We made it to Darwin!

And so another week has gone.

When I last wrote, we were leaving Mataranka the next day. The universe had other plans though! We drove out of the caravan park at the usual time of 10am, after meeting some lovely families and ventured north. About 20kms down the highway we decide to pull over and check, as the van wasn't feeling right and thought we saw some smoke. Yep...we had a flat tyre. Or so we thought. As time progressed and a few vaners stopped to see if we needed help (amazing how many stopped), we realised it wasn't as simple as a flat.

Unfortunately we had broken the U bolt thingy, that holds the thingy of the wheels onto "that" part of the axle thingy. I think! Anyway, Paddy and Tom (not my dad) engineered up a device to get us back to Mataranka and we drove back at around 20kms per hour, with our newly made friends as the pilot vehicle behind with lights flashing. We had met Tom and Maureen briefly the night before, at the van park in Mataranka when we popped over to listen to Tom play the mandolin and the girls sang You Are My Sunshine. These lovely people passed us when we were stopped and turned around, van and all, to see if they could help. The girls thought it was fantastic to be heading back to Mataranka, as they wanted to see all the kids they had just met again.

We spent another two nights in Mataranka, whilst Paddy sorted the van. Bar the hard work that Paddy had to do, the few extra days there were wonderful. We managed quite a few more swims in the hot springs, a trip to the barra feeding, a fish in the Roper River and some very enjoyable evenings with our neighbours.

Second attempt to leave Matarank went well, bar the jockey wheel clamp getting stuck and then breaking and us girls having to give Daddy a wide berth for a while! We made it to Katherine safely and ventured off for a restock of food and to fix the jockey wheel. As we were heading to find some lunch Grandad and Shan rang to see where we were and it turned out they were just around the corner. We enjoyed a quick lunch together and then left them in Katherine, while we ventured onto Edith Falls for a one night stop at the National Park.

It was then on to Litchfield National Park. We spent the first night at an interesting little park 4kms from Wangi Falls, but dropped into the falls for a swim before heading to the park for the night. The girls and Paddy ventured straight into the cold water (well cold after being in the beautiful Bitter Hot Springs) and before I could blink, had made it all the way across to the falls. After a while of inching my way into the water, I made it half way and onto a sand bank and Paddy came across to coaxes me the rest of the way. And how fantastic it was! My three had climbed up the rock face and were bathing in a little warm pool. It was a magic afternoon and we finished the night with a BBQ and even some damper rolls (well they resembled damper!)

The next day we had an early departure and set up camp in the National Park camping ground. By 11am we were on the road and ready for a big day out. First stop was the Lost City. Interesting place, although I think the car trip in was the highlight. Next we stopped off quickly at the Magnetic Termite Mounds, but we were all hot and hungry so there wasn't too much interest. The next destination covered both bases, with a quick picnic in the car park and then a refreshing swim in the beautiful Buley Rock Pools. Much fun was had with Daddy and his girls...skipping from pool to pool, trying to swim against the currents and then (much to my horror), jumping in off the rocks. After peeling ourselves away, we moved on to Florence Falls which was our final place to see for the day. It too was beautiful and Paddy, Lib and Immy all enjoyed another swim for the day. Our night at the national park was lovely as usual. They are normally sociable, but peaceful places with wildlife a good possibility.

Friday we headed off to the "big smoke"! We checked into Freespirit Caravan Park, which is about 15mins from Darwin and got set up for a longer than usual stay. Grandad and Shan arrived a few hours later, much to the girls delight and while Paddy and I headed into Darwin post office, the girls stayed back and swindled a swim. Yesterday two of the families from Mataranka arrived also, so the girls have full time entertainment on both sides of the van.

We look forward to exploring Darwin further and also catching up on some things whilst in one spot for nearly a week. This afternoon we all (including the relatives and neighbours) headed in to Mindil Beach Markets and soaked up the atmosphere. After a few purchases and lots of strolling around, we parked ourselves on the grass and enjoyed some drinks, a yummy dinner and even an ice cream!

The breakdown

Fishing in the Roper River

Beautiful Wangi Falls - note my 3 on the sand bank in the middle

Heading up to the warm pool above

Fun in the rock pool

The Lost City

Magnetic Termite Mounds

Cathedral Termite Mounds

Buley Rock Pools

Yahoo

Belly Flop

Lib just soaking it up!

Florence Falls

Swimming at the base of the falls

Our little mate at the caravan park in Darwin - Rainbow Bee-eater

Alice to Mataranka

Finally the pace has slowed a little and the temperature has risen!

We moved on from Alice Springs, after having a great last day exploring the West Macdonald Ranges. Because we enjoyed Devils Marbles so much last time, we decide to make it our stop over point for our trip north and also, the girls would have been a little cranky if we had not given them one last chance to venture around the rocks. Our time there, once again, was very special. After I had sorted dinner and the girls had knocked over some school work and a challenging game of Checkers with Daddy, we all took off for a walk. We played until the sun went down and then proceeded back to camp to eat and also set up the fire.

The next morning we had our earliest departure to date...8.30am. We just can't seem to get moving early and the girls are hardly ever out of bed before 7am. We made it to the famous Daly Waters Pub by mid afternoon and soaked up the atmosphere and the delicious Beef n Barra dinner!

Yesterday was only a short trip up to Mataranka, the town made famous by the book/movie We of the Never Never. I have been reading a kids version of the book to the girls, so they were looking forward to seeing the town and the homestead in real life. The caravan park we are at is only a couple of minutes bike ride away from Bitter Springs thermal pools, so after a quick unpack we jumped on the bikes and headed for a swim. We all had a ball, particularly once we popped the goggles on and explored what was beneath us, whilst floating downstream on our hired noodles! We would then have a quick, cold walk back to the beginning and would do it all over again.

Today we went into Elsey National Park, to see the other thermal springs and also the replica homestead of the house from We of the Never Never. These springs were very clean, with concreted edges and a mostly sandy bottom, but lacked the fun of "our" springs. After lunch and an afternoon siesta, it was back down to Bitter Springs to float the afternoon away.

Next stop is Litchfield National Park, with maybe a few stops on the way.

Desert Park, Alice Spring - Aboriginal talk

Lib would have loved to taste some of the foods

See me walk so straight and tall.....

Bush Orange

 

Our day at the West Mac Ranges

 

Stanley Chasm

 Ormeston Gorge

 Thinking, thinking

Fun back at the Devils Marbles

Goodbye to the sun

Hello to the moon

 Love, love, love this one

And this one

So proud of my planker!

 There she goes

Dinner by the fire

 

Daly Waters Pub

Who wants a beer?

 Matarank - Bitter Springs

Paddy trying to float

Loving the warm water

Our float down stream

The girls had a ball

Our littlest fish

 Our biggest fish

Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

Wow...can't believe it's been a month already! Time certainly flies when you're travelling. It's definitely not a relaxing holiday, but worth it all the same. Finding time to do things like school work and diary's is a challenge, not to mention the other things I had hoped to do whilst away. The hopes of me learning to play the guitar on the road are not looking so promising now! There is just too much to see and do.

Our last few days have been amazing. We left Devils Marbles and headed south to Alice Springs only stopping for the night and a quick refuel and shop the next morning. We only had one more stop at Curtain Springs and then were finally in Yalara. At Curtain Springs there was a resident Emu, who Libby named Edwa. After the girls fed her, she decided to pop over to the caravan to see if anything else was on offer and we thought she was going to come it and make herself at home. Obviously the girls thought she was fantastic. I set Libby the task of writing a story about her and will try to post it along with some of their journals at some stage.

As we managed to have an early arrival at Yalara, we did a quick unpack and headed straight out to the National Park and Uluru. First stop was the cultural centre, where we soaked up the information on the area we were about to explore and also watched a informative movie on the local Aboriginal people. The girls thought the ladies long boobies were the highlight! They were also very excited to spend some of their money on a piece each from the souvenir shop, with Libby choosing a snake and Immy a fish, which were carved out of wood by the local tribes. After soaking up all that the centre had to offer, it was time to venture to the rock! We did the two main walks to each of the waterholes and also did the drive around Uluru. It is not at all like the one huge smooth surface I had imagined and also so much bigger too. We decided to go back to the van and sort dinner in time to head back for the sunset viewing. Even though it was packed, we managed to find a spot to set up the picnic table and dine in style on my yummy prawn risotto...with a crackin view!

The next morning we were off to explore Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We decided to start with the bigger of the two walks and managed to get as far as the second lookout. It was quite a challenge in spots with some steep rocky climbs, but on we marched passed the first lookout with the girls leading the way. The scenery was breathtaking and the distance was easily forgotten when you soaked up the view. My walking stick Paddy found me, also helped.

We made it to the second lookout and wow, what a view it was! Buzzing with excitement and still full of energy, my husband said these words..."I think the loop track ahead will be flatter and easier than going back through the rocky climbs." and for some reason, we listened. So on we headed, with only two half full water bottles, no food and hop-a-long mummy! There were a few moments that I thought this adventure may turn sour, but amazingly we made it to the only rest point about 5 kms into the walk and filled up on water. A lovely lady there heard us talking and gave us some biscuits to get us through.

The girls were incredible, with Libby leading the way most of the time and also helping me. Imogen didn't complain once and kept saying "I bet you can't believe that my little legs are still going!". We made it back to the car park nearly four hours later with over 7.3 kms travelled and sat down for lunch at 3.45pm. We were all amazed at what we had done and also very tired. After popping back to the van to shower and change, we went back to view the sun set over the Olgas and for a first in our family...I served tinned soup for dinner! Shock, horror!!

We are now back in Alice Springs and have had a few days exploring the area. Tomorrow we head north again and hope to be in Darwin in a week or so.

Edwa the Emu

Sorry, out of sequence....Lib and her clapping sticks at Uluru

 

Immy near pooped her pants!

Uluru

Risotto with a view

Sunset colours of Uluru

The Olgas

First Lookout

 Beautiful Red River Gums on the walk

 Our puppy trying the water!

 Sorry again....back at Uluru

 Paddy trying to stretch his hat

 Having fun with a rock puzzle

 Looking back on our walk so far

 Second Lookout and the walk ahead

 Libby's photography

 The amazing Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

 They thought it was an adventure!

 We made it!

Two proud girls

 The end to a great day