos, emu, birds of prey display, introduced species, nature trail to goose lagoon (met a goanna there), aquarium where a diver handfed the fish, aviary walk, reptiles and nocturnal house
• were hot and tired after all that so went to Berry Springs for a refreshing dip, these are not classified thermal but its warmer than the creek, just lovely
• spent the evening in the park talking to neighbours, an early night after that big day

Day 28

The day we:

• had the car serviced and happily they found nothing wrong with it. Eric washed it then while the boys swam but got kicked out of the pool for lack of parent supervision
• set up the rods and after lunch went to Fisherman's Wharf. With a name like that you'd have to get a fish, right? Actually turned out to be a rockwall and not very suitable so we dropped them in off Stokes Hill Wharf but had no success. Meanwhile Eric toured the oil storage tunnels
• visited the Botanic Gardens at which the boys showed little interest then parked the car in readiness for the Mindl Beach Market. This officially starts at 5pm but everyone warned us to get there early or we wouldn't get a park for miles, this turned out to be good advice
• really enjoyed the market, sat on the beach to watch the spectacular sunset, thousands do the same, some come really well prepared with tables, chairs and champagne. Ate a mixed dinner of rotis, dahl, laksa, doner kebabs, satays, fruit salad and ice cream. Enjoyed all the buskers and performers including Aboriginal didgeridoo and music stick players, a performer with chains and fire, the Lady in Red. By far our favourite was Mr Spin who juggled, used the diablo and firesticks and rode a unicycle while keeping up an amusing commentary, a great entertainer
•  keep bumping into Mark and Cheryl who we met at Wangi and the German couple who took our photo way back at the crossing of Tropic of Capricorn