Darwin – Friday 5 to Thursday 11 August 2011
We have now settled into Darwin life, this has been the longest we have stayed in the one spot since leaving home in June. All our tax returns are completed and we have received a minimal return so we now don’t need to avoid the tax collector!
We started our Darwin experience with a drive around the city and surrounds. One very interesting place we came across was the NT Museum and Art Gallery, a very special place to visit. They have an incredible display on Cyclone Tracy, with real audio and video of what it was really like, very scary stuff. They have also many static displays on place, environment and habitat around the area, along with a very special Aboriginal art display. Well worth a visit when in Darwin.
After this it was into the city with a rough mud map written on a napkin on how to find a good hairdresser, Jess had kindly provided his assistance. Both of us needed a trim to get us through to Perth, and with the family arriving we needed to look our best. Haircuts all done drove around town and down to Cullen Bay to visit the Buzz Café. Another iconic spot to visit, especially the outlook from the men toilet, just sensational and enough said, those who have been there will know what it all about.
Saturday was a quiet day of rest and cleaning, car, van and washing. All done we did the shopping ready for the family and also checked out a special spot for dinner on Monday night.
Sunday provided more opportunities to relax, it’s a good life, with a trip into Bunnings to get some bits to fix the TV, enough said here too, but all is good now, wde also pitched the kids tents ready for their arrival tomorrow. On the way home we found this great club, the Darwin Trailer Boat Club, right on the water edge, what a view. So of course it deserved the time to have a beer and relax. Once home again it was a trip to the pool, as it was a warm day, 30+, we spent the afternoon yep relaxing.
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| Ready for our special visitors |
Monday is Family day and also car service day, that was the first job. We had this all completed by 10 and last minute shopping completed it was time to get ready to go to the airport. I must admit we were both very excited about seeing Ryan, Catherine & Tim, in fact we were at the airport early just in case they arrived early!!! Well it was great and the afternoon got even better, we took them all back to the Van to have a drink and get ready for dinner. We had booked a special Sunset Dinner Cruise for them just in case we had something to celebrate. On the way there we stopped off at Cullen Bay to allow Catherine & Tim the opportunity to look at the beautiful beach and of course the rest is now history with Tim proposing to Catherine and of course she said YES. So the cruise was well worthwhile, this was the biggest secret Marlene and I had ever kept. Tim had talked to us about a week before we left, thankfully we were not in Canberra and to make it more exciting we had the ring packed in the safe in the van for the past 6 weeks. It was a great evening and Catherine is just over the moon.
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| The Happy Moment |
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| Happy as |
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| All together celebrating - we were so proud of our family |
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| Sunset on the Cruise |
Well back to travelling and tourist stuff now, Tuesday we went to the Military Museum, the actual place where they protected Darwin, it was a very interesting couple of hours. Then down to the NT Museum for lunch and a look around. Back home in the afternoon to spend time by the pool, very relaxing. That night we all went to the Darwin Trailer Club to have dinner with one of Marlene’s work colleague from FAHCSIA, where we bought Cooper Ale by the bucket full, great stuff and you can see what the buckets were used for.
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| Boys will be Boys - one was smart enough not to have their picture published! |
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| Our first waterfall, they got better as the week progressed! |
Wednesday saw us up very early, much to Ryan’s disgust, as we were being picked up at 7am for a big day trip to Kakadu. What a day we travelled 280km to Yellow Waters for a river cruise, saw plenty crocs, wildlife, waterlilies and bird life. Had a look around there and lunch then travelled up to Ubirr Rock to look through Aboriginal Art Gallery and across to Arnhem Land, a very special place. After a big day it was back in the bus for a 3 hour trip back to Darwin. We all got home about 8pm tired, but enjoyed the day.
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| Yelloe River cruise Kakadu |
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| One of the friendly locals |
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| Looking out from the top of Ubirr Rock |
Thursday was a sleep in and catch up day, a trip to the shops and a drive around Darwin then back to the park for a swim and cocktails by the pool. In the afternoon we caught the bus to the Mindil markets, 2 weeks in a row. Spent the evening watching a great sunset across Darwin Bay, while sitting on the beach eating dinner.
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| Dinner on the beach at sunset - along with a 1000 others |
Darwin to Katherine – Friday 12 August 2011
Up and on the road to Katherine, about 340km, with 5 in the car and a load in the van the car worked all the way but of course it did it well. We set up at the Knotts Crossing Resort, then went for a swim at the Katherine thermal pools, busy but refreshing. That night we celebrated our time together by cooking the fish we caught in the Gulf and opened a bottle of the finest Champagne, it has been great having the family with us for a while.
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| Family dinner - nothing better |
Katherine – Saturday 13 August 2011
On the road back up the Stuart Highway to Bachelor and Litchfield Park, we stayed just outside the national park and Litchfield Tourist Park, with plenty of shade and grass. Took a short drive to visit Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole as we heard they were pretty special. Florence Falls has a short walk and 140+ steps into the pool, at the bottom you find a great waterhole and 2 waterfalls. The place was very busy but the swim was nice and refreshing, then the 140+ steps back up the carpark. We then came back to Buley Rockhole and found a serious of plunge pools all linked by little waterfalls, just spectacular. Each pool is about 4+ metres deep, it was refreshing and just great, we all decided that we would back here tomorrow.
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| Florence Falls |
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| Buley Rockhole |
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| Ryan about to leap |
Back at the caravan we had a drink or 2 at the bar and a couple of games of pool while Marlene watched the final episode of The Block, there is no TV reception or phone or internet connection so it was back to basics. Litchfield National Park – Monday 15 August 2011
The start of week 8 and the 50th day away and sadly the last full day with the family, so we are determined to make the most of it and throw ourselves into as many water holes as possible, seeing that it is 34deg it doesn’t seem like a bad idea. We also woke to the exciting news that our good friends, Rosanne and Noel became grandparents over night with little Caleb James coming into the world safely, congratulations to Krystal and Greg.
A leisurely start to the day, catching up on the washing and a bit of resting before we enter the park for more waterholes. We headed out into the park to the Tolmer Falls, this is not a swimming area but very spectacular view of the falls dropping 150mtrs into then a massive pool, then onto the Litchfield Café for lunch and the “World Famous Mango Cheesecake”. We all rated the cheesecake as fair, it didn’t really live up to it name.
After this it was down to the cascades and a big rugged walk 1.2km to find them, they were nice but we decided not to swim here and moved on. On the road again down to Wangi Falls, beautiful big waterfall dropping 70mtrs into a huge swimming hole, and a stack of people. It was just sensational, we swam here for a while then back down the road to Buley Rockhole for one last dunk in the pools. Back to the van by 6pm ready for a drink and dinner, totally exhausted. We all agreed that Litchfield is the place to visit the waterfalls and swimming pools are just fantastic.
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| Wangi Falls |
Litchfield National Park to Darwin – Tuesday 16 August 2011 On the road by 8am back to where our great week with the family all began, we were at the Free Spirit Resort all set up by 10am, giving Catherine and Tim a chance to get organised before they take off to Vietnam this afternoon. It also gave me a chance to sort our internet issues out, as our Telstra Wifi thingy spat the dummy in Katherine, so no internet or blogs. But we are now back on air.
All set up we headed off to the Buzz Café for lunch then to the Airport, to see Catherine and Tim off, we left them about 5pm it was sad to say goodbye but they are off on their own adventure now which is great. We still have Ryan for another night he flies home tomorrow then it is back to just the 2 of us.
Wow - this post is amazing. Congratulations to Catherine and the whole family. You have every reason to be proud. Blessings, Lynne
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