Darwin, NT

Tomorrow we wrap up seven days in Darwin. We've spent time lazing by the pools at the park, completing some vehicle and caravan maintenance, as well as enjoying the various tourist sights. Heather has particularly enjoyed catching up on her scrapbook, the boys have loved spending time in the pools with kids from the family next door and Andrew went on a Defence of Darwin tour and visited the East Point Military Museum and the WWII oil storage tunnels.

We've all enjoyed watching (and hearing) the spectacle of Exercise Pitch Black, with military jets from quite a few countries participating. The jets fly quite low overhead at some stage most days and sometimes late into the night - quite spectacular and very loud!

Other highlights have been visiting the waterfront, walking around the CBD and exploring the Mindil Beach Market. We bought curries from the market for tea and then sat on the beach to eat them while watching the sun set over the ocean. Very beautiful!

Today we went on a day trip to Litchfield National Park - What a beautiful place! We particularly enjoyed walking on the Shady Creek walk to Florence Falls, with a swim in the plunge pool under the falls. Lunch sitting on rocks in Shady Creek was pretty hard to handle too (not!). Wangi Falls was next on the agenda; even higher falls and another lovely swim. We are so enjoying the sun!

On the way back to Darwin, we decided to take the unsealed section and call in and visit Berry Springs for our third swim of the day (had to wash off the dust!). NT unsealed roads are something else - the corrugations are so bad, its like 30km of speed humps stacked up next to each other, between sections of sandpit. The only thing to do is drive at 80 - 90 km/h across the top of the corrugations and churn through the sand. It's much easier without the caravan behind!

Edith Falls, NT

Today we took off up the highway without the van and visited Edith Falls. The climb up and over the ridge to the upper pool was sooo worth the effort. The water is crystal clear and so soft. We spent a few hours swimming in the pools and floating under the waterfalls on the pool noodles.

Looking forward to devonshire teas at the cafe by the car park made the return trip less arduous too!

Katherine, NT

The weather has warmed up now, with the last few days in Katherine beautiful and sunny, between 25 and 30 degrees. We've spent time chilling out; the boys have really enjoyed the pool, as have Heather and Andrew. But we've also hiked through/over/around Katherine Gorge, relaxed at the Katherine Hot Springs and explored the  Katherine Lower Level Nature Reserve across the road from the caravan park.

G'day 2L!

G'day kids, it was lovely to have a chat with you all on Friday afternoon. We loved the questions that you had all prepared with Miss Keane (That was a nice surprise Vanessa). We were actually pretty lucky that we could connect, as phone service is patchy in the Outback. As soon as we started moving after we'd finished talking, the phone dropped out and we didn't have service again until way after school had finished. We had just bought petrol at a little town called Barrow Creek when we talked. Maybe we can talk again after Library next Friday. I wonder where we'll be then?
This is where we were.

Longreach Waterhole, Pamayu NT

Found this place near Elliott in our Camps Australia-wide book and thought we'd give it a go for an overnight stopover. Had to head down about 15km of sandy tracks, with some quite deep patches and many sections that wound tightly between trees. It seemed to take ages and we weren't sure what we'd find. All we could think of was that it had better be worth it, as the van was getting another hammering from the corrugations and it was in danger of getting wiped out on a tree branch.

When we finally caught sight of the water, we were blown away! Absolutely spectacular! The best part was choosing a secluded spot right on the bank. Once we'd set up Andrew was the only one gutsy enough to go in for a swim. He reckoned the water was 'bracing' but worth it to wash off the dust from the last few days.  He was able to wiggle his toes in the sand and dig up several different types of fresh-water muscles and a type of snail. We weren't game to eat them though!

It was magic to be able to sit around the campfire and watch the birds as the sun set. The soaring wedge-tail eagles, pelicans, cormorants and egrets, among many others, were amazing to watch. In the morning we got to see the pelicans work as a team to heard the fish into the shallows, before all of the different birds started diving in for their breakfast. 

This place is definitely one of our favourite places so far.