Day 29
The day we:
- dropped Eric at Darwin Golf Course and the rest of us plus Nathan continued on to Nightcliff jetty for another go at that elusive barra. Luke had his line in first and went straight off to see what others were catching. Just as I got my hook baited Luke's started jumping about, he'd hooked a lovely Parrot Fish and wasn't anywhere near to enjoy the glory. Nathan cast his rod only to watch his new $9 lure sail off the end of the line and into the deep, not a good start for him. Amazingly, after about 10mins Adrian spotted it floating towards his line so he tried to snag it on his hook. This proved too difficult but then the chap beside him got it in a net. Adrian found a Pike swimming all around the jetty and spent the rest of the morning trying to tempt it to bite but it wasn't interested. Luke got a big one, his reel 'sang' as the line raced off the reel and Luke fought well trying to get him in, but in the end the line broke and the fish took off. An interesting morning fishing.
- went to Casuarina Shopping Complex in the afternoon and then to the harbour for the Indo Pacific Marine display and dinner. This is not an aquarium, they have created perfectly balanced environments in each tank so they don't require filtering of fresh water. You get to see the coral under daylight, moonlight and UV so you can see the organisms fluoresce. We all found it fascinating.
The day we:
- collected 5 rolls of developed film and spent time over morning tea enjoying them
- had a close look at a magnificent Banyan Tree in Fannie Bay, stopped off at East Point to enjoy the parkland and found a huge nest made by the local bush turkeys (orange footed scrub fowl)
- visited the Military Museum at Dudley Point - it bought WWII home to us, until then we'd never really considered how vulnerable Aust was. At school we were never told how many people were killed and injured on home soil, how many bombs fell on Darwin and surrounds over 2 years, that occupation money and instructions on what to do and how to behave when Aust surrendered were airdropped. A chilling experience.
- enjoyed a picnic lunch at Lake Alexandra, a saltwater man-made lake developed to provide refuge from box jellyfish. They are most prevalent in the Wet Season but are well-known to be about all year round so locals don't swim in the ocean. We both agree we could live here but you'd have to accept that you wouldn't swim except in pools. With so much coral in the harbour and it being 6 times as big as Sydney's we cant believe an operator isnt luring overseas tourists here to dive on a major scale but you would need wet suits.
- walked through the mangroves by the lake, saw little crabs, heard pistol shrimp and saw homes of mud lobsters
- shopped at Palmerston on the way home for supplies as we've decided its time to move on, still lots to see and do
Day 31
The day we:
- said a final farewell to the Kissicks as we head to Kakadu and they go home
- visited Windows on the Wetlands, a centre explaining the importance of wetland habitat and all its fauna and flora
- stopped off at the Bark Hut Inn, a cool respite for and early lunch, its a very hot day
- entered Kakadu ($15ea, Chn no charge - same as Uluru) and set up in Frontier Camping Ground at South Alligator. Its a lovely, open bushland park with dodgy power supply and leaky taps. The wildlife seems happy here too, roaming wallabies and red-tailed black-cockatoos
- drove to Ubirr (pronounced Oobeer) in the afternoon to view the great rock art, some believed to be more than 5,000 yrs old
- detoured into the township of Jabiru on the way home and saw the Crocodile motel, boys were very impressed, not much else to see here though
- visited the bird hide at Mamukala Lagoon and saw 1000's and 1000's of magpie geese and wandering whistling ducks. Also egrets, herons, cormorants, green pygmy geese, rainbow bee-eaters and many others
- got home in time for the boys to swim in the motel pool until dark then have tea and star gaze all evening. We bought an astronomy map in Darwin so now learning to identify more than just the Southern Cross and Orion. Went to sleep while the dingoes howled.
Day 32
The day we:
- left the boys to mind the van while Mum walked and Dad ran the trail that leads from the park to the nearby billabong
- packed up and drove to Bowali Information Centre which explains all the park habitats and wildlife and significance to the Aboriginals
- visited Nourlangi Rock Art sites, its a really hot day and the boys found the walking a bit of a drag but the art was amazing, there's so much of it, they are still recording and preserving some sites in the park and still others are not to be seen by white fellas
- drove on to Cooinda C'van Park, another lovely one. Boys went straight to the pool and soon cheered up
- enjoyed a sunset cruise on yellow Water Lagoon, saw crocodiles, sea eagles, egrets, herons, magpie and green pygmy geese, jabiru and many other saller birds. All enjoyed it, crocodiles looked well fed and content but we didn't trail our fingers in the water just the same. Libby walked home along the boardwalk and nature trail while the rest caught the bus and got tea started
- saw a slide show in the park grounds arranged by the rangers 'Kakadu, a world heritage area'.
Day 33
The day we:
- packed up while Eric went for a run back to Yellow Water Jetty where he saw a crocodile close enough to keep him on his toes
- visited the Aboriginal Cultural Centre then left the park heading for Edith Falls
- called in to Pine Creek for petrol and to share morning tea in the shade
- re-entered Nitmiluk National Park just on lunchtime, now realise that the escarpment that forms Katherine Gorge and these falls is the lower end of the formation that continues right through Kakadu separating it from Arnhem Land
- spent the afternoon in the water around the falls, these are not highbut very powerful and its a very large pool
- spent the evening cooking a curry while the boys played bocce with another lad named Isaac
- enjoyed another evening stargazing, it was so clear and the moon so full the boys and Libby decided to sleep out under them but Eric chose the comfort of a caravan bed all to himself. It was a beautiful sky, early on we located the Southern Cross,mScorpius and Triangular Aus. By chance we were all awake again about 5am and saw Orion and Alpha Centaurus, at this time the moon had gone and the stars were brilliant. Only drawback has been the mozzies which have stayed around all night, wont tell Eric though, he already thinks we're mad.
Day 34
The day we:
- got away to an early start and stopped in at Katherine for supplies and to visit Springvale Homestead near the Low Level Crossing, one of the oldest in the area. Unfortunately it was flooded in January like the rest of Katherine so they lost a lot of the historical documents and the walls are still too wet to repaint. We missed the official tour and video of the floods which would have been interesting because it wasn't restarting for some time and it's already getting hot and late in the morning.
- enjoyed a morning tea in the shade with a lovely older couple from Tasmania then reached Big Horse Creek campground in the Gregory National Park. Its a lovely setting right on the Victoria River and among Boab trees
- found a relatively shaded spot and set up camp in time for a late lunch, seems everyone else here is a keen fisherman and they are all out on the water at this time of day
- realized you can't swim here because of the crocodiles and the boys are not happy, spent the afternoon in the shade reading, writing and dozing
- joined a 'billy and campfire talk' given by a park ranger in the evening. Heard all about Gregory who explored the Victoria River, the park's pastoral history, traditional owners, local fauna and flora. Aboriginal legend has it that a giant and glorious specimen of a tree was boasting about itself to all the other trees. To teach him a lesson a spirit uprooted the tree, turned it upside down and replanted it so today we have the Boab tree with huge trunk and branches that look more like a root system when the leaves have fallen
- car getting very hot today, watching the temp, only doing 90-95kph
Day 35
The day we:
- packed up early but then little 2yr old Aaron from the camp next door came over to play soccer with the big boys, got away about 8.30am
- drove for 2 1/2hrs, crossed the WA border and quarantine check, also can't take honey across. One of our boxes had to go as it was an old fruit box but they replaced it
- arrived in Kununurra about 9.20am WA time, too early to get on a site in the c'van park so we booked one and went to get the car looked at, its still losing water and getting hot
- discovered we need a new water pump and will get it fixed tomorrow
- got some supplies, checked out the main street, set up camp then went for a swim in the lovely pool, it's bloody hot 35 deg and still early. Met fellow travellers at the pool who told us veggies are really cheap at the melon farm, now they tell us!
- had lunch, more swims, then did the local tour of Barra Barra Bananas (where we had mango smoothies and frozen choc-coated bananas), Ivanhoe Crossing, looked for the local Aboriginal rock paintings but couldn't find them, City of Ruins, Hidden Valley (didn't have the right change to enter), and finished at Zebra Rock Gallery where we enjoyed seeing the rock carved, fed the fish and talked to the aviary birds. Bought a bag of rocks for the boys to work on back home, they're going to make some fabulous jewellery for Mum
- returned to camp for another swim until dark, cooked burgers on the barbie by the pool chatting to an English girl travelling and working around Australia with an American and a Dutchman for 12 months
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